leder legends

A few weeks back I noticed these plants growing in the east flowerbed.   The leaves kept getting bigger and bigger so I wondered if it was a new species of weeds or perhaps a plant coming up from last year's annuals.  I had two very tall nicotiana plants there last summer and these leaves did remind me of tobacco. Well, after the invasion of hosta eating deer , I needed a new interest and decided to let them grow.  I'm glad I did. They hide some of the sad hostas and have some lovely interesting blooms. A very large variety of nicotiana! I have added a link to very informative page- http://meadowmuffingardens.blogspot.com/2017/10/tobacco-flower-heirloom-nicotiana-alata.html

  I actually cooked dinner last night. The heat and humidity and the isolation of corona times have really left me terribly unmotivated. Don't get me wrong...we still eat but sometimes it's more like grazing on the wrong things. For some reason, I actually prepared an entire meal. But I took some short-cuts. I put chicken (cordon bleu from the freezer) in the oven and then added a tray of vegetables to roast along side of that. While we waited for that, we had an appetizer of gourmet bread (from a local bakery) and peach chutney that I had made earlier.  The potatoes were from the Little Potato Company and come ready to microwave. Dessert - vanilla bean ice cream from my new favorite brand Prairie Farms (out of Illinois) So there was minimal prep but it all tasted good and it felt like we were getting back to normal. I might do it again on Sunday!

  When you are gifted a bag of fresh peaches you know there is a peach crisp coming up! While I love a good peach crisp, eating  a sweet juicy peach is so much better.  The soft sweet flesh and the decadently delicious juice dripping down your chin and making a sticky mess on your hands—- there is nothing better at this time of year!! But one should not eat too much of a good thing so one crisp is enough.  I decided to try and make peach chutney. I found a few recipes that looked good. One recipe was sweet and spicy and the other was a mustard peach combo.  I had enough peaches to make one of each. I was thinking that if we liked it and if I could get more free peaches, then I   would can some to eat during the winter. The mustard one was a thumbs down until I added spices- chili, curry, cardamom. This one also had dried cherries in it. I think cranberries have more taste! The spicy recipe was better but even though I put an entire jalapeño in it,I found it...

Grass looks good lol   I confess that when I think of Proverbs 31 , I do not think of the noble character of the wife.  I think only of the list of work that she does.  I felt a bit like that this morning.  I woke up at 3:30 and naturally I was unable to sleep again. In my frustration, at 4:30 I was up but not ready to start the day. Reading, watching the news and playing a game on my IPad on the couch was the plan.  Unfortunately my mind kept seeing that long to-do list  that I had written the night before.  So - bagged up the tomato sauce that I had made yesterday and put it in the freezer - made a peach crisp Best peach crisp ever!! - got a new lease ready for a tenant -got the Toppers flyers ready for the mail then  -made coffee and watched the news (things are pretty depressing right now) -got dressed -mowed the entire yard - treated the lawn with weed-begone ( I hope it does what the label says it is supposed to do- kill the...

  I discovered this fawn in the neighbor's backyard a week ago! Now it is about twice the size and much braver.  It was lounging in the front yard yesterday afternoon.  I was tempted to scare it and chase it away but it's not its fault!!  I am pretty sure the adult we found munching in our backyard 2 hours later was its mom. She was hungry and eaten the entire planter of impatiens!! We did try and scare her and chased her away. (I wish I didn't care!!!!!)

  It's 88 degrees (31 C) and the thought of having a nice hot cup of soup does not appeal! I probably will have to wait a few months for that but I'm looking ahead (for once lol). Our son has rows and rows of hearty tomato plants that are producing an over abundance of fruit that is starting to ripen. Vine ripened tomatoes in the store are fairly pricey...too pricey to turn into tomato soup.  So when offered as many free tomatoes that I could use, my friend and I drove there with our buckets and boxes to load up. They are not all quite ready to put in the pot so I will wait a few days and then get cooking full-steam ahead. I did fill a big pot with those with imperfections and cooked those down. Despite the heat, it did smell wonderful! They went into the pot skins and seeds and all.  Now I need to find that elusive food mill.  If you are wondering about all those zucchinis...the son was loathe to just throw them out. I guess they will get grated for breads and muffi...

  I had an appointment last week  with the  doctor.  We looked at each other via cameras on our computers. Virtually! It was rather complicated to get hooked up and I imagine many older people would have found this difficult. I found the link under the My Health page of Spectrum Health. I then had to answer a myriad of questions...questions I had answered last time I saw the doctor not that long ago.  When the nurse came on she proceeded to ask all the SAME questions. So weird!  Just like at an office visit I had to wait for the doctor to come in...seemed weird doing that at home.  We talked, she asked me most of the same questions that I had just answered on the computer and then to the nurse.  It seemed weird! She recommended a few things, repeated them and signed off.  It seemed weird.  Benefits...no effort, no shower, no shoes, no scale lol, no masks  Still it seemed weird! I hope this is not going to last!

  What have you done for fun of late? As I age (gracefully, of course) I find that what I have done is not so important anymore. Looking forward is more fun.  That being said, it does make me want to keep track of what I have done so that I don't forget. One day I cleaned up the yard...all empty pots, buckets, cuttings, tools, hoses, sprays, netting! There was a lot! It was rewarding to see everything so neat and tidy.  I mowed the lawn and not for fun! Company was coming and the hubby was out of commission! It had to be the hottest day of the summer!! It was a nasty job and I now see why he doesn't really like to do it! It took me a least an hour to recover!   It was rewarding to see everything so neat and tidy.  I cleaned the house even though our get-together was outdoors.  I was sure people would come inside for food prep or the WC;  I was right! Even with the AC running on that hot day, this was a big hot job.  The best thing is tha...

