With the break in the weather-high 80's f instead of the mid 90's f and no storms as predicted, the lake out our windows Saturday was crazy busy. I spent the whole day planting what I had picked up at the greenhouse (see previous post) so I just mostly heard the loud boat noises-especially the race boats. People are really crazy out there.
I managed to get all this garden soil down the hill and steps-with a little help from a friend-thank goodness. The soil in this area is really really bad-hard clay and stones In the back left corner is an old tree stump that we will be working to get dug out soon-so I can build my kitchen space for cast iron dutch oven cooking. and to the right of that are long bricks we salvaged taking out a couple of partial walls into the living room-those were really bad-I think they were suppose to be indoor planters of some sort.
The iris's here are beginning to bloom, and in front I planted snap dragons, and a couple plants for the butterflies and hummingbirds. All of the iris's in the photos I dug out of one these hills that eventually will need lots of rock to cover it-the goal is to get rid of weeds and grass here.
I moved all the bottle greenhouses over. Most are doing well especially all the creeping thyme ground cover, but I do have several that did not grow-will replant those I was disappointed that the dwarf black eye susans did not grow-except for one plant
I bought a flat of impatiens thinking I wanted to plant them where the bottles above are-but too sunny there-so planting them in front of these iris's and in that back area of iris's and lilies This area is to the left looking out of the front door. Another pretty iris in bloom
This area is just to the left and back of above photo and another pretty iris
The pink I believe is a peony, I brought over one big clump that had come from my farm girl grandma's farm that I had brought to the woods home when we retired back in 2003. It has finally settled in this year with the first bloom here at the lake house Makes me happy
I had only brought to the lake a couple of my many clay pots I had-this one the bottom is almost gone now, but still useable. Petunias in here and along this edge on top of a stone wall is my very old lavender plant I brought over-still growing, and some mint in here too along with rocks we have collected over the years-do you collect special rocks too?
I planted some of the impatiens in that smaller clay pot
I did straighten out the big copper pot so it is no longer leaning when viewed looking from the front of the house, filled it up with lots of petunias, and over on the old tree stump is another large clay pot filled with petunias as well
In front are lots of herbs-mints, thyme, lavender, oregano, rosemary and some ground cover type flowering plants, along with some wild violets Over in front of the stump are the three very small hummingbird mints that are already flowering. They should be tall plants-will see what happens. and that green to the right in front of that other rock wall all needs to come out, and more rocks need to go on the wall as well.
I have become a bit overwhelmed with my large gardening project-to get rid of all the grass here and replace with flowers and ground covers. We just had a very long period of cold and so much rain before this warm spell finally. Felt a little better after getting all of these greenhouse plants in the ground. Lots of pretty blooms now
Below is lemongrass, looking it up online it says this will grow very large and spread but I don't think it will survive the winters here Have never planted it before so wanted to try it for tea-any tips on using it?
The three hummingbird mints-which are suppose to get quite large-and one already has flowers
I am so thankful that we missed the worse of a huge storm on Sunday. We got around an hour of it early in the day, but we missed the worst of it when the storm split near Springfield Mo late afternoon. The storm was to bring large balls of hale and damaging winds.
You know summer is almost here when you see the pirate ship-this is part of a restaurant on the lake-they pick you up and then take you back home after your meal
We always see these very expensive new docks on the lake going to their new homes
We have been enjoying the full moon, although I only spotted it when I was bringing in the hummingbird feeders peeking through the tree limbs a couple days ago. Tonight is the blood moon but we may not have a clear sky-we'll see
For my drink share, after a long gardening day, I made us another strawberry and blueberry margarita Saturday-so sharing my same photo from last week I love these cups as they are insulated and keep our drinks cold. I made a vita-mix pitcher full so there is enough for a glass on Sunday too (smiles)
The orioles have migrated on, except for a very few of the orchard orioles, and I have not seen any of the grosbeaks for a few days so they must have moved on as well. We have just a very few hummingbirds, it takes awhile for them to find a new location of feeders. We did get a surprise over the weekend seeing a pair of doves enjoying the seeds.
