Garden Trek Log--Day 14

August still, and the garden is a'growin'. Got a huge batch of cucumbers from a dear gardening friend, rustled up some onions from another fellow gardener, added my green peppers and chopped up a 5 gallon crock of sweet pickle relish. It is draining in the sink, a 2 hour process, then I mix all the yummy ingredients together, and cook them and process them. Supper tonight looks to be something frozen, nuked, and splashed with some fresh tomatoes and cantaloupe. Whipped up a double batch of zucchini chocolate muffins yesterday and distributed to various needy people (needing chocolate, what else?), including the dentist's office (it's a bribe!). Meantime hubby keeps picking and the flowers are now taking over parts of the garden that are finished producing.

August already?

Don't know where the summer is going, but it is slipping by quickly. Been doing a little beading, painting the basement with white masonry paint, a huge improvement, and cleaning things out as I go. Still harvesting the garden, zucchini still alive, green peppers gorgeous, tomatoes, smaller but still yummy. This coming weekend is Puddle Jumper Days so will be busy volunteering at the quilt show there. And of course our wonderful cool spell is supposed to be broken this week, natch, PJ Days always always finds the heat. We'll make it though, we are over the hump, more than halfway through summer. Got inspired by all the dragonflies flitting around our watergarden, so thought I'd bring some in through jewelry!

Garden Trek Log--Day 13

They call it a "Star gazer" lily. I call it a little bit of starry night, transposed onto a green stem. Enjoy!

Kitty antics

Violet loves her treats, which reside in a cat cookie jar. She has now decided that if she sits quietly next to the jar, we might accidentally replace the treat pouch into the wrong jar--herself! Then she can say, she ate the WHOLE thing.

Garden Trek Log--Day 12

Welcome Summer!!! It's July and the heat begins. Only we have really been blessed because the rains come about every week, so we don't have to water our flowers or garden much so far. On the downside the wetness doesn't help the hay cutting--meanwhile it just grows and grows. This is a splendid berry year too, our wild black raspberries in the woods have netted us a HUGE pie, blueberries from the Ozarks are in our freezer, and now we are working on our blackberry patch. The veggie garden is coming on strong, even the flowers hubby scattered seeds for are in bloom, and my "little" herb pot on the patio is going great! New daylilies are happily blooming away in the lily bed, gracing our angel statue. I Love Summer!

A Mystery Trip Elderberry Style

Went on another Elderberry trip, this time to "destination unknown", that is, until we arrived--Wichita, KS. I am a MO girl, so you have to show me something great about KS. Guess what, we truly enjoyed ourselves there, and we learned something about the area around Wichita, and got to visit with many friendly folk out thataway. Stayed at the Broadview Hotel, right on the edge of the Arkansas River that winds through town, and is on the edge of Old Town, a beautifully renovated district. Did some shopping and walking around after lunch at a restaurant down there, had a real Flapper Girl lead us on a tour of the haunted hotel, and encountered our own ghost in our room--opening drawers on us when our backs were turned! Our Flapper Girl called the spirit Clarence, so I guess we met him "in person". Traveled out for an evening in the country, first picking up our tour guide, Gracia Burnham. Some of you may have read her book, In the Presence of My Enemies, and if you haven't, check out her website, www.graciaburnham.org. She and her husband were missionaries in the Philippines, and were captured by Moslem terrorists eight years ago, and forced to walk the jungles for a year, until the military rescued them. Only Martin was killed in the rescue operation, she was badly injured, and now she missions to the Philippines people while living outside Wichita with her children. She went with us to Prairie Rose, a chuckwagon ranch, where we dined cowboy-style and were entertained by wonderful cowboy and cowgirl musicians. Next morning Gracia had breakfast with us at the hotel, then gave a presentation on her mission work. We then bade her farewell, and got on the bus for more touring, this time out to a glass factory, where we also got to shop. Then back to Old Town Wichita for lunch, then home. A grand two days was enjoyed by all!

Garden Trek Log--Day 11

We celebrated the first days of June and summer, by doing another walkabout, at our favorite nature area, Powell Gardens. There we spied a giant species of preying mantis, and realized, aha! that is how they keep the bad bugs away! Fell in love with a honeysuckle clematis vine climbing along a bridge, and just admired the view across their lake. We saw other people taking pictures to get garden ideas too, and as we went along, I was able to compare my plants at home with theirs, and think, wow, mine is doing the same as theirs. I don't have the army of volunteers, just me and hubby, but I guess we are doing something right at home.