7-7-10

 

 

The mystery flower is a Tiger Lily- not too exciting- but very unusual looking. I thought it was a Turk's Cap but the leaves are not the same as those on a Turk's Cap. First fig harvested! We have a tree just FULL of unripe figs. Should be a great fig fall.

7-6-10

 

 

Clematis blooming in the back yard, climbing up the grape arbor... and the mystery plant is fixin to bloom!

7-5-10

Happy 24th birthday Jes! I know you're in the far reaches of Montana right now without means of communication but maybe you'll "get the message" and know we are thinking about you.

Today Dan unpacked my Nana's dishes that my mom had saved for me. Pretty far out! 1950s Franciscan Starburst pattern.

7-4-10

Headed home to the hills of Kentucky. Difficult tears shed this morning saying goodbye.

7-3-10

Party day for Buddy! House full of family. My camera battery needs recharging so I didn't take enough pictures. Sta left this morning with G and Kel to go get S in Oklahoma. My bro in law lost the keys to his rental car and it was quite traumatic arranging a solution with Alamo. Food was great at the party- must get recipes. Especially corn and avocado salad with lime. Mmm! I'm gonna miss my two little nephews when they leave tomorrow :(

7-2-10

And today the wall was finished. Quick! Today I went to the park with my sister Sakura and her two little boys. Took lots of great pictures today which I will add later. It was a family day. Tomorrow is Buddy's birthday party and the house will be full.

 Mom doing some gardening.

 Buddy cooling off after playing in Nana's van with his cousin G

 Fozzie Bear is learning how to sit up in Nana's back yard!

 Cute Fozzie Bear!

7-1-10

My nephew Buddy arrived today and he is such a sweet boy. Here he is vacuuming his Nana's lawn. Such a good helper.

Coming home to Mama's house is like living in a restaurant and I have come to accept that over the years. But this newest thing is putting me over the top- sidewalk and retaining wall construction out front. Construction workers in and out the house. Phone calls off the hook. Busy kitchen. Headache.

6-30-10

We made it to Auburn last night. Today should be a relaxing day before my sisters arrive. Photo of Mom's back yard.

6-29-10

Headed south. Alabama bound.

6-26-10

 

Last week I cut my hair. The next day I cut it even shorter and tried to add layers. Today I decided it was not all that precise and went to a salon to have it seriously cut. It's seriously shorter! But I like it.

6-25-10

 

Robin's nest in the dogwood outside our den. The babies are getting big! I'm recovering today from a terrible cold that has had me in bed for three days. Oh how I hate being sick. I get so depressed and CRABBY!!!

6-22-10

 

 

Presented my award-winning paper this morning (It got the Best Paper award in the division) then decided to take the afternoon off. Dan and I went to Louisville Stoneware to find a replacement lid for one I broke many many years ago, then went to Joe Ley Antiques
on the recommendation of a friend. What a place! Three acres of antiques!

6-21-10

I presented a paper today which went well. Really well. I hope
tomorrow's presentation goes well too. Dan and I had dinner at a
really great restaurant called Hillbilly Tea. If you're ever in
Louisville near 1st Street check it out. Beautiful sunset. Not as hot
today as yesterday.

6-20-10

We are in Louisville for the ASEE conference. Spent the evening
walking around downtown. Beautiful sunset on the Ohio River.

6-19-10

 

Today was a strange day. I worked all morning on my presentations for the ASEE conference next week. After lunch I messed around with my laptop, getting it ready with the files I need. Then I started building up energy. Made a grilled sausage etouffee for dinner then got tired. This is a photo of the light coming in the sunroom at dusk. I just love the way the light looks on the floor.

 

After sufficient iced tea (I'm giving up coffee again) I went into the garden to photograph the latest. Phlox...

 

Hosta...

 

Grapevine on the arbor...
It wasn't too hot so I did some weeding. Then I got the strangest idea to go running. Yes, running. I actually made it .72miles without stopping, all the way around our little neighborhood. Wow.

6-18-10

 

 

My camp ended today and I had to cart all the supplies to my office afterward. I was exhausted all afternoon but Dan convinced me to go with him to the Gallery Hop held about six times a year. We went to some interesting galleries, the most interesting the Ann Tower Gallery which has paintings by the artist who used to live in our house, who built our studio. These pictures were taken of the backyard of the Bodley-Bullock House, which is owned by the Junior League.

6-17-10

 

Today was a good one at camp. The kids built wind turbines and we started the penguins unit. They also did a second trial with the solar cars and one could pull all the rocks so I have to bring in more tomorrow. I think they've really enjoyed this week and learned a lot. I'm giving them a post-test tomorrow.

 

I love the way the light comes in the house at dusk, and thought it was interesting when Frisbee walked through this patch of light on the slate floor.

 

The mystery plant is budding and I'm excited to see what it is.

Getting off coffee is not fun. Yes, I'm trying again. I'm really really really tired.

6-15-10

 

 

 

My summer camp students got solar cars working today. Tomorrow we start designing wind turbines! It's been so much fun teaching kids again, and these are great kids to work with. This afternoon I put together one of the presentations for a conference next week where I'm giving two papers. BLTs and three kinds of zucchini for dinner. They all tasted alike.

6-14-10

Experimented with greens tonight for supper. Collards and Kale beat out Turnips and Mustard.
OK, so I started my summer camp today and it's fun teaching kids again. I'm a bit rusty and expect these little kids to read my mind a bit too much, but it's coming back. Good experience.

6-13-10

Check out this movie I recorded on my iPhone 3g using iCamcorder. You can see my little fenced-in garden next to the grape arbor. That blasted bunny is still getting in, and now a mole of some sort is burrowing underneath too.

6-10-10

Dan got his birthday present today! Guess what it is???

And I got a pretty neat present too- all these books. Summer reading, here I come.

6-9-10

 

We sanded the bricks and they look better after a good rain. The sand has settled so we'll need to do it again...

 

Here's what's blooming in the garden- red lily

 

Yellow lily

 

Lilies in the garden

Our big mama ginko has had lots of babies and I need to remove them. That sounds mean. OK, there are a million ginko tree sprouts in my garden and they are growing like weeds, choking out the other plants that belong there. I'm taking them away by the bucket full. Yes, I feel guilty that I don't have room for a million more ginko trees. The worms will be happy eating them for dinner- let's put it that way. Food. If you are reading this and you are nearby and you want a ginko tree, come have at it quickly before they're all gone.

Speaking of food, here's my vegetable garden. Five crops planted in there.

Orange lilies are the most common but I still like them. I love all lilies.

6-8-10

 

We sanded the bricks and swept as much sand away as possible. We need a good rain to clean them up.

6-7-10

 

Today while I worked on grading master's exams and reading video transcripts, the Squirt cleaned the brick patio with a power washer. The bricks look totally different.

 

This evening Dan and I went to Home Depot and bought 11 bags of sand and started replacing the sand. Photo to follow.