Morning Light and Garden Things

Catching Up

Del went back to work today and I am trying to catch up with laundry, blogging and some other stuff. Last week was fun. On Monday we worked in the garden, getting the area around the rosebush cleared out and mowing all the grass.

On Tuesday morning we went to the eye doctor, got our eyes dilated and that took care of most of the day. It took forever for them to get back to normal. He also gave us a prescription for some eye drops that help with allergy symptoms, luckily he also gave us a sample of them and said to try them first before we fill the prescription. I tried them and did not really notice any difference, just out of curiosity we asked at the pharmacy how much it would be to fill the prescription, a mere $ 50.- co-pay. Oh well, good thing we don't need them. ;)

On Wednesday we went to Charlotte and visited this place:

The store looks like a mirror image of the one in Vienna but without the yummy stuff in the restaurant and the food market. We managed to find single fitted sheets at a reasonable price. The only other things we bought were some unscented candles and this little table lamp. I first saw it in the catalog and liked it, then we passed it by several times around the store and I still liked it, so it came home with us.

I was very disappointed with their fabric department which is almost non-existent. I was hoping to find some of the pretty fabrics they use for their curtains and bed linens but all they had were a few really heavy upholstery type fabrics in strange colors and patterns. And the rug I liked was sold out in the color I wanted. Oh well, looks like some things are the same in all Ikea stores no matter where. ;)
After Ikea we went for lunch at Cracker Barrel and then visited Concord Mills, the big mall outside Concord. It looks like all the shops there are still open. We bought a book we first saw when we were here on vacation in 2004 but could not buy it because it would have been too heavy for our luggage, now it was available in paperback and it was on sale too. :) It is called Cats in the Sun.
We also stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a little treat (it was our wedding anniversary after all).

Thursday we bought more wood chips to finish up the newly cleared area and I got a pink dahlia plant. The bare strip is reserved for the columbines I plan to plant there next year and I also want to plant hollyhocks in front of the shed window. The only ones who use the shed are the cats.

On Friday it was raining cats and dogs again and on our way to our regular weekly shopping we stopped at the indoor yard sale of the YWCA. I found this little picture which is now hanging in my kitchen, next to the corner shelf found at another yard sale.

We both made time to work on our hobbies. Del worked on his model railroad, supervised of course by the local expert.

And I finished two of my yarn UFOs, a cover for a sofa cushion (pattern can be found here) and a crochet bag which I started a while ago. I am now looking for the perfect buttons for the cushion.

I am off to hang the first load of laundry and leave you with a few pictures of what is growing in the garden and what we are currently picking (lettuce, spinach, herbs).

More Garden Work

Today we worked in the garden again. Del is on vacation this week and we took advantage of the nice weather. I mowed all the grass around the house and in the "south field", I know it was that fairly large piece of land that sold the house to me (and the perfect little kitchen garden area, hidden from view from the street) but mowing it gets a bit much at times. ;) There are two mulberry trees growing in the neighbor's yard and quite a lot of branches are hanging over the fence, it smells of fermenting berries back there. :) Then we cleaned out the area around the rose bush and the snowball bush, we cut both of them back a good bit and the next step is putting down more soil and then cover the area with wood chips. Next year I want to plant some peonies and hollyhocks there. I tied up all the tomato plants, they are growing well and I have at least two nice little tomatoes on them already. Unfortunately the squash bugs and cucumber beetles are back again but my homemade soap spray works well on them. The herbs and strawberries are doing fine and we ate some of our spinach for lunch yesterday.
Here are some pictures of the now cleared area (I forgot to take a before picture), I am very pleased with how it looks now.

These are the last of the radishes and some more strawberries.

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.