A visit with friends!

The photo I'm loving in that montage is this -- celebration!

How my garden grows!

Borage that self seeded from my planting last year:
Pea pods!!!!!

The pea forest:Dew drop on pea leaf:
Broccoli crowns:
The fence and gate I built from scraps around the house:
The Three Sisters mounds -- I put corn in each and when it sprouts I will put beans in these mounds and then put squash in mounds in between these:
Tomatoes:
Peppers:
Lettuce:
And an overall view of the lower beds:

I eavesdropped on them...

Today's Gregorism

I was fixing the chicken to put in the oven and she was demanding something or other for a snack.  I said, "You need to be patient.  Calm your little butt down!"  She responded, without missing a beat, "You mean I should calm my little mouth down!"

Ya, well, that too.  

The garden pays its taxes!

Today I harvested (in the process of thinning them) about a pound of baby carrots-- Greggie ate more than half of them as I pulled them and Alex finished them off after they were washed.



I also "harvested" a few handfuls of herbs for the roasted chicken and a cucumber and a salad bowl of lettuce.

And speaking of the garden, here are some shots from today:

Here you can see the rolling garlic bed with the broccoli volunteers.  The avocado is behind the pink geranium, a couple of the potato pots are upfront, the lemon and orange are behind the potatoes.

Here is my first lemon!
The cucumber volunteers are stealing the limelight from the parsley seedlings.
Lettuce on the deck, finally looking like a salad!
Gregg mounded the wild and crazy potato box with hay.
The pole peas are finally heading up the teepees and trellis.

Some little tomato plants mixed in among the onions from seed.  In the background, herbs, grapes, the peach and the pear.
The peaches are growing already!
The broccoli is starting to form heads.
Greggie thins carrots.

Carrotopia!
Glorious onions.

Social Responsibility

Perhaps today, our nation's day of financial reckoning and atonement, has imbued in Alex a sense of communal responsibility.  This afternoon she told me, "When I grow up I'm going to do my chores.  I will get up in the morning and go potty and get dressed.  Then I will cook and clean the dishes.  Then I will hang the  clothes to dry and go work in the garden."

Do you think I can expect this to start in the next couple weeks?

A surprise for Nina and Sophie (no peaking, Thembi!)

(Please ignore my bad grammar!)

We tried to dry the dresses in the sun with lots of flowers and ferns to decorate them but the sun disappeared so there will be no shadow designs -- bummer!  Where is SoCal sun when you need it????

Greggie brag

Yesterday I took the girls for haircuts. Our truck was parked right in front of the door of the salon and when we came out and were getting settled into carseats Alex noticed a sign in the window.

A: What does that say, Mom?
M: You tell me, Al. What are the letters.
A: O-P-E-N
M: What does it spell?
A: I don't know.
M: Sound it out. O-P-E-N. What does it spell, Al?
G: OPEN! Mom it spells open!

Yes, Greggie, it spells open.