Category Archives: Uncategorized

I have been putting up patriotic bunting on my deck and dock for YEARS for the summer holidays, but somehow last year, people assumed that we were making a political statement and they assumed incorrectly. We were simply celebrating the holidays of the summer. So this year, I decided that we would put up colorfulContinue reading “Decorations for the SUMMER OF FUN!!”

We had our first guests for what we are calling the Summer of Fun. It was a pretty simple table, but I thought it turned out really pretty. I started with an indigo patterned table cloth and put some flowers that Mike bought at the grocery along with white astilbe from the garden in smallContinue reading “The first table from the Summer of Fun!”

Chris moved into an apartment last October. It’s a nice apartment, but it has a built in desk right in the main traffic path from the front door to the bedroom which makes it unusable as a desk because the chair would always be in the way. Being the good parent that I am, IContinue reading “A Bar for Chris’s Apartment–Complete with Glasses”

I love crostinis and I used to buy them until I found this easy and inexpensive solution–olive oil cooking spray! Assemble your ingredients: Slice the bread about 1/4″ thick on the bias. Lay the sliced bread out on a tray. Spray the first side with olive oil spray and flip and spray the other side.Continue reading “Super Cheaty Crostini”

I put up a lot of peaches last summer and with another summer coming on fast, I need to find ways to use them. My husband and son met my BIL at his cabin and they wanted to bring dinner. I had some leftover pie crust from the quiches, so I decided to make aContinue reading “French Peach Pie”

I am working on material selections for our guest bathroom. I had hoped to get started on it this winter, but Jackson took this semester off because his classes were still all online and junior level engineering classes in a virtual setting seemed like a bad idea to all of us. So, we are workingContinue reading “Wallpaper for the Guest Bath”

I finally got my tomatoes and peppers planted this past week, and the cucumbers are tall enough to start training them to grow up the trellis we built for them. I hope that your vegetable gardens are doing well, in spite of the challenging weather.

My friend Susan told me about a strawberry farm in Dayton that I had never heard of, Lorenzen Farms. I went this morning and have never seen a field so full of ripe strawberries. I picked 2 gallons in 30 minutes. They are open from 8 to 11 a.m. and then again from 4 toContinue reading “For locals only….”

The cutting garden is doing well, but you can definitely tell the areas that get the most sun. For whatever reason, it seems that the cosmos have taken hold, but the larkspur and zinnia seeds have struggle. I saw that was the case a few weeks ago and started a couple flats of Cactus FlowerContinue reading “Cutting Garden–Dahlias are sending up flower stalks”

So earlier this year, I posted about building a pad for my birdbaths. I also planted strawberries and fig trees that I plan to espalier on my south facing brick wall of the garage. First of all, one of the fig trees leafed out beautifully and the other didn’t. The garden center had the sameContinue reading “The bird bath garden–maybe not the best idea…..”