A Perfect Weekend

Mid-August and we had a June weekend.  You know.  One of the weekends we should have had way back in June when we were having July ... or something. 

Highs in the low 80's.  A bit of rain both afternoons.  Time enough to get a jump start on fall weeding and deadheading.

Time in the kitchen, too. A bit of peach pie.  [Meant to take the picture before we ate half!]

A bit of canning.  Roma's are in short supply this year, so I may not be able to make any more Tomato Jam this year.  Not good news ...

And, a fun little project to use up the surplus of tiny yellow Roma's we have produced. 

Spread the tomatoes on a parchment-lined pan and "bake" at 250 for about an hour - could take up to two hours depending on how big* your tomatoes are.  These are sprinkled with Italian herbs, and will go into the freezer once they are cooled.  Then stored in plastic bags until needed for a touch of summer in February.

*These directions are from Martha Stewart in the local paper.  You can do it with cherry tomatoes or cut larger tomatoes in pieces.  I only did the mini-Roma's because I liked the idea of keeping their shape.  If you are serious cook and just want the flavor, chopped up "real" tomatoes would probably do just fine.

The Cutting Garden

A year ago, the generous - and multi-talented - Belinda (Wild Acre) provided a 10-week series on how to grow a cutting garden.  With dreams of her English abundance of flowers all summer, I dived in and made creating a cutting garden my project for this year.  It's time I shared the results - and the lessons learned.

First, the site.

We have always called this "the bowling alley".  When we first moved in, there was absolutely nothing in this long, straight side yard.  Altho there is now a lot planted to break up the empty space, the name stuck.  I did the lay-it-out-with-a-hose-trick, and Round-up and finally spaded it out by hand and added compost, etc.  You know the drill - all last September.  So that I could plant.

Ordered lots of seeds - way too many, of course - but that was part of the fun!

And, then the real work began.

But in a relatively short time, up came the little flower plants - all last fall.  While Belinda had assured me that they would look like weeds, they looked more like little soldier plants to me!  All lined up and waiting to bloom in the spring.

And, bloom they did.  By late May, I was looking at this every morning.

The larkspur, bachelor's buttons, nigella and stock did beautifully and produced their little hearts out. 

 

Sadly, by July it was pretty much gone. The seeds I planted in the fall did very well, but the seeds that I added in the spring just ignored me completely.

Lessons learned:

First, I love having a cutting garden and it is well worth the time and effort.  I just need to learn some more about what does well in my humid, hot zone.

Two.  Virginia "ain't" England.  Spring is not spring, and summer is not summer.  While Belinda is enjoying an abundance of flowers now, mine have been gone more than least a month.  By the time the zinnias were blooming (in the old garden) everything else was gone.  I never really had a chance to make the big, fresh-picked bouquets I wanted.

Three.  I can't go by what happened this year.  Does anyone remember when spring began this year.  I think it was around February 15th and the "first" summer was in April.  This was not a "normal" year - at least not using previous history as a model.  Was this the new "normal"? or just an odd year?  the answer to that will be very important to gardeners all over the world.

Four.  It's time to start again.  Actually, I have already cleaned out and turned over the bed.  Am ready to spread some compost and feed it, and have gotten the first order of seeds.  Am going to plant more varieties this fall and take one last piece of Belinda's advice.  No soldier rows for me this year.  I shall plant in swaths and let them look for wild when they come up.  i know what they look like now and won't mistake flowers-to-be for weeds.

Thanks, Belinda.  It was great fun.  You have created a monster!

Olympics - week one

You'd have to live under a rock to be totally ignoring the Summer Olympics, but I do understand that everyone is not as avid a fan as I am - or would like to be!

There have been exciting moments in the pool, in the gym, on the soccer fields, in the skuls and just about everywhere else - with more to come in track and field this week.  So, it seems to me that it is time to take a moment and  talk about what really matters - the U.S. uniforms. 

[In the Olympic spirit, I am not in the business of dissing the uniforms of other countries.]

Actually, I have been totally impressed with the high quality - read that as "good looking" US uniforms.  Love the bright reds and the good dark blue.  

How can you not like these rowing team uniforms?

 Or ladies' tennis?

 Or, gymnastics - men's ...

 or women's ...

or swimming - they all wear the same thing ...

 or track and field?

 even trampoline (who even knew that was an Olympic sport?) ...

or volleyball ...

 or, soccer ... [They have navy uniforms and white, too, but I love these with the broad stripes!]

 

I do have a question, tho.  Who thought that gray warm-ups would look nice for the medal ceremonies?  Could they have made a worse choice?

 

Yes, they could have - and they did.  The folks in the shooting sports are wearing brown.  Yes, brown.  That sure is the the color I think of first for the U.S. - well, right after gray.  

 

What were they thinking?

Stay-cation

It was fun staying home and doing things "in the neighborhood" for a few calm days.

Day 2:

A lovely morning spent at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  The current "big" show is Indian art and objects from 1750 - 1950, mostly during the English Raj.  While the "art" was more "illustration" to my way of thinking and didn't really touch me, the objects were divine.

Jewelry like the most extravagant you have ever seen - huge diamonds, rubies, emeralds and pearls to die for.  Fabrics of the finest silk and cotton, woven in the most intricate of patterns, clothing and objects literally fit for the king - or in this case the maharaja.   No photos allowed, of course.

But in the side exhibit - Silver for the Raj - they did allow photos.

I love the intricate work.  You do use a tea pot like this for your Earl Grey, don't you?

 

Lunch followed in a lovely little cafe at the museum overlooking their pond, full of lotus.

And, what did we learn today?   The long white cotton shirt/dress traditionally worn by Indian men was called a "jama"  and the long, loose, white cotton pants worn underneath were called "pai-jama".  Give you any ideas?

Day 3:

What's a stay-cation without a bit of wine tasting?  right?  So off to one new winery and to one old one.  Met a nice trio from Pittsburgh who were on their way to the Outer Banks for a week with the extended family, but were stopping the same places we were, so we tasted our way thru some eastern Virginia wines together.

A lovely way to spend an afternoon.  And, yes, a few bottles of wine to remind us of a good time.


What did we learn?  As Virginia's wine industry grows, the quality gets better and better.  And, we are happy to help the local economy, when we can!

Day 1:  Yes, there was a day one.  A few hours in the garden and then a bit of reading while Mitchell had some very minor ambulatory surgery.  He is fine and up to making his world-famous gazpacho today.