Yard Work

I've been really busy. Trying to get way too many things done before it gets scorching hot. One of the things we have been working on is the back yard. Seems likes there's always something to do with yard work.
We started with this big pile of left over dirt (from leveling the yard last summer)(see here) on the small patio (that's what I call this large piece of concrete). I think hubby put it off so long because he thought it would be such a chore. Only took about an hour and a half.

One lonely rose bush. This whole area will eventually be a small rose garden. Bought the bush then realized we still had bubbler sprinklers to add. So didn't buy anymore rose bushes. This fall I will though.

Now looks like this! Yeah, no more dirt pile.

Morning glories will grow just about anywhere if left unattended. I just had to snap this picture before we cleaned this corner out. 

Cleaned the morning glories out for this, a small garden with 3 heirloom tomatoes, a pepper plant and an eggplant. Yum! 

The grape is doing splendid this year. It's so loaded with fruit. Glad the carpenter made this extra strong. 

So those are some of the things I've been busy with. Along with redoing my sewing room. A complete update on that coming soon. Lots of changes in that room. Got the bubblers in and now it's too hot to plant anything else this summer. So my flower beds are kind of bare. There's always next summer. Have a great week.
Hugs, Amanda

Summer is here!

Hello! Sorry I've been absent lately. It's been so hot here and I just haven't felt like accomplishing anything except for reading a book in front of a fan. I didn't think that would make for interesting blogging. Though I have gotten just a few small things done.

Seth continues to plug away at the corner raised bed in the backyard. We hope to plant our strawberries here this fall when it cools off. I also want a potato bush. Wanted one of those for awhile now. 

I did finish the bag I was working on which made Tina happy. I've also been working a little at my favorite local shop. I'll have to share some pictures of the shop later.

The grape is performing exceptionally well and the grass, well the grass is competing with some kind of weed for backyard domination. Hub's is not too happy about it. I told him the Bermuda will choke it out eventually. Bermuda always wins. Thought I would share one before picture of the trellis and the grape to compare it to now. The dahlias and sunflowers are doing well now that it's really warmed up. The wild parrots appreciate the sunflower seed.         

Hope your weekend is an exceptional one. As always.....

Just another backyard update and a sewing project

Thought I would share pictures of the backyard again. With it level and everything. Now if only the grass would spring up, I would be so happy. Can't wait for it to do that. I want it to look this again (7th picture down. These photos aren't on my computer anymore so thought this way was easiest.) Just want the green part because it wasn't level even in this picture. Made for interesting games of croquet though.
Here it is with the sprinklers going in. Rascal is inspecting the job. He's our oldest dog and really showing his age.

Of course Trigger has to help also.

Not the best of pictures because the sun was going down and not helping my photography one bit, but I was so anxious to get a photo of it completely level.

Thought I would also share a picture of a project I've been working on lately. The Paris Flea Market bag, but I think it's really just called flea market bag in the pattern. The pattern is by Cindi Taylor Oates Easy To Make Totes With Zippers (Taylor Made Designs #TMB-155) I made one for myself a couple of years ago and my daughter has been begging for one. So I had embroidered a piece for the pocket, because she insisted it look like mine. It does kinda. It's cute and she likes it. Hope to finish it this weekend. Hope everyone's weekend is a spectacular one.

Backyard update

I thought I would post some recent pictures of the backyard. We finally have sprinklers, it's leveled and Monday we'll plant grass seed. This flower bed wraps around the outside of the master bedroom addition. We believe this part of the house was added sometime in the late 60s. I have the best luck growing things in this bed.

 

The irises have faded but the other flowers are still coming on strong. We've had such lovely weather so they'll continue for awhile I hope. Seth was inspired by his trip to Ireland 2 years ago to plant dinner plate dahlias. They're doing fabulous. So far only the yellow have opened up though. 

 The small pink flowers are humpty dumpty dahlias. I've had a lot of success with these and have even divided and transplanted elsewhere. Most of these pictures are pre-leveled back yard. 

The hollyhocks did fabulous this year and even got taller than the grape arbor which is very tall.

The grape is filling in fabulously. We leveled this area and we're thinking we'll put in flagstone or something similar this fall. That's what Seth wants to do at least. I found a great teacup chandlier to hang in here and I'm thinking once the flagstone is in a little bistro set would be great. Already asked Seth for a bench for along the wall. 

Backyard Progress

Well I had a great weekend and I hope you did too. We celebrated our son's 20th birthday yesterday. I can't believe he's gotten that old. Time does fly. So happy birthday Seth.
Last fall Seth built me this great grape arbor. The posts that we had had simply rotted away and it had just been resting on the ground. It was time for a new home. So we pruned it back hard to retrain it and it's doing really well. By the end of the summer it will have probably filled the grape arbor or at least I'm hoping. I'm also hoping it will provide shade for the guest house as that end of it faces west.

But it seems that another little being thought it would make a good home. It's pretty amazing that this grape arbor should already provide shelter in it's first year. I think it's great. A little morning dove has made her nest here.

We've already got a few things blooming in our garden and we hope to have more. We've actually had spring here. Usually we're into the 80s and staying there by now and climbing. But just the other day I had the heater on. Couldn't believe it. Almost May and the heater on. I know some of you are still using your heaters full time, but that's a rarity for us where we live. So I thought I would share progress on our very sad backyard. Hubby has promised to rent a rototiller while he's off the next 2 weeks and finally level the backyard. Yeah! I'm so excited. I would love to have grass again. The contractor who built the guest house just left our backyard a mess. It was beautiful before that. Those little bobcats can do quite a number on your landscape.

I hope to be working on my kitchen this week. I am determined to get it finished. So hopefully I'll be posting pictures later this week of this area that will finally be completed.

Hope you all have a great week!
{{HUGS}} Amanda

Yard Work

While I was off having fabulous fun at Road to California, Seth was finishing up a project he had started last summer. A much needed project. You can see the beginning of this project here. So I am thrilled to have another project done. Maybe this summer we will have grapes again. Thanks Seth for all your hard work. You did a great job. Now let's hope the grape cooperates and can be retrained. 

Now the fun begins. Finally I'll get my flower beds back. We also still have to level the yard. This is the mess we were left with after the contractor got done building the guest house. Not pretty.

Edited to add:

Hey I'm linking up to Make Your Monday over at the Twice Remembered Cottage. 

Cooler Weather at last my friends, cooler weather at last

This California girl is so over the hot summer months and has been enjoying these two past days of cooler weather. I've been so busy that all I want to do when I get home is just sit on the computer and play my games. Mindless games that waste time and require no thought. Last week at work was just ... difficult. You wonder about humanity when you see what the next generation is doing and you question where the direction of that humanity is headed. So enough about business let's have some fun.

I have been busy, busy decorating for fall. I love fall. It's my favorite season. I suppose you could say we don't get a true fall here. We do get some color but not for awhile yet. I suppose it's more that long sigh after all the summer heat before fog season starts. I really shouldn't complain because our winters are very short and very mild. So.... After doing much thought this past year about my seasonal decorating efforts I decided that it was time to scale way back. I only decorated the front room buffet area and the china hutch. I used to take everything down and redo the whole main living areas of the house. But between work, homeschooling and various other activities (read here cooking, cleaning, laundry, taxi service, etc., etc.) I didn't have time and it felt more like a burden than a pleasure. It was taking a month or longer to get it all done and then it was time to move onto winter. Besides hubby and the kids could have cared less. The kids used to get excited when they were smaller, but not anymore. So I do this just for me. I actually got done in two days and I felt so great. I thought it might annoy me that the rest of the house didn't flow or match, but it doesn't and I'm just pleased with it. Here are my fall efforts.

This old salt glazed crock is a family piece.

Some pictures I took in the morning and some in the evening with ambient light. Did I get that right, the kind of light I used?

So after cleaning one evening I thought our little sitting area off of the kitchen looked really nice in the lamplight and I took a few pictures of that.

without flash

with flash

The other project is the on going arbor. Seth has all the cross members up and will do the support members next.

Here's the carpenter and his creation.

Last but not least I've been busy chasing this little guy around. Monday he went to the vet and got a little procedure. I'm sure he didn't think it was little. More life altering if you know what I mean. :-) He's doing great. Little goober figured out how to get the collar down far enough to lick and chew at himself. So forget the collar. He's doing great and acts like nothing happened.

So I've been busy and I haven't been visiting. I promise to get around to all my pals and leave a little message. I'll try to post a recipe tomorrow of one we had a couple of weeks ago. Sorry this is long but that's what happens when you get behind, you have to cram.