  At 2:30 this afternoon we looked out to discover a very large deer in the BACKYARD munching away in my hosta beds!  I'm so aggravated... even though I had said I had given up! Even though I know they are invading my yard ...I guess I just don't want to see them!! I hope he didn't find anything tasty!! ...of course no picture.  

I cleaned up the yard today! Man, 2 hours of sweating in 88 degree weather almost kills me lol! It does help to have company coming on Thursday.  We invited 4 couples and 3 are coming for burgers and  dessert.  One couple is still not going anywhere!! I can’t do it anymore!  Still being careful but Life goes on!!

I give up!!  In a city in west Michigan  I follow a Facebook page for hosta lovers! It's actually very informative and there are always wonderful pictures of hosta gardens that inspire me.  There are also lots who want help with identifying hostas, help with bug damage and help with THE virus! I have no interest in identifying the hostas that I have that have no name, I don't have the virus (yet) and the slugs are under control. Here's the issue-- four-legged vermin!  I have tried everything and this year my hosta garden is stem city. Next year I am putting up fences!!  In the meantime,  I love seeing all the pictures -  I am resigned and no longer envious!  (just needed to vent lol) While I was surprised to actually feel my stress level go down once I made and vocalized that decision, I still do care about the remaining hostas.  It seems that not every hosta has the same appeal to the deer palate and those that still look ok will n...

Three restaurants in ONE week, after weeks and weeks of eating at home. Unreal! Monday was an escape just for lunch at the Potbelly Pig. We were looking for a place with outdoor seating and/or a short drive thru.  Culvers and Chick Fillet-A both had lines much too long.  So in we went, got our food and sat outside on  a beautiful sunny breezy day.  It was SO good to be out. Dessert was a lovely ice cream sundae in a waffle cup. Wednesday was escape to restaurant number TWO.  After the garden tour we found a lovely spot downtown Zeeland called Publics. this time we ate inside since all the outdoor space was occupied. Good food and good company. ... and then off to Captain Sundaes for a turtle sundae. We shared a small one.  Oh, those salted caramel pecans!! Today it was restaurant number three at Fire Rock Grille on the patio!  This time there were 4 of us.  We got caught up, laughed, reminisced, talked plants, a...

I was totally blown away when I got home today!  A had not only vacuumed the computer room he had also emptied the room of all small items etc. I had mentioned that I wanted to shampoo the carpet in there. I grabbed the carpet shampooed and got to work.  It was really in need of a bath lol!   It is clean and dry and that is a good thing. I am very tired and that is not a good thing!

      Hibiscus everywhere! Assorted reds, oranges, whites and even yellows.  Not little Rose of Sharon size flowers but beautiful large showy blooms all over each plant. We were blown away! Then we were introduced to mangavé... a mix of agave and manfreda. FOR INFORMATION : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulB2jdQiBPg We were at Walters garden in Zeeland Michigan. This is a huge wholesale plant operation that supplies plants to nurseries and stores all around the USA.  They do over 90% of all national Proven Winners.  They also have an enormous research and development department.  Since the Covid shutdown, they can only allow the public to tour outdoors!   We toured for over an hour- starting with hibiscus and mangavé and ended with the hostas.  There are so many varieties of each plant and the flowerbeds are inspirational.  The combinations made me realize that I really could use some more color in my yard!   We received a ver...

When do you water your flowerbeds?  After an entire month with temperatures in the 80s and very little rain, it took a while for things to recover.  I watered and weeded a lot!  Last week Saturday I chased the sprinkler all over the yard and wouldn't you know it?  That night, we got 1 inch of rain!!  It was water on top of water and things looked great!  Monday I decided that I would water every hosta everyday whether or not they needed it or not.  Today I timed it.  35 minutes takes me around both the front and back yards.  This was last week- guacamole  such a sad hosta compared to before  (see below) This was in June...from top to bottom- sum and substance, guacamole and guardian angel. I think I can do this and the hostas will thank me for it !!

My food processor is small and fits in a kitchen cabinet. It is lightweight and I can get it out and put it away by myself.  It's powerful and just helped me chop 10 zucchinis.  n Now I  have 16 cups of shredded zucchini in the the fridge ready to be used. I'm not sure if I will make relish, bread, muffins or...? I did leave these on the counter for 2 weeks so there was quite a lot of waste. I am not a fan of this type of yellow squash.  There were lots.of seeds.

Meet Trudy! I bought a Singer! an old one! and I am excited!  My Husband thought it would be an old treadle machine but I really didn't want to go that far back-  although I did learn on one.  This one is electric. These old machines are so much fun!  I feel weird saying that because the only thing they can do is a straight stitch forward (I'm not sure if this can do a back stitch lol). Despite that there are some definite advantages. They are metal (this one does have a few plastic parts but not moving ones) and metal machines don't bounce and they work through heavy-duty fabrics.  The opening under the machine, which probably has a name, is about twice the size of my much newer and fancier Brother machine so sewing larger items is so much easier. They are easy to fix because there is no computer and no belts- everything is gear driven.  If I need to do any of those fancy stitches I can use the new machine. It cost me $32 at the thrift store!  Al...

The granddaughters from AK. 

Today was so cool and relatively comfortable that I was surprised when I reached the 3 bucket stage.  The amount of weeds that can grow in 3 weeks is mind boggling but I do think the end is in sight.  Today I watered generously and pulled weeds from the wet beds.  I have to do that again because they came up more easily than usual! Dead heading also made things look much neater!  A trip to the yard waste dump is on the schedule for next week.