Saturday Morning

Scones and Flowers

That's what I did for fun yesterday. The flowers are part of a project for the living room update and the scones are yummy. :)

And Miss Kitty was pretty as always. Isn't that the sweetest cat face you have ever seen? ;)

More from the Garden

My renewable bouquet (I had it since May 18). Just add fresh cut lily buds and some grass stalks when the old ones wilt.

And of course the daily radish harvest. We are almost at the end, a few more to go. ;)

Friday Morning

A rather damp view from my back door. But all the rain we had recently made the garden grow and saved us water.

From the Garden

Spinach, parsley, radishes and one perfect strawberry.

Rainy Day Project

Step one of bringing new colors into the living room is done.

Before:

After:

Boxes from Ikea, perfect for holding all kind of stuff (or in our case CDs), three sheets of scrap booking paper and some glue.

And some more fresh radishes.

Weekend

Late Saturday morning we decided to go to the farmer's market to see if we can get some fresh rhubarb. Not a good idea. I am allergic to something that is blooming here in late May and whatever it is there was lots of it at the market. As soon as we entered the big vendor area where they sell mostly plants and cut flowers I had trouble breathing and started coughing. So we left that area rather quickly and went to the other part of the market. I found some rhubarb and we left in a bit of a hurry. There also were lots of people around, something I am not really used to anymore. ;)

I made rhubarb cake, Deb over at homespun living shared the recipe on her blog. It is delicious.

The rest of the rhubarb I cooked with some water and sugar, yummy.

We had a lazy long weekend with lots of rain which kept us from doing any heavy work around the garden, so in between cooking and eating (quite a bit too much) I worked on a cover for one of the sofa cushions and my white cotton sweater while watching the Indy 500 and some old war movies.

Our garden seems to be doing better than last year, at least it looks better, the straw really helps keep the grass and the weeds down. I have some plans for other parts of the garden but I must do some research first to find out what I can actually plant there. And I am definitely going to grow my own rhubarb next year. Here are some more garden pictures. The first tomatoes are forming and the radishes are really growing fast and big. The herb patch looks much nicer too.

It is still rainy here and the forecast says it will stay this way all week long. Not my favorite kind of weather but on the positive side, NC is no longer a drought area.

New Colors

I spent a lot of time in our living room this week, knitting, and I decided that it could do with some new colors. A trip to the craft store was in order and now I am working on a few projects. Stay tuned for the outcome. :)

Saturday Morning

Radishes

Knitted Hand Towels

I just finished these. They are really easy and fun to make. If you would like to make one too the pattern can be found here.

Sheep Around the World

Eli over at the Flutterby Patch had the sweet idea of a blogtrotting tour for her cute little knitted sheep. I could not resist and here is mine.

His name is Billy and he and Miss Kitty get along fabulously. Here they are posing for the camera before finally taking a nap together.

From the Garden

A lovely bouquet

and a fresh snack.

First Harvest

Busy Days

It finally stopped raining long enough for me to get caught up with all the laundry. What used to be a mountain of stuff that needed washing is now a mountain of stuff that needs ironing. ;) I think it rained too much, the neighbor two houses down is building an ark in his garden, or maybe it is just a new storage shed. :)
We spent a lot of time in the garden last weekend, covering the beds with straw to keep the weeds and grass down, so far it works. We also put up the trellis for the beans and peas. These smart little plants are already reaching out for it, amazing. Everything is growing nicely except my tomato seedlings, they did not survive the rain. So we went and bought some at the garden center. I am now the proud owner of 20 tomato plants of different kinds. I also bought two more pepper plants. Next year I am not going to try and grow seedlings at all and buy them at the garden center to begin with.
We also made a trip to our local mall to look for new sheets. It is rather depressing in there, more than half of the stores are closed, even some of the restaurants are no longer there. I managed to find one sheet on sale, the color is not perfect but it will do for now. We plan a trip to Ikea during the first week of June and I hope to find some more there. It is not easy to find single fitted sheets that are 100 % cotton. I am still making my bed the Austrian way and don't need sheet sets. We also dropped some stuff off at the thrift store.
The little mama cat is doing well and still hanging around. She is defending "her house" against all other cats and there are at least three tom cats around who wish to make her acquaintance. She keeps them in line as well, it is fun to watch.
I decided not to paint the little shelf white since all the shelves in the pantry are wood colored, it will fit in just nicely the way it is.
In between gardening, laundry and the daily chores I managed to make some progress on my cotton sweater and to knit a baby blanket from some yarn I had left over from other projects.
Today it is rainy again so I am going to start working on that mountain, but first I am going to have a cup of coffee and a freshly baked scone.
Wishing you all a terrific weekend.

This and That

We had some really heavy rains these past few days and my azaleas and roses took a bad beating. The roses will probably recover but the azaleas were at the end of their peak anyway. Here are some pictures of them.


Azaleas 2009

Del just brought mama cat home from the clinic. She is doing fine and is as loving as ever. The note they gave him says that she is in heat and should be kept away from male cats for 2 weeks. Great, and just how am I going to do that? All the other cats in the area are male and none are fixed. It is mainly for her protection so she does not get harassed by them. I really love cats but by now I wish the big yellow tom would find other stomping grounds. For the next few days she will have to stay in the mudroom anyway but I have no idea how long she will tolerate it. The little brown cat is currently in the basement because she did not want to go out and she and mama cat don't get along. Looks like there are interesting times ahead. ;) Oh, and Miss Kitty is in a big huff because of the lousy weather. I swear this cat runs on sunshine like a car runs on fuel.

I am knitting all kinds of things and when I look around the house it reminds me of that commercial where the woman knits like crazy because it keeps her from thinking about all the things she can't eat on her diet. Knitting really is addicting. ;) I finally found some buttons for my garter yoke cardigan and once they arrive that will get finished.

I also re-organized my closet and sorted out a lot of stuff for the VVA and the thrift shop. I have finally decided that if I have not worn it before or in a long time chances are I will never wear it at all. So, off it goes.

On a completely different note, I am frantically searching for the instructions for my MP3 player. I have not used it in ages and I can't remember how it works. So far I found a lot of stuff I did not even know I still had, but not what I am looking for.

Edited shortly after posting:

Would you believe that? The instructions for the MP3 player were in the big binder with all the instructions for appliances etc. Gee, who would think about that. :)

Weekend

Our weekend was spent with a lot of gardening (all beds ready, most plants in the ground).

A little bit of shopping. A few weeks ago I saw a pretty blue vase at the thrift store but did not buy it (trying to avoid impulse buying). It was still there this weekend and now it is mine (I still wanted it). I also found a small wooden shelf that will be painted white, mounted in the pantry and filled with spices and herbs.

And I found time to cast on a new summer sweater for myself, knitted with recycled cotton.

I have a pretty full and busy week ahead of me, among other things we plan to take the little mama cat to the spay and neuter clinic, Del has volunteered to take care of that which is a big load off my shoulders.

Roses in Milkglass

Saturday

Sunday

Monday