Blue Skies and Sunshine ...

The rain has come and gone, and after all the destruction - it was minor, really, but seemed devastating at the time - the glory of the garden is in full swing again.  The flowers - and the veggies - smiled upon all of the water and gave us another full crop of zucchini, green beans, onions, carrots and green peppers.  Dinner last night was full of flavor and freshness! Fettucini with julienned zucchini, carrots, yellow peppers, basil and tomatoes

all from our garden!

Desert was provided by my daughter, who loves to get into the kitchen ... but only when it involves BAKING.  Her specialty of the evening - made-from-scratch-cupcakes with a delicious chocolate ganache frosting, topped with fresh strawberry slices.  OH SO GOOD!

A walk across the property revealed new flowers that were undiscovered until now.  The beautiful vibrant colors make me smile.

I've taken to carrying my big Nikon D80 with me for my morning walks.

I never know what I'll discover - so best to be prepared.  While my skills as a photographer are not the best, I still enjoy capturing "moments" that may never be seen again.

I share with you some of my early morning findings ... hope you enjoy them too!

Wishing you a day filled with all

the brilliant colors of your life!

Be Careful What You Wish For ...

So a little over a month now with virtually no rain.  Sitting on the patio a couple of nights ago, we had an everso slight few minutes of "mist".  We looked up into the sky and said "Oh, if only it would just open up and rain for a good long time!" .... Well, it certainly did last night!

We awoke this morning after a full night of thunder and lighting and buckets of water falling from the sky!  Came downstairs to find that we needed those buckets in the living room since the water was drizzling through the ceiling onto my leather couch and hardwood floors.  "Quick everyone! Grab towels! Start mopping! Run to the garage and grab some empty plastic bins!" ... So I took garage duty.  Ran through the rain and into the garage.  "YIKES!! Somebody help!  There's water pouring into the garage from the side walls and the floor is flooding! We need to move everything off the floor - and QUICK!"

It's about 330p now and the rain is still falling, but not so heavily, thank goodness.  The yard and the flower beds and the driveway have been flooded.  My poor cannas and gladiolus have been pummeled by the rain and the garage is soaking wet.  Thankfully, the water has stopped dripping from the ceiling, but I'm leaving the plastic bins scattered around the living room just in case!  The weather report said we'd had over EIGHT INCHES of rain by noon today!

I think we should start drawing up the plans for an Ark!

view from the kitchen window at 1030am

my poor cannas :(

The front flower bed along the driveway - all washed away :(

I spent so much time on this, planting multiple varieties of

cosmos, zinnias, bells of ireland and delphiniums

from seed!  They were all just about 6" tall.

Gone now.

The front pasture where we play bocce ball.

Looks like we're starting a lake!

The front driveway.  Looks like I'll be doing some

shoveling AND mowing this weekend!

One of my French flower buckets sitting on the back patio.  Just a little rain, ya' think?

I just can't resist!

I just couldn't resist another quick post ...

The garden beds are almost blooming faster than I can take pictures ... and that goes for the vegetable garden as well!  So before it gets incredibly hot, I want to be sure that we remember how lovely it all was in May and early June...

the red cannas are bursting with blooms ... i must have at least 50

of these plants scattered around the property!

there's a huge wall of oleanders covering one of the fences!

it must be about 15 feet long and they stand at these that tall as well.

(my husband hates these - i don't know why)

The outside of the vegetable garden where I've mixed

a little of this and a little of that.

I love the New Guinea Impatients.  Their colors are so vibrant!

The Daylillies are going crazy!  They won't last long,

but I'll surely enjoy them while they're here.

Cannas, Impatients, Gladiolas, Cosmos and Roses

These will be smaller Cannas - don't know what color yet -

but can't wait to find out!  It's feels like Christmas Eve and

wondering what's inside the packages under the tree!

We have 4 apple trees, 1 pear tree and 3 peach trees!

The pears and peaches are having a little trouble ...

but the apples are doing great!!

Inside the vegetable garden.

