Oriental Lily

These were a little late in opening it seems to me., but they are just as beautiful. It is 98 today and climbing. Thank heavens for air conditioning!

Scaboiosa

These are backwards, but this is one of the flowers that I started from seed, not really knowing what it was going to be. This is just one of the little petals to give an example of how tiny each little component is. God's intricate works just amazes me all the time. They start out as the ugly duckling and turn in to a thing of beauty. I love the color too. This is the color I want in my second bathroom, now that Clyle is gone. Couldn't very well have plum for a boys bathroom.

Aero Flowers

These are some of the flowers that I started from seed in the aero garden.

The Asters are by far the prettiest, but these other little guys, the scabiosa, are really interesting.

When they first bud out they look like they are all done. No petals, just what looks like a center of a flower, shown here in the background. And then they fill in with the delicate little petals.

Sequim Lavender Festival

We've heard about this festival for years but never had the time to go, so decided to do it today. It's about a two and a half hour drive over the Narrows and up Highway 101. I always enjoy driving (or riding) this Hwy. Okay, so the first picture isn't lavender, but it's another of my favorites. We parked at QFC and took the shuttle into town, and as soon as we got out of the car the smell of lavender permeated the air. Lavender is suppose to have a calming effect, but I didn't necessarily find that in Dave or in the crowds. It was incredible how many people were there from all over. At one farm while we were waiting for the shuttle I was talking to a woman that came from Buffalo New York. Not to visit friends or family, she came by herself on a 4 day weekend, just for this event.

Do you see the bumble bee below?

There was an organization called Gentle Paws that trains guide dogs that were doing dog sitting, so we were able to leave Walter there while we enjoyed the farms. From the street fair we took the shuttles to the different farms. We were only able to visit three farms, as it was 30 minutes between shuttles. I think there were about 12 farms in all.

At one farm there were a few other flowers, and I came home with three different varieties of lavender and 5 lavender plugs of the same variety, Folgate. Oh yes, and a perennial blue grass. I plan on using these in the new flower bed I will be building in the side yard.

The smells were fantastic, but I have to say that I have enjoyed the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival much more and it didn't cost $30.

What Makes Him Happy

You see my passions and joys all the time here, but this is what Dave likes to do that makes him happy. He's here in all his regalia in the paintball jungles. He took Skip, Cole and Kevin yesterday. Alexis and I stayed home and played Farm Town on Facebook and went shopping. It was a great day. Ended it with a chicken bbq with the first rewards from my (real) garden of a wilted lettuce salad and some other goodies.

Garden

My vegetable garden is coming right along. We have lots of lettuce, healthy brocolli and some nice little squash starting. I should be begging people to take my zuccini's any time now. I'm anxious to see the red hubbard. My tomato on the hand is not well. It has a virus and I fear it is a fatal one. It killed the pepper plant, since they are the same family the virus struck both.

My flowers are doing fabulous. You have to walk very gingerly on the deck as not to step on petunias that are really taking over.

This is one of the asters I started in the aerogarden. And here we have the "chocolate" nasturshums I bought the seeds of at NW Flower and GArden show. Hardly chocolate, bu I like red anyway.

I'm very happy with all of my endeavors this year. Even the entrance and the new flower bed on the side of the yard. Especially considering what I have had to work with here as far as the soil. I bought topsoil earlier this spring from a well known nursery/topsoil provider in Kent and was very very dissappointed with it. It gets wet and turns to rock, I swear. When we got the soil for the vegetable garden we went to Cedar Grove and it is very nice composted soil. I will go there next year for all of it.

I have been playing with the inks and some more Tim Holtz stuff lately and will post later. I love everything that he does and to Dave's woe's , and working on getting the whole collection.

Job Switch

Today didn't start out real good. I got terrible stressed trying to deal with the realtor on the sale of the house, the fax machine wasn't working right and of course rents were coming in. As soon as I got the realtor taken care of, I proposed a switch with Dave. He wanted to work on getting the "good" fax machine working anyway, so I went outside to mow and he stayed in the office. Sometimes I think we have our jobs backwards anyway because I love being outside and don't mind the physical labor. But of course, there are limitations. I got the front of the community mowed plus our yard mowed and trimmed. I have to keep moving these pots of petunias back so that people can get to the door. My veggie garden is doing very well and I had some lettuce from it today in my dinner.

These are some hostas that Marjie from Auburn Park gave me a couple weeks ago and they are doing very well.

So, the switch saved my sanity today and gave Dave a rest from working outside so it was a win-win situation. Maybe again tomorrow?