Building a Potager

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I'm not a gardener. Don't get me wrong, I love a beautiful garden. A lush, green little Eden where I can saunter out and pick something fresh for dinner. Or gather a bouquet of bright zinnias or cosmos. But the planting and weeding thing?

Mmmmm, not so much.

It has a lot to do with my traumatic childhood where I spent endless hours in the hot sun weeding the garden, the 3 acre garden which was then inspected for any tiny stray weed that we may have missed.

Kind of turned me off to the whole weeding/gardening thing.

So when Earl decided to put raised beds in the old foundation of a long gone shed I wished him well and left him to his work. It turned out to be very pretty and so much easier to take care of that I could occasionally be seen actually pulling a weed. It was so pretty (he planted an entire bed with zinnias just for me) we would pull the table out there for dinner on summer evenings.

And it wasn't long before I began dreaming about how lovely it would be if we added some pavers between those beds.

 The pavers were on sale yesterday at Home Depot:>)

Now I know some of you southern and California girls are already harvesting tomatoes and other things in your gardens. Up here in Michigan Memorial day is typically when we start planting. I have one whole bed weeded already and will have the rest done within a few days. (But look how lush those weeds are! You almost hate to pull them...Just kidding)

As luck would have it the spacing between the beds was just about perfect for laying the pavers.

I love it so much, it may make a gardener out of me yet!

I picked up some old tomato varieties at the Farmers market and they are ready to go in as soon as I finish weeding the darn beds. We still have some paving to do. We made three trips to Home Depot yesterday and then had to stop and head to a Memorial Day party, but I am beyond thrilled with the progress we have made and the way it looks.

I'll keep you updated on the garden as we make progress:>)

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  I want to give a warm thank you to all of the men and women in uniform who give so much for our country and our citizens.

God bless every one.

Lemon Cake

I have to show you the cake sweet hubby made for my birthday. It's a pinterest recipe, he now knows where to look for inspiration and ideas of what I love.

This triple lemon blueberry cake was divine.

I'm usually a chocolate girl all the way, but I didn't miss it at all. Tangy lemon layers with blueberries, sweet lemon frosting and lemon curd, hello sunshine.

Whoever thought this up is a genius!

 I highly recommend this recipe. It's a treat that everyone loved:>)

Have you tried anything from Pinterest lately?

Snowballs in May

The only kind of snowball that I look forward to in May. Do you have a snowball bush?  I think these are a member of the viburnum family. My grandmother had a bush on the farm, my mother has a bush, and I had to have one too.

 They are a little chartreusey, which I love, and then pure white.

These are the first thing we have had that bloomed well this spring. We won't discuss my poor lilacs except to say they were a total loss after a very warm March followed by an April with night temps in the 20's.

Good Monday morning by the way. I am seconds from running out the door for work. Another busy week ahead, what does your week look like?

By the way, many thanks for your prayers on behalf of Victoria. She arrived in Guatemala safely and has visited fantastic ruins, seen a baby spider monkey and shopped the local market. She has two weeks left so don't stop praying:>)

Have a great week!

Little Birds Fly

We put Victoria on a plane headed for Guatemala this morning. The trip is part of a  cross cultural experience that the University requires for graduation. How did any of us graduate in the past without trips to foreign lands? Anyway, she will be gone for three whole weeks and

this is the furthest my baby has ever been from me!

I'm a bit of a wreck about it since I'm a ridiculous worrier and overprotecter of my kids.

Even when they're adults.

So if you're the praying sort ,(and I know a lot of you are), just keep her in your prayers for this worry wart of a mom ok?

 In other news, my girls totally get me. Look what I got for Mother's day! This awesome old crate that I plan to fill with an assortment of candles, and flowers over the course of the summer. I was actually looking at one of these at an antique shop this spring, left without it, went back for it and it was gone! They picked this up without even knowing I had wanted one. It was filled with a beautiful assortment of scented votives.

They pretty much rock;>)

Beginnings

This is what we did with our weekend, brought a beautiful, well educated graduate home for good. We are so proud of her!

Congratulations on starting the next chapter:>)

And the winner is.....

Emily from A Very Sweet Life!

Thanks to all of you for visiting and comments:>)



Wafer Paper

As promised, here are some of the fun things you can do with the Fancy Flours package I am giving away.  This is called "Wafer Paper".  Paper made from potato starch is imprinted with edible inks to form images made just for cookie decorating. This is one of the sets in the giveaway package and they were so easy to use. I used the sugar cookie recipe and royal icing recipe from the Fancy Flours website. The sugar cookie recipe is wonderful. Buttery and with a great consistency for decorating. The royal icing is easy. I have never worked with royal icing before and it went together in a snap. Just sugar, water and meringue powder. Piped on top of the cookies with a squeeze bottle, it dries to a firm but not hard surface in a short time.

Then I cut out the images from the wafer paper, I used scalloped scissors, brushed a thin coat of corn syrup on the back of the paper and positioned it on the cookie.

Adorable cookies for Mothers day, tea parties or just to give to someone special. Wouldn't these be pretty in a garden party or at a bridal shower?

Get in on the fun! Leave a comment on this post, don't forget to make sure I have a way to contact you by email if you win! The giveaway ends May 9.