Dar-vah-lous

{BRONX ZOO}

Not the best zoo that I've ever been too, didn't see many animals, it got to be a joke after a while, really good people watching, lots of New York attitude, a bird pooped in my purse, the grounds were very nice, the signage sucked, the employees didn't smile, it wasn't swampy hot, took lots of photos.  Glenni and I just laughed and took it all in stride.  All in all it was a really fun day.  The River Otters played, a family of monkeys had the sweetest little orange baby, the camels gave rides and the Gorilla habitat was amazing.  It was the last thing we saw and was the perfect ending to the day.  The gorilla's came right up to the glass and put on a show, they are fun to watch, just wanted to love em, squeeze em, take em home! 

{HOME AGAIN}

Cody had a blast at Woodward Skateboard Camp and Im so glad, he is such a good kid and skateboarding is his passion, he deserved a week of skateboard heaven.  Didn't get any photos of him or the camp, bummer, it was a drop off and pick up only, don't embarrass me in front of everybody mom thing.  Next year.

I had a great time at Glennis, we ate good, I slept great, relaxed, gabbed, laughed and just had fun.   We shopped for plants, went to the Bronx Zoo, went to Stews (the coolest  grocery store ever) for delish Babka and cupcakes, shopped for more plants and played in the garden.  I got to swing Glenni's big ass pick and she is not kidding when she says she needs it, rocks everywhere.  Her yard is fabulous and will be even more fabulous once she gets all those new plants in, hint hint.  Her house is fabulous too and the view of the lake is to die for.  Loved getting to see parts of CT and loved loved all that New England charm.  Thank you Glenni, Gordon and Jeep for letting me come to visit.

{FATHERS DAY}

Had a busy weekend here.  Saturday night we went and saw Carrie Underwear/wood in Huntington, she was good, not too twangy, more rock-and-rollish, which was cool because Im not as big of a country music fan as Philip.  Didn't take my camera just in case and of course there were cameras everywhere except in my hand.  Oh well, next time.

Had a nice Fathers Day, at least I did, hope Philip did too.  Jr. won the race, just that alone should make him incredibly happy.  Took Cody and his friend to the opening of a new skatepark in Gallipolis.  They did the skills compitetion and both made it to the finals.  The guy doing the announcing couldn't remember any of the kids names and was calling them "kid with the bandana", Cody and "kid with the plaid hat", Logan, I got a big kick out of the that.  Cody, "kid in the bandana" did really well, his parents couldn't have been any prouder.  Unfortunatly "kid without a shirt" won, but "kid in the bandana" was happy just to have participated.  We came home and had a nice dinner, grilled marinated steak and veggie kabobs, yum.  The "kid in the bandana" said it was "scrumptious!"   We bought him the grill a few weeks ago, got his Fathers Day present early and we have been grilling almost every night.  Got him a few shirts for work too.  Love ya Philip, hope you Fathers Day was great.

{A GREAT VIEW}

This is what I see out the window from my spot on the couch and what you see from the patio, it sits front and center and needed some spucing up.  I decided not to plant anything here this season, a battle was waging between the Turtleheads and the Loosestrife, the Turtlehead won and pushed the Loosestrife to the edges of the bed and I pulled out the rest of it.  Turtleheads are a very pretty pink flower but are too tall for where they are at, some of them are 3 feet high.  I have other ideas for this space.  While I working in other spots around "the grounds", these suddenly popped up and its too late to move them now.  The soil is a mess and needs to be turned over and composted in the fall.  Philip took of the Butterfly Bush that had seen better days for me.  I was left with a half a bed of tall Turtlehead and a bird bath, nope all white space and imbalance would drive me insane.  A simple fix of a chair planter, hanging basket and hummingbird feeder took care of the problem.  When I look out this window, I want to see color, birds splashing in the bath and hummingbirds hovering at the feeder.  Im happy with how it looks and life can go on.  

