Coming Home

At long last my daughter, Kate, is coming home on Sunday.  At the beginning of January, she left on her big adventure, traveling to Cusco, Peru.  She wanted to do something for others less fortunate than herself, so she found an agency in Cusco where she could volunteer, booked a flight, and applied for a visa, all before I knew what to say.  To be honest, I wasn't originally very happy about it, but she picked Peru because her father, that she barely knows, is from Peru, and she wanted to experience the other part of her heritage. Here she is with a local young lady who is dressed up for a festival.  

  Cusco is surrounded by mountains, and although it was summer when she arrived there, because of the elevation, it was still  somewhat cool and often rainy.  

  Kate was quite taken with all the dogs that roamed the streets and captured a few of them in photos.  

 

 

  Her first placement work was at a home for teenage sexually abused girls.  Her job was to teach them English, but that's not especially easy to do when you don't know much Spanish.  Regardless of the language barrier, she bonded and fell in love with these girls.  

 

 

Here she is with her roommate, Genevieve, who arrived at the same time as Kate and just left for home last week.  Genevieve is from Boston, but volunteers came from numerous countries, and friends were made from all over the world.

There was a lot of sight seeing on weekends with a trip to Sacred Valley . . .   

 

  . . . a jungle trek to Machu Picchu   

 

 

 

  . . . a trip to Bolivia to see Lake Titicaca  

  . . . the world's largest salt flat - Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia  

 

  . . . and a trip to the jungle.  

  Fun times.  

  The second part of her time there she worked at a daycare center and had tons of fun with the kids.  

 

  Last, but not least, was a trip to Lima to meet aunts, uncles, and cousins.  This may have been the high light of her trip to meet the family she never knew and see beautiful Lima on the Pacific Ocean.  

  Welcome home Kate, my daughter and best friend!  So glad to have you back.  Lots of yard sales and flea markets waiting for us to explore.

Summer on the Deck

This summer I decided to go a different direction with the potted plants on my deck.  I found out the hard way that my chickens will eat every flower I plant within their reach.  So . . . my solution was ornamental grasses. This one is "Mexican Feather Grass".  

  I grouped three pots together each with  a different grass and texture.  

  This little lady is called "Fiber Optic Grass" and is sweet and delicate.  

  This quirky guy is "Big Twister Rush" and has large spiraling foliage which unfortunately doesn't stand erect as well as I'd like.  

  Standing alone is "King Tut" Egyptian Papyrus, who is tall and stately.  

 

 

  Grasses don't offer much color, but the trade off is how lovely they look swaying in the breeze.  Hopefully I can winter them over in the greenhouse and use them again next summer.  Also sitting on the deck right now is a large pot of "Hakuro Nishiki Willow".  I haven't been able to plant it yet with my broken foot, but I've been enjoying it up close while I wait.  

   Charlie is enjoying it up close too . . . taking a nap in it's shade.  It is quite large and at the nursery they had them displayed in large ornate pots and they truly made a grand statement.  

  My one spot of color on the deck is a beautiful deep pink Mandevilla.  

  It sits up on a pedestal and the chickens don't seem to bother it.  Plus by elevating it, it can grab on to the wisteria trunk and will eventually grow upward and bloom from even higher heights.  I can hardly wait.  

  I haven't been able to put the deck table to use yet this summer . . . again, because with my foot, I can't risk carrying the heavy glass table top from the shed.  

  Soon . . . I hope . . . and then we'll have a garden party.  

  At the end of the deck sits my lovely oak leaf hydrangea, which has very few blooms this year . . . a result of the harsh winter.  But the few blooms it does have are cherished.  

  Hoping you are enjoying summer on your deck.   ~ Linking with ~   Domestically Speaking for Fun in the Sun Linky Party ~ French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday  ~ The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home    

Friday Afternoon Lunch

 I try to work my 40 hours between Monday and Thursday so that I can have my Fridays off to work on things around the house.  I always have an endless list of projects to keep my busy.  But this Friday, my Mom and her cousin, Helen, came for lunch and we had a delightful time. It was a perfect sunny day to eat lunch on the screened porch.  

  I enjoyed trying new recipes and setting a summer table.  

 

  It's so fun to entertain.  I am such a project driven person, but I am learning to slow down and enjoy friends and family.  It is a process for me ~ one that I find to be a joyful journey.  So, come and enjoy a Friday afternoon lunch with me. ~ It's a simple lunch. I tried a yummy new recipe from The Recipe Critic called Strawberry Avocado Spinach Salad with Creamy Poppyseed Dressing.  Instead of using spinach, I used salad greens fresh from my garden.  So easy to make, pretty, and tasty.  