Multiple varieties of lettuce and onions on the right ... carrots on the left. The lettuce is just about finished for the season (it's just getting too hot),

but everything else is going gang-busters!

The cantaloupe we planted from seed just two weeks ago!!

A few of the gazillions of tomatoes that will be ready soon!

I'd better get the pots ready for making spaghetti sauce...

I can use some of the herbs from my garden, too.

The broccoli is just starting to form.

Hope we can get a taste before the bugs eat it all!

And the squash and zucchini ...

holy cow, we have SO MUCH of this it's almost ridiculous.

I mean seriously, how much squash can 4 people

eat in a single day?

So there you have it ... our garden

is flourishing and we're loving every minute of it!

Hope you enjoyed the tour :)

The Net vs The Garden

When we moved to "the country" we had a lot of expectations. Mostly about slowing things down.  The pace of our lives had just become overwhelming - too many appointments, too many cars on the road, too many phone calls, too many obligations to people other than those that are most important to our family.  And so we made a choice to move to a place where life is a little slower, a place where we can relax a little more and enjoy the simple pleasures - but a place where we can still enjoy the excitement of the city when we need "a fix" ... just an hour and a half to destination population over 6million (last I heard).

However, along with that slower pace of living comes .... SLOWER INTERNET!!!  Arrrrgggg!!  We had forgotten about that little issue.  And the momentary horror of being told initially "I'm sorry ma'am, but we only offer DIAL-UP in your area" .... WHAAATTT!!  DIAL UP??  Are you kidding me?  (some of you may not be even old enough to remember dial-up internet ... let's just say, you might as well handwrite a letter and put it in the mailbox.  It's about that slow!)

After much research and many phone calls, we finally found internet access.  At a whopping 1.5mbps - WOW - blazing fast, huh?  But, we adapted, because after all, we did want a slower lifestyle.  Then this week, an unexpected gift!  A phone call from ATT to tell us that they could UPGRADE our internet service and could now offer us "SUPER FAST" connections of up to ... ready for this? ... 3.0mbps ... !!  Holy Cow - now we're up to almost half of what we had in our previous life!

But we didn't move here to be on the internet all day long.  We moved here to enjoy nature and family and friends ... and the simple things we had been taking for granted during the past 30 years of our marriage.

And so, today, I bring to you ... at "lighting speed" from East Texas ... my newest discovery in the garden :)

One of my favorites, the gladiola.  A bright beautiful shade of fuschia in the front ... and a brilliant orange-red in the back! Both an unexpected gift in this morning's garden tour.

Enjoy ... and remember to slow down - when you can ...

try to notice the little things ...they can make such a difference in your day!

it's working!!

Phew!!  Thank goodness for a little bit cooler temps.  The past couple of days have been incredibly humid - but then, this is Texas - what was I expecting?  Woke up this morning to a balmy 70 degrees with light cloud cover and soft breezes ... best get busy and finish my new walkway through the arbor.  I replanted the stones and tucked in bunches of creeping thyme.  Gives off a fresh scent when you walk under the arbor.  Plus the ceiling fans on the covered porch will keep that lovely aroma moving around the dining area :)

Pulled a few more weeds (trust me - there are MORE and MORE to be rid of), planted my new Mexican Mint Marigolds and trimmed a few dwindling rose hips.  Refilled the coffee cup and then Lucy and I took a stroll out to the vegetable garden.

Then what to my wondering eyes should appear .. tomatoes and cucumbers, peppers and onions!

The warmer weather and humidity really set everything into action!  Woah, this is really cool!  Just a few short months ago the "garden" was really just a fenced in area filled with weeds and scraps and remnants of what was once a lovely, flourishing garden.  I really had my doubts about whether we'd be able to bring back the beauty and bounty of the garden.  But, persistance and hard work do pay off!

(OK - so it was really more of my husband's hard work and my persistance :)

the first of the bell peppers :)  we planted the standard green (of course) as well as red and yellow!

the green peppers are really taking off.  the red and yellow have just started to flower, so will probably be another week or so before I have any "evidence" to share.

