Some Nice Words Can Make All the Difference

Front Garden July 25

This morning as I was out watering, one of my neighbors, who I don't know very well,  drove by and stopped to tell me how beautiful she thought my garden was, calling it "a work of art." I felt much better about how much work and time the garden takes after hearing that someone else enjoys it too!

Blue Balloonflower

So of course I got out my camera and took these pictures of the garden as it looks this very morning! Not too bad for the end of July.

Sunday Brunch

Somehow we always manage to go to Clyde's when Julia is home, but this time we went for brunch.  Afterwards, Julia and I shopped around Reston Town Center for awhile, bought some new earrings at Anthro and then came home and sorted through all her jewelry. She moves into her new house in a week and is really looking forward to being in her own place again (with 5 other people). She has two more weeks of her internship at Rex Hospital, and then she begins her second year of grad school.

After a short nap, she headed back to Chapel Hill around 6.

This girl likes her fruit!

Julia's Home

Julia and Walt before a race in 2007

Julia and Walt were up at 7 this morning to go for a run before it got too hot.   Julia went to Katey's (a friend from high school) bridal shower in the afternoon and then out to dinner in DC with Jackie. W and I are catching up on one of our favs, Doc Martin.

Antiquing in Frederick, MD

Gillian in her red Bug

Gillian and I had a fun trip to Frederick yesterday, having lunch at Firestone's (Heirloom Tomato BLT on challah bread--yum) and then poking through the Emporium Antiques on Patrick St.

Love this dresser!

We both liked this simple dresser. Of course there's always lots of glassware to look at. We certainly don't need any more glassware.

Stay away from this

On the other hand, who could resist these cute guys? Won't they be cute with some succulents in them?

Too cute

Julia is driving home tonight, for Katey's bridal shower tomorrow.  I'm making barbecued chicken and noodles for dinner, with Armenian Country Salad. And maybe Nora's peach pie?  Julia would like that.

Salad Sampler

 Gillian and I are planning to go to Frederick, MD, for a little lunch and antiquing. There is a big antiques mall there that should be nice and cool to walk around.

Salad Sampler was great last night. Dixie has done a lot of work inside and outside of her house and it looks great.  Her house is so colorful with all her quilts and collections, especially these tomatoes.

Outside we toured her yard and she has a great vegetable garden with tomatoes, beans, lettuce, eggplant, lettuce, and blackberries! She has done alot of work outside. Dinner was delish, starting out with fruity margaritas made by Eileen and veggies and dips. Then we had a spicy shrimp salad with peaches and mangos made by Prudy, tomatoes with mozz and basil from Dixie, and a variation of Rita's corn and black bean salad from Eileen, and yummy bread from the new Fresh Market in Vienna. It was all delicious and a perfect dinner for one of the hottest nights of the summer. That's why we invented Salad Samplers all those years ago! My peach tart was good, but I think I like Nora Ephron's Peach Pie better.

Eileen and Prudy

Prudy's Shrimp Salad with White Peaches and Mangos

Yum

Dixie and Prudy

Dad's Sprinkler

How weird is it taking a picture of a sprinkler?

I was out early this morning watering and was able to get Dad's sprinkler working again! I'm so happy because I love that sprinkler. It's the perfect sprinkler.  Today I have to make a dessert for tonight's Salad Sampler dinner at Dixie's house. I think I am going to make Dorie Greenspan's Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart from her Baking Book. It looks delish and I got some nice peaches at Wegmans on Sunday.

Well, it was an interesting day as the power went out this morning as I was talking on the phone to Evie! It did not come back on until 3 or so, so I ended up taking my pie over to Gillian's and baking it at her house. Thank God the power did come back on, and the A/C as well. It is 100 degrees today. Ah, summer...days like this I think about Dad growing up in Washington, D.C., and his talking about sleeping in the attic of a rowhouse on East Capitol Street and how hot it was.  I guess so!

Back to Yoga

I started a new yoga class tonight with Mary. Elizabeth, Sherrie and Kathy and I are taking this one together and they are doing a Saturday class as well, but I can't do that one because of work. After several years with Pat, we were ready for a change.  Mary teaches a nice class, and has a very calming manner.  It's so interesting how each of the teachers has their own style. The only problem with Mondays is that I work until 5, so have to fight the traffic to get there on time. But then I get to relax and wait for Savasana...

Sunday

We went into Georgetown about 4:30 yesterday. We walked around for awhile, checked out the new CB2 store on M Street, then wandered down to the canal and surprisingly found ourselves by my favorite cafe, Cafe La Ruche! Hmm, what a coincidence. We had gazpacho and quiche (me) and salade nicoise (W). We sat outside in the little garden and it was so nice, sitting there enjoying the nice weather and people watching. I think it's the first time I have not had a patisserie at La Ruche!

My fav

Cold gazpacho on a warm night

Then we walked some more, choosing the side streets and neighborhoods of Georgetown rather than the main drag. We did see a cool restaurant, Neyla, that looked really good and we want to try sometime. The lines at Georgetown Cupcake were amazing! They were out the door and over a block long. No cupcakes for us!

