Can this possibly be the next to the last Saturday in August? Part of me is trying to milk the most out of the last bit of summer because once Fall hits, then we are in full stride toward the holidays. There is something about the “lazy days of summer” that resonates right now. We are still in the mountains enjoying the silence, the storms and the stars. It’s that time again for another Saturday Meanderings, where we chat about all good things this week.

Enjoying August

I cannot even recall the last time I plopped myself into a hammock. This Hatteras hammock is literally decades old, and it finally gets hung between two Ponderosa pines at our cabin. If you are looking for a hammock, I strongly suggest this brand.

Handcrafted with a Brazilian teakwood spreader bar, all-weather proof rope and quilted Sunbrella fabric, I am truly impressed with how well this hammock has held up over the years. The extra bonus is that it’s made in the U.S.A. in Greenville, North Carolina. They come in all different styles and colors and you can find more directly through Hatteras Hammocks here. No commission to me, just sharing an excellent product with you!

Guests for the Weekend

Neighbor friends from Phoenix came up to the mountains last weekend to get out of the heat and attend the Annual White Mountain Sheriff’s Posse BBQ. This fundraiser is a slice of Americana where the entire town turns out for this event.

Posse members get up early Friday morning to prepare a deep pit in the ground and fill it with coals so it will be hot enough to cook the meat and beans that they bury and cook onsite. They actually begin cooking around 3 p.m. on Friday so they are ready to go when they open at 11 a.m. on Saturday. This is their only fundraiser so if you ever in Pinetop, Arizona in August, it is certainly one of the best barbecues…plus you get to meet a lot of men in big hats!

We hosted our friends for dinner both Friday and Saturday night. When cooking for a crowd, I love serving my healthy turkey chili. With fall approaching, you may want to add this recipe to your meal plan. You will get lots of compliments and it’s even better a few days later!

A Stormy Cocktail

Some 40 years ago, I vacationed in Bermuda. After riding a moped in a downpour, wearing an unattractive huge rain poncho, I took shelter at The Swizzle Inn, the oldest bar in Bermuda. At that time it was just a great old bar with the walls and ceiling covered in business cards. Here I had my very first Dark ‘n Stormy cocktail.

The story of this beverage starts in 1806 with a gentleman named James Gosling, who set out on his ship from the UK with the intention of traveling to America. The boat didn’t quite make it to its destination, docking instead in Bermuda. By 1857, Gosling had started a rum business with his family. They started by selling their spirit from a large rum barrel, allowing the locals to bring their jugs to fill up as required. It didn’t take long before the company progressed into selling their rum in champagne bottles, giving their product the name Black Seal rum.

The rum became very popular on the island, but the Dark ‘N Stormy cocktail was not born until sometime after the First World War. It is thought to have been created within the Royal Naval Officers Club, who ran a ginger beer factory. They discovered that the combination of the two drinks made for a delicious treat.

Ingredients

An added interesting fact is that it is actually illegal to make a Dark ‘N Stormy cocktail without the original ingredients. Even a slight twist on the recipe could get you in trouble, as the Gosling brothers have trademarked the name and the family have not been afraid to sue anyone caught using the name without the right ingredients.

During a huge storm, this is my cocktail of choice and brings back my Bermuda adventure memories. Remember to use Goslings Black Seal Black rum, a reputable ginger beer (like Fever Tree, Goslings or Q), and fresh lime wedge. I depart slightly from this recipe and add the fresh juice from 1/2 lime, which I have been told is called a Partly Cloudy, not a Dark ‘n Stormy. See the recipe below.

A Colorful Cottage

I dream about a beach cottage in my future and love this very colorful one from Cottages and Bungalows. Artist Erin Houghton’s sunny beach cottage mixes classic and whimsy and will make you smile. I so appreciate her personal and cheerful touch to this sweet space.

Read the full article and see more pictures here.

Bargain Tea Set

Look what I found on a 75% off shelf at a local florist! Have you heard of Tea Forte? I love their triangular tea bags with the paper leaf at the top. Included in the set is an oval bamboo tray, porcelain cup and lid, mini sugar & creamer and the tea bag tray.

