A Walk Through the Garden

I thought I would show you how my garden is growing this year. This is what I have in my pots out front. I'm really pleased with the large purple foliage growing at the back. I think I'll choose that again next year!

My sage bushes all came back from last year. The common sage grew tall and bushy and produced beautiful purple flowers this spring. All the variegated sage stayed close to the ground and a number of the bushes only produced a tiny little show of leaves. Eventually, I will probably replace most of them with more common sage. I have zinnias planted behind the sage for color later in the summer and the black-eyed susan's are between the boxwood bushes.

I finally found something different for the front door and it looks bright and cheery:

The best, and most mature, garden is on the side of the house and contains all perennials. It is in its fourth year now and I'm really pleased with how it is growing. The lilies and daisies are quite tall this year.

My apple mint is spreading and growing. Its leaves are just huge!

Buried in the mix are four mini rose bushes. I need to transplant them elsewhere but am not sure where yet.

This corner houses my spearmint, chives, tansy, and ornamental grass.

Turning the corner, I have a bunch of sunflowers growing in my peony bed along with cosmos. Most of the sunflowers reseeded from last year!

The little gardens on the corners of the patio were new this year. My Dad planted the Rose of Sharon trees for me and then I started adding things in. It's helping the patio to feel much more welcoming and relaxing. As you can see, we live in a vinyl village and so I need the gardens to help me feel a bit more surrounded by nature.

And then there is the vegetable garden which is slowly coming along. I think it needs a lot more MiracleGro. I have marigolds planted around the perimeter but I think they have stopped growing at about 3 inches!

Around the corner is the zinnia garden with the rhubarb at one end and the pineapple mint going crazy at the other.

Lastly, there is the lilac bush at the corner by the garage. It is growing by leaps and bounds this summer. I plan to plant the blueberry bushes in that last space of grass along the side of the house.

There is always something to think about changing or adding in the garden. Although I garden more for the "end result" rather than for the fun of actually getting dirty, I'm still enjoying my garden work so far this year.

First Steps

Yesterday Laura took her very first steps!!! We always arrive quite early at church and after our "morning chores" were done we all sat down in the pews and Laura stood in the aisle. We all happened to be watching when she decided to try a step on her own! What a great moment it was, and a perfect Father's Day gift! It will also be a nice memory to think she took her first steps at church. Walking on her own is a big milestone for Laura's development and we are thankful that's she's really close now!

Laura got her stitches out this morning. I guess everything looks good. I'm hoping the scar heals up to be less noticeable than it is now (stitches still in at time of photo).

Laura also likes to eat frozen peas. It's a good way to get some veggies in her.

Want to Start a B&B?

Anyone want to start a Bed and Breakfast? Some friends of ours in Baltimore, MD are selling their home which is all ready to be used as a B&B. I told them I would post it on the blog just in case anyone knew of anyone........

All the details can be found here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sister Outing

For some time we sisters have been wanting to go away on an overnight together just to have some extended time together. All spring we thought and researched and wanted to plan a stay at a Bed and Breakfast somewhere in the state. When it came down to it, none of us could really afford the costs that entailed. So, we got creative. We asked if JK would be willing to go visit his mom for a night and we all converged on Christina's home, which she had turned into a Bed and Breakfast!

When we arrived there were candles and flowers everywhere and some lovely nibbles to begin the evening.

Look at these beautiful strawberries, covered in orange zest and a tiny hint of powdered sugar.

Every nook and cranny looked like a comfortable place to sit down and relax.

Christina, whose birthday we were celebrating, really made the time a success by her hard work. Oh, and mom joined us for the evening and breakfast.

One room was set up like a spa, ready for us to do our nails.

The back deck was ready for dinner.

I went to Trader Joe's and came back with dinner.

So many delicious things!

Lots of laughter over dinner!

And then on to the beauty spa.

We all enjoyed Jeni's ice-cream, brought straight from Columbus, OH on dry ice by a friend. This flavor was Wildberry Lavender. Amazing!

We stayed up late watching a movie and then got up for a beautiful breakfast in the morning. We began with these coffee creams.

And Christina made a cooked breakfast to follow that.

More good times.....

Then it was time to get ready for the day.

Before heading out, we had to take a few quick photos for Christina's knitting patterns.

Then we headed to the Carmel Farmer's Market.

And were completely overcome by the buckets and buckets of peonies on sale.

We made a quick, but not so quick, detour to the fashion mall where Gap was having a 40% off sale, including their sale rack, making shirts $6, etc. We all found something! Then we were off to lunch in Broadripple.

It was such a wonderful weekend and I'm so glad we figured out a way to make it work!

The Currant Bush

The other evening I went out to harvest our red currants. My mom bought me a bush this spring and it is planted in my new garden which surrounds our back patio.

The currants grow on little stems that hang down. Don't they look like little edible jewels? My mom had them growing in her backyard when she was a child, and of course they are well-known in the British Isles. So, it was time we got some of our own!

Apparently, the bush grows fast and large! So, we'll see what happens in the next few years.