Canal in Georgetown

Cute house in Georgetown

This could be my house

W worked on his bike this afternoon and got the tire changed. I went to Wegman's and we had blue cheese burgers and fresh corn for dinner tonight. A nice weekend.

Sunny and Summery Saturday

My girl among the anemones

It is an absolutely beautiful day and I am so happy to not have to work today! W is cutting the lawn and I am sitting on the deck surveying the yard and what I want to do today. Just some general cleanup is all, I think. W needs to fix the flat tire on his bike and then is going to go for a run. I went for an early morning walk already. We may head downtown in the late afternoon. I think it would be fun to go into Georgetown and walk around in the early evening and maybe have dinner somewhere. We haven't been there in ages. We'll see.

Last night was our annual summer book group dinner. We went to Brix in Great Falls and sat outside on their patio. It's so nice there, especially when the weather is good.  We discussed Wench for about 10 minutes and then were off chatting about everything else in our lives.  Sue has a beautiful new grandson,  Mel is adjusting to an empty nest, Norene can't wait for Scott to go to college (and Steven to come home), Mary told us about her spiritual week last week when she saw and heard the Dalai Lama in D.C. and was hugged (twice) by "Amma" the hugging woman, and Gillian is enjoying her summer vacay away from preschoolers. We won't meet now until September, when we will discuss The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Lovely Limelight and Lovely Day

We woke to a beautiful morning. The big rain yesterday really cooled things down and the humidity is gone--at least for a few days. And my new Limelight Hydrangea is blooming! I'm so happy, as I just got it this year (at Espenshades in PA) and already blooming is pretty good.

I worked today, and since the truck is in the shop, I picked W up after work at Herndon/Reston bus. He went for a long bike ride, but called me half way through as he had a flat tire, so I had to pick him up in Sterling. He realized he needs to be able to change his tire if this happens again!

Am reading Wench tonight, trying to finish before book group dinner tomorrow night. 

Finally, Rain

We're having the most wonderful rain storm right now! It's been raining, hard, for the past 25 minutes. Very dark, wind came up and then the rain started. Love this. So happy for all my plants.

I'm home today, making blueberry lemon pound cake and brownies for staff meeting tomorrow. I just finished a sort-of interesting book, You Lost Me There, by Rosencrans Baldwin. I was interested in it because it takes place on Mount Desert Island in Maine. The main(e) character Victor (he lives in Somesville!) is a scientist studying Alzheimers at the Soborg Institute in Bar Harbor. It reminded me of that research facility we saw in Bar Harbor and wondered about. Of course the Soborg Institute is fictional! Anyway, the book is a lot about memories, and how people remember things differently. I didn't love it, but did love the references to Southwest Harbor, lobster pounds,  Acadia, and other places we saw last fall when we were there.

Library in Somesville, Maine, where I should be working

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Sedums in July

Liz and I had a great time last night, talking until after 11 pm. She is back from England and adjusting to the death of her mum. She is still thinking of retiring this fall--I am so excited for her.  Then I talked to JoAnn this morning, catching up on our lives, gardens, books, and travels. She and Ron just got back from Seattle, where they went to a famous and fancy restaurant, Herbfarm. It sounded wonderful.

Don't You Love Zinnias?

I love my peppermint stick zinnias. I used to only plant Cut and Come Again, but I'm getting a little more adventurous and now I like these pepppermint zinnias. I mix a couple of packs of the mixed colors with some Cut and Come Again and some Envy and then just sprinkle them in the soil. I like the mixture.

No skunks since last Thursday. I think we're good. We put soil back in the ditches under the deck and so far they haven't been disturbed. Fingers crossed!!

I'm making dinner to take to Liz's house tonight. Ina Garten's Curried Chicken Salad, fruit, and blueberry muffins. I haven't seen her since before she left for England, so it will be good to see her.

Busy Sunday

Phlox 'David' from PA

I was out early working in the garden. Lots of weeds to pull, and old things like larkspur to pull out and scatter the seeds so I have more larkspur next year. I deadheaded alot of things, roses, coneflowers, yarrows, balloonflowers,  and daylilies, tied up the autumn clematis (again and again), watered. The garden looks pretty good, although it has been really hot with no rain, so things are dry. The lawn is parched, but I'm not going to water that. I have been watering the dogwood in front regularly and it is looking surprisingly good. Certainly better than it did earlier in the spring. 

Later in the afternoon I went to Costco to pick up some things, then W and I went to Teeter. Brooks is coming over for dinner and we're grilling flank steak, new red potatoes, fresh green beans. 

Saturday Night at the Movies

This is the only picture of Paris I could find! (Julia in 2008)

 A busy Saturday at the library, with lots of kids doing summer reading program, a movie in the afternoon. I talked with Mr. L today, one of our favs, and found out he is from Cleveland Heights! He was asking for travel books to Turkey, so I told him about Tom, my visits there, and somehow we got on to Ohio. So now we are best friends. Haha. After work we went to Santinis for pizza and beer with Gillian and Benny, then to see Midnight in Paris at the theater. It was great! Loved Owen Wilson in it. Such a clever and fun movie, with lots of scenes of Paris--even Shakespeare and Co. I kept thinking how much Patty would have liked it, and I would have loved talking to her about it--especially the Hemingway part. We used to love us some Hemingway.