You can order the triangular tea bags or loose tea online as they have many flavor choices from black tea to herbal and tea samplers.

If you were to purchase each piece individual it would be approximately $50. Tea Forte also has tea sets in boxes but not with all these items. The entire set just makes me happy and knowing I got it for $13 makes it extra sweet! Here are the links if you want to purchase this:

Oval Bamboo Tray

Porcelain Cup with lid

Mini Sugar & Creamer

I cannot find a link to buy the tea bag tray. You can also purchase a stainless triangular tea infuser with a green silicon leaf and just add your own loose tea instead of buying their tea bags.

Each afternoon I am trying to stop for a few minutes and enjoy a cup of tea (sometimes coffee). Such a wonderful and valuable British tradition to pace ourselves, right? This set would be the perfect gift for someone who enjoys a relaxing cup of tea.

Pesky Woodpeckers

The woodpeckers are relentless this year. I don’t mind them tapping on a tree, but when they continue to destroy the cedar siding on our cabin, it is infuriating. Of course, they are a protected species and are rather territorial too. Two pesky ones try to dive bomb me while on the hammock.

Of course, I look like the crazy neighbor running outside trying to scare them off from their pecking damage to our exterior.

As much as I don’t like the aesthetics, I am now trying Bird-B-Gone Flash Tape that is supposed to scare critters away. The birds are repelled (apparently) by the flashing reflections. You can see all the pecking damage done around the window and on the siding above the window.

Doesn’t it look ridiculous? Does anyone have a solution to prevent woodpecker house damage? Has anyone used this tape? Please advise because these birds are driving me a bit nuts.

From the Internet

My friend, Kim from Shiplaps and Shells is a self-taught expert on flowers. Her post, 13 Tips to Extend the Vase Life of Your Cut Flowers, is filled with fabulous information. We all need fresh flowers on a regular basis, right? Now you will discover how to keep and enjoy them even longer. You can see her post here.

Scottish Fairy Tale Castle for Sale

For those with deep pockets, here is a real estate opportunity for you! It comes with 28,500 acres, 12. 5 miles of river front, 20 cottages and houses and of course, Dunbeath Castle. I wonder if the sale price includes the furniture? See this spectacular property here.

If you missed a post this week, you can see how to make Refrigerated Pickles here. My son, inspired by my post, sent me a photo of the pickles he made this week. Love his creative flavors. He uses Persian cucumbers, adds Serrano peppers in the spicy dill jar. For the spicy Asian one, he includes rice vinegar, splash of fish sauce, gochugaru and ginger peppercorns. Not only is it an easy recipe, but see how you can change up the flavors to your liking?

Here at Bella Terra we are always trying to live simply and here are some of the ways we do so in Wednesday’s post Living Simply and Efficiently.

Wishing you a wonderfully relaxing weekend. This week went by so fast and I’m looking for ways to slow things down a bit… I think I hear that hammock calling me….

I recently purchased a new book, Simply Living Well by Julia Watkins. This hard cover book is a guide to creating a natural, low-waste home. The book is filled with great ideas and recipes on how to reduce what you consume and throw away. But it got me thinking about how we live. What are we currently doing that is living efficiently and reduce what we take in and what we discard?

Composting

About 30% of our kitchen waste is recycled through composting. I have written about this before (see post here) and we put every single peel, pit, skin, eggshell and other non-cooked fruits, vegetables and flowers into the composting garbage can.

Grass clippings, tree branches and other brown material is also composted here on the property. This significantly reduces our waste that goes to the City’s landfill and dump.

All the luscious rich fertilized soil goes back into the yard~the garden, the orchard and all the bedding areas. Giving back to the land is very rewarding.

If you do not compost, please consider doing so. There are many containers on the market that make composting a breeze.

Recycling

The City of Phoenix has a recycling program so we separate our garbage into separate bins for pick up once a week. Cardboard boxes, paper, plastic, glass and cans are separated from the trash. In our kitchen we have 3 cabinets with pull out garbage cans~one for composting, one for trash and the other for recyclables. Does your community have a recycling program?

Gardening and Chickens

Growing our own fruits and vegetables reduces the number of trips we take to the grocery store and farmers market. With the exception of summer, our garden is in production.