  I'm not a big salad eater during the winter, but in the summer they are the perfect light, healthy meal, especially when served with a good bread.  

  So that's it ~ just a healthy salad, bread, and flavored water.  

  The water was simple too, just add ice, sliced cucumbers, strawberries,  lime, and a sprig of mint.  

    Polka dot straws and pretty flowers complete the table.  

  The flowers came from the garden too.  To match the plates, I picked yellow Lady's Mantle, pink begonias, and red roses.  

 

  I did serve desert too ~ Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream ~ but I'll serve that up in another post soon. ~ I think I might try to do this more often on Fridays, if not every Friday,  than at least every other. Hope you're having happy summer outdoor meals too. ~ Linking with ~ The Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday ~ How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday ~ Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday ~ StoneGable for The Scoop  ~ A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday

A New Fence

Back in March, I spent every relatively nice evening and weekend outside in the back of my yard pruning a very overgrown area.  It was so overgrown, if I had to chase a chicken through there, they could get through, but I couldn't.  Believe me when I say I pruned, because I sent to the curb for pickup at least 30 leaf bags of trimmings, and that was without any leaves on the branches. For starters, I needed to clean out the fence line so the men would have room to install the new fence.  And then, just generally, I wanted the area to look cleaner and more a part of the yard, rather than an overgrown mess. The fence went in over the course of two mornings.  The first one was installed across the very back boundary of the yard, and the second installment finished off the connecting side behind my shed and chicken coop. Here is the back right after it was installed in early April.  

  Behind that fence is a yard full of bright colorful kids toys that are out year round.  I love the way the fence gives the yard a more peaceful feeling, allowing the eye to rest instead of looking at all the toys.  

 

  I love how clean it looks back there now.  But that was in April and this is today.  

  Everything is growing back with a vengeance and I can barely see my new fence.  

  Even so, it gives me the benefit of feeling safer, more private, keeps the dog from barking at the neighbors, and allows the chickens to free range with more safety.  All reasons that make it a great investment.  

 

Projects 6, 7 & 8

It was hard to separate Projects 6, 7, and 8 because they are all in the same area and overlap somewhat, so I decided to put them all together in one post.  These three projects include, painting the door and shutters black, replacing the soil and shrubs in the garden bed leading up to my front entry, and installing a dry stack stone apron under the front porch.  I took a week of vacation to work on these projects rather than drag them out over a month of weekends and I'm so glad I did, since I no sooner finished with them when I broke my foot, and all projects have come to a halt since then. Lets start with before pictures.  Here is the house in early spring.  Notice the dead ivy beds that needed pruning to the ground.  That alone was a major project.  

  And here is the house after I painted the shutters and door black.  I personally love the black and wonder why it took me so long to do it.  Thankfully the ivy is starting to grow back and looking much better.  You may notice the dog in the window in both pictures.  That is Moby sitting on the back of the sofa.  We call this window his "wide screen TV".  This is where he watches the world go by.

I also painted the wrought iron chairs and several other iron accessories beside the garage to complete the look.

Now for the shrubs.  The ones that I had were there for years and became a little scrawnier every year.  I couldn't even grow annuals in this ground.  

Pitiful, right?  My plan was to dig out all this dead dirt and replace it with nice new soil, but to my dismay, the ground was full of roots of all sizes.  So, plan two was to dig the deepest, widest holes I could manage and fill it with new soil for the new shrubs.  For the annuals, I dug a trench to give them a fighting chance.

Then I planted green and white euonymus for the shrubs and alternating white petunias and pink zinnias in front of them.  Unfortunately the zinnias didn't survive, so I replaced them with impatiens, which are doing much better.  

  Such a nice difference. Lastly, I wanted to do something different under the sides of the porch.  I've been thinking about this for years.  For a long time I was going to put lattice here, but then I decided to do a small dry stack stone wall to add more charm and make the house look older.  Here is the before with the scrawny shrub and algae.

And here is the after.

I love the changes I made and all the hard work was so worth it because I find myself smiling every time I go outside.  Now, everything just needs a fresh coat of paint to complete the look.  Maybe by the end of the summer when I can use my foot more. ~ Linking with ~ Mod Vintage Life for Mod Mix Monday ~ Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday ~ Domestically Speaking for Inspire Me Monday ~ French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday