cool as a ...

For me, lately, with my mind's eye always visualizing what there is to be done with my garden, often day dreaming about my garden next season, next year, and what that will be and why - it all comes down to.  there is nothing more lovely than. 

biting into a fresh, cool cucumber.  straight from the source.

give-away winner

I was absolutely thrilled at your warm and yummy responses to my give-away question. If I could, I would make blueberry cobbler/raspberry and white chocolate blondies/pear tart/strawberry rhubarb shortcake-pie-crumble/peach pie/strawberry bread/lemon meringue pie or pavlova/lemon cake with raspberry filling/summer fruit pudding with vanilla ice cream/ and apple cobbler-streudal.

But instead, will you settle for a cherry scone?



Ok, and now for the winner - (chosen at random by my talented fiance...)







Congrats to Megan !! Megan - e-mail me with your address. 

And, thanks again everyone!

weekend in photos

on friday, kitty found a good hiding place to scout out the birds ...



... while i prepared a Mexican themed potluck dinner for a group of couples that Jesse and I meet with once a month for dinner.



there was nectarine and cherry white wine sangria to go with the nachos.



on Saturday i squealed with delight when i saw this watermelon growing on the balcony. where the heck did that come from!?!

i now peer at it almost hourly.



then we drove down to St. Geroge's Island, an inlet on the Chesapeake Bay, for a peaceful and lovely party.



and, finally, on a stroll Sunday night, i took a photo of the balcony from the other side. it wasn't as crazily out of control as i had imagined it to seem.



that's a relief!  hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

what's doin in the garden

Here is the second edition of "what's doin in the garden." You can find the first edition here.

Lately I have been day-dreaming of travel ... I am absolutely dying to go to this wonderful yoga/spa experience, (maybe in February?), and at the same time I was so inspired by this video to travel to Iceland.  I have been curious about Iceland ever since I discovered Bjork at the age of 15.  I remember running down to the basement after school, grabbing our dusty encyclopedia volume "I" and reading all about Reykjaveck and thinking how extremely cool she must be to live there ... (maybe next summer?)

Don't forget to enter the give-away!  Leave a comment by midnight on Tuesday June 22nd, and include your favorite fruit dessert.  Thanks to all of you who have already participated!

June Give-Away

A plum galette - yum!! I could eat the entire thing right now.  And the best news?  This delicious treat could be yours! (in a matter of speaking).  Because ...

As a token of appreciation to all of my readers, I have chosen the lovely book Rustic Fruit Desserts as my first give-away. 

You all, it means so so much to me that you have taken an interest in my blog - my gardening and other random pursuits.  Whenever I see a comment in my inbox, I get ridiculously excited, no joke.  Being part of the blog world allows me to have an outlet far away from my day-to-day life, and reading blogs always leaves me with new ideas.  I like to practice being grateful for what I have in life, and I am certainly grateful to you, my readers, and to learning from your inspiring and creative blogs.

So, about the give-away.  I came across this book when wandering around Powell's in Portland last summer.  And, besides that plum galette pictured above, I have made many of the recipes, including a variety of cobblers, buckles, and crumbles.  The great thing about the book is that it is organized by season, and so no matter what time of the year it is, you are sure to find a recipe with ingredients available at the supermarket or farmers market.  And, the next greatest thing about the book is that it leaves room for lots of creativity.  Once you get the hang of the recipes, you can decide what fruit you would like to use, and you can improvise according to what is available.  And the last greatest thing about the book, the pictures are gorgeous!  Long story short, even if you don't win this give-away, I highly recommend picking up a copy.

Just leave me a comment by Tuesday, June 22nd, with what YOUR favorite fruit dessert is, and I'll randomly choose a winner next week.  And, thanks to all of you lovely people out there!  I mean it.

outdoor inspiration

Two sweet peas and a yellow squash were harvested yesterday evening.  Down the hatch!

My amazingly talented sister is lucky enough to have her very own chickens nesting in the back yard!  Yep, its true, click on the link and you will find "feathery" and "doug" hanging out in their coup, thinking about laying eggs.  I so want chickens!!

Also quite neat is the idea of making your own moss, a link courtesy of my sis.  I am so so so going to do this.  Then maybe transfer it into a terrarium come winter?

sad harvest

Such a sad little carrot and radish harvest.

Now I have some of these black radishes growing.  Seeing all of the wonderful heirloom seeds sold on etsy, I am so very inspired to start all of my veggies from heirloom seed next year.  I think I just might do that.  Oh, and I also want a greenhouse to put out on the balcony this winter ... just don't tell my fiance!

attack of the cucumber monster!

The cucumber plant is taking over! I suppose I should not have planted two in one pot. I also suppose that I should not have also planted two sweet peas and an edamame in there as well. Oh, I suppose!



There it is, peaking innocently from behind the wall.



ahhh!! It is eating me!



And it is flowering up a storm.



There is a sweet pea.



An edamame.



And a little cuke. Though, I wonder if these will get bigger? They seem to be shriveling up before they grow. Hmmmm.

I fear for my safety ...