What we don’t eat, or what has grown past its prime, goes to the chickens or into the compost bin. Growing your own vegetables and fruit is immensely satisfying too.

Our chickens provide us with the most delicious eggs. In order to increase egg production, we will soon need to get some more chicks as our flock is aging out. It is joyful to have these feathered friends and they, too, help reduce our food scrap waste.

This summer we are spending more time up at our mountain cabin. If we continue to do so, then it may be time to plant a garden and set up a composting system there as well.

Preserving Food and not being wasteful

Growing up in a family of 7, my mother never wasted a thing. For example, leftover stale bread was turned into bread pudding. I am sure that philosophy is a result of living through the Great Depression and also having a limited budget.

Because I was raised with a frugal mindset, it’s hard for me to throw good food away. I just made a big batch of mole chicken and after eating it a few days in a row, I will freeze the rest in individual servings for another time. Same with the big pot of chili I just made. How nice to have a meal ready, especially on those busy days where cooking for dinner is the last thing I feel like doing!

Abundant harvests from our garden or the orchard are canned and preserved for use during another season. From fruit preserves to tomato sauce, these are either canned or frozen. Though preserving food does take a bit of work, the rewards outweigh the effort. Opening up a jar of summer tomato sauce in the middle of winter, is such a treat!

Laundry

Line drying here in Phoenix, especially in the summer, is a quick and easy energy efficient task. Not only does the sun acts as a powerful disinfectant but also has natural bleaching powers. Nothing smells better than slipping into freshly washed sheets! Even my children notice when their sheets are washed and line dried.

Our local electric rates increase significantly over the summer. Not running the dryer and other large appliances is an effective money saving strategy too.

Coffee

I recall a time when daily and sometimes more, we would drive through the local Dutch Brothers and get our coffee. The staff knew us by name and their fun, upbeat vibe was a plus to our cup of Joe. Unfortunately, that coffee location closed, but fortunately for us we removed Dutch Brothers as a line item from our monthly budget.

Now we make our coffee here at home using my favorite Nespresso machine (currently 38% off a used one on Amazon!). The coffee pods get recycled through Nespresso recycling program. Making our morning coffee at home not only saves money, but we are no longer using paper cups, plastic tops, time and gas to drive to and from Dutch Brothers.

Paperwork

As I mentioned in a blog post about my kitchen, there is an industrial shredder placed sitting in our kitchen, which some people think is odd. See that post here. Daily, the excessive amounts of junk mail is shredded and added to the composting bin. The shredder keeps the paperwork stack down on the counter and it gets recycled!

Manage our Utilities

A few years ago, I was asked to give a lecture to a group of 7th and 8th grade students about the recent utility (electric) increase and how that rate hike affected our neighborhood. Of course, I didn’t even realize we had a rate hike. So in order to provide an intelligent presentation, I did a deep dive and thorough analysis of the cost of electricity.

What I discover is that we, personally, are not on the most efficient or advantageous utility plan. Once I understand that, then I start paying attention to our electric usage. By changing our behavior slightly, we save quite a bit of money. Over time, we save even more.

The moral to this story is 1) understand your utility usage; 2) investigate the best plan for you and your family; 3) by making reasonable changes you can reduce your usage and save money.

Now, during the warmer months (trust me, air-conditioning bills can be ridiculously expensive here), we monitor our large appliance and air conditioning usage from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Water consumption

Water here in Arizona is a precious resource. Rates increase especially in June, July and August. By using flood irrigation provided locally, we are able to deep water the orchard and yard at a low annual cost. The well that we re-instituted many years ago, handles additional yard watering in a cost-effective manner (see that post here).

Room for Improvement

Like with most things in life, I can certainly improve and lessen my waste. We have too many things that need to be sorted, organized and donated. My hope is to reduce the items in each room by 50%. Lofty goal, but this is an ongoing effort.

Are you familiar with Marie Kondo’s organizational tips? I believe she has (had) a Netflix show where she shares her organizational philosophy. See where I use Maria’s tip in organizing my master closet here.

