I`ve Been Tagged...Seven Random (Gardening) Facts About Me, Meme.

Sara, over at Farming Friends http://www.farmingfriends.com has tagged me for a garden meme. I`m not quite sure how to go about this so I`ve taken some nice pictures and some flubs, `cause I guess I`m sorta of a mix between the two at times myself LOL And more than 7 pictures but oh well. I`ve been really slack here lately.
So here goes a tour around my back garden, the good and the bad of it, Sara :)
P.S. Hanna at This Garden Is Illegal http://www.thisgardenisillegal.com has tagged me for this same meme I`ve just learned LOL. I`m as usual going to just let anyone who loves memes give this a try because some people are fussy on them. Hope that`s okay with you guys.

The butterfly bush is getting ready to bloom any day now. It`s so pretty when it blooms and the butterflys and hummingbirds love it. The plant beside it is a perennial geranium that`s just new this year and I`m not sure if it will flower yet. ...

This end doesn`t have much happening other than two new this year lavendar plants and some weeds sprouting through the wooden sink cover under the kitchen window hehe.
Sure can see that we need to add more sand on those bricks!...

The Bugle Vine.....bugle? lol I knew it was something musical. The Trumpet vine has gone mad again and is beginning to bloom. Oh and to the far right there, hidden on the ground...that was two gorgeous herb plants I had in my kitchen window. The one window that the plants seem to like. A luscious Basil and Rosemary, both dead to the world. I thought maybe they would revive somehow if I brought them outside. And a couple of daisies that need deadheading...

The potted cherry tomatoes are coming along wonderfully....

As are the Beafsteaks although some have wilty looking leaves for some reason this year and not from lack of watering. Must be because it`s not as hot this year maybe...

Yep, there`s the unfinished part. Still there. Still waiting to be finished. Covered in loose odd bricks holding down the now torn garbage bags...

And there`s my foot that went through the garbage bag into the muck as I was doing a balancing act across the random bricks to get to the "raised brick garden that would be"....

And these are the plants I had nicely arranged here and there in the front room that stopped blooming and had to come outside instead...

But my great big Delphinium has had babies this year and the Flox is doing great....

And my herbs. These are my very favorites back here. I so wish I could bring them into the kitchen after summer. They would look so fantastic in there. I`m going to stick some in the ground. I refuse to learn my lesson yet and am going to bring the small pots inside anyway :P No sign of strawberries yet, but there are a few flowers, so maybe....

Mmmmmmmm, the potted hot peppers are thriving, mud and all....

We`re getting tons of beans. I guess I should have bought climbing beans for those teepees though LOL

Well, that`s it for now. Hope everyone is having a great weekend and it`s not raining in England! You could send some this way. We only seem to get a few minutes of rain at a time this year.
If I ever finally get things done around here enough inside for pictures, I`ll post some.
See ya soon :D

Two Nice Surprises in the Post

Yesterday I recieved a lovely gift from Tash of VinatagePretty for being her 1000th poster!
A pretty crochet brooch, rose soap and a cute fizz cupcake for the bath. Then two postcards from England. One of Newcastle and the other The Angel of the North. That was cool because I sat at the feet of that huge statue 9 years ago :)
Hugs and thanks to Tash...

Then today I recieved another from Ally after having my name as one of the ones drawn at her blog! Is it Christmas? LOL Look at the pretty baby bonnet all done from a delicate hanky and a pretty write up to go with it. This is being put away for whenever I need something special for a baby shower. And all these teas! Yum. White Blueberry, Vanilla creme, Strawberry kiss,Green Cocomint, Egyptian Chamomile and Apple Harvest. Thanks and hugs to you too Ally!

