Weeds

I really don't have any garden at this house (I did at our old one). However, I do have plenty of weeds. Along the road and around our property the weed flowers bloom all summer long. It's like my own personal maintenance free garden.

I Have A Rose Bush??

I looked out the window one day and happened to notice that in a corner of the yard in amongst the weeds there were big pink flowers. When I, several days later, got out there one evening with the camera, I discovered they were roses. There were never roses there before.

When we went to buy our raspberry plants the woman at the counter told me she never planted blackberries anywhere in her yard and that the seeds had been deposited by birds (in their droppings). Could this rose bush have originated from bird droppings? Do birds eat roses or rose hips? If not what animal does?

I don't know but I had just recently been telling my Mom that I would like a rose bush. She has two very beautiful fragrant pink rose bushes in her yard. One year I even made rose water from them. My newly discovered roses however are not very fragrant.

Outside

The sun beginning to set.

Gio pointing to the moon or as he says it "Muh."

The moon. I always think it's cool when both the moon and the sun are visible at the same time of day.

A plane flying overhead.

Gio thought he would try using the wheel barrow. To him, it falls into the truck category because of the wheel.

Mother Hen & Her 8 Babies

One Roosting Rooster

Quotes & Sayings

I found the following quotes in a book and a magazine at my Mom's house:

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

It's not what you look at that matters it's what you see.
-Henry David Thoreau

Peace begins with a smile. -Mother Theresa

Life is a beautiful gift adorned with ribbons of love, joy and laughter.

Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love. -Socrates

Somehow not only for Christmas, but all the year through, the joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you.
-John Greenleaf Whittier

A well spent day brings happy sleep.
-Leonardo Di Vinci

Happiness lies in the joy of each achievement and the thrill of creative effort. -Franklin Delano Roosevelt

May the spirit of giving go on through the year, bringing love, laughter, hope, and good cheer. -Norma Woodbridge

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
-J.R.R. Tolkien

Never cut what can be united.

Think big thoughts but cherish small treasures.

One thing you can give and still keep is your word.

To stay youthful stay useful.

Unlikely Combo

I was hungry but didn't have a specific dish in mind to prepare so I whipped this up for dinner. Gio's not big on shrimp so I threw in some pepperoni. They were surprisingly good together (shrimp & pepperoni). I cooked the organic carrots and mushrooms in 2-3 tablespoons of Chiavetta's Marinade, just enough to enhance the flavor. Other ingredients included in this dish were frozen organic spinach, one can organic ceci beans plus liquid, organic frozen peas, organic cauliflower, organic broccoli, organic black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder (I think it's organic).

I recently made scrambled eggs with this marinade in them. It tasted good but I ended up having heartburn later in the day so I wont use it in eggs again.

Got Reach?

Yes, he does. Gio now has access to the dining room and it seems nothing is safe. He can reach pretty much everything on the table and has been able to reach things on the counters for sometime. Thank goodness most of the stuff on the counter doesn't interest him. Last night I put this mango on the dining room table to give Gio for breakfast. This morning when I walked into the dining room after feeding Fancy there was Gio mango in hand happily munching away leaving a trail of mango skin behind him as he walked around the dining room.

The Piece Of Cheese

Gio you have a piece of cheese in your hair. "Oh, how silly of me."

"Wait did you say cheese?? In my hair??"

"But I don't want cheese in my hair..."

"It's gotta come out!"

"What do I do? I need help Help! It's gotta come out."

"NOW!! Help! Help! Get that cheese out!!"

A Memory Made

Wednesday we got out later than expected and ended up at Wegmans around 6:00pm. Gio started to get cranky and I figured he was probably hungry. We decided to eat strawberries on the way home instead of eating out because we had meat that had been marinating and was waiting to be grilled at home. Well, those strawberries tasted soo good. it had cooled down a bit and the temp was perfect. We looked for houses, barns, trucks, boats, and fire hydrants on the way home (all of which Gio knows how to say). It was such a wonderful experience. Gio and I ended up enjoying some more rolled in a bit of sugar the next day as a snack. Ah Wegmans :). Their motto Every day you get our best is so very true.

Snack

I was craving protein, it was too late, I didn't feel like cooking, and was not in the mood for nuts. Here's what I ended up snacking on.

Perfect Hot Weather Meal

I usually end up making pasta salad when the weather turns really hot. The only cooking involved is the pasta. I usually make enough to last a few days. Gio's favorite ingredients were the ceci beans and the peperoni which is surprising because he usually goes straight for the starches.

New Life

I went outside the morning after the storm to photograph the beautiful clouds in the sunny sky. Then I thought, "I should probably try to get a better picture of that broody hen. Well I woke her up and she got agitated and slowly started to move off the nest growling at me. (Yes, chickens do make a sort of growling sound as a kind of warning to get away.) Then out came a few chicks.

She has a total of eight. One egg did not hatch. You can tell in this photo that they are day old chicks because the feathers have not started to grow on their wings yet. In this photo she has just finished scratching and is now looking for bugs.

