At the beginning of the season I bought 2 large pots of various blooming pretties for the big barn porch.
They were gorgeous, and looked like this:
They were absolutely thriving.
And then….
They weren’t.
Today?
Yes, you adorable little devil.
I’m talking to you…
And I am not happy!
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say my husband likes our new grill.
After a long day of yard work, instead of going inside to take a shower and change….
He sat in front of it, spell bound…. watching our steaks cook through the viewing window.
A man and his grill.
Different day…
Different beverage….
Same deer paying absolutely no attention to us when we mow the lawn.
*Rest assured no alcoholic beverages were consumed while operating heavy machinery.
Or light machinery.
Or, Hell…. even the stove now that we bought a new grill.*
Life is good.
The baby woodchucks are everywhere.
Behind the barn, in the rock wall, on the porch, under the deck.
Which means….
They’re going to be saturating my blog for a while.
Because really….
If there’s anything cuter than a mini woodchuck eating apples?
I don’t know if I’d survive it.
No, not the Hendrix kind.
The Japanese Iris kind.
They don’t last long.
But they sure are pretty while they’re here.
Especially after a rain shower.
At night.
Our second batch of organic veggies from across the street was a nice bonanza.
Red lettuce, spinach, mixed greens, snap peas, zucchini, celeriac, chard, turnip…. and something I couldn’t identify.
Since there was a cornucopia of greens that day, salad was on the dinner menu… and because this was green?
In it went.
Bad idea. Very bad.
It was the bitterest, most noxious thing to ever enter my mouth.
Doing a little research, I discovered it might be a variety of kale.
Curly kale.
No wonder I didn’t like it!
And no surprise it ended up here:
And take my advice, if anyone offers you celeriac?
Run.
It looks like a giant turd….
It’s hard to peel.
And will break your tooth if you’re not careful.
There’s a reason most people throw it out when they grow celery.
And now, I know why.
Our resident buck with the felt covered mini rack has flown the proverbial coop, which is a shame, because I think most of you…. some of you?…. alright, at least one of you… was enjoying the fuzzy updates on antler growth progress.
But never fear.
Our old doe, who we call pregnant because she always seems to be, has last year’s progeny with her on a daily basis now.
So we’ll start from scratch.
Baby buck antlers.
At this point, they’re just little nubs that he keeps rubbing on trees and rocks.
And can you blame him?
The poor little guy looks like a four legged Frankenstein.
Hello my name is River, and I’m an addict.
A cell phone addict.
I always have my cell phone.
In my purse, in my pocket, in my hand. It’s rarely more than 10 feet away from me at any given time…. which drives the husband crazy. (This could be because he’s always doing something photo worthy, but that’s another blog entirely.)
The other day as I was sitting on the barn porch with a book and a cheaters bottled cocktail…..
A fly had the audacity to do the backstroke in my margarita.
This will not be tolerated, so after removing the thirsty Esther Williams wannabe?
My cell phone saved the day….
And the rest of my I still don’t feel comfortable going to our local pub for a real one margarita.
Reason #56 why you should always have your cell phone nearby – cocktail fly blocking.
You’re welcome.
Since our spring was so late and cool, things have been blooming a bit more slowly this year.
But no matter when it blooms, if there’s any better smell than fresh lilacs?
I’ve yet to find it.
Though honeysuckle comes in a close second.
This one doesn’t look like much from far away…
But up close it’s pretty sweet.
These Mallow I planted a few weeks ago have quickly become my favorite new bloomer.
Naturally when I went back to the nursery for more they were sold out.
Boo to that.
June in Maine means rhododendrons…..
As well as Lupine.
And I love these purple beauties!
The unthinkable happened last week.
Our beloved… and only 3 years old damn it… Weber grill died. Not wanting to spend a summer without one, we immediately went hunting for it’s replacement.
I wanted a small one without a side burner, so naturally all the husband looked at were large ones with side burners.
Ah, marriage.
Have you been grill shopping lately?
Holy crap!
I’ve paid less for cars.
Here’s the husband taking one for a test drive.
Literally driving it…. he spun it around a corner and had it up on 2 wheels.
Because Christ, at over a thousand dollars? That bastard better taxi us to the pub on its day off.
I found one I wanted.
Really wanted.
It came with wine!
But no. The husband dragged me to 5 other stores and ended up choosing one from Tractor Supply.
Large?
Oh yeah.
Much larger than we need, but it has stainless steel grates and radiant embers.
What the hell are radiant embers?
I have no idea….
But I bought some lovely filets and we’re going to find out tonight.
River's world..... 