Luscious Lemon Cupcakes

Today we are celebrating a co-workers birthday at work and it is my turn to do the honors. I found this cute cake plate at a yard sale and grabbed it quick. You see, my co-worker loves anything tropical and palm trees play a big part in her decor. It looks brand new and we put a cap on how much we spend on each other and I know she will absolutley LOVE this cake plate so I can't wait to give it to her. The cupcakes are lemon with a ring of buttercream frosting and a dollop of home-made lemon curd in the center. Yum! We are all going to have a good day at work today. :>)

Strawberries in the garden

Just look at the beautiful berries that are in my garden right now. I finally had time to mow the lawn today and when I was done I decided to weed one of the flower borders. These wild strawberries have taken over any open spot in my garden and they are just about to ripen. I always smile and consider them a little surprise from God. They are very sweet and about the size of a dime. They grow so well I just cannot bring myself to weed them out, at least until the berries are ripe. I race the bunnies and chipmunks for them and sometimes I win!

It's a Beautiful Day!

Today, the rain stopped and the sun came out. Everything looks beautiful and the plants are so happy! Now you get to see some of my gardens in all their weedy glory! first the fuchsia, which I love because it brings the hummingbirds. I hope that one day I can get a picture of the little darlings hovering near the flowers. I have seen them but they are so quick.




Here is the first Gallardia to bloom in the garden, they are one of the first flowers to open and they bloom until frost. Love them because they are very prolific and colorful



These roses were end of season Farmers Market deals. A little over a year ago, as the growing season drew to a close, I came across a farmer at the market who had a huge truckload of perennials for sale for $2 each! These were in large containers and I got enough assorted plants to fill a bed in front of the house and 2 or 3 of these pretty pink roses. They grow the best of any rose I have ever had and bloom constantly all summer and fall. What a deal! I love this shade of pink.
A close up of the peas growing out behind the shed. I love snow peas and these are beginning to bloom. Stir fry here we come!

And last, but not least, a dilemma. We have a bluebird house that does actually attract bluebirds. Unfortunately, the nest and eggs you see here are not bluebird eggs. No, they are wren eggs. Now I think wrens are lovely, cute little birds, but I have actually found the bluebird eggs (near the end of their gestation) thrown out of the nest and the nest taken over by the wren. I don't know what to do. The wren is smaller than the bluebird so there isn't really any way to exclude it. I almost hate to let the wren eggs hatch because I am afraid it teaches the wren to come back year after year. Any ideas out there? I really love the bluebirds and really want them to feel safe in my bluebird house. I must admit though that even the wren nest is beautiful. Mother wren was not happy when I took this picture. She chattered at me the whole time and I really expected to be dive bombed! Needless to say, I took the pic and got out of there.

Rain, Rain go away...

I know that many of you in southern parts of the country are praying for rain, but here in Michigan we have had it for almost a week and I am ready for a change. The lawn needs mowing, the gardens need weeding and I need some sunshine! My flower beds are out of control. My William Baffin roses have just begun to bloom, do you like how I managed to get the van bumper in the background of my photo? Ah well, the rose is beautiful and my lavender is ready to bloom and if I can get out there to weed I might actually be able to find some of my other flowers! The rain has beaten my large iris to the ground, although my small siberian iris by the fence are fine. My peony hasn't bloomed yet so that is still standing. Well hopefully we will get some sun in the next few days. We have two graduation open houses this weekend and I know our friends must be sweating bullets hoping the rain will stop!

Darling Husband and I did a little garage saleing this weekend and ended up with some sweet goodies. This Pretty cake plate and set of 6 matching dessert plates was found for $2! I have been finding the prettiest cut glass cake plates for a steal at thrift stores and garage sales and this is just like a clear one Earl found a couple weeks ago except it is a lovely iridescent gold color and it has these matching plates with it! I now have three of these cake plates and since we have open houses and parties all summer to take desserts to I am sure they will get a work out and be well worth the few dollars I spent for them. I also found some fun decorating magazines for .10 cents each and a Victoria Christmas book for a quarter. I used to subscribe and all their recipes were wonderful! The Christmas book is full of beautiful decorating ideas and great sounding recipes. Since Victoria is coming back, I have already subscribed to it again so I hope their standards for photography and recipes will be as excellent as they were in the original publication. The red star basket you see in the background was another garage sale find for a quarter. I have it filled with flowers. Don't you just love a deal?