Another week is upon us which brings us to Tuesday's T where we share a drink related photo with friends over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's-link in my side bar as you are most welcome to join in.
This has been an up and down week for us. I was so busy doing things with our Wisconsin friends that it seemed unusually quiet here-well except for the machines pounding through rock with the sewer project-haha.
The team with this construction crew has been very nice and has done a good job I believe. The crew fixing up the lawn mess took two days to rock our path down to the lake from up on top and planted grass seed. The sewer crew messed up some of it to finish up a project on Friday, so wondering if they will be back to re straighten things.
It has been very very very hot and humid here. High 90's F all week, and this Sunday as well. Areas around us hit 100 degrees F. The weather people are saying a cold front with rain moving in on Monday (June 21) That will be awesome.
I am weaving the last towel now, since I had to cut off and retie on to straighten out the tension issue, and there is allot of yarn waste when weaving-we'll see how long I can weave this last towel. It does feel so good to be weaving again. Next up I think I will go through my yarn stash and weave up some new placemats for our dining table. This will give me more weaving practice before attempting yardage for clothing.
as you can see almost to the end of this warp
I am on a few weaving groups on Facebook, and one is for the Saori style of weaving. I have shared this before as it is a weaving concept to be free of rules and just weave. Most are making garments with their handwovens.
I wanted to share the 3rd annual Saori Virtual Fashion Show video-great inspiration from all ages of weavers
I am also on a Facebook group Sewing for Weavers-where they are also making up lovely garments from their handwovens-so I have been inspired for sure.
The first evening when our Wisconsin friends had arrived we had a very very strong storm-tornado force winds came up out of no where. We watched in disbelief as the large bird house that we had just cleaned and repaired blew apart
We felt so bad for the bird families that lost their eggs and young ones. We just bought a new metal martin house-a kit that Larry is putting together to replace this one-so many pieces and tiny screws- haha
I got a better photo of the pirate ship this week, which travels up and back allot. The ship had it's sails open and was in the middle of the lake so I could really zoom in for a good photo
I decided with these very hot days it was time to churn up a batch of keto vanilla ice cream, while enjoying a mule-which is vodka (gluten free Tito's for me) ginger beer (which has no alcohol but strong ginger flavors) and a splash of Petron's lime liquor
This keto ice cream is a time consuming recipe as one needs to make up a keto condensed milk first and then add the rest of the ingredients and chill and churn. This was my best batch yet.
I also discovered something new from Bob's Red Mill when ordering their gluten free muesli-grain free brownies and also grain free flat bread-I am thinking of trying out the flatbread mix for pizza crust. These use almond flour and cassava flour, The grain free brownies were pretty good and not as sweet as their gluten free brownie mix. This one used coconut sugar which I like to use in my baking too.
Sadly our week ended with the unexpected loss of a very dear friend. She had gone in for heart surgery, she did have complications with her lungs (autoimmune disease) as well so when we last talked with her she had concerns with her lungs-but she had few choices. The surgery went well but she had gotten pneumonia from the anesthesia. So sad and heartbreaking, she leaves behind her husband and children and her two very young grandchildren that they were now raising do to the loss of their father just a few months ago (motor accident).
Sonya was one of the most kindest, caring persons I have ever know-prayers for her family.
Sonya and one of her other sons drove me to Yellowstone in 2017, I wanted to visit Yellowstone so much back then. She had called me up one day and said "I will be happy to drive you" and I am in need of a road trip. That trip meant so much to me, we had allot of fun planning it too the year before. None of us were into the now popular selfies, we each had our cameras-no cell phone photos. In all the photos we never took any photos of us. Sonya had taken a photo of me when I was out on the deck of where we were staying though-spinning with my drop spindle.
A couple photos in remembrance
Our life's journey can be unexpected at times, treasure the moment and memories
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