Cucumbers!!  YUM!

I have this vision that one of two things is going to happen ... either we'll only end up with 1 or 2 of each vegetable and four people will be fighting over who got the bigger piece ... the pleasure of enjoying the "fruits of our labor" will be over in a mere 5 mintues!

OR

we'll have a HUGE harvest (which is a great thing), but it'll ALL come at once - and because we're so "new" at this ... we'll bungle the whole thing and miss our opportunity at canning, storing and sharing good food!

We have tomatoes!  We have about 8 large plants now and lots of little green tomatoes - but, A-HA!!

I spy two red tomatoes!

(see comment above ... how do you divide 2 tiny tomatoes between four adults)

OK ... so these little guys are not the most attractive thing in the garden, but man-oh-man are they gonna be tasty!

You might not be familiar with Noonday Onions ...

think Vidalia from Georgia and Texas 1015 mixed together, in a smaller, more flavorfull package :)

Mmmm - mmmm - mmm.  And there's certainly
enough to go around!

...and there's the spinach, carrots, beans (climbing up the fence) and yellow squash and zuchini

working on making a grand appearance soon!

Whew ... this is a long post ... but I just have to add a couple more pics (sorry - everything came at once!) ...

My cannas are blooming!!

and Lucy just loves it here

mother's day in the garden...

I think we've all had a failed mother's day at some point in our lives.  Everyone had the best intentions, but somehow time got away from us and we forgot to call, we didn't get the card in the mail on time or we just totally spaced and missed it all together!

As a Mom, it hurts to be on the receiving (or non-receiving) end of that kind of day.  Although, as a Mom, I totally understand how it happens. I haven't always been the best at getting the card in the mail either.  But in the back of my mind, I always hope that my kids will be better at it than I am ... as in most things, we as mothers, always hope for our children to be better, stronger, smarter, etc. than we are.

Well, today was the Mother's Day we all hope for - and rarely get (likely because we dream of perfection in an imperfect world).

Oldest son (who lives out of town) actually got a card in the mail.  And since Mother's Day is on Sunday (no mail delivery) - he actually planned ahead and it arrived on Saturday :) YAY! It was the perfect HA-HA card and fit him to a T!

Middle son got up early (a very rare occurance) and made a lovely breakfast for me (and everyone else).  Set the table, warmed the syrup and even cleaned up the dishes afterwards!  Bonus - he also had a gift and a card for me!

Daughter dashed out the door right after breakfast (also amazing that she was up that early), shouted "I'll be back in a few" and took off down the driveway.  And in "just a few" she appeared with a big white box that contained the most beautiful lemon cake smothered in big fat strawberries and gorgeous pink roses!  The card attached said "You are the most beautiful and vibrant person I know".

After breakfast and gifts and hugs and kisses all around, it was time for a walk through the garden with my fresh cup o' coffee.

The day had already been so perfect, I was afraid to do anything that might "jinx" it for me!  My expectations were low, while my hope would be that I would find something new to enjoy. Another gift? In the garden? Would there be something to behold?

It didn't take long and I didn't have to go far.  There they were, right in front of me. Beautiful new blossoms that surely weren't there yesterday! Fresh and vibrant and full of new life!

So what did I learn today?

Oh, I can just barely bring myself to say this!

It's just almost painful!

I've said this to my children OVER and OVER again - why wasn't I listening when I said it?

"RELAX ... and expect it when you least expect it"

Happy Mother's Day!

ribbet ribbet

A great time last week - my oldest son was here visting from Denver!  We all miss him and languish in his visits - the conversation, the family time, the joy of having all your children together under one roof and sharing a good meal.

A couple of beautiful roast chickens on the grill, a lovely bottle of wine and a sunset to match no other ...

Then, low and behold, the guests arrived!  Uninvited - but appreciated none the less!

a wonderful discovery of some very small friends who decided to join us for the evening :)

when you live in the country, you just never know who is going to show up for dinner :)