Is it summer yet?

It has been a pretty soggy summer so far.  That has meant bad news for my new raised bed vegetable garden.  We have been in the process of moving wood piles out of this area. but it gets lots of sunshine so it seemed a good place to try my hand at planting some edibles. The Inspector built the beds and I planted pumpkins, cucumbers, beets and a tomato plant. I was supposed to be harvesting my beets next week, but as you can see they have barely even peeked up out of the ground it has been so cool, dark and damp. The pumpkin plants look anemic and unfortunately, the rains washed the cucumber plants right out of the hill! 

This bed was supposed to be green beans and carrots.  Hmmm....  It's a very good thing no one is depending on me for their harvest canning this fall!

Happily my planters and pots are flourishing, even if this is the first sunny afternoon we have seen in a week. 

It's raspberry season on my back deck. I have had to watch them closely as all the wet weather has caused some berries to start molding.  I have to be sure to pick them the moment they are ripe.

And fresh picked raspberries means....

 

 Fresh baked lemon-raspberry muffins with lemon glaze, Yum!! 

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 Between the rainstorms we were able to get down to the lake with our granddaughter a couple of weeks ago.  Water and sand!  Is there anything a kid likes better than that?  She was having so much fun she didn't want to leave for lunch.  Next time we will pack a picnic.

 

This park has become our new favorite place, especially since we have to stay so much closer to home this year. Here's hoping we have more sunny summer days ahead of us.

"Summertime, Summertime

Let's go out and play

Time for fun, and lots of sun

I love these kinds of days"

Adieu!

Iced Tea and Shopping

I took my mom to get her hair done a couple of weeks ago, and after dropping her off I had a couple of hours of free time to spend doing whatever.  So, I decided to check out this new store that had opened a few miles up the road.  I had been in these stores before in our travels, so I was excited to see what this one had to offer.

I spent a long time wandering up and down the aisles looking at everything.  There were lots of attractive furniture arrangements, lovely throw pillows and candles, pretty dishes and linens, and everything for so much less than I would find in a department store. I got lots of decorating ideas.

As I was wandering around, I found this attractive little blue patterned pottery tray. It was the perfect size for these two serving dishes I picked up a while back.  I can use them together or apart.  Perfect!

Next, I noticed these fruit decorated boxes.  I was curious to see what was inside, and when I opened one up I discovered this sweet little teapot with matching cup.  So cute!  That came home with me as well.  I am really looking forward to using it in the future.

Of course, it's a little warm for pots of hot tea at the moment.  This time of year I'm more into iced tea in brightly colored summer cups.

This pitcher of tea was a mixture of Tetley British Blend Tea, decaffeinated of course, and Tangerine Orange Herbal Tea, delicious and so refreshing.  As it turned out, I didn't need to add any lemon.  Do you have a favorite tea combination?


That's my Raspberry Shortcake raspberry bush in the background.  I planted it in a pot last year.  This year it's covered in berries which are almost ready for picking.

I was so pleased at how it wintered over that I planted another one just a few days ago. Hopefully between the two bushes I will get lots of tasty raspberries for years to come.

So here I am kicking back and taking some time to bask in this gorgeous summer weather, iced tea in hand, taking in the view and listening to the soft musical sounds of the wind chimes.  Whether you are a city girl or a country girl I hope you are taking the time to enjoy these lazy summer days.  Blessings!

 

Retirement projects

For the past few days I have been feeling like I have accomplished very little since retiring.  It just seems like there is so much to be done.  Then I took the time to look on the calendar and realized that I have only been retired for three and a half weeks and as I have looked through some of my pictures I can see that I have accomplished more than I thought.  Here are a few of the things I have been doing.  

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Our church has been in the middle of some remodeling.  Some walls were taken down and offices moved around.  This spring as the church's librarian, I was asked if I would consider moving our library from its present location to another space as part of that remodeling process.   This was our original library.

Several years ago this room had been pretty much a classroom with a few bookshelves in it.  I painted the walls, pulled together all the bookcases and unused furniture from around the church  and turned it into a organized working library where people could come and quietly read or meditate. It has become a much used spot in the church. Now the room was needed for an office.

So I was given the challenge of turning this somewhat boring meeting room into a combination library/meeting space.

 The first thing my hubby and I did was give the walls a fresh coat of light gray paint to go with the new carpet that was laid.  I spent the first week after school got out, purging old books moving bookcases in, and placing all the books we were keeping back on the shelves.  It was quite a job and took many hours of work but I think it turned out rather well.

Wall to Wall Books with space for growth

There is still a meeting space

 

A children's Corner

A place to sit quietly and read

All that is needed is a few more silk plants and some pictures on the wall and it will be finished.

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My second week of retirement we had to have someone come out to take down some trees.

See how massive the tree was compared to the house and flag pole.  Even in this picture is was starting to turn.

From the first day we moved into our house 30 years ago this tree has been part of the landscape. Towering 65 feet, green and lush, it was its own ecosystem, home to birds and squirrels.  We even saw a raccoon or two hanging around in its branches from time to time.  Suddenly for no reason that we have been able to figure out it began to die.  By this summer it had become so brown and dry that we feared the possibility of it going up like a giant torch on the 4th of July. For our safety and the safety of our neighbors it had to be removed.

It was so sad to watch such a wonderful tree come down, but as you can see, there was no green left.

Removing the branches

Taking the tree down in sections

Making sure it falls the right direction.

Right where it's supposed to land.

Plenty of firewood for years to come.

I am going to miss that big old tree but I am hoping it will be a good change, allowing the plants and trees around it light and space to grow and spread.  Time will tell.

There is another smaller project I have been working on as well.
My daughter decided she wanted to learn how to knit an afghan from this ball of giant yarn.  It's been a few years since I have knit anything and I wasn't all that great at it even then.  I had to take a quick refresher course on YouTube before I could tackle it.  I have never used such big needles or yarn before but together we are figuring it out.  I think my daughter is going to enjoy snuggling into it when winter returns.

 In between these projects, there have been some doctor appointments, yard work and even a couple of days visiting with family in Oregon. I guess I really have been busier than I thought.
Please feel free to leave a comment.  I always love hearing from everyone.