Saying Hello?

My Mom's favorite flowers in the garden were zinnias. These came up volunteer all over the garden this year, so I gathered them up and put them in a special place by the fence. Maybe Mom is saying hello! I miss her...lots.

Hydrangeas

The Hydrangeas have been beautiful this year. They are one of my most favorite flowers. I don't know if these are pink trying to turn blue or blue ones turning pink. They look confused but I love them anyway.

Veggies Everywhere I Look

Dolmas for Dinner

We have grape vines growing in the garden so we thought we would try to blanch some of the leaves and make dolmas. I usually buy a jar of grape leaves but why buy them when we have them. They were a bright green when we picked them but two minutes in the boiling water turned them this rather drab color. But that's what they look like in the store bought jar.

Ron drained the leaves and patted them dry. I made the filling with brown rice, onions, parsley, walnuts and lemon juice and let it cool. We put a spoon full of the filling on each leaf.

We folded the top down, the sides in and rolled them up tightly and placed them in a dish.

When we had rolled them all, I steamed them for about 30 minutes until they were nice and tender. I dressed them with olive oil and lemon juice. They were good, really good. Will we always make our own leaves, probably not but it was fun and easy.

Cruise

We took a family cruise a few weeks ago and had a lovely time with the kids and grand kids. Our ship is the big one in the background.

Birds and dolphins followed the ship. Seas were calm and the food was good.

The stewards left us friends each day. They were very cute. This one was made with two towels.

A good time was had by all and that makes me happy!

Blueberry Pie

Hubby has been asking for blueberry pie so I finally got it done. I didn't think I even liked blueberry pie but I have changed my mind! This was good...really good if I say so myself. Wish all you friends and family could have been here to enjoy it with us.

Foggy Morning

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Here is a sample of one of our foggy mornings this time of year. It is hard to believe but if you drive inland a mile or two, it will be nice and sunny. The sun usually breaks through for us by 10 or 11. I think we have had more than our share of fog this year.

Mutants and Aliens

I just could not wait any longer so I picked some ears of corn. They felt pretty full and solid, and the silk was dry. Well, there is some strange stuff going on in the corn patch! Over the top of one ear was a second layer of loose disorganized kernels. Another ear had a small new ear starting at the base. What in the world would cause this? I have never seen this happen and I have had more than a few patches of corn over the years. Anyone have any ideas? There were some normal ears too but it still could use more time. Will this corn ever be ready to eat. Also found a few ripe tomatoes but really had to search for them. This is trying my patience!

Raspberries

We planted raspberries for the first time this year and although they haven't produced much yet the berries we have gotten have been big, juicy and wonderful. The bushes are spreading all over and sending up shoots so it is high time to get them staked and trained up in some way. And they are way stickery too...I need to find some good long gloves. Maybe some gardeners rose pruning gloves would work well. Might have to cut off the fingers on the picking hand to be able to handle the berries. They are very delicate and easy to squash. Anyway, they look like a big winner and will be worth the effort in spite of the stickers and scratches!

Cuddle Bugs...

Callie and Lumpkin taking a little nap. Cuddle time is wonderful!

Pumpkins

The pumpkins continue to grow even though the gophers have eaten part of the plant. Some of the vines have wilted. I was able to trap one little critter (sorry) so we will see how it does going forward. I would guess this one weighs about 100 pounds now. There are several smaller ones too. Someone asked me the other day about when it would turn orange. Sorry to say, this variety has the genes to get big, but stays pretty much this light color. We still need to find seeds for big and orange together.

Give Me your Ears...

We are waiting for the corn and tomatoes to really produce for us. The corn is about 7-8 feet tall. We picked a few ears but they are not ready yet. I am so anxious to sink my teeth into it. The tomatoes are struggling with our overcast mornings. We also have some blight, probably from the dampness. There are lots of green tomatoes so I hope they will soon kick into gear. Our weather here is predictable in that when it is hot in the central valley, really hot, we get fog and overcast mornings. When we start getting sunny mornings, it cools down in the valley. That's why when all those valley people are cooking, they head over here to Pismo to cool off. Works for us. When they leave in October and November we have some of our most wonderful beach weather. Shhhh...don't tell. The flip side, they are enjoying their nice corn and ripe tomatoes and we are not!

What is This...Pray Tell

Johnny brought my attention to something on the paddock pipe fence the other day. I thought it was a big piece of dried up hay but he kept messing with it. When it moved, I went to investigate further.

I think it is a Praying mantis that has taken on the pale color of the pipe. He looks very dry. All the ones I have seen before were very green and shiny. I wonder if he was at the end of life and ready to do what ever it is they do...molt, lay eggs or whatever. Guess I should check on that. He is still there a few days later.