No skunks today.

Field Trip With Gillian

On A Whim

Gillian and I took a field trip to the Leesburg Outlets today, as she needed to buy some sandals, then we had lunch at Tuscarora's in Leesburg (crabcake salad for G, turkey BLT and gazpacho for moi). After lunch we drove out to the pink polka-dotted On a Whim, our favorite place in Lucketts. They were busy, moving in lots of new things.  I saw a few cute things, but we both agreed we just don't need anything anymore. It's no fun when you don't buy!

Just looking

1 skunk caught today. TOTAL: 5 trapped. Yikes.

Wednesday Chores

Spent today unpacking, doing laundry, going to the grocery store.

Eric came today and put out 2 traps. I had pushed the dirt back around the holes under the deck and this morning there was fresh digging and holes, so apparently there are still some skunks lurking.

Home to Herndon

Our old house on Edgecliff

We were up at 4:45 am to take Julia to the airport for her early flight. We came home, Brooks left at 8 am as he is working in Cleveland this week, shadowing the guy in his position in the Cleveland area. Apparently they are the #1 team in the whole country, so Brooks is supposed to see what they are doing right! After breakfast, Walt and I went down to the beach and collected more rocks for my garden. We left about 9:30, driving by Mom and Dad's old house on our way out. It was such a fun weekend!

Plants on Linda's deck

A beautiful morning on Lake Erie

4th of July in Euclid

Pancakes and bacon for breakfast this morning!  Then we walked down to E. 202 to watch the beginning of the parade. Sophie was my favorite, although little Richie was pretty close.

Sophie as a mermaid

Then we were busy getting ready for the day. Linda and I put the rub on the ribs and baked them for a couple of hours--I think they had 14 or 15 slabs of ribs! We also made coleslaw (again).

Julia and Kathryn

Lots of bean bag in the afternoon.  Julia and Brooks were the champs after many matches that lasted into the night!

Colin and Brooks

It was a great day. So fun to see all the kids. They get along so well and really seem to be best of friends. It's great to see them out in the lake playing. They all love the water.

Kirsten made flag cake

Dinner was great, and Kirsten made flag cake and cappucino brownie bites for dessert. Yummo.

The "Red Shirts" Jim, Morgan, Colin, Linda, Kirsten

As it started to get dark, we all sat on the beach and watched fireworks set off from all over the lake. It was great! I especially liked the "Wish Lanterns" that Sally had brought. It was a long day, but so much fun.

Dinner With Peg and Tom

Julia and Brooks with Uncle Tom

Linda and me with Aunt Peggy

We started out the day with a yummy breakfast out on the deck. A typical Rich breakfast of eggs, sausages, hashed browns, fruit, and pastries he picked up on the way home from church. The weather is perfect. Kathryn came over with her kids and some friends, and the rest of the kids were in and out on the beach and in the water all day. Brooks and Julia got to jet ski and ride in the boat.  Tom and Evie came in around 1 and we all sat around the beach and the deck and enjoyed the day. I helped Linda get ready for dinner--turkey on the grill, rice, Linda's coleslaw and brownies and ice cream for dessert. It was great to see Tom and Peg--they seem to be doing well and are enjoying their new Fitness Center at Breckinridge.  We ate dinner out on the patio and then sat down on the deck to watch the sunset. I think Peg and Tom really enjoyed seeing everyone and being on the lake. The kids were all on the beach, and ordered pizza for dinner!

Evie, Ellen, Julia, Linda

Shea, Sophie, Morgan, Emily, Owen, Grace, Richie, Vince, J.P and Julia

Walt, Biff, Brooks, Evie

Off to Euclid

Julia on deck at Linda's

We left home around 8:30 am and got to Linda's around 3:00. Julia was already there and reading on the deck. It was really hot and humid, so we got our suits on and went down to the beach. Sat around with our feet in the water and I actually went swimming.  Kate P. came down to say hello to us--it was nice to see her. All the kids were there and out in the water playing. We had flank steak for dinner and sat out on the patio. Brooks got in around 8. After dinner we sat out on the deck and watched a beautiful sun set over Lake Erie.

On the skunk front, there were 2 babies in one trap, and 1 adult in another trap this morning. Eric was coming to pick them up this afternoon. I asked him how two could get in one trap and he said they walked in side by side!  He won't set any traps while we are gone. I'm too afraid of the cats in our neighborhood getting caught!

3 skunks caught, 2 babies in 1 trap!

They're Back

Skunks that is. We woke this morning to find 1 baby skunk trapped, and 2 others pushing the cage around the yard. Ugh. Our best friend Eric came to pick them up in the afternoon and set another 5 traps in all--4 little ones and 1 big one. So there is probably a family living under the deck. Really makes me want to be out working in the gardens!

5

5 Skunk Traps!