Day 5 of no ciggy`s. A few times a day I have a craving but so far so good. I`ve been able to move through it. One would sure taste good though. But then I think of how worried I was and so far that`s stopped me.
I need to post a garden meme soon, but just haven`t had the time for much here with summer things and a slow connection makes it hard to get anything loaded sometimes. I`ve been to blogs where things just won`t even load at times. Frustrating! I`m now 3 posts behind in visiting all your comments :( Thanks so much for all the well wishes and stories.
As soon as I get some time I`m visiting all you guys!
Have a great weekend.

Night Creatures

The other night I lit a couple of little candles and we sat out back. Someday when the ivy begins to grow up the trellis, it will be like a little garden room. Elvis and Isobell kept company.
Saint Francis, being the protecter of animals, offered to hold a candle for us....

Hubby`s web site http://www.ratebistros.com now has a spot for anyone in the UK who would like to contribute a bistro review :) In future I`m sure they`ll be more countries added.
Yesterday my Mum and me stopped into this pretty little shop and I saw the most beautifil old world antique style huge wall clocks! Loved to go back there someday and buy one when I have more than the grocery money to spend LOL
My holiday is almost over....boo hoo. Still intending to find some time to visit everyone`s blog. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Dogs , Cats, Chairs and Bistros...

I found some gorgeous fabric off E-Bay and decided to do those two old chairs in it. I haven`t quite figured out how to match this fabric up with anything yet. I`ll have to do some experimenting.
"Eh? You mean I actually have to move?"

It`s called Country House Toile by Waverly in Indigo. Not normally a blue person, this is a prettier blue than any indigo I`m familiar with. It` almost a jade blue, yet not quite. The fabric was going to be for pillows or something originally but I loved it so much I had to use it in a big way.This picture shows the true colour the best..

Only one done and while putting the cording on to cover the staples, I broke the darn glue gun. So there`s no trim around the top part yet. One more to go, but I have to wait for the extra fabric to arrive anyway. I had enough left over from two yards to cover a couple of throw pillows for the front room. They go nice with the olivey green couch and muted reds. Told ya I was revamping things :) Eventually I might even have it all finished and show some pics.
"Well, I suppose it IS pretty...." thinks Elvis. It looks more like he`s pulling a face at it though LOL

"But can you believe this? Now what`s she going to do with these chairs? She never mentioned anything about blue. What`s going to go with this?"

Hubby has been creating a web page in his free time. It`s called www.RateBistros.com Once it gets going, a fun and useful place for anyone looking for a good place to eat or has something to say about one. It`s still all very new and he needs to get the data base going more. So if you wouldn`t mind going on over and adding your favorite eating spot, whether a bistro or restaurant, he`d be pleased. The address is http://www.ratebistros.com/

At the moment it`s only for Canada and the States, but maybe in the future he will be adding more countries.
I`m having a fairly productive week off and it`s already Wednesday, sigh.
Hope everyone is having a nice week :)

A Saturday Morning Walk...

All was quiet early this morning and the outside was drawing me. If you click on the picture, the reflection of the camera and me appears ghostlike in the corner.Kinda cool...

So I decided to take my morning coffee and the book I`m reading out to the back garden....

I`ve been wanting Phil Rickman`s latest book forever, so being that I could never find it, I ordered it from E-Bay. Can`t wait to dig into this one!

Isobel comes around to investigate....

She had just had a giant wiff of the herbs, but I was too late grabbing the camera...

Elvis and me decided to go across the little bridge and put some flowers on Daisies grave....

Daisies for Daisy.....

The woman at the edge of the woods..... Wouldn`t that be a great sounding movie or book?

I love this view...almost totally surrounded by trees. I wish we could live here always, but I know that someday we`ll have to move, it`s sadly far too much for us to ever be able to buy. In the meantime I need to enjoy every moment. And this is one of the prettiest veiws in summer....

My Dad`s Japenese Willow....

"Come on Elvis. Lets go into the field and pick some Queen Annes Lace for that bucket".....

Wouldn`t want to bump into these....

Lots of bullrushes.....

There they are.....

