color garden

  
I was happy to find some color hidden amongst all the green in the garden upon our return from a long weekend.

welcome to my garden part six

Stand with me at the compost box and look to the east and you see my  homemade seed saver....last spring I let my lettuce go to seed but had more seeds than time to harvest the itty-bitty things. I ended up clipping the whole clump of dried flowers/seeds and sticking them upside down in brown paper bags, labeling the bags and clipping them to bird netting I hung from the roof. It has proved a nice quick way to keep the seeds although there are probably more proper methods. Also attached to the net is a bag holder stuffed with plastic grocery bags that come in handy for eggs or produce when my hands get full. The white paper in the middle of the picture contian my notes on what plants are companionable and which are not. I found it was necessary to have this info in the garden where I'm doing the planting so stuck it in a plastic sleeve and hung it here for handy reference.



Beyond the bird netting but before you reach the door is an old bed spring standing on end. My beans are happily climbing this quick re-purposed trellis.

baby photos, the end

I finally finished editing the photos we took of Leah. 

Here is the best of the last batch.

Leah's middle name is Snow, 

thus the snowflake in her tiny little fingers.

 

 

baby face

Sasha found a lot of cute ideas for props on Pintrest but the white basket was my addition. We had lots of fun arranging and re-arranging-can you tell?

more more more said the baby

I've been having fun working my way through the baby photo shoot and editing my favorites. Here are a few more, more, more...

 

 

 She finally wore out and fell asleep...
 

Check out the bear's toes and Leah's toes!

leah, eyes wide open

We finally got to do a proper photo shoot with baby Leah. Day fourteen. She was a sleepy newborn until day 13. Yesterday she decided to stay awake. The first segment of our photos there were lots of  mommy and milk breaks but in between we were able to capture some cute shots with her eyes open.

 Leah has her daddy's long toes 

and chin dimple.

shavout

Natale and I studied the story of the 
10 Instructions (Commandments) this week.

watercolor garden

Yesterday afternoon Natale and I watched a youtube video on painting with watercolor. Then we sat together in the garden and used pen and paint to create these wonderful watercolors.

tia the copycat

My girls love the book Ruby the Copycat by Peggy Rathmann. They also (as little girls tend to do) love doing things "the same". It occurred to me the other day when Tessa made yet another connection between her relationship with Natale and Ruby the Copycat that, in her 4 year old thought processing, there are no negative connotations to the term copycat.

Yesterday I was Tia the Copycat. My niece Julie, you know-the one in Zambia, posted a recipe for Orange Yogurt Scones on her blog. I seldom bake (because then I eat the baked yummies). Yesterday however, being I'm on spring break, I attended a women's lunch-bible study and need food to share. Instead of my usual salad-straight-from-the-garden menu I decided to try Julie's scones.

The bible study fell short of my expectations but the scones didn't. They were finished before the bible study was. 

Thanks for your post Julie. I love sharing kitchen creations with you.

the gift

Jay returned from Mexico with a gift for me...a large bag of cinnamon bark. The long sticks only have a faint scent of cinnamon so there must be some processing that happens before we buy cinnamon off the grocery store shelves.

Any ideas what one does with this? 

baby leah

Tessa's baby sister was born Thursday morning. We made the long trek across town with the girls to visit her as soon as the hospital would allow visitors. 

Beautiful baby Leah.

bird brain

It's that time of year...egg laying season. I'm always amazed that any momma bird would consider locating her precious clutch anywhere in Lily's territory. Lily is know for the delight she takes in chasing things....including birds. She's even been known to bark at birds that fly in her airspace. Thankfully she seldom catches the things she chases but there are occasions....

A morning dove built this twiggy nest on top of  stack of shelves on Jay's outdoor workbench. The workbench is located inside the dog fence. A smaller bird chose a little cubby between the cross beam and the metal roofing at our front door where Lily spend most of her outdoor hours.

A third nest is somewhat more appropriately located high in the crook of the arm of a Saguaro cactus out back. The other day I went to fetch Lily from the rocks at the bottom of the cactus. I thought she was stalking a lizard but found an walnut sized baby bird scurrying for cover from the big white monster.

I'm thinking these mama birds need to take a realty 101 class...location, location, location.

kitchen adventures

My latest adventures in the kitchen involved kale from my garden. Kale chips are quick and easy, fragile and very tasty. I experimented using different vinegars; Balsamic won chips down.

If you want to try making some kale chips yourself here's what ya do. 

Wash, dry and cut kale leaves into potato chip size pieces. You'll want to remove the stems as they get sticky when dried. Put leaf chunks in a gallon size ziplock bag along with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. Mix around (shake) then add 1 Tablespoon of Balsamic vinegar. Shake again. Remove from bag and place on dehydrator rack (or cookie sheet if you use the oven). Salt lightly with sea salt then set them to dry. Keep a close eye on chips as they dry as they are easier to handle if you get them before they are totally dry and crumble into green dust. Remove and consume. Yum!