{CHIP}

Its amazing how much difference 10 degrees makes.  After days of swampy 95 degree weather yesterday was only 85.  I got outside and worked around "the grounds".  It was still hot but much more tolerable and there was a nice breeze.   Clouds came and went threatning rain that never came.  It was a very productive day, weeds pulled, plants watered, 10 bags of mulch spread.  The best part of the day was the chipmunks, they are the tiniest cutest little vermin.  The birdseed bowl was full, they were happy.  Usually they are skitterish and run as soon as I go out but today there were 3 of them out there and maybe its the safety in numbers thing or they are getting used to me and hung out all morning, playing, stuffing their cheeks full of birdseed then hopping off to one of their chippy storage bunkers to dump the seed and come back for more.  At one point one of them one of them sat within two feet of where I was watering, I talked to it and it make sure it knew I was there, it looked at me, I looked at it, enjoying the close up view, yes, they are just as adorable up close, it finally scampered off and I decided to go in and get my camera.  I got some good photos of the cute little things, got some work done in the yard, it was a good day.

{AN ISLAND IN THE SUN}

Philip and I worked hard getting this island into shape and I think it was all worth.  How fantastic does that look.  I am so happy happy happy with the makeover.  I needs more tweaking but that is going to have until next summer, it doesn't have that cottagy feeling quite yet but its a great start.  Im sure it will so pretty when its lush and full.  Delphinium, daylilies, tall phlox, sage, lavender, iris, beardtongue, grow my pretties, grow! 

See all those nasty voilets, I hope that I never see another one again, 10 lawn bags of them in the trash.  Buh bye!  Im on the look out for stragglers, search out and destroy.

Tomorrow is Codys last day of school, he's been working us hard to let him skip.  Nope he's going, one last day of getting up at 6am before a whole summer of sleeping until noon.  Im looking forward to having him home during the day.

{BLOOMING}

Have been working like crazy in the yard, oops "the grounds", those 90 degree days start this week, I wilt fast in high temps and humidity, turn into a sweaty dog, yuck.  I still have a few big things left to do, hope I can get it all done tomorrow.  Its a lot of hard work, but Im getting some much needed exercise and learning tons about the great outdoors.  The beautiful blooms are worth all the work.  I will achieve the that cottagy garden look, maybe not this year, or the next but it will happen.  Then when I get it all cottagy I will probably decide that I don't like the cottagy thing anymore,lol.  I doubt it, thats the look thats always appealed to me.  My seedlings are sprouting and growing, I will be thrilled if just 2 of them survive.  If two survive then I can say "why yes, I started those from seed."  I have this vision of happy white shasta daisies edging all the beds and tall spiky foxgloves, hollyhock and delphiniums up against the fences, daylilies in every shade putting on a show.  It will get there.  My daisies, and peonies have bloomed.  So pretty!      

{MEMORIAL DAY}

We had a productive weekend here.  Cody spent the weekend camping with a friend.  Saturday and Sunday Philip and I worked out in the yard, oops I mean "the grounds".  I made him buy a grill Sunday, his early Fathers Day present so that we can start grilling NOW!  The box said "some assembly required" and they weren't kidding, he spent most of the day putting it together.  I think he enjoyed it though, man stuff!  A reason to bust out the tool box and grunt like Tim Taylor.  He got the grill together and Cody came in time for us to have steaks for dinner, nothing like a steak cooked on the grill.  Yum, they were delish!   After dinner dad brought out the fireworks he had bought for the occasion and let Cody be in charge of the lighter.  A right of passage, being old enough to be in charge of the lighter.  The boxes they came in were prettier than the fireworks themselves.  No fingers were blown off or fires set in the process.  It was a good day.  Check out the Demon Boy photo, I caught sparks in both Cody's eyes, score.  My favorite photo of the day.

{HAPPY BIRTHDAY DALTON}

Happy Birthday to my sweet nephew Dalton!  I won't post his picture on my blog and get him mad at his favorite aunt or tell any stories about the good stories about him a little guy, okay except the one were I was changing his diaper as a newborn and he shot pee into his eye or the one about our cat Homey who would sleep with him on the bed while he napped and come  out to let us know he was awake or how his favorite movie was Robin Hood and he called it Bobbin Hood (I still call it Bobbin Hood) and how he loved Barney that horrible purple dino with those robotic singing and dancing kids.  Now he's all grown up, over 6 feet and going to driving soon, sigh....they grow up too fast.

{HAPPY BIRTHDAY WENDY}

Happy Birthday my friend.  Wish I there to celebrate with you!  Have the best birthday evah!