Just another puffy-clouds-in-cerulean-blue-skies picture.

Leif running around with his "Garden Hat" (as he calls it) in his hand. 

He had just heard police sirens (very rare around here) and ran to the end of the dock to check it out.

More running across the yard.

Love that profile.

Especially when it is a happy smiley profile.

Oh! This is his latest milestone - drawing something out of lines (as opposed to circular squiggles) and that you can see what it is from looking at it.  He drew (with chalk) on the little slate board outside our door a picture of a bed.  It's between the white twine lines on the board at the top. 

He was frustrated that it didn't look right.

I was ecstatic to see something other than circles (although those are nice, too).

Now he's drawing with lines.

Will the wonders never cease?

:)

From Sunrise to Sunset

Sunrise from our Dining Room.

The other morning, I woke up ver' early and unable to go back to sleep,
got up and cleaned.

After a while, rosy-fingered Dawn started creeping her way through the sky, so I thought I'd take pictures.

I worked VERY hard to make the image blurry and soft, only realizing later that I should have just put the camera in manual focus.

That's life in the wee hours, though!

I got the shot I wanted, though.

And I love it.

I'm weird, eh?

Leif has been playing outside almost all day, every day.

That's still not enough, though.

He throws a fit if we bring him inside for a bath and dinner.

He plays while we work: we fill his little wading pool with mulch, and he plays with his diggers and dump trucks.

Then he'll play with bubbles (he has a little bubble machine that pumps out bubbles), smashing them, and blowing more bubbles himself.

When he's hot and filthy from all the running around after bubbles and playing in the dirt, we take the mulch out of the pool fill it with water, and he hops in to cool off.

He'll play in the water for hours (we're right by his side the whole time), which is nice.

When he wants a more quiet activity, he'll draw with chalk on the sidewalk, read a book, scoot around on his scooter, or just simply drive little trucks and excavators all over.

One of his favorite activities is painting.

We recently bought a little box easel and he sits at that for a long time, painting his little masterpieces.

He'll eat snacks (generally homemade granola) and drink his water from a mug (to be like Mommy & Daddy with their coffee) in the garage.

He'll go and help our neighbor with her flower garden.

He'll carry the heavy watering can for her and help her water the flowers and birdbath.

He even named his mini-excavator after her.

I'm not sure there is a higher honor to give in a little boy's life!

Anyway, all of this is going on with us working in the garage, so we get to work and he gets to play.

It's a win-win situation, methinks.

Unfortunately, he doesn't sleep anymore with all this running about outside that he would being stuck inside all day on a rainy day. Waah.

We haven't had any crabs lately.

We ran out of bait.

That makes me ver' sad.

I'm craving crabs like mad.

Isn't that rad? (Sorry bout that - couldn't help it).

Anyway, we've had a busy week of preparations.

But I'll tell you about that later.

Night gives way to Day.

This picture makes me want to go back to sleep right now.

The garden is doing ver' nicely.

It has been loving all of the rain it has gotten.

My Leif-elf runs across the backyard.
He has a nice smile on his face if you want to click to enlarge.

I thought there was something more interesting to tell you, but I've rambled on for a bit now trying to figure out what it was....to no avail.

Happy Days, then!

Who's That Knocking at Our Door?

Oh, it's Big Bird (not the yellow dude, though!)

This guy has been hangin' around our back stoop a lot (as you can see in the picture, he is standing on the step) nabbing little skinks and gobbling them down his long throat right before our very eyes.   It's pretty amazing how fast he moves.  Makes me glad I'm not a skink.

Luckily, we get to watch from the safety of our Dining Room, only around a foot or two away from this preying giant.

 

This giant flower belongs to my Dad and happend to be blooming while we were there for Father's Day.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

That blooming head is roughly the size of my head. 

Seriously.

I forget what it is called, but it's stunning!

Update: It's called a Blood Lily (Scadoxus multiflorus) - Thanks Scott! :)

 

This is Jason making cookies. 

We all worked together the other day to make Oatmeal M&M cookies and it was the highlight of the week (in a week with a lot of highlights!)

Leif won't stop talking about it, so we'll be making some more cookies together at the end of this week.

Mr. Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum).

We've seen this bird (and friends) a lot around our house lately, and couldn't figure out what he was.

