the strawberry plant, from last year, is doing very well…
we found a hamper at the store on July 5th, after either the birds or squirrels had eaten the ripe strawberries before we got to them, lol…
I kept the cover on them until a few ripe ones were ready to eat and then after we had those ones, I took the cover off so that the flowers could be pollinated…
as a number of yellow/green berries started to appear, the cover went back on the plant…
on Thursday I could see the ripe berries, through the screen…
removed the cover and picked three beautiful strawberries…
we went to the oldest grandson’s other set of grandparents the other day for supper and had a lovely visit…
before we left I had access to their library where I got a bunch of books by an author that I had just discovered – Fern Michaels… the shelves looked much tidier before all the books came out, lol…
she also had two new Nora Roberts books I have been waiting for…
we filled a grocery box, woohoo…
I added them to the stair library in order and now I have reading material for the remainder of the summer;-)…
what a wonderful treat;-)… once the Olympics are over I will get down to some serious reading…
for a number of years, I’ve been overwintering dahlia corms, but haven’t had tons of luck… sometimes I know what they are and other times they are a surprise when they get put away…
one white one has proven very prolific and it has produced at least a dozen blooms so far this year in three different pots…
these are about the size of my palm…
a delightful feathery one that I purchased last year at Lilystone Gardens has come back nicely and has a number of blooms and buds in one pot…
each bloom is bigger than my hand…
these have all been white so I was particularly excited to see one come up in a pot that looked like it was pinky/purple…
it is a bit smaller than the white pompom-looking ones, but stands out in all its pink and purple hues…
yesterday I woke up feeling a bit sorry for myself…
it would have been our 54th wedding anniversary, but instead it is the 12th year without my beloved…
I went out early and watered the grass as we’ve been working on adding some to bald spots in the garden… my beloved loved it when the grass looked good, lol…
I also ran the irrigation system at the same time… first time I’ve done that and it worked fairly well… the pressure for the grass watering portion was not as strong as usual, but it meant that I could get all the watering done at once…
I turned the PVR on so I wouldn’t miss any Olympics, lol…
then I reorganized the lawn furniture… took a bit of effort to get the lounger where I wanted, but I think it should work for the next while… all of the cushions came out…
while there was still shade, I filled up the four bird feeders and then I sat on the back deck to read and enjoy the garden before it got too hot…
later we went out for supper as a treat from the Ottawa kids;-)…
recently, I wrote about all the caterpillars and the butterflies that emerged and my hope that, as the milkweed has new leaves, another monarch mother might stop by and leave a feweggs…
well, on Thursday, this happened;-)…
I was very excited and after she left, and a bit of searching, made the discovery of at least four eggs…
it was a beautiful day for an adventure yesterday… and we hadn’t been on one for awhile…
my adventure buddy and I drove out to Pineridge Hollow for lunch and a wander around the new shops that are there…
we had a lovely drive out and only got a little lost, lol…
we were just in time for our lunch reservation so we ate first… we shared a number of things…
rosemary and salt beet chips with a goat cheese ranch dipping sauce… my oh my, those were addictive…
next we shared a small Pineridge salad with mixed greens, apples, candied pecans and smoked Gouda tossed in a maple Dijon dressing… I forgot to take a photo before we dived in, lol… the small was more than enough for the two of us… and it was delicious… actually it was my favourite of all we ate…
she had the pulled pork tacos and I had the carpaccio – seared beef tenderloin, pickled rhubarb, strawberry gastrique, fresh herbs, arugula, pistachios, and a garlic scape aoli…
it was fun to try something different;-)…
and because we hadn’t eaten enough, she had schmoo and I had panna cotta with haskap berries…
we could have just had the beet chips and salad, maybe with a bit of chicken in it…
but we enjoyed everything and had leftovers to bring home…
from there we wandered through the shops and picked up a few items before heading home for naps, lol…
we’ve been watching the hummingbird feeder since we arrived and on Tuesday, when we were at the table eating our supper we spotted the first one… having their meal too;-)…
Wednesday, while we were eating lunch, two of them had a little confrontation over who got to eat first…
Friday, while I was on the lower deck reading in the sun, one came right up to me before flying off… once you’ve heard a hummingbird, you always recognize the sound of their wings fluttering, lol…
herbiggirlpants 