September Garden

After a few weeks off, the roses are back!

The basil has been fabulous in spaghetti sauce and salad!

If only my gardening pal were here to eat the new berry-berries!

Red celebrity tomatoes, with plenty of green still to ripen!

Raspberries! There were more, but I confess, I ate them!

Jalepeno peppers--awesome in salsa!

The zucchini is looking a little worse for the wear, but still producing. After being in McCall last week for 6 days, we came home to 6 arm-sized zucchini. But I found good homes for them all!

Butternut squash--not quite ready, but close!

Victoria grape tomatoes--perfect for popping in your mouth!

Grapes are close, too. They look great on one side, but the other is still green. A few more weeks ought to do it!

The zinnia are as tall, or taller than I am!

The new white peach tree had a single peach on it. We picked it tonight and ate it--it was delicious!
I also still have some green beans, but by September, they're not a pretty picture!

September is always a bittersweet month in the garden. In some ways, I'm ready for it to be over so I can move inside to other projects, like quiltmaking. In other ways, it's tough. I won't have another decent tomato til next July. No more fresh green beans or zucchini! But it's not over til the frost hits, or at least til I forget to cover everything one night. It's been a great gardening year!

Sunday in Moscow

a little reesie hug is always worth it!
Last week when we were up in McCall with JAM, we figured it would be worth the 3 hour one way drive to Moscow to see little R and her parents. We got there about 11:45, so we rescued R from the last 15 minutes of church and took her home. So much fun!

Here's a little dress I made for her. It's a little big, but soon it will fit.

in praise of warm water

I love warm water in pools! This pool in McCall is easily (but rarely) 90 degrees. I love it! I love it! It's a rarity to see me with my head in the water, so I had a photo taken for posterity. Today, the outside temp was 64 degrees, but the water was toasty. I spent 2 1/2 hours in the pool!

Sunday Dinner

This is today's dinner! Looks good, doesn't it? It's mostly from my garden! Steamed Comstock green beans, Juliet grape tomatoes, bow tie pasta (okay, not from my garden), parmesean chicken (the sauce is from my garden, the chicken and mozzarella cheese are not), and zucchini! It was definitely delectable.

For the sauce, I just started tossing whatever was in my garden in a pot--tomatoes, a couple of onions, a shredded zucchini, a shredded carrot, fresh basil, oregano, chives, and parsley. I let that simmer all day without a lid, to reduce it to a wonderful chunky sauce.

Heavenly!

Hello?

Here's little R talking to "pa" (Grandpa) on the phone...she's finally graduated from just smiling and breathing hard, and actually saying something! Here's the conversation..."Ha (hi) Pa! (grandpa!) Ah uh u! (I love you!) Bah! (bye)"

This picture has absolutely NOTHING to do with phone calls, but those little feet are so adorable!

August Garden

It's August--time for a garden update...The zinnia are amazing!
I love gathering bouquets of these gorgeous flowers.

Walla Walla sweet onions...

Jalepeno peppers...

Green peppers...

Zucchini! We were gone for a week, and when we came back, we gathered several arm-sized zucchinis! Fortunately, we have a friend who really likes the big ones!

Victoria grape tomatoes--there were more ripe ones, but they got picked yesterday.

Candace red grapes are starting to turn...

Beans are interesting right now. I've picked a ton, and pretty much finished my canning for the year. Right now, they're in a regenerating period, so I'll have more soon...I hope!

Amish paste tomatoes. I'm canning tomorrow.

Super-Fantastic tomatoes. They are super fantastic!

Raspberry bramble--you can see where I just picked one that little R promptly ate! More are on the way!

All in all, it's been a great gardening year, and August is always great, since it cools down a little. See you next month for another update!

Huckleberries 2009

HUCKLEBERRIES! Now that we know what we're looking for, and what we've missed all these years, we're hooked on finding and picking these little beauties!There's one now!
Here's L, she is the fastest picker!

Yummmm! Here's K's fabulous peach/huckleberry cobbler!

We just took the lid off...can you just taste it?

Here's how we ate them the first night--just a handful on vanilla ice cream. Add a little homemake granola, and you're officially in heaven!

This little girl loves them!

Here's our first day's picking. All in all, K, L, and I picked three times, getting a little over 2 pounds each time, for a total of about 6 and a half pounds!

mid century madness

If you've been following K's blogs, you'll see that she's really loving the mid-century modern pieces. M and L like them, too. Here's a piece J & L just picked up at a garage sale. J & L were at the garage sale, and I met them there, so that L and I could go look at some fabric. J wondered if I thought this would be a good thing. One look at the clean mid-century lines, the hardware (alone, worth more than what they were asking, easily!), and the dovetailed drawers convinced me. "If you don't buy it, I will." said I. The hesitation was the top of the piece--really dried out, with water marks--not a pretty sight. But I knew Grandpa could probably work his magic. We took it right over to him, and in a week, had it back, looking this beautiful. The best part? The asking price was $22 or best offer. J offered them $20 for the dresser and a little school chair that would be perfect with my antique desk. (I'll be working on that soon--pictures to follow.) The next best part? J & L have another year left in a small apartment, so til then, I get to store this beauty in my front hall.