He was the same size and shape as a mockingbird, but was Brown.

Turns out, he is a Brown Thrasher, in the same family as Mockingbirds, hence the resemblance.

Brown Thrashers don't Mock like Mockingbirds do, though.  They have their own song.

I think he's very handsome, especically with that spotting on his underside.

Garden Update:  The garden is continuing to grow nicely.  I've planted more squash, cukes, & beans - and some of them are actually sprouting.  On some plants, this will be the third succession of plants coming up, which pleases me greatly.  By this time most years, my garden is spent and wasting away.  But this year, I have new plants cropping up, while the old ones are still producing (for the most part).

The yella squash, after being pelted by hail and attacked by powdery mildew, are now being attacked by squash beetles.  They still have little fruits on them, but I don't think they'll make it through to full size.  The leaves are yellow and sometimes fully-wilted-brown.   The zukes, right next to the squash, are still producing, and the leaves are lively and green, with many new leaves still young and growing.

The long beans are producing wonderfully, and I found a great recipe for them.  3 of the long beans are enough to serve as a side for our little family :)

The cukes are producing well, too.  I've only made cucumber salad with them, though - I can't seem to get enough of that stuff!

I've been wondering about my gourds:  they produce loads of little fruits (I posted a picture of them a few weeks ago) but none have ever grown into a full sized gourd.  In fact, they all disappear when they are very small - just gone off the vine. (I've been having a lot of garden mysteries this season, eh?)

It didn't occur to me until yesterday that the birds may be feasting on them while I'm not looking. 

Most gourds are edible when young -

only when they're mature do they lose their squashy innards and dry out (and become inedible).

When they're young, they're like summer squash.

Anyway,

There are no little gourds on the ground, only the new ones on the vine.

In fact, those little gourds I posted a picture of a while back, well...they were gone the very next day.

I reckon I should put some netting around it to prevent the birds from getting the gourds, but I'm not sure I'll have time, or if it is too late in the season for a gourd to grow full size.

We've got a very busy few weeks ahead of us - lots and lots to do.

Oh, and a Cancer Update!

The skin graft fell off my ear the other night.

That's not good - it wasn't supposed to fall off.

So I went in to the Dr. (where Leif wooed the nurse with, "My, it sure is a lovely day today!")

and basically, the hole will continue to fill in on its own, and they will not re-do the skin graft.

I'm actually pretty happy with how it is healing.

It isn't such a pain (literally and figuratively) with the graft gone, so my life is a little easier.

I will have a notch in my ear for the forseeable future, but I don't care about that.

I can't see it unless I'm using two mirrors, so it doesn't bother me.

(Outta sight, outta mind!)

And I'm not the sort to care if other people think it hideous.  Oh well! ;)

My next appointment will be for a full body scan (every three months I'll have to have one!) to make sure the cancer isn't coming back in any way, shape or form.

Fun, fun.

It's been raining up a storm here lately.

We'd only had two rains (or so) so far this season up until the other day.

It has rained every day since, and both the garden and I are loving it.

The garden is lush and green from the water.

And I don't have to pay for the water.

Win-win.

Until the rain came, I had to water every day, or else the plants slumped and cried.

That's a lot of water.

Keep it up, stormy skies! :)

I'm planning my Winter Garden now...

and I'm taking suggestions.

What do you think I should have in my Winter Garden?

Any favorites?

Thoughts?

What say ye?

Leave a comment and let me know! :)

What do You See in the Clouds?

Leif and Jason readying the traps to go in the water under big beautiful puffy clouds.

Silly boy doesn't want me taking pictures of him, so he's hiding.

We like to look at the clouds, and tell each other what we see in them.

That's what he's doing in that picture...he saw Donald Duck and pointed him out to me.

I saw him, too.

We see all sorts of things.

And with the Summer skies full of big puffy clouds, we get to have this kind of fun every day!

He dressed himself (as he almost always does).

Lately he's been loving socks (as you can see above) but particularly loves them with sandals.

I didn't get a picture of that, though. :)

We went to the beach today.

We were there for hours, wading in the shallow waters while large fish jumped around us.

We played in the sand.

We built sand mountains and then built roads up the mountains before we knocked the mountains down.

Leif made friends, of course.

I blew bubbles.

Leif chased them over the sand and into the water.

Everyone around us loved the bubbles, too.

