As warm as the 4th of July

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Bri and I worked outside today and Sean worked in Big Lots. He was scheduled for 3 days in a row and the boss even tried to snag him for tomorrow, but he put his foot down. He has a new Dell laptop to play with and hasn’t had that much time to look at it (no internet yet).

Bri planted tomatoes and green peppers while I planted zinnias, cosmos, daisies, Mexican sunflowers and an assortment of seeds that came in a package between paper (you just lay them on the soil and throw a 1/2″ of dirt over them). They were poppies, zinnias and a few others. By the time I was done, I had two very rosy cheeks and was dripping in perspiration. I cooled off and mulched Sean’s garden so he could just enjoy it and not worry about doing it. Bri cut the entire lawn too.

My gladiolus (planted a few weeks ago) are coming up! Yes! And I see astilbe poking it’s finger-like leaves up near my Sweet William flowers.

I had a ‘Perkins’ dinner tonight-eggs with chives and a little cheddar cheese on top, bacon, fries, biscuits and grapes.

Before I went outside today I worked on 4 Art trading cards. (so G if you are reading my blog stop here). Our pal chose the project-pick an artist, do cards like their artwork. I picked one of my favorites-Vincent Van Gogh and his Starry Night painting for all four cards. They were fun to do! For my cross stitch readers-I used some gold cording from my stash for the sky swirls. Two have star shaped brackets. I did use one element from the original painting in each design-a star or the village (for instance). Some of you may recognize the Don McLean lyrics from his song based on this painting. I was sad to read that Vincent had painted this when he was in an insane asylum. 

Famous Artist ATCs

The original Starry Night
We are having rainstorms tonight. We need the rain, but I know that some of my plants were really getting hammered. I am also hoping that I patted the ground down well after I planted the above mentioned seeds.

Photo hunt-Colorful

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Asking a flower gardener to pick just one colorful picture is like asking a chocolate addict to pick their favorite chocolate (well you understand what I mean).  I know people can be colorful too. My mom loves to dress up and coordinate shoes and jewelry to her clothes. She wore a bright yellow jacket to the Flower show, for cripes sake! So after much deliberation (I took these Friday for the hunt):

PSHunt
Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

My favorite planter so far for 2007
or maybe this one:
Raspberry pink petunias

Nice day for a zombie

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We had temps close to 80 today. It was warm in the sun, but cool in the shade. I had one of those nights where I couldn’t go to sleep until the birds were starting to chirp. I did manage to do a few loads of laundry and vacuum. I had the cat outside and almost fell asleep, so decided to actually lay down (a rarity for me) for a while. I had made beef stew, so that was simmering. Kitty came back on his window hammock and we rested.

After dinner, I did mulch a few gardens with the red mulch Bri found for me Wednesday night. I have 4 bags of root mulch (dark color) for a little variety. I noticed the flowers in the sunny beds were almost asking for the cool blanket of mulch. Sean needs to do his garden. As for the other areas, I will only do the rim of them as the one with the Sweet William has some newly planted bulbs and astilbe in it that has not come up and I don’t want to cover them with mulch-yet.

I am getting worried about bugs like Japanese beetles munching on my flowers. Some of my yellow petunias look nibbled. Rats. And the mosquitoes are starting to come out. I don’t like the humidity and insects of summer.
Lantana and yellow petunias

We are getting invaded by little black ants. They are getting into my dishwasher and I am finding 100s of them in there if I don’t run the load. I don’t want to waste water, so I just rinse them away. I had to get out the insect spray and do around the kitchen. We had no problem last year with them after the remodel. I guess now that the dust is settled, they found their way back! I am glad they haven’t found the low level bread drawer!

I think I’m almost finished

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Sean and I went down to a few garden centers in nearby Hockessin, Delaware on Wednesday. The one place has unusual plants, but as my grandmom would say ‘are very dear’ with their prices. I did purchase plants with an all yellow tone-some of which were portulaca, marigold and licorice plant-it’s a whitish yellow. I bought two different kinds of fuchsia and planted them together. I also added to my coleus collection. I planted my purple and yellow sweet potato vine in strawberry jars and in it’s holes I added apricot color portulaca.

I have yet to plant my flower seeds though I am not worried. Zinnias and cosmos are quick to germinate. I found some lavender and green zinnia seeds. I also have seeds I saved from last year. I want to plant sunflowers, but I am afraid they will be a snack for deer. I guess I’ll throw some in to see what happens.

We’ve been watching all the tv finales-nothing too surprising with the ‘reality’ based shows. I did think that maybe Laila Ali would win Dancing with the Stars. I think she got a bit of a chip on her shoulder and people didn’t care for that. I thought that Blake would win on American Idol, but Jordin did. She’s a pretty decent singer for a 17 yr old, but he is a great performer.

Lost also had it’s finale. I’m really confused now. I think they get rescued, but Jack (Matthew Fox) is really messed up. I’ll be curious to see how they continue that saga.

Happy 18th to my nephew Patrick! 

Columbine

Gift for Karin

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I don’t think my friend has enough time lately to check out my blog. She is going to be a bride in a month now and I get to see her as such! Anyway, her birthday is coming up on the 26th and I had stitched this years ago (and tucked it away) and it just seemed right for Karin. She is a chef in training and in love, so you can see it’s perfect.

Recipe for Happiness
I forget where I found the little pots, spatula and spoon, but the bowl, cherries and ‘garnish’ are from a Mary Englebreit leaflet I just found at a book sale. I framed it myself over the weekend. I also just framed Stitching Girl today and mailed off the above today too.

8 minute post

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(before the dentist)

Finished sewing girl done on linen with 4210 variegated DMC red floss. I’ll probably hang her in the family room along with the redwork piece my mom made for me.

Finished cross stitch

Iris garden (are you tired of looking at them yet? I’m not! See how close the road is?)

Irises

Gnome garden-waiting for the flowers to fill in, but newly mulched.

Gnome garden
Update-Dr. B thought I was biting down on my filling so he sanded off some of the tooth. He said if it continues to bother me it may be a nerve problem-crossing fingers.

The 3 Merry Gardeners

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Actually we are the tired gardeners. We all did our share of yard work. Sean mowed around the house and weeded and planted his garden. He planted some of his annuals too close (I’m surprised at him) and used all the Cleomes and I wanted half of them. I’m stealing some back! Brian did the long part of the yard, some extra trim work that Sean didn’t do and rototilled the veggie patch plus a big circle for me for my flower seeds. I weeded a lot of my lily/grass garden; planted pots; planted impatiens and snapdragons and put down the two bags of mulch I had (I hate mulching, but it’s so worth it). I need about 5 or more bags. I saved the lives of two newborn field mice too. Mama and her brood had a nest in the rototiller! She took off leaving two babies behind. I picked them up with a plastic pot and gingerly put them under a hosta and covered them with part of the nest. About 10-15 minutes later, Mama came back for them.

We got Chinese food for dinner (so Sean would go and get it as he showered before Bri and I did) and it was ok. I’m always weary to eat it.

Tomorrow I’m getting a tooth checked out to see if the filling is cracked. Saturday Sean took me to a hospital fair and the ‘Attic Attack’ was a joke-hardly any donations this year. We ended up grabbing a sandwich and buying a few plants. We went to Kmart and bought Bri a small chain saw as an early Father’s Day gift. We then went to a book store where I haven’t been to since college and it had expanded! I enjoyed their huge magazine aisle and their discounted shelves-I bought two-Angel inspired recipes and Victorians and their flowers. I should review these for you! Maybe tomorrow.

And to answer Barbara’s question in my comments-we have 1.4 acres all on a rectangular piece of land. The house is on one end and I would say my gardens are confined to about 1/4 acre or a little more.

Check out this neat link that my pal Nancy sent me last month. Make it pretty now!

8 Random things…

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I’ve been tagged for the “8 Random Things about me” meme by Karen.

The Rules:

~ Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves
~ People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules
~ At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names
~ Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1-When I was a kid, I loved to play outside at night in the summertime, especially hide and seek and catching fireflies. I still like the nighttime and love to look at my solar lights illuminating my little pond.

2-I sometimes think about pulling weeds in my sleep, especially if I need to do some yard work.

3-I have 100s of book and rarely look at any of them anymore (randomly), though I can’t get rid of them. Most are non-fiction too, so I have tons of reference. Maybe I should start reviewing books on my blog!

4-At one time I thought Bri and I could start a photography business like Olan Mills with me making original backdrops.

5-I use to watch The Wizard of Oz every year, (no fail) as a kid (it was only broadcast once a year-before videos!)

6-I love to spray paint things to make them look new again.

7-I’m kinda scared about traveling to places like NYC (and am going for the first time next month), but once I get to the new place, I really enjoy checking it out.

8-My one year younger brother and I use to do singing routines to entertain my mom and grandmom. My brother always out sung me, though I ended up in the church choir for a number of years.

If you’d like to do this, please go ahead.

Gloom and chill

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The funeral for Bri’s Aunt Rose was today. He attended the viewing last night and left before we did this morning to go to the funeral home first. Sean and I picked up my mom and went right to the church. I just didn’t want to remember his aunt ‘that way’, you know? I showed my respect for her and my husband’s family which is really decreasing rapidly. I think with the one son’s wife’s family, there was only 40 people there. The kids (Sean’s age and a bit younger) are getting so big which makes us feel old. Soon we’ll be the oldest generation. Ugh. I got up to go to the restroom (at the restaurant), the mom of Aunt Rose’s daughter-in-law said loudly (so I could hear her) ‘Oh those are the people who didn’t go to the wedding’. I acted like I didn’t hear her. If Brian’s dad had gone last year to his nephew’s wedding (and the nephew begged him), then we would have gone too.

The church was the one we use to go to 20+ years ago when we lived in the area (we lived in the same apartment complex as Aunt Rose and Uncle John (also residents in the late 50s-early 60s were Dick Clark and Ed McMahon).

After the luncheon (at an Irish pub style restaurant-one of the dishes Shepherd’s Pie), we went to a Dollar Tree store across from the restaurant (ha) and then remembered that a great plant/product place was about 10 minutes away. I got 3 nice hanging baskets for $7.50 each (two toned pink petunia, multi-colored vinca and burgundy impatiens) , a gorgeous Christmas cactus and a clematis vine for $5.00. Good prices!

I came home and planted a few tomatoes (roma), green pepper and an eggplant before the early evening chill sent me in.