First flower to bloom from a box of seeds I sprinkled by the pool fence.  I go out to look at it every morning and to see if any friends have joined him.  So far…..nothin’

We just had a wonderful holiday weekend and I hope you did too.  Craig took Thursday off so we had four days together.  We basically stayed home and played around in the pool.  I worked in the garden and Craig cleaned the garage.  We attended a beautiful wedding on the Fourth of July and had a great time.  Ben had spent the night at my inlaws, so we had Sunday to relax.  Now that the garage was clean, I spotted my pottery wheel.  I got inspired to sit down and throw.  It has been a year since I’ve stopped going to class and I miss it terribly.  It was rough at first because I have a kick-wheel and it took quite a bit of effort to get the wheel going the speed I wanted.  I’m 27 weeks now and my tummy was definitely in the way a bit.  I managed and enjoyed.  I wasn’t rushed so I decided to make a nice salad bowl.  You can never have too many of those.  It felt really good to get back into the clay and the process.  It is also nice having my own wheel because I can just leave my work on it till the next day.  A luxury you don’t have when you have to work at a studio.  I was really pleased with my bowl so I will share:

                                   It will stay as greenware (unfired) till I find the time to get back to the studio.  Who knows when that will ever be.  I already have an office full of stuff that needs to be fired, glazed and fired. 

I also mentioned that I spent a lot of time in the garden.  The bunnies are doing great.  The Mommy sits close by under our hydrangea now keeping her babies protected. 

                          I even spotted her nursing in the nest the other day.  Couldn’t get those pictures though – sorry.  We peeked at the babies and they are so much bigger now.  They have fur and their eyes open.  It is really amazing.

The garden has been doing great.  Things are just growing and growing, even the weeds.  I pulled about 50% of them but jeez, it is hard.  My pole beans are the BIG show right now.  I never planted them before and don’t even know how large they are supposed to get.  Does anyone know? 

                          It really has been a lovely Monday so far.  Ben has been sleeping since 2pm (4:30ish now), I was able to trim (finish off the bottom) of my bowl and reflect on the nice weekend.  Getting back to throwing is huge for me.  It makes me feel good.  I suggest you all find something that you have dropped and try it again.  It does wonderful things for the body and soul.

Snuck (is that the past tense of sneek?) carrot puree on pita then topped with sauce that had vegies in it.  Muenster cheese on top and parsley and the kid is presently EATING it!  I’m psyched.

 Just came in from working all day with Craig in the yard.  Garden is up.  That includes tomatoes and onions planted.  From last year I had lemon balm (nice in iced tea or lemonade), sage and oregano.  The fence is assembled and all I have to do now is take a trip out east to get the rest of the plants I want.  What a relief.  I can’t do as much being 20 weeks pregnant but I have to say I sort of rocked out there.  hehehe

Off to see Star Trek tonight – YAY!

Started on my garden today.  I only got a quarter the way through though.  Better than nothin I suppose.  A lot of grass is actually growing in there and that was time consuming to remove.  I planted a couple of dahlias (too early) but I needed to because they were dying in the pots I had them in.  I hope they make it. 

AND…..

I also dusted off my pottery wheel today!  I sat down and threw myself a small pot.  I was surprised that it all came back to me so quickly.  I haven’t touched clay for over a year.  The only thing I found difficult was the kick-wheel.  It’s hard to keep that cement stone turning.  I didn’t quite have the speed but whatever I did was enough.  There is a cute, little pot sitting in the garage now.  I’m psyched about it.

I’m totally wanting to start preparing my garden but it is way too rainy out. 

Thoughts:

What to plant..hmmmmmm

tomatoes

carrots

cukes

peas

maybe onions and garlic this year

I’ll try corn again

no squash

eggplant

strawberries

I think I’m going to need a bigger garden!

My weeping cherry is bursting with buds.  That totally makes me happy.  After scanning the yard for growth and stuff, I am realizing that we have a real problem in our yard.  The bed along the house in the backyard is slowly or rather rapidly dying.  Last summer something wiped out most of the plants and I don’t want to spend $$ on stuff till I find out what is causing this.  There are tons of holes that lead me to believe that there are either moles or voles.  Can they eat roots under the ground?  Has anybody a clue?  What the Heck!

Today there were a bunch of cherry tomatoes and plum ripe for pickin’. 

I grew it.

I picked it.

I shot it.

                                                                                             I ate it.

What a storm we had yesterday!  The sky just opened up.  Did anyone get hail?  We did.  Little chunks of ice fell.  Did I mention it was like 85 degrees out.  So weird.  After the crazy rain and wind stopped, I looked out in the backyard.  ALL OF MY TOMATO PLANTS WERE DOWN!  I shrieked.  You don’t even understand.  This is my first garden and everything is doing really well.  My heart just sank thinking that the plants might have been ripped up or broken.  We went out there and thank God we were able to salvage everything.  We tied all the plants up and secured all the stakes.  Whew!  It was a close one.  All during this mayhem…..little Ben peacefully slept.

OH MY GOD!

I just was looking at my garden (I do that about 3 times a day) and to my amazement…….I found ONE little, red cherry tomato!

How psyched was I?  I spit on it, wiped it off and popped it in my mouth.  DOH!  All IN a matter of 2 seconds.  It was so SWEET & DELICIOUS!  I am so happy things are growing.  I still have the pest problem though.  Rabbits, chipmunks, birds, squirrels etc.  I received some great tips on how to duke it out with them.   I hope they work.