It kind of became the delight of the beach.

No pictures from the beach, though.

Just memories.

We saw a magnificent frigate bird.

I pointed him out to Leif as excitedly as the "come-heres" pointed out the dolphins to their children.

The beach wore Leif out.

He came home, took a quick shower to clean up, drank a glass of water I gave him, and snuggled with his babies under a blankie.

In a laundry basket.

That's where he is sleeping right now.

See the little giraffe feet in the left of the laundry basket?

That's his one of his babies, aptly named "Giraffe."

I took that picture around 30 seconds ago.

Oh, I love my little Leify.

Today's Harvest

Today's Harvest.

The ruler on the right to measure the long beans. 

The longest one (the one that curls in at the bottom of the picture) is 21 inches long.

From the top: Thai Long Beans

Middle Row from Left: Zuke, 6 mystery cukes, 2 Telegraph Improved Cukes

Bottom from Left: Basil (Holy and Siam Queen Mixed), White currant Tomatoes, Rattlesnake Beans (shelled).

Most of the tomatoes are eaten before they come in the house.

They're small and tasty.

And for those of you interested, the wooden tray that is holding the veggies is a new multi-purpose tray.

I bought it for Leif's Montessori activities, but it serves multiple duties in addition: holding fruit and vegs (as you can see), and also can be a serving platter for parties (since we have so many of those, y'know!)

And Leif, happy with the harvest (he helps me in the garden most mornings!)

Last night, I started planning my Winter Garden.

Yesterday, I planted more rattlesnake beans, too.

Might as well face it, I'm addicted to gardening! :)

Weekending

Yay! The Thai long beans are out and about!

Let's not mention the fact that they were out the other day, when I posted that I couldn't find any beans from them.

They were, and they looked pretty much like they do there.

Foot-long beans hanging in the air that I completely missed.

Kinda like this guy:

The smooth-skinned Telegraph Improved Cucumber that I had said hadn't made an apparance yet, in that same post.

Clearly, he had, and I just hadn't noticed.

Miss Observant, apparently, I am not.

But oh well.

A gardener is constantly learning.

Ain't that the truth.

This weekend, we caught crabs.

We gardened.

We worked.

We played.

We had a nice Sunday meal:

Grilled Marinated Flank Steak (after eating that recipe my whole life, it still makes me swoon - how many things can you say that about?)

Homegrown Squash and Zukes, broiled in the oven because our little grill is too small to hold all of it.
 :)

And homegrown cucumber salad - Mildred's recipe.

And homemade bread.

MmmMmm, it was good.

And it was fun to have a meal that mainly (aside from the cow) came from the garden.

I just had to take a picture of these crabs because they were just so brilliantly BLUE.

Aren't they gorgeous?

Love Mesome Crab.

One, maybe two people that read this blog will get that sentence, but that's okay.

It makes me laugh.

I can't believe it's Monday.

You know what else I can't believe?

This:

Fait' and Begorrah!  Are those White Pelicans?  In June?

Yup, we saw them yesterday, fly overhead - we both sputtered as we were eating, "Whi-wh-white Pelicans!" and then they landed at a little sand bar out in front of our house.

We've only ever seen them in Winter - generally late winter.

They're supposed to migrate up North to breed.

But apparently some of them didn't want to.

So here they are.

Making my day.

:)

A good week to Ye!

Bread + Cukes + Bike Rides

Leif enjoying breakfast this morning: Black Raspberry Jam on homemade bread and milk.  We bought him new Leify-sized glasses - mainly in part because I was tired of handwashing the metal ones he'd been using prior!

The cucumber jungle.

It creeps out from the trellis and into the driveway...

the watermelons creep on to the driveway from the other side.

I've got to be careful when I park the car! :)

First beans on this plant...I think this one may be a Christmas Lima. 

The only other option is a Thai Long bean...and this looks like a larger pod type, not a long Thai Bean!

I can't tell which plant it's on, because the plants are all intertwined, both on the ground and up the trellis.

The Thai Long beans have really shot up and have big dark green glossy leaves.

I've yet to see a bean produced from them, but they're Thai, so they like the heat and humidity of Summer here.

Well, at least, that is what I'm hoping.

Our days have been in the upper 90s, and "feel like" 104, according to the weatherguy.

