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Sorry about the 2-week break. Was in Bermuda for 10 days...pictures to come!

I've decided that 82% of the fun in gardening is bringing the fruits of my labor to work in my lunch. Then, as we're all sitting around the break room table, and somebody comments how delicious such and such looks, I can say, "Thanks, I grew it myself. It's totally 100% organic." Now that is a great feeling. Take these, for example, which I picked from my garden just now, and shall be showing off at work tonight.

And then, of course...there are the products of my labor that I would not necessarily be wanting to show off at work....

Harvest season...

It's that wonderful time of year when all the back-breaking work done in the spring starts to pay it forward in the late summer. Yay!

I wandered out to my garden this morning to find, Oh Raspberries!!!! 

Don't worry, I will wait patiently for you to ripen.
And I wonder if this cucumber will be sweet and crunchy or bitter and soft...

(It ended up being the latter...sigh...still wish I could perfect the art of growing cucumbers)
Oh well, certainly looked cool hanging from the vine and trellis.
Many tomatoes ripening...all at the same exact time of course!

And of course, supporting the bees...they like my bee-balm (which is STILL blooming!)

Can't get over how sharp this pic is...I love you, my new sweet lens!! (Canon 50EF/1.8)

Summer

"The nourishing of life, and how it flourishes
On death, and why, they utterly know; but not
The hill-born, earthy spring, the dark cold bilberries.
The ripe peach from the southern wall still hot
Full-bellied tankards foamy-topped, the delicate
Half-lyric lamb, a new loaf's billowy curves,
Nor porridge, nor the tingling taste of oranges.
-An angel has no nerves."

And this, my friends, it what being human is all about....fresh-picked Michigan blueberries and peaches on my Frosted Flakes.

Catching up...

Lots to catch up on, without further ado...

I've been nesting. No, not for my own chickie, but helping my friend Esti get ready for her little bittie, who happens to be coming in just 3 short weeks! I spent the day helping her sew items for the nursery, and in return she made me some delicious food (my biggest motivator in life, and she knows it, she understands, because she's the same way). I was angry I forgot my good camera, but she let me use hers, so at least we have some pics of the day.

She had picked out some great material, so first we cut it into panels

And ironed, and ironed, and ironed, hem after hem after hem...

And my trusty Singer friend click-clacked the entire day away, tirelessly creating beautiful seam after seam

And of course we took a lunch break to have this amazing Chicken and cheese souffle

Took us a while to determine if it was done (you really don't want it to fall!)

And it was quite delicious, I think she did it just right

She also made some delicious blueberry muffins (sorry no pic, but really really good).
Once we resumed our sewing after filling our bellies, we did eventually finish, and were both quite pleased with the finished products:

What an adorable little nursery corner (and yes, the wicker hamper and baskets I bought found a home :)
It's such a great feeling of accomplishment to make something by hand!

On a completely different note, a few days before...

This morning I awoke to find this:

And this....starting in the dining room...

Then spreading all the way across the kitchen...

And around the corner to my yarn bag

Now, who do you think looks more guilty...him?

Or him?

I always tell myself that having pets is good preparation for having kids....but at least babies stay in their cribs all night (well in the beginning, anyways)
(I apologize for the grainy pictures - forgot my ISO was stlll set at 1600! Too early in the morning to be taking pictures :)

A lovely day of freedom

Yesterday was just a wonderful day. The kind of day that just doesn't happen that often. An entire day off of work, no forced naps to take so I can stay awake all night at work; no forced errands to run; no chores to do (at least none I felt like doing). Really, nothing to do except for whatever I felt like. 

The kind of day where...

I actually have the time to eat those last little wrinkled, shriveled blueberries in my cereal

And time for meditation in my sun porch while the cicadas hum and the birds sing

And I actually have time to go out to pick a fresh boquet from my garden

And snap photos futilely trying to capture the beaded glow of dew on rose petals in the morning sun

And make a salad for lunch with veggies from my own garden, including a beautiful sweet red banana pepper

And lazing around in the living room

Enjoying the fresh, new furniture set-up

And using an antique tea-pot to water my plants (something very fun about watering plants with a tea-pot)

And then spending the afternoon with my sister-in-law, creating a special birthday cake for a special redhead who turned 30. Watching the chiffon batter fluidly fold into the pan

And feeling quite professional using her baking scale to measure out ingredients to the last, precise little gram

And enjoying an mouthwatering, juicy red plum that was so juicy it could only be eaten while leaning over the sink...and that is a sign that you have yourself a wonderfully ripe, delicious piece of fruit

Yes, in all, it was quite an all-around magnificent sort of day.

August evening miscellaneousness

Yay! I now have 8 followers!! Thank you Jenny for rounding it out to a lovely, even number :)

Has it ever occurred to anybody that wine labels are mini works of art?

I think wine is beautiful and so cool and classy and refined. What would you say if I told you I got this bottle at Aldi for $2.99? You'd probably say I just blew all chances at being considered classy and refined. But that's ok, because it's not what I'm about. I'm all about getting the best bargains. They always make my day. This evening I had another successful Craigslist transaction. I wish I had started keeping track years ago - it would be my "Craigslist Savings Journal" and I could have recorded all the successful transactions and how much money they saved me. Ah well, hindsight is 20/20. Anyways, I have no children/babies, so I don't know yet what I will use these for. But they were ridiculously cute and the right price

Anybody like to watch TV shows? Well we're hooked on Battlestar Galactica right now (I know, I've heard it a million times, don't even try to make fun of me for watching a show with that title). Here's Sammy lounging on the couch watching with us, trying to distract me with his adorable expressions.

And my two favorite guys hanging out on the couch with me

Random Food-ness

Ok. If you haven't figured it out by now...I love food. Eating it, talking about it, smelling it, finding new ways to prepare it, snapping photos of it, and reveling in the marvelous texture, flavors and hues. In my boring little life, I get pretty excited about a new thing I came up with, or a new recipe I tried. And my excitement spills over into my blog. If that's not ok with you, then you've probably already stopped reading it. Now, without further ado, some things I've had fun with this week.

These gorgeous veggies were cut up to make skewers. Then added fresh thyme and oregano from the garden

 

And added some vinaigrette and extra virgin olive oil (or EVOO as Rachael Ray fondly calls it)

Unfortunately, they were so enticing after adding marinated shrimp and grilling them, we proceeded to devour them before I could snap any photos. Sorry!

For appetizers to enjoy that night with our chilled Chardonnay, we made tomato caprice skewers with basil and tomatoes from the garden, adding fresh mozzarella and drizzling with EVOO, balsamic vinegar and freshly ground pepper and sea salt. Yum!

Thank you husband for being my hand model.

And last night I tried out a new Rachael Ray recipe. (I will share the link with you, but you must never, ever compare my finished products with hers. It's just not fair!) 

They turned out pretty yummy. My hubby actually rated it an 8 out of 10. 

Halfway through the meal, he concedes, "Ok, I'll say 8.75." How generous.

On a different note, strawberries are the most beautiful fruit ever created. The vibrant ruby, scattered with evenly spaced dimples and the contrast of the bright green leaves. Wonderful!

Lastly, I will leave you with some photos of a beautiful butterfly that graced us with his appearance the other day in the garden. He seemed to favor my cosmos, but he also detoured to the phlox. Bonus points to anybody who can tell me what type of butterfly it is!