I made a sacrifice and clipped off one of my climbing roses to add a little extra.Woops. Those toes aren`t meant to be in there LOL..

I found this old bucket with a whole in it, in the shed a couple of weeks ago and put it aside thinking I`d like to use it. Just stuck an old container inside to hold the water.....

Then I put it on the floor by the front entrance....

It was a nice walk with Elvis. I really haven`t taken any of that important solitary time we all need, when we are just taking life in rather than always doing, in quite awhile and it was nice :)

Rhubarb Crisp

Next to Rhubarb Custard Pie...the recipe is in this blog somewhere under recipes, this is yummy. Had 4 cups of frozen rhubarb left in the freezer from my Mum`s garden so I made some the other night and it didn`t last long. The picture isn`t the prettiesr, but it was quick, easy and good!



4 cups rhubarb, cut into 3/4 " pieces
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/
2 cup melted butter



Mix rhubarb, sugar and flour and put into 8" x 8" x 2" glass baking dish.

Combine flour, brown sugar, rolled oats and melted butter and sprinkle streusel over rhubarb mixture.
Bake at 350 for approx. 35 minutes.


I`m still here sewing....and sewing...and sewing, in my spare time. The frontroom still isn`t quite the way I want it so there has and is being some revisions. Pictures will appear eventually. One more day and it`s the weekend and then a whole week of holidays for me :)

Toronto to Help Daughter, Old Chairs and Garden Things

Monday morning we set off for Toronto to help my daughter set up her new place.

This is part of the street she`s moved to in Little Italy. We were going too fast to get the houses I was pointing at LOL It was quite pretty with those really tall old homes all squished together. Her neighbours had a beautiful front garden. This street is much nicer than the last she lived on.

Hubby put together this Ikea dresser for her and also a small kitchen table while I helped her hang curtains and pictures.

You have to walk through her bedroom to get to the frontroom LOL This fireplace is really nice.

I wish I would have thought to snap a picture of Bud. Here`s one from before though. He`s a real beauty and weighs a ton!..


He hid in the bathroom most of the time but I heaved him up using all my might and brought him out to watch us. He wasn`t too happy about being moved to a new house.
An Ikea couch that we dressed in a cover she bought there also.

And a nice big window where she can put plants and Bud can watch the birds.

A small kitchen that hasn`t been cleaned yet but the owner painted it for her. She gave him an apple green paint chip and he came back with mint. But it`s her very first "own space" so she`s not too upset. He also put in a new floor and is coming back to put the baseboards back on.

This door in the kitchen leads out to a little balcony where we sat and looked down at all the tiny narrow gardens loaded with tomato plants and other yummy things. A nice elderly Italian lady (the one with the pretty garden) waved and said hello to us.

A nice little bathroom...

I wish I would have taken better pictures but we were too busy to think about it. I enjoyed going and helping and hopefully in August or September, my sister and I will go back and stay over on a weekend. I won`t drive on the 401 myself so I don`t get to see her as much as I`d like, but we e-mail and chat on the phone.
The Bee Balm is growing like mad in the back garden. The daisies have bloomed oo. So aside from the roses and clemetis there`s till a lot more to bloom yet back there. It should look nice this year when everything`s all out together...

My dad gave me a statue of Saint Francis , the protector of animals to stick in. I`ve always wanted one.

The "Empress of India" Nasturtium have bloomed in the herb pots :) I guess it`s true that they like herbs,. I bet they`re also edible.

My son was just in to gulp down two huge bowls of goulash and take some for work in the morning. It was his favorite dish while growing up. It did look good and tasted good too. But of course I forgot to take a picture!
Back to work today but it`s so nice that tomorrow is Wednesday instead of Tuesday. I think every week should be a long weekend :)
Almost forgot!.....
Here`s those two chairs. I have no idea how I`m going to recover them. They look complicated, but I`ll try. Not those buttons though...no way could I do that!...