A Cancer Update:  I went to the Dr. this week, and they don't like how the skin graft is scabbing.  If it scabs too heavily (it is heavily scabbed now), the graft won't take.  I told them the reason it was scabbed was because the bandages weren't sticking at all.  The last time I was there, a nurse put a bandage on it, and by the time I got to the checkout counter, a man was telling me my bandage was off.  The counter was all of five steps away where the bandage had been put on. 

Anyway, the nurse this time didn't believe me that bandages weren't sticking at all.

Then she tried to put a bandage on my ear.

4 attempts later, I think she believed me.

She finally switched up the type of bandage with a roar of frustration (okay, maybe that's a bit of literary license on my part) and it stuck enough for me to get out of the Dr. Office.

Either way, it's funny the things that have changed due to this.

Not things you'd expect, but odd little things.

Like the fact that I can't use my ipod.

And I can't sleep on my right side, or even lean that way when I'm sleeping on my back.

Funny the little things you don't think of and take for granted everyday.

But soon, I'll be healed up and good as new.

And then I'll be rockin' that ipod.

:)

I'll leave you with a Leif story:

Jason and Leif took a bike ride as I was putting the final touches on dinner.

They rode out to the airport, and then turned to come back, riding alongside the runway.

"Daddy, go faster!" said Leif.

"I can't go faster, Leif.  I'm pedaling against a headwind." Jason said, and explained about headwinds.

"Wind?"  Leify called out into the breeze,

"Can you stop slowing us down? We need to get home to Mommy and dinner!"

:)

Making Day

Two loaves of fresh homemade bread that Leify and I made.

Yesterday, Leify and I made a lot of things together.

We made two loaves of bread, as you can see above.

(one is little, one is big)

We made a fresh batch of dough to last us the week.

The other thing we made, well, it made Leify happy, see?

Happy boy!

Or at least Cheesy Grin Boy.

This is why he was happy:

We made popsicle treats!

These are strawberry yogurt popsicle treats.

We made them together from fresh strawberries and yummy thick Greek Yogurt.

We put them in our little sailboat mold (or is it mould?) and froze them overnight.

We ate them as a lovely afternoon treat today.

 

They were thoroughly enjoyed.

And this little guy sauntered by our Dining Room Window as we were eating dinner last night.

He was incredibly fast.

He was perhaps the fastest turtle I've ever seen.

And his shell was beautiful.

This out of focus picture doesn't even remotely do it justice.

He was a very handsome toytle.

G'day to ya!

The Great Cucumber Mystery

Today's Harvest:
1 Thai Green Cucumber, 1 White Scallop Squash, 4 Rattlesnake Beans, and 1 Cucumber Mystery.

Feeling a little Sherlocky today?

Here's the mystery:

I planted three types of cucumber seeds at the beginning of the season, all from the same company:
Thai Green, Yok Kao, and Telegraph Improved.

The Telegraph Improved have yet to make an appearance that I'm aware of.

The Thai green are growing nicely - long straight green cucumber-looking cucumbers.

The rest of the cukes growing are orange and yellow.

See that orange cuke in the top picture? 

Well, he was on the exact same vine as this guy:

Literally, the same vine, a few inches up.

So one's first thought might be that they're overripe, correct?

Well, the mystery continues.

The yellow and orange cukes, for the most part, are that color from the very beginning.

That cuke I picked today was that color when he was a wee little tiny cuke, if maybe just a lighter shade.

Either way, I ordered all GREEN cucumbers.

So, how do you explain THIS?

Oh, wait.  That's a watermelon.  He's a sweet little chubby thing, but clearly not a cuke.

Anyway,  How do you explain THIS?

Ah, better.  Little yellow cukes that have been yellow since Day 1.

And these guys, back from near where the harvested guy in the first pic came from...

I'm so confused.

Why do I have orange and yellow cukes in my yard?

Did the seed company send me Hmong Reds by mistake?

Is my garden turning in to a science lab before my eyes?

What say you, Sherlock?

Sock Gnome

Do you remember my Sock Gnome?

Well, it looks like he's still here.

I found him in my laundry basket today.

He's a bit larger and older looking than I remember him.

 

But he's still a silly-billy sock gnome.

I'm glad to have him in my laundry basket!

Do you have a sock gnome in your laundry basket?