PLAYING IN THE GARDEN & KITCHEN

It has been a crazy busy week here.  As I mentioned in my last post, I was seriously lagging behind in the gardening department.  I finally got out to the garden nursery and I was seriously disappointed that they were out of so many of the plants that I love.  I had to change my whole color scheme and try plants that I've never grown.  Time for Blondie to step out of the box!

Because I get so much shade in my yard from all of the huge walnut trees and so much sun on my patio, I planted 3 tomato plants in this really big pot.  I think they are going to do just fine.  I've had little luck growing them at the lake because of the watering factor, so I'm really happy that I came up with this idea.

I planted some marigolds in the pot as well as they deter buggy pests and they look pretty.

I also picked up a small hanging plant for my back porch.  I usually get a larger basket but too many people have complained of concussions from bumping into it on the way out.  I think these are double petunias.

And because I've had such success with my climbing roses at the lakehouse, I thought I'd try a tea rose here, again in one of those big pots.  I love the colors and there are so many buds on it already.

This is a little rustic area off the patio.  It's covered in ground ivy so I set some pots right down in it.  I'll take more pictures in the coming weeks so you can see when it's overgrown, er...blooming like mad.

This is the best seat in the house!  I sit out here with my coffee and a book in the morning and maybe a glass of wine in the evening.  The Husband treats the table and chairs with some sort of oil solution that brings back the rich shine, but I like it sort of worn like this.  The patio is surrounded by hedges for privacy.  The houses in the city are so close to each other that you can sneeze and your next door neighbor says, "Bless you!"

All the kids and their spouses came for dinner Wednesday night.  I had made this casserole a few weeks ago, just fiddled around with things I had and came up with with something very tasty.  So this is what I served along with Texas toast and a salad.  It's very simple...just chunks of chicken, sausage and potatoes browned in olive oil and into a casserole dish.  I then poured a jar of garlic/onion red sauce over the top.  Then bread crumbs mixed with melted butter...

...and then just a thin covering of mozzarella cheese. It bakes for about an hour and a half.  Very simple and so good!

Before dinner we had this Loaded Baked Potato Dip that I found here.  Very simply:  Mix 16 oz. of sour cream with 8 oz. of cheddar, 12 oz. of cooked bacon crumbled up and a handful of chopped green onion.  Delicious for dipping potato chips in!

The big storm front that started in Iowa hit us at about 6:00 Wednesday night, right when everyone was coming for dinner.  A lot of dogs don't like storms and Milo is one of them.  But then Emily and Mike showed up with Rusty, they didn't want to leave him home alone.  Then Kevin and Mary Clare came with who else but Tucker.  Talk about a madhouse!  All the dogs forgot about their fearfulness and ran around like crazy!  Luckily the bad part of the storm swept through just miles south of us and all we had was a tremendous downpour.  

So, we're off to the lake in a few hours.  I have pots to plant there, too, and I'm really excited...I bought curtains for the French doors that lead out to the balcony off our master bedroom.  We've never had curtains there before because the view of the lake is so pretty.  These are just white tab top curtains that we can leave open.  The room is quite large, I have a comfy chair and floor lamp for curling up to read, and The Husband eventually wants to get a desk for the corner so he can get a little extra office work done when he has the time.

So, I'm off to get a few things done, pack my bags and get on the road.  I hope everyone has beautiful weather this weekend.  The rain really ended all the humidity we were having and it is just gorgeous! :)

XO,

Jane