The Garden in Late June

Due to a late spring and lots of rain, our vegetable garden got planted a bit later than normal.  Things are starting to grow well, but just not as big as in other years.  But now with the very warm weather, they'll grow like crazy--just like the weeds.

We had some lettuce a couple of days ago, and it was delicious.  I wish there was a way to preserve it so we could eat it through the winter too.

Peas, with corn in the background.

A few of the tomato plants, some of which have blossoms already.

 

 Two rows of potatoes.  We have about 6 or 7 more rows.  We like potatoes, fixed almost any way.

More peas growing up the fence which surrounds the broccoli and Brussels sprouts.  We love Brussels sprouts and used to have no problem growing them, but the past couple of years they've not done well.

The vegetable garden is mainly Mr. M's domain.  Now that he's retired, he has acquired an interest in gardening.  He decides what to plant and where to plant.  I help a bit with the planting, but not much with weeding.  We both harvest the vegetables, and he helps me with the canning/freezing.  I used to do all of it, but now I'd rather spend my gardening time taking care of flowers.  So it works quite well for both of us.

We also have four grape vines.  This year, if all the grapes develop, we'll have lots to make juice and jelly.



And now, here are a few flowers to show you.

 

This is a Baptisia (false indigo).  The flowers look like sweetpeas.

A Siberian iris.  These are so beautiful and more delicate looking than bearded iris.

 

Another Siberian iris in pink.

 

This is a species of Campanula.  These plants are so pretty, but almost like weeds, so you have to be careful that they don't take over the garden.

Last, but certainly not least, one of the peonies in my garden.


I gave up growing annuals many years ago.  They are pretty, and can be very colorful, but too much work.  Now I only plant perennials, and since my flower gardens are fairly well established, I only add a couple of new plants a year.  I mostly just divide the ones I already have and put them in new locations.

Vacation

Since I last posted, we spent a wonderful few days at a friend's cabin in Canada.  He has owned the place for about twenty years and has done a lot of work on it.  To get there, we drove a total of about 14 hours to get to the boat landing, then another 5 miles by boat.

As we were driving the last leg of the trip, we saw a moose running down the road ahead of us.  It finally ran off into the bush.  I guess that moose are normally seen at night, but this one was right out there during the afternoon.

A couple of views from his place.

Here is one of several loons we saw.

These are mergansers.

Every morning the lake was as smooth as glass, so there was a beautiful reflection of the trees in the water.  As the day went on, the lake got a bit of motion to it, but not much.

A couple pictures of some small wildlife.

We also saw a caribou the first day, but the picture I took is from a distance and unfortunately is blurry. 

The weather was just gorgeous the whole time we were there.  It was so peaceful and serene that I felt like I could have stayed all summer.  However, after a few days, we were on our way back home.

On the way back we saw another moose running right down the highway.  Fortunately, it ran off before traffic from the other direction came along. 

We also stopped at a falls on the Kaministiquia River.  It was amazing; I could have watched that water thundering over the falls all day. 

This is a picture of the river looking downstream.


So now we're back home and catching up on weeding the garden and cutting the grass, but still remembering the wonderful time we had.

Sewing Room Tour

I thought that you might enjoy having a tour of my sewing room/studio/sanctuary.  Years ago I used to sew on the dining room table, which of course meant that I had to put everything away and get it all back out again frequently.  Once the kids grew up and started leaving home, I converted a bedroom to a sewing room.  Now it's just Mr. M and me.  When we bought this old farmhouse almost ten years ago, one of the things we did was to put an addition on it which included a sewing room.  I used that room for a few years, but eventually turned it into a guest room so that guests would be close to a bathroom.  Now my room is in one of the upstairs bedrooms.  The room is bigger and has a really nice closet, which Mr. M remodeled to make room for fabric and other sewing supplies.

So, here we go.

This corner has my thread chest, quilting books and magazines, some fabric, and a few odds and ends.

Continuing around the room, my sewing machine and ironing board.  In the background is the door to the closet.  I'll show you the inside in a minute.

This wall is a new arrangement.  The wall cabinets are some we bought to use elsewhere in the house, but ended up not using them.  So Mr. M installed them in here; they store lots of supplies such as all my button jars, paint supplies, candles, and ribbons.  The shelves below are some I already had and contain books, yarn, embroidery floss, patterns, and dvds.  This is more than a sewing room, it's like my sanctuary (a woman cave, I guess), so that's why it has a tv as well as radio/cd player and plenty of books.

Going around the corner, in the middle is the entrance to this room.  Just to the right of that is a cd rack I got at a garage sale years ago and painted white.  Now it holds quilt tops ready for the next step.  Next to that is an old Singer portable from the 1950's.  It has a rounded top wood cover (not shown).

In another corner of the room is my recliner.  This is my planning, daydreaming, hand-sewing, reading, and tv watching corner. 

And back to the beginning.   This is a small design wall, made of a piece of flannel, just above the cutting/pressing table.  The quilt hanging there is an applique piece I still need to sandwich, quilt, and bind.


Okay, now for the inside of the closet.

On the left are shelves that hold most of my fabric.

On the right, deeper shelves hold a variety of larger supplies.

In the middle are three rolling carts that hold small pieces of batting, scrapbooking supplies, and more fabric.  Bags and embroidery hoops hang above.



                                     

On the floor below the fabric shelves is where I keep the larger batting.


So, that's my room as it looks right now.  It's been through several changes over the years, so a year from now it will most likely look a bit different.  I'm always moving things around to try and find the best possible arrangement that works most efficiently for what I want to accomplish with this room. 

I hope you enjoyed the tour.