Too Hot

Well, gentle readers, this has been one exciting weekend full of trips to the library to obtain massive quantities of books, reading inventories of medieval Dominican libraries, and working in the yard.  Oh, and it was over 95 degrees here on Saturday and I have no air conditioning.

So, for your viewing pleasure, the petunias in front of my mailbox that went crazy while I was gone:

Unfortunately, the rest of the plants did not fare so well and were pretty much toast by the time I got back.  So, I got some petunias half off to plant in the window boxes:

The  flower bed with huge volunteer viola plants:

Another window box:

I stopped to see "Mr. Little Old Man," as Mother of Ken calls the old guy who sells fruit on the corner near my house.  Among other things, he had one pound bags of shelled peas for $2 that he got from the Amish.  I love peas, so I brought them home, steamed them for a few minutes, and then froze most of them for later.

Fresh peas are delicious--I've got plans to make Ina Garten's Pasta, Pesto, and Peas later this week.

Mr. Little Old Man also had Amish strawberries:

In an attempt to use some of the stuff that has been languishing in my freezer, I made up a new strawberry dessert.  I took a sheet of puff pastry, cut it into four smaller pieces, and scored each piece about one inch around the entire rectangle before baking them.

Then, I used a spatula to press down the center part, leaving the one inch edge to hold my filling.  For the filling, I made some lemon curd (the Fannie Merritt Farmer recipe) to spread inside each sheet of puff pastry and I topped the lemon curd with fresh sliced strawberries.  Some whipped cream would be good, too.

I kept the other three pieces of puff pastry in the refrigerator until I was ready to use them.  Tonight's version of the dessert includes blueberries, too:

This is really good--light, refreshing, and flavorful.  You could make all different variations of this just using the puff pastry base.  I especially liked the addition of the blueberries.

Another One Bites the Dust

Another vestige of The Disgustington's tenure in this house is now gone.  I won't go into all of the details, but I spent much of this weekend doing a serious spring cleaning and making some slight changes to the decor of the house.  One of the things that I did was replace all of the cabinet and drawer hardware in the kitchen and both bathrooms.  

Here is what was in the bathrooms before:

I really dislike things that are made to look like something they aren't--these handles are an example.  They appear to have a lock, but it is filled in.  Who thought of this?  Just make plain handles--you aren't fooling anyone.  I have a similar dislike for shirts that are made to look like two tops are layered and shoes that look like normal shoes from the front, but are backless and therefore not real shoes.  Anyway, I removed the old ones (and good God, I cannot describe the filth I found beneath that was certainly not my filth) and put on some new handles:

New glass knobs for the medicine cabinet:

The new handle design on the top and the old one on the bottom:

I also dislike handles that look like the ones that swing out when you pull on them, but are actually just stuck out permanently like the one that you see above.  I have a lot of opinions about seemingly insignificant things, but you probably already knew that.

Here is the downstairs bathroom vanity with new hardware:

Luckily for me, The Disgustingtons used the same hardware in both bathrooms, so I was dealing with the same measurements for all of the cabinets and drawers.  Here is the upstairs bathroom vanity with the old hardware (the kind with the fake locks and permanent swing-out):

New hardware:

The change in the kitchen is much more dramatic.  The old hardware was really too country for this house, so I replaced it with something more classic.  The filth beneath these was unimaginable--I had to pry several of the handles loose from the same dirt-covered grease that took Mother of Ken and me two days to remove from the stove when I moved in.  Here you see one of the new knobs on the left and one of the old ones on the right:

New drawer pull on the top, old ones on the bottom.  Kenna especially loves these because the design of the ends is called "paw."

The new hardware is heavier and nicer and it is shiny and new, so I'm hoping that will help us sell the house.  Here's what the kitchen looks like now:

In addition to the cabinetry update, I also cleaned all of the windows and window sills, dusted all of the logs and ceilings, washed all of the light fixtures and ceiling fan blades, and cleaned every room thoroughly.  Then, we did some work outside, deadheading some of the plants, cleaning the porches, etc.  I thought you gentle readers might enjoy some photos of the flowers in the front yard:

The world's largest volunteer viola below:

I tried to get Kenna to sit next to the viola to give you a sense of scale, but she wasn't cooperative.  She really just wanted to eat grass and then gag.  Fun times.

Doesn't she look exhausted from all of this work?

Hero Takes a Fall, Part II

Besides taking photos at the lake, McKenna and I also worked hard last weekend in the yard, planting our fall flowers and cleaning the porches and we also decorated the house.

First, some views of changing leaves from the back porch:

We planted pansies in the window boxes--I hope they perk up soon. We had to get them at Lowe's and they were either over watered or under watered and very root bound. They also only had about three colors to choose from. I'll have to find a better source for pansies next year because they are my favorite flower and I want nicer ones and a better choice of color.

The front porch with pansies in the hanging basket and mums in the planters:

A closer view of the mums--they are nicer than the pansies because we are able to get them at the local farm stand:

The back porch--my purple petunias are still thriving, despite a month of neglect, so I left them in the hanging baskets and just planted pansies in the window box in the back and in one small planter.

McKenna is enjoying her last few chances to relax in the sun on the porch:

Moving inside, here are a few photos of our fall decorations. First, the picture window (you can click on any of the photos to make them larger):

The bookshelf in the corner:

Ornaments (many of them made by my grandmother) hanging in the hallway:

I went a little crazy with the gourds and pumpkins this year:

The secretary in the kitchen:

The kitchen table:

An unrelated picture of Kenna in her new bed. The old blanket that used to go in her "room" bit the dust when we got home from our trip, so I got her this liner, which she seems to like.

Hot House Flower

Gentle readers, it is time for my semi annual attempt at gardening. I have been working hard for the past several weeks to get my yard to look nice for summer, so here is a tour of my yard where you will see the results of my stellar gardening skillz. And there's a little something extra at the end...

Imagine that you are walking up to my house, greeted by this welcoming view:

A view of the rest of the front of the house including my front window box and the front flower bed. I have planted seeds in the flower bed and have my fingers crossed that something will grow. For now, the mulch at least makes it look nicer than the weeds, leaves, and twigs that filled the flower bed before.




The windows on the side of my house and the window box below--some of these plants are struggling a little because of chipmunks using the planter as a playground, but I am determined to win this fight with copious amounts of cayenne pepper.

The rock garden in the front of the house--we designed this last year using the two large stones that you see on the sides to start. I put the tall one between to block the base of a flag pole that I don't use. The rest of the rocks are cool ones that we found around the yard. I decided a week ago that this looked too much like a pet grave, so I planted the hydrangea in the center hoping that it will eventually grow large enough that this will look like a small garden rather than a grave.

This is a view of the seating area of my porch. Take note of the disgusting floor, which will disappear this summer.

My "bleeding heart" plant--these are so pretty.

Close up of the bleeding heart so you can see how it got its name (sorry for the blurry picture--I couldn't get it to be any clearer).

My herbs--from left to right: chives, lemon verbena, Italian parsley, and basil.

Close up view of one of my hanging baskets--these are all purple petunias.

A view of the porch from the back of the house.

Picture window and window box in the back of the house--this part of the house is also a popular bat hangout.

View of my "Lord Help Me Hang In There" sign on the right--thanks, Leah!

In addition to the plants that I purposely incorporate into my yard, I also have wildflowers like this that grow by the creek:

I grow the best weeds in the state:

This baby bunny likes the food in my yard. It drives McKenna crazy.

And the bonus photo of this blog, my new plates:

I found these at TJ Maxx this week and bought four of them and I'm on the lookout for more. Aren't they cute?

Next up: White Wedding: Just Say "No" To Drugs