leder legends

The vanity has been set.  The washer/dryer combo fits Wow It really might get done We have lights too!

 We were gifted a few different varieties of tomato and we found one growing in our yard.   An heirloom tomato does NOT look like a supermarket tomato because dark green on the top.   The yellow tomato does not grow smooth like a “regular “ tomato either.   The red and yellow looked great.  Those three definitely had tough skins and I peeled them!  The one from our yard was smooth and pretty just like the ones available at the store and did not require peeling. We decided to do a taste test in random order.   Starting with the heirloom — beautiful deep red color inside; great sweet flavor. The yellow one was smooth and sweet.  We went back to the heirloom and discovered it was not near as tasty nor as sweet as the yellow one like we first thought! The red one was a typical tomato with great texture and taste but it paled compared to the first two! The one from our ya...

 It was a fun, slightly damp, quick week in Australia followed by another in New Zealand. Melbourne highlight was a 45 min trip to the southern point to Phillip Island to see the fairy penguins. Cairns - a very rough trip by catamaran to the Great Barrier Reef- disappointing .  Dinner the night before at Ochre- superb place.  We ate kangaroo! Sydney-highlights- the Sydney Opera house tour and a relaxing dinner cruise to see the harbour at night while enjoying a spectacular meal.  Downside… meeting in the hotel lobby this morning at 5:15 for a 9:10 flight.  We were given a horribly inadequate breakfast- but we survived lol!  Air New Zealand seems a bit chaotic.  We did all get on board eventually.  The food was free given that this was an international flight. .. an okay breakfast with horrible coffee! ...

April 1st Ava turned 18 April 16 Arie turned 80 April 22 Celia turned 7 April 30 Storman turned 12 Everyone is growing up or old!

  We needed a ETA visa for Australia. I thought I had them as I had bought them through an official looking website a long time ago.  We arrived at the airport and were sent back home.  We spent a very stressful few hours at home before it was all settled!  I found the official government site and applied for one visa at a time… it wasn’t user friendly but in the end it worked! I was so relieved! Then, I spent a few hours on the phone with  Delta! Delta makes it very difficult to connect with a real person but once there we were able to transfer our tickets to the next day with no additional cost!  Again, I was so relieved! All went well the next day   - Saturday- and we arrived early Monday morning!

I just watched this female Baltimore Oriole enjoying a red hot poker.  We never see them this late!

I’ll start with a picture of an ugly, badly formed plant that I bought because I wanted to see what would happen. As you can see, it did blossom but all the blooms are on two fused stocks.  So bizarre but fun too! I spent a very hot and sweaty hour and a half pulling weeds that I had left to grow quite large.  I think I was hoping that would make them easier to pull out the verdict is still out. I now need to go and bag the piles of weeds but first a rest. Dispite the plethora of weeds I also found an odd variety of blooms. The red hot pokers (kniphofia) are almost done but still striking. Here are a few more... Early flowering hosta Tickweed or coreopsis Cranesbill geranium   Snapdragons that survived the harsh winter. Mystery plant Scabiosa or pin cushion plant.  Lilies are starting-  Stella D’Oro day-lilies   Oriental li...

 It's gardening time not lunch time! And it's very hot outside 87° or more! That means we have dirt under our nails and perhaps vegetation in our hair and sweat on our brows. Lunch needs to be at a place where we can feel comfortable in our present state and where we can get good food! We found O'Brien's deli. It's tucked in small strip mall. It's not easy to find since there are no big signs to announce it's location.  The food was great and prices were reasonable.  The Wednesday special was burgers with french fries for $14 and you could choose from a list of 10 burgers. Rose got the double smash burger and I ordered the rodeo burger. Both great choices.  The meat was tender and my burger was piled high with onion rings, bacon, lettuce and tomatoes and two sauces. Fun but a bit messy!  The deli had plenty of tables/booths both inside and outside,  uses real cutlery and cloth napkins, has a very friendly staff and lots of customers....