A few weeks ago I ordered a surprise box of perennials from Spring Hill Nursery. I paid about $8.50 for supposedly $100 worth of plants. Today the box arrived! I was not disappointed! Inside were four large blueberry bushes (which I see go for $20 each), 2 juniper trees, 4 purple love grasses, 2 butterfly bushes, and 200 gladiola bulbs. Now I just need to figure out where to plant my blueberries and see if I can find homes for the juniper trees. I'm excited about our "new additions" and will have to take some photos of our gardens.

African Open House

I'm still catching up on everything I wanted to blog about. Remember the May wedding I posted about? Well, a few weeks later we hosted an open house for Jenny and Jim and themed it with Ugandan food.

I had so much fun working on the theme because it gave me a chance to reminisce about my own years in Uganda. Nearly 70 people showed up and the evening was so full of fellowship and joy -- I couldn't have been happier! Thank you to all of you who came!

Going backwards around the food table: Alaina made these delicious banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. You can find the recipe here on The Cooks Next Door.

My neighbor made me a Cassava Cake since cassava is such a staple in Uganda. We also served Ugandan tea both hot and iced and the chai mix from Costco was used to make chai. We even had Ugandan coffee!!

We had tropical fruit salad with pineapple, mango, banana, papaya and lime zest. I love that combination!

I found banana leaves at the local international market and they looked so pretty lining the serving dishes.

Then we had greens. It seems that many of the typical Ugandan dishes start out with onions and tomatoes and then you either add greens, beans, or meat!

And after the greens come the beans:

Samosas are a Ugandan street food, an influence of the Indian population. Everyone loved these! I bought them frozen at the international store and one of my friends came and fried them all for me!

I love chapatis! They are a flatbread popular as another street food. They were easy to make from scratch. I rolled and rolled and rolled and Rachel spent a long time cooking them all for me.

Not a great picture, but just to document the ground nut sauce (peanuts) which was meant for dipping the grilled chicken into. Once again, it also included onions and tomatoes!

And lastly (but really firstly) there was grilled chicken on a stick. Another friend spent two hours grilling all the chicken for us!!

Many hands make light work and it's true with a party like this. So many people helped out, including Christina who came over for the last minute chaos!

No more parties on the horizon at the moment! It's a cool, rainy day here today -- kind of a treat!

The TNNA

Christina (0f Classic Cable Knits) and I headed to Columbus, OH on Saturday to attend one day of the TNNA trade show (The National Needle Arts Association). We had the most amazing time, I'm still thinking about it!

We started the day at Ysolda's booth. Ysolda is a favorite of ours and has been for several years. She is a young designer from Edinburgh and we love her work! She has a new book due out in August and much to our surprise she was giving away advance copies!!! I quickly got in line and was able to get my own signed copy! Thanks Ysolda!!!!

Christina and I met lots of really nice people throughout the day. Hmmmm......I think it must be something about knitters. Here we are talking to Jaala, editor of KnitCircus, and online knitting magazine. If you knit, and you don't know about KnitCircus, be sure to check it out! I've signed up to make sure I get their newsletter and reminders about issue publication.

Meeting people that I know only through reading blogs was a highlight of the day. Susan B. Anderson's blog was probably the very first knitting blog I began to read 3 1/2 years ago. Susan has several books published and many, many online patterns. I love her blog and have knitted a number of her toys and countless sweet pea hats. Susan is the nicest person and it was a treat to meet her!

Half way through the day we stopped for lunch and went across the street to Columbus' indoor market. What fun!

We settled on Greek food for lunch, reminiscent of our travels together. Don't you love Christina's beautiful scarf (her own design)!! Oh yes, and that is a Reincarnation she is wearing. I took about 30 flowers to give away at the TNNA and let people know that they are available for wholesale orders. Thanks to my brother-in-law and Michael, I now have a website devoted just to the felted flowers. You can check it out here.

Another blog that Christina and I absolutely love is Attic 24. She is an amazing crocheter and some months ago posted about her Japanese flower shawl she made. We spotted Ginger of Yarn Lady and her Japanese flower shawl at the TNNA and of course had to talk to her. She's a fan of Attic 24 just like we are. My own version of the shawl is in progress and it was so fun to meet someone else who made one!

We stopped by the Alpaca with a Twist booth, a yarn company right in our own city. I had done some knitting for them during the month of May and it was fun to see my work decorating their booth (I did the green and white squares on the small pillow).

Here is Christina posing with one of her designs at the Alpaca with a Twist booth.

We also got to meet the author of the adorable books Phoebe's Sweater and Freddie's Blanket: two books for children that have knitting incorporated into the story and include knitting patterns at the back of the book. Joanna Johnson and her husband Eric write and illustrate these books and it was delightful to be able to chat with Joanna. If you haven't read the books, you really must try to find them!

Perhaps the biggest highlight of all was to meet and chat with Debbie Bliss and her daughter. I've known the name "Debbie Bliss" for so many years, long before I ever took up knitting myself. She is an amazing designer and everything she creates is beautiful and appealing. Not only does she publish pattern books, but also a knitting magazine. We both felt honored that Debbie took time to speak with us and we both were impressed with her gentle, genuine personality.

It was also fun to try out the Yarn Bar at the Berroco Yarn booth! The kids were happy that we even got to take sample yarn home with us!

As you can see, it was a wonderful day, mostly because of all the people we met! We can't wait for next year!!!