Other Ways live Simply

I’d love to live in a place that doesn’t require driving everywhere. Phoenix is more car-dependent than other cities, but during the cooler weather I do try to bike and walk more. No one wants to bike or walk when it is 116 degrees.

In addition, I need to assess my use of cleansers/detergents and investigate more eco-friendly cosmetics.

So what are you doing to live more simply and efficiently? Please share any ideas so we can all get better at this!

Happy Wednesday!

If you enjoy this post, please feel free to share on Pinterest.

This post shared with Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday #614

We are right smack in the middle of summer here in Phoenix. It is hot AND humid. Not a drop of rain predicted until maybe mid-next week. Based on the weather forecast, the temps may get up to 117. Fortunately we are heading to Chicago for a few days and we couldn’t have picked a better time to escape this inferno. It’s that time again for another Saturday Meanderings where we chat about all good things.

Fall Styling Workshop

I am teaming up with Chloe from Celebrate and Decorate for a fabulous Fall Styling Workshop. We would LOVE for you to come and spend the day(s) with us on either October 20 or October 21. The workshop will be from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and includes lunch and some other delicious morsels. All the details are in the Events tab on the top of my website or here. Space is limited so please get your registrations in as soon as possible. We are not sure if we can provide remote access at this time but will let you know if that is a possibility down the road.

Fun Find

Years ago, I used to macrame ALOT. Hard to believe it’s all back in style. I saw these cute storage baskets on another blogger’s website, however, they were out of stock with that manufacturer. So with some internet sleuthing, I found these online for far less money. This 13.5″ macrame storage basket is perfect for plants, or whatever else you want. I like having attractive storage options at a reasonable price under $25.

Garden Update

The remaining spaghetti squash (you can only eat so much) is being enjoyed by the chickens. All the tomatoes disappeared during our trip to Mongolia~not sure what happened. Not much growing in the garden except for the grapes and a few peppers.

If the birds do not eat them, I may try and make grape jelly this year when we return from Chicago.

Foot Update

Over a year ago, I was suffering from Morton’s neuroma in my left foot. I tried healing myself naturally vs. getting a cortisone shot in between my foot bones. At night, I would wear Splay, a set of toe separators or commonly referred to as yoga toes.

I must admit that it is awkward to wear these and it takes some getting used to but I am currently pain free, contributing my success to Splay It took a few months but I no longer use them unless my feet feel tired but would recommend them to anyone who is looking to improve your foot alignment.

Remember to Hydrate

Sometimes we get busy and forget to drink LOTS of water. It also helps to add electrolytes, especially in high heat times. Drinking regular water is fine, but how much more fun is it to drink a naturally flavored water using fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs? Lemons, berries, cucumbers and herbs (cilantro, rosemary, thyme) are some of my favorite flavors.

I try and drink half my body weight in ounces so if you are 120 lbs, then that means 60 ounces of water. Plus it plumps out any wrinkles!

Easy Chicken and Grape Salad

My friend, Rachel from The Pond’s Farmhouse has the easiest recipe for a cool salad on a warm summer evening. Serve it on lettuce or in a freshly baked croissant. Using rotisserie chicken from the supermarket is an easy way to whip this up in no time. See Rachel’s recipe here.

Looking forward to Making this Bedtime Drink

Renae from Peacock Ridge Farm shares an enticing bedtime drink made with lavender, chamomile and vanilla. I am always looking for a warm night time beverage that will help in providing a good night’s sleep and this one sounds like a winner. See Renae’s recipe here.

Mixing Antiques with Modern Touches

I am hooked with the title, “Antique Lover’s Lake House” as I love antiques and anything to do with living by the water. Even though I have never built a new house, I would welcome the opportunity to design one and have it beautifully appointed. This article from Cottages and Bungalows will not disappoint, especially if you love blue and white, vintage collections and Cape-Dutch elements.

Sharing a Bit of the Art Institute of Chicago

Before wrapping up, I thought you’d like to see some of the amazing art on exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition to a large Van Gogh exhibit, here are some classics you will recognize. I always find it amazing that one can get rather close to the actual piece of art. And after so many years, the colors of these paintings are just rich and gorgeous.

