Fantasy Vs Reality

In my dream world I float around in an always clean house, delicious smells emanating from the kitchen, big garden bouquets filling every room with scent and color while sleeping dogs slumber peacefully amidst artfully arranged treasures and a sweet tempered cat grooms herself on a pillow tossed sofa.

In reality, I stumble home from a day of work (that began with a trip to the gym at 6:45am, ahem) with a handful of broken and bruised flowers that ,if they're lucky, get throw into a mason jar before they start to wilt. I put on a pot of water to cook pasta for ??? a salad maybe? The Lab is indeed sleeping, but she has poison ivy from a walk in the wilds so there is a lot of scratching/licking/gnawing going on. All the while there is a half starved looking feline glaring at the two of us through the screen door and whenever I open it up she runs away.

Oh, and as you can see from the sunflower picture, my favorite chair is a cracked and ripped old leather club chair that we have actually patched to hold together. Try sewing into leather, sounds easy. Not.

That's my life and I wouldn't change a thing. Well I'd fatten up the cat and make the dog's poison ivy go away, but otherwise? No contest.

ps - here's a shot of the delinquent kitten:

The Birds And The Berries

While I was working and weeding and cooking and sleeping, treasures were slowly making their way to me.

I had something in my attic another blogger friend would love. So I sent it to her. In return she sent me a little vintage pillow decorated with quilted birds on branches, a red hawk feather and a sweet stack of note cards printed with various nests and birds. I love them all.

In a fit of sentimentality I ordered a red currant bush from Edible Landscaping. Though we have no room for this 3 gallon plant, my childhood memories of driving out into the Michigan countryside to purchase currants from an old European woman on hot summer afternoons won out over space considerations.

Now as I type German girl is reading their catalog and planning how we can redo our garden to accommodate a variety of edible plants to include mango paw paws and lingonberries.

Luckily we have haircuts at noon and Germany playing in the World Cup at 2:30 for distraction from this line of thinking. I'm off to hide the catalog and put on some black.

Whatever your country or affiliation may you hear the magic word " goal"!

Let The Good Times Roll

I was wondering if I should post another meal so soon. Then I thought, can there ever be enough food?

This is a summer go to meal: a shrimp boil. There is a more complicated version involving sausage, onions, celery, more guests and a crazy redhead. This is best done at the beach.

But last night there were only four of us, two dogs and a breezy summer night.

So, in a large pot you steam potatoes covered with Old Bay Seasoning for 10 minutes, add corn, more Old Bay, steam another 10, then the shrimp, more seasoning, steam another 10 minutes. Make a salad, heat and slice bread, place shrimp boil in bowl and serve with cocktail sauce.

Very important to cover your table in newspaper as shrimp shells and corn cobs are discarded directly onto table. When bowl is empty roll up "tablecloth" and throw in trash.

For dessert, gelato, freshly picked raspberries and lots of laughter.

Still In Kansas

Yesterday 91 degrees by 9:oo am. I had thought to get a jump on the heat by working in the garden early, by 8:00 I had an early start on a sauna. And no ice cold water to jump into. Dogs loved me though, the human salt stick.

We broke for an indoor breakfast of eggs from the farm. Put on more sunscreen and ventured back outside. Getting hotter, mulched vegetables with straw, finished planting all annuals, German girl mowing, lab inside.

Skies turning from blue to gray and black, tornado warning, rush around putting away tools and lawnmower. Hustle inside, cat thinks she's Dorothy and refuses to join us.

An hour of rain. That's all we get. Give up on outdoors and laze around reading, dogs sleeping, cat pouting because she didn't go to Oz.

Temperature dropped, Tini brought sushi for dinner and we all moved outside again. Neighbors came by, dogs begged for but didn't like raw fish, let it drop from their mouths in horror.

Moved back indoors and read. Tini fell asleep over her New Yorker. That's it folks. That was Sunday.

Full Disclosure

Though I longed to stay home the other day and play in the garden, my day at work was not hell.

The local garden flowers are flowing in. Nigella, larkspur, fresh herbs, baptisia foliage, lambs ear, hydrangea, garden roses and we're still getting peonies from points north.

We're eating ripe cantaloupe and bags of cherries at lunch. Our driver brought us a dozen cupcakes from a new (to us) bakery in Alexandria called Buzz.

And twice a day an iced grande skim latte from Starbucks is delivered to the design table. It's not home but it's not shabby.

I Wanted

I so wanted to stay home this morning so I could smell this rose.

And eat these raspberries.

And tie up the tomatoes.

And sip my latte.

And plant the exotic love bean and other goodies.

But then I remembered there wouldn't be a here for all this if I didn't go. So I went.

P.S. All was good and everything except my latte was waiting for me when I came home :-)

Farm Daze

Just up from a nap. Busy two days, much activity, very little sleep. Everyone at work felt the same , we all swam wearily through the day.

On Monday we went to one of my spiritual homes, the farm in Maryland. Only 40 minutes away(though in an non airconditioned truck on a humid 90 degree day with a 70 pound Lab plastered to your side, 40 minutes can seem like 40 hours) it's a different world.

As we drove through the farms gates the temperature dropped at least 10 degrees. Peacocks were shrieking, magnolias blossoms were scenting the air and a freshly baked strawberry rhubarb pie, made with garden fruit, was cooling in the kitchen.

We had our usual 2 hour pre dinner stroll of Heaven's 5 acres. There were two new 7 month old Maine coon kittens playing with a frog down by the pond. We looked and asked questions and took pictures and looked some more. There are always freshly planted new beds, something new in the old beds and far too many treasures for us to take home.

We ate grilled leg of lamb, asparagus and lettuce from the garden and that pie. German girl's favorite, it was etched with her name, I didn't know if it would be shared.

We left with a truck bed full of home grown heirloom tomato and pepper plants ,an exotic love vine, scented nicotiana seedlings, African foxgloves and a host of other beauties we have no room for. We have a dozen eggs from their chickens and some more of that pie.

They'll be with us for the 4th of July. AND they'll bring their blueberry pie.We love those boys. Life is sweet.