The Yarden in July and August

I wanted to get pictures of the garden changing throughout the summer, but what with 2 weddings to prepare for and various other activities I wasn't as thorough as I had hoped.

However, I did manage to do pictures both in July and August and I can compare them here:

Tomatoes in July

Tomatoes in August

You can even see the scarring on the poor delicious things from our hail storm!

The birdbath bed in July

You can just see the birdbath from this angle.

My favorite flowers in this bed this year were the Foxgloves here by the yellow wasp trap.

LOVE them!!

View from the other side in August after an entire month of drought and then finally some rain.

if you are the discerning type you will notice the milk weeds on the left.  Yes I let them grow in my flower beds if they so choose.  And the Monarchs love me!

My hanging strawberry plant in July

Still looking good in August!

My big pot of gorgeousness in July.  I love the yellow Begonia in there with the pretty pink and purple Petunias.

In August the Petunias have taken over, aided by the sweet potato vine.

the poor Begonia has gone into hiding.



A little hanging basket of trailing vines

I love all the different greens, but I did throw a couple of volunteer Jumping Jacks in there to add a bit of color

Still jumping away!

more hail scars here too!  

July porch plants

August porch plants

yes, rearranged but you can figure them out!

Breakfast on the porch in July

I must do breakfast on the porch this month!

or perhaps some gratuitous bridal shower pictures of eating on the porch in August?

or I could make myself a salad with my tasty August cucumbers



and my yummy August tomatoes

Bridal Shower Garden Party

This past weekend, 3 of my 4 lovely daughters helped host a bridal shower for our second bride of the summer.

The very lovely Bride

in her very lovely hat and garden party dress

First we have some 1/2 pint jelly jars decorated and ready to be filled with iced tea, strawberry lemonade, or cucumber lime water

 mini croissants filled with chicken salad



cucumber sandwiches



Fresh fruit skewers



cherry limeade mini cakes



also strawberry lemonade mini cakes



 there were mini double chocolate eclairs too, but they hid during the photo taking

vintage wedding decorations



the big guy making a break for his sheds to get away from the women



Sister of the bride explaining the meanings of flowers,

 and the bride picking out special flowers for a special bouquet



She picked them all!

well duh!



another bride photo



some most special ladylike guests



gramma of the bride

and big sister of the bride.



one particularly charming little guest sang a song for the bride

sigh, you could die from such cuteness!



and a most lovely time was had by all



Rated V for Violence

 random picture above to capture your interest.

Actual blog starts here:

So, the house has been vacuumed, paying special attention to the ceiling corners.  Anyone who lives in the country in August will understand why.

Deeming myself safe I blithely waltzed into the bathroom the morning after said vacuuming.

ugh ugh UGH  that was a gol darn cobweb I just walked oops, waltzed through!

What the heck!  AND 3 long legged spiders speeding their way back up the wall to the ceiling!!!

Grabbing a broom, because I'm brave like that and I need something with a 6 foot handle to deal with these unwelcome critters, I went on the attack...  (this is the violent part)

WHACK!  WHAM! SMOOSH!! 

All the while I am yelling very loudly "NO NO NO YOU CAN NOT TAKE OVER MY HOUSE!  BACK TO THE FIRES OF THE DEEP WITH YOU!!" 

Once there was  nothing left but a miscellaneous leg or two which I quickly discharged to the toilet, I heard the big guy in the other room............

"You tell those spiders Ron"

think we like Harry Potter around here?

Sorry for the terribly long hiatus!  We've been pretty busy with wedding number one of the summer of 2012

all the Green girls getting ready the morning of the wedding.

nails are important to brides (apparently) 

make up time

putting the dress on the bride.  

rearranging all the underparts of the dress.



 all my lovely girls with me

the vows.

I have to say Trevor did an awesome job with his vows.  I can't tell if this is a part where Jes laughed or cried, but it doesn't matter

time for pictures.

I wish I had a good shot of all the flowers they were so beautiful!

Jes and her gramma Jan, the big guys momma.

She had to represent all the grandparents since grampa Bob is gone, and my parents aren't able to travel at all.  We missed my father in law especially, he would have had the perfect thing to say on this special day.  But, he was certainly there in spirit, a few raindrops before the wedding, then it cleared up beautifully then some incredible thunder (his favorite) as the reception started, then clear skies again all night.  Thanks dad Green.

and here they are, the newest Mr. and Mrs. Green.

yes, you read that right.  Our new son in law took our last name.  It's a long story, but suffice it to say, we are pleased with the whole thing, and we truly did "gain a son". 



The Yarden in May

I am a bit late getting my Yarden post out, I'll have to do another one really soon showing how much the plants have grown already!

Meanwhile here is a sneak peek from the pictures I finally got off my camera.

I love this little gnome!  He was waiting for me at a thrift store, and he really needed a new home.

this is one of three teacup sets Miss V made me for Christmas.  I'll get busy and show the other two next time.

mushroom in a porch pot above and

our new little herb garden below.

I really fell in love with the colors on these pretty little hummingbird attractions!

We have a couple of nesting hummers and they just love anything with a bell shape.

LOVE the way the colors move in each flower

Time for a bit of water for me too!

plenty of room for friends to stop by....

A gift from my French class pal Wendy

These petunias look almost black, but they are really purple

I almost wasn't going to show this, but wait until you see what it looks like in the next post!

Go visit the Eclectic Teacup for some fun!

I found an adorable new blog.... The Eclectic Teacup.

A bright young blogger who loves photography,

shoes, quilting, artsy stuff, clothes, especially vintage clothes......

has a new tattoo...

makes very interesting art..........

anyone recognise her?

why yes, it IS the lovely Miss V.

go on,

go to http://theeclecticteacup.blogspot.com/

and see for yourself!  Say hi while you are there, she loves meeting other bloggers!

Quilter of the moment!

Today I am showcasing a fellow quilter.  My lovely sister in law Luann.

You can just barely see her beautiful head there behind this ENORMOUS quilt!

My brother and Lu were married 10 years ago, and I got the idea to make some blocks for guests at the wedding to sign.  I was pretty busy stitching away and I wanted there to be plenty of them.

they had a lovely ceremony in a park in Eau Claire, followed by a picnic reception.  We all did pies for the dessert instead of wedding cake.  It was awesome!

Luann used one of the blocks to make a label.

I still like that block......... I might have to get stitching again.

This is a sampler quilt Lu made also, I love the big graphic look of it! 



And here is one of several table runners she made for her kids and their families. 

You can never go wrong with hand prints can you?  It will be so fun for the kids to match up their growing hands in a few years and be amazed at how little they once were.

What fun stuff, it all inspires me to get going in my sewing room!

(except that what I have to get going on is altering a wedding dress and fixing a veil)

I bet I can sneak some blocks in there though............