Seeing this self portrait of Van Gogh in person for the first time, is really something! The attention to detail and the colors are so perfect. Did you know Van Gogh created 190 paintings in 2 years while he was in Paris? That’s almost 8 paintings per month!

This is an all time classic~American Gothic by Grant Wood featuring a farmer and his daughter.

John Singer Sargent painted The Fountain, Villa Torlonia Frascati, Italy in 1907 of his friends, artists Wilfrid and Jane Emmet de Glehn. Sargent was frequently interrupted by rain and he completed this painting over several days.

Lastly, I will share a Claude Monet, Water Lilies. The Art Institute has so many beautiful Monets on display but I love the colors that only Monet can do.

If you ever get the chance to visit this amazing art museum, please do. There is so much to see and it’s impossible to take it all in at once. I feel so inspired to paint when I get home.

Have a wonderful weekend. Stay cool out there! I hope you are doing something fun and relaxing.

As I write this, we are up at our mountain cabin. It is overcast, drizzling and chilly temperatures and oh, so very quiet. When you live in a busy city, you ignore all the noise (sirens, traffic, lawn mowers and blowers), but here it is silent. Wow. I haven’t been here since Thanksgiving, so naturally there is much tidying up to do (spider webs for example). I don’t believe I have seen another person here, except my husband. Well, happy Saturday and I am so happy you are here today to discuss all good things this week.

The Drive Up

The drive to the mountains is generally 3.5 hours. On the freeway in Phoenix, my car thermometer registered 104 degrees. About 1.5 hours out of Phoenix, the temperature drops to 87 degrees. But shortly thereafter, I run into a very dark and spooky weather storm and the temperature quickly drops to 53 degrees. Look at that ominous sky! Isn’t Mother Nature just amazing?

Surprisingly Good Find at Costco

Other than their salmon with pesto butter, I tend not to buy seafood at Costco. However, this week I purchase a 5 lb. bag of live farm raised Manila clams and boy, are they delicious. At $4.79 a pound, it is a pretty good deal. They must be seasonal because I do not see them featured on the Costco website. Steaming them in white wine, a little water, garlic, fresh herbs (parsley, cilantro), I serve them with a French baguette (for dipping into the sauce) and a glass of a crisp white wine~an easy and delicious dinner.

Since we had leftover clams, I take them out of the shell and freeze them in the cooking liquid. I’ve never frozen clams before but hoping to use them in a linguini and clam recipe in the future.

Peaches are Ripe!

The hardest part of being out of town is not picking peaches daily. There are still many that are hard on the tree so I’m hoping they will stay until I get home. These “bend over and eat” peaches are so juicy and flavorful. They remind me of peaches growing up. For some reason, the ones you buy in the grocery store today are lacking in flavor and fuzz. I see peach pie in my future!

Spaghetti Squash, any one?

I am afraid I am going to have an abundance of spaghetti squash. Like anything else, the first few are delicious and then you get your fill. If you live nearby and like spaghetti squash, let me know. I haven’t picked any yet, but my guess is that they will be ready very soon.

Thought you might enjoy this photo….the pollinating of my squash blossoms. I’ve never stuffed squash blossoms but that might be a solution to nipping the numerous spaghetti squashes in the bud.

Out-of-Sync Week

Do you have one of those weeks that nothing goes right? Not sure why this happens, but my week has been fraught with one problem or obstacle after another. Are the planets out of alignment? For me, this is often a sign to slow down.

What do you do to reverse an out-of-sync week? In 2020 I wrote a post, Ways to Navigate Life Now, and quite honestly, I just re-read it and it is balm for the soul. Apparently, in 2019 was also a stressful time as I wrote the post, Ways to Decompress. Anyway, if you are experiencing a sense of being overwhelmed, you may find value in reading these.

Fun Things on the Internet

Check out with this Elegant Budget Friendly Before and After house remodel. Featured on The Glam Pad, you get to look inside the beautiful home of Courtney from Tuft & Trim. Renovating on a limited budget, you will be inspired by the transformation.

Need Memorial Day decorating ideas? My very talented and industrious friend, Rachel from The Ponds Farmhouse has 25