Rain Rain Go Away and Old Men Like to Get High....

It`s been raining almost every day this month and the tomato plants aren`t too happy. Hopefully they survive because it will be disappointing without some lovely garden tomatoes. There`s nothing like them.It wouldn`t be so bad if it were sun showers, but it`s mostly hazy or down right dark skies. Today so far it hasn`t rained and the sun is peeping through a bit. Elvis poses in a break from the rain.

Teddy had a few nibbles of the catnip.

I think he may have forgotten where he was because he sat in it for a half an hour.

We went to the horse races last weekend and had a fun time. Harness, not jockey. I`d love to go to the Thoroughbreds sometime though. It must be very stressful not to crash these funny little carts into each other.

Hair salon yesterday to get my hair styled and coloured back to my original colour.
It`s a bit darker than I wanted, but hopefully I`ll get used to it. I guess I should really have wigs. Cheaper and easier on the hair.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend! It`s Canada Day on Tuesday here, but I`ve got Monday off instead.

In the Garden Braving the Mosquitoes with Some Tequila Help and an Absolutely Incredible Hot Fudge Sauce

"Yes, I`m going in for a few sniffs and nibbles. Isn`t that why it`s here?" I`ve added 3 more plants so far.

I decided to go with flowers in the pots this year. Chose some African Daisies and they looked very bare so I dug up some sweet woodruff and also bought a couple of spikes for the middle. In the samll pots are some Thai Basil and Lavender

I had two of these boxwood on either side of the arch but one never made it. I decided to dig the surviving one out and had slapped it in this pot until I could find somewhere to plant it.

To the far left is where I`ve pulled out the surviving Boxwood and planted another Mallow to match the other side. I`m going to have to do some heavy duty transplanting eventually because the small perrenial plants aren`t going to fit once they start to grow alongside the big ones.

I swear every year that this is dead.

But, the Trumpet Vine has again amazingly come to life.

Teds ventures out into the weed filled garden. Some of the bits are luckily only from the tree and can be swept away.

He ventures into the herb patch. I`ve only planted perennials here this year except for the arugula. Notice all the bits that have fallen from the tree. Thankfully they`re not weeds too.

I miss Saint Francis in front of the back door but Elvis was using the space here to get onto the lawn and flattening my plants so he`s been moved over a bit.

I put the annual herbs in pots this year. Purple Basil, Regular Basil and Rosemary.
I`m going to bring them in after summer and see what survives for cooking.

Teddy as well as the other two just love walking on the bricks. I still need to dig most of them in yet. For now they`re just sitting on top of the dirt.

It will eventually look nice once I get my butt out there and start digging.

Shocking mess, all the weeds, but Angus doesn`t seem to mind....

"Let me in"

Time to get serious and at least partially weed the garden.
First off, some Margarita fortification. Forget bringing out the proper glass, I wanted a nice big one, mind you, I`ve half drank it already. Goes down very well even on a not so hot day.

Out came the mosquito jacket for the bloody mosquitoes that are out on this overcast day. It only takes one bite near my eye and it swells closed.

Some areas have seedlings still sprouting so I don`t dare touch them yet, although the weeds are a mess.


DARK CHOCOLATE HOT FUDGE SAUCE


This is so good! Beware though because it`s very enticing to just eat it by the spoonful!

Dark Chocolate Hot Fudge

from The Gourmet Cookbook

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

2/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 ounces good bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped

2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, cup into 1/2 Tablespoons

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stir together cocoa powder, brown sugar, corn syrup, cream, salt and half of the chopped chocolate in a 2-quart heavy saucepan and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until chocolate is melted. Cook mixture at a low boil, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes until it thickens. Keep refrigerated and re-heat for sauce or eat by the spoonful cold and fudgey from the fridge :)

I`m going to serve it tonight for the boys over vanilla ice cream after our BBQ of hot Italian Sausages and sliced potatoes done up in tin foil with onions, mushrooms, corn and butter.

Fun and Busy Busy.....

It was a very busy weekend last.
First, Friday night was girl`s night out to go and see "Sex and the City" and then to a pub. The movie was great and the whole night was fun.

It was our Anniversary 2 Monday`s ago and I recieved 14 beautiful roses. The boys were here so instead, this past Saturday we shopped for plants and went out for dinner and stopped at a gourmet ice cream parlor later on after visiting Chapters.
I`ll show all the plants I bought later. It`s all mucky outside right now and I need to weed if ever there`s a dry day that I`m free on.
A really nice day! A fantastic whole weekend.
I re-painted the kitchen cupboards. I hadn`t used a base coat the first time so they were chipping.

Angus was fizzled one bit by all the wallpapering. ....

Then I got the bedroom curtains done as well as the bed covers and Angus checked it out.

But he enjoyed the bed best when it was finished. I did buy gauzy curtains as shown in my dream bed pic, but had to pick this net canopy up and hang it because of the f%$#*#& mosquitoes that sneek in. It was $49 but when I got up to the till she said it was on sale. So I got it for $17! It feels a bit claustrophobic when closed but it will do for now.

The closet ones still need hemming. Made the bedspread and wallpapered the room. The bed that I wanted to make...hmmmm. I`m rethinking that because this doesn`t look too bad as is and I fear it will be too much for such a small room. I don`t know yet. It really would be fun to try and put together. The bed cover wasn`t totally sewn or ironed in this picture, although I did hem and iron it all last night and it looks much crisper. The quilt would do better on the dream bed. This is my "what does it look like picture" It`s rather girly I`m afraid. But I did have a Raymond Waites type harem style a few years ago. I really loved it but we live in a cottage and it was too dark, so what can I say?

Angus came in the other night with something in his mouth that suddenly jumped away. It was a frog. I was afraid it may have been hurt so I got my husband to come and help. I normally don`t mind picking up frogs and toads, but not bleeding ones if I have someone else to :) Happily, he wasn`t harmed and we took him outside by the pond.

I decided to de-junk so I took down the two wall bookshelves and lugged all the books into the spare room. What a mess.
Now I need to sort them. Some to put up at the end of the driveway in a box to sell 4 for $1.00 and some to take to work to leave for whomever wants them. Then the keepers will have to stay in the spare room somewhere on the shelves...

We`ve had some huge storms and poor Elvis hates them. This is the only time we allow him up on the couch. It can be tricky sleeping too with preventing a large dog from trying to get behind a little bed table or removing him from one`s head. We have the herbal concoction from the vet and it may work a bit, but not enough to stop his worrying. I feel so bad when I think of all the animals that have been through hurricanes etc. People too!