Here they are following her.

They are so tiny. I was afraid she might try to take them into the coop so they could eat and drink. If she did they would surly be injured because they are much too small to get down the steps let alone up. I would estimate they are about an inch or so tall. So I set out a chick waterer and Gio and I ran to the store to get some chick starter. Here they are eating.

This picture of my favorite full size rooster just slipped in when I was trying to upload pics of our newest additions. I would also like to mention that on the way to the store I noticed a farmer cutting down the "grass" for hay. As we passed on the way back I noticed he had stopped about halfway through and the equipment was gone. Then out of the tall grass popped a sheepish little fawn. Could this fawn have just been born?

After all had settled down I took a few more photos of the clouds. What an awesome day.

Quote

A person starts to live when he can live outside himself -Albert Einstein

1,2,3

This is one of our broody black banny hens who is nesting by the garden. Thanks goodness we noticed her before we mowed! The grass has grown way over her now and it's soo hard to see her. We thought "Oh how cute we're going to have more bannies." Then the other morning I saw her mother pacing back and forth in front of the closed chicken coop. Oh how nice two broody bannies. Then yesterday I had just walked past this hen's nest and saw her when I saw the other black hen in the yard. I hadn't opened the coop for the day yet. Three broody bannies??? I feel sorry for them when it rains or gets very hot. We have several other broody hens in the coop. The problem is somehow sometimes the eggs go bad and then we have to get rid of all the eggs and clean out the box and the poor hen has done all that hard work for nothing. (If I am able to get a better pic. in the near future I will add it.)

What I Cooked Today

I have been hungry for cabbage, Wegman's Breakfast Sausage, and Wegman's Greek Sauce. We didn't have any cabbage so I used what I had organic carrots, frozen organic spinach and the dried mushrooms pictured that I bought at Lee's Chinese Grocery. They were very good.

Oh My The Sky

I noticed it was becoming a bit dark in the house, I peeked outside and sure enough the storm clouds were rolling in. I quick grabbed the camera and ran outside for an amazing experience. The clouds floated quickly by and the birds swooped through the sky. When I first went out the temp was perfect. All of a sudden it was chilly. The wind was quite strong at times. A few cars went by and must have thought I was nuts, snapping pics like a mad woman. The farmer pictured below drove by as fast as his equipment would carry him, hoping to get home before it started to rain. There was a bit of thunder and lightening in the distance it didn't come close till after the rain started and I was inside by then.

He Noticed

It seems like Gio notices everything that's new to his environment like this rocking chair that belonged to my Grandmother that I set out for him last night. But this morning he was exploring the hallway like he usually does and kept looking at the wall and saying "Hha Hha" which he has never done. It wasn't until he pointed to it on the wallpaper that I figured out he was saying house. When I confirmed it for him, "Yes, house." Then he came out with "Tree." The boy never ceases to amaze me. He doesn't miss a trick. (Wallpaper mentioned above in background.)

When We Got Home

Woke up this morning and the heat was on as it has been for the past couple days. Can you believe it heating in June?? When we got home from the park I grabbed the mail from the mail box and almost got stung by a persistent bee who keeps trying to make a nest there. We were hot, thirsty and hungry. I wanted something fast and I didn't want to cook. Ahhh a fruit smoothie. This one had 1 nectarine, 1 mango, several strawberries, grape juice, sugar, water, a pinch of dried seaweed and some flax seed meal. Gio enjoyed his in a bowl. It just needed something so I sprinkled toasted coconut on top. Good. Then I added some whole wheat cereal (chex type). Very good. I ended up eating mine out of a cup with a spoon. Sorry no pic before I knew it we had finished it.

Purple Haze

I went out at sunset to hang up laundry and noticed the sky had a purple cast to it. "The camera" I thought. Then decided to finish the laundry first. I ended up running in for the camera because I reasoned if I didn't I would probably miss it. Well of course when I got back outside the purple was gone but the sunset was still beautiful. I got lost in the moment taking pics then all of a sudden I heard our resident robin, who's nesting above the porch door, scolding me for being to close to her nest so late in the day. The above is a pic of her. When I finally got back to hanging up laundry there was another bird (pictured below) on a nearby tree branch chirping away, when I went to get the camera of the porch to photograph her she flew away only to land on this wire a few moments later. I just wish the camera did a better job capturing the beautiful colors I had the pleasure of enjoying tonight.

Kefir Nose

It all started because Gio always gets a combo drink usually baby water and milk. Today it was grape juice and kefir which is a lot like yogurt only thinner. Well I left the room for a moment and when I came back he had the cutest purple spot of it on his nose but nowhere else. I got to thinking that kefir and grape juice sounded good so I whipped up a shake in the blender with the pictured ingredients. I offered some to Gio but he had already finished his drink and wanted no part of mine. When we finished lunch I did not wash his face and let him play while I tried to snap a pic of him. In the above pic. he's sporting his manager pants. There was once a comedian who said most grocery store managers have pants with the whites of the pockets showing. He's quite upset because I didn't pick him up.