Family Celebrations and Summer Joys

I thought since I had some peaches why not try a bellini. while it was ok not my favorite. 

I made a very quick trip into the thrift store this week. There were crying babies and people everywhere. Yikes!!! But for 3.00 I got what I have been holding out for, for several years. A pasta machine! I figure if I try it and hate it 3.00 is not a bad try and I can donate it back. I will wait for a time when we are not so busy. 

A walk around the garden today. Fairy roses are just heavy with blooms.

My Astilbes are in bloom. I love the feathery blooms when they sway in the breeze.

I am not sure what this is, but I do think it is a type of succulent. It is in full bright yellow right now. 

Speaking of succulents my hens and chicks are happy in the rock walls.

And my Hosta is happy. I know some people do not like the flowers they produce but I like them and so do the bees. My poor daughter she had a deer find her Hosta for the first time; they do a number on them pretty quickly.

My patch of walking onions had gotten a bit out of hand. I passed some off to my friends and then I thinned it out a bit. It is a perennial, and you can eat the whole plant. It has the taste of shallots. I am drying them a bit in an old onion bag.  Walking onions info here if you want to know more. 

I got this plant last year when I retired. I tried to winter it over in the house but trust me it was near death this spring. I threw it out in the garden in the pot it was in and said you have one chance, or you go on the compost heap. Lol it listened it is getting new leaves and blooming who knew???

The pond is not clearing up like I would like but I don't dare add any more chemicals to it because we have a new resident, and I don't want it to croak. 

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It is humid and awful today but there are storms brewing to clear it out. Not a fan of humid weather makes me very lazy. 

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Yesterday we celebrated my brother and sister-in-law's 50th Anniversary. It was nice to gather and honor them. This is my husband's brother who donated his bone Marrow to him. So, to say they are special is an understatement. We also saw friends there that asked if I ever got bored being retired? NEVER! They are still working.

I will end here thank you for all the new visits and comments every comment means so much to me. 

Have a great week!  

Beautiful Days

My gardens are so wonderful if I do say so myself.

These are fairy roses; they will bloom now until a hard frost

Even on my walk the flowers are popping up everywhere. These are wild foxgloves. 

My lavender has just started blooming.

I always make at least one lavender wand a year, over the years I have quite a collection to put in my wool. 

Oh that darn bear! He is making me so mad!

He showed up last night and because I have no food for him, he tried to get at my blue birds. As you can see, he made quite a mess of it. 

These lovely nights we have been able to sit on the porch and wait for the fireflies. It is just so lovely to watch them blink looking for a date. 

                                                                                

It is strawberry season here and I do love a good strawberry!

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Today we spent a few hours getting our little pond back up and running. I lifted and moved more rock than I care to remember. 

But the good news is it is running the water is a bit green, but I added some stuff that should help. I will show you pictures later. 

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I want to apologize for not getting back to you all as fast as I should the days just get away from me. We hit the ground running in the mornings. Between walks and gardens and housework by the time I sit down in the evenings I am done in. I will try to do better. 

Have a wonderful week. We have a fun weekend ahead and some company coming for the 4th. It is good to be retired!

 

Tornado Warning!

Sat morning, we headed to Portsmouth NH with friends for the 

pocket garden tour. 

This was a tour of gardens in the city neighborhoods of Portsmouth.

There were all kinds of gardens. 

I thought these pods were so interesting.

Some that were so groomed by professionals. Then there were others that were jumbled and lovely and fun! Those I loved the most.

I took lots and lots of pictures of plants I am interested in getting. And then other ideas like fairy lights in all the window boxes! 

Portsmouth is an old fishing village that has turned into a very up scale expensive place. But it is still lovely to tour. 

A wonderful firemen's fountain by one of their fire houses. 

We ended the day with lunch down on the water by the tugboats delicious. 

This morning, we headed out for brunch to celebrate husband's birthday a couple of days early. There was live music and wonderful food but better company. 

And usually, out of this window there is an amazing view of Mt Chocorua. But it was all clouded in.  

After we got home, we kept getting tornado warnings, pouring rain, and thunder rolling around our mountains. So, I spent the afternoon working on my second cushion for the glider on the porch. And chatting on messenger with my sweet friends. We were all under the tornado warnings. I also watched Hercule Poirot on Britbox. 

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I hope the rain stops I need to get into the gardens to weed and there is some housework to be done this week. Yoga in the morning and then I will get a few groceries. So boring but a good boring lol. 

Have a wonderful week!

Wonderful Time At The Beach!

                          We all got to the beach in Maine about noon on Monday. First up food!!! And lots of it. We shared it was so good. 

                              Tuesday, we headed for bedrock gardens in Lee NH. It was the start of a very hot few days, but we still loved everything about it. 

 

                                    Such a beautiful peaceful setting 

                                                              We stuck to the shade as much as possible. 

Water lilies 

So, what do you do after a hot garden walk?

Why go to the beach of course. The cool ocean breezes were a relief.

The water was so cold I did not go in. 

Next day out early to visit a beautiful garden center in 

Kennebunk Me. 

Snug Harbor Farms. 

They had doves or some said pigeons.

I have driven by this place a thousand times and never knew it is as large as it is.  

A climbing hydrangea just beautiful.

we picked up a couple of little things and off we went.

We had ice cream for lunch and more beach time.  

We worked on this craft it is for a hook in this fall. Wonderful right?

We toasted beautiful sunsets and had the loveliest time. 

We swapped gifts. A mushroom for my garden and a new pair of gardening gloves. Oh, the wand is the best! You can fill it with your favorite spice such as salt and pepper and then wave your magic wand over your plate voila seasoned!!! I love it!

Donna made handmade vinegars chive and tarragon. 

With a few other lovelies (look at those buttons!)

Watching the moon come up the last full day of spring.

Yes, that is our sweet little cottage. 

And today well today was sad, time to go home. 

I got up early and walked to get donuts. We all left for home about noon. I feel so blessed to have these amazing friendships and to have Donna host us by the sea. 

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It has been thundering since I got home but the temp has dropped 20 degrees. Yeah!

About my floor that porch floor has been there for at least 25 years. It weathers just fine.

It has been scrubbed and scrubbed and sealed I guess I never showed it before. But thank you for all the compliments. 

I will be around to visit everyone to see what I have missed while I was away. 

Welcome to the Porch!

Welcome to the porch!

The railings and door are new. We have solar lights on the end caps of stairs. It gets very dark here at night. 

The porch is ready just in time to see the fireflies come out to play this year! There were hundreds the first night. 

I have a box for gardening gloves and a few tools for when I have a few minutes to get out in the garden. Husband made the box for me. 

The floor is mahogany. I have scrubbed it and sealed it, so it looks great right now. 

Our table where we have lunch and dinner all summer.

Our porch is 40 feet long and 8 feet wide. So, we have divided it into two sections. 

This is our old glider we have had for years. I finished the cushion. Trust me a person who can sew would never approve of how this is finished but good enough for the porch. 

We got rid of two big chairs and bought this glider from Home Depot. When we have people over it was too crowded with how we had it set up. This will give us more room to move around. 

We have them across from each other. We both like this so much better. 

I hung up my lady liberty for the fourth. 

The little shelf under it is a piece of marble husband had and he made a shelf for my battery candles, and you just may see a gnome hanging around. 

I made bread today not sure why the bead fell but it still tastes good. 

I made a recipe I found online. The cake mix is angel food cake,

one can of lemon pie filling, zest of one lemon and the juice of the lemon. mix well put in a 9x13 pan. 350 for 38 minutes.

After it cooled, I cut it into squares and dusted it with powdered sugar. I used parchment paper in the pan, no grease at all. 

They are good and lemony and so easy. 

I made them to take to the beach with me. I am headed out first thing in the morning. 4 of us are gathering at the beach in Maine for 4 days!!!! It is supposed to be very hot and hopefully it will be cool and lovely at the beach. There is a garden walk, lobster rolls, cold cocktails, and lots of laughter in store. We all need this so much!

And I will close with a happy father' day to my husband.

Our one and only is the exact double of her dad. I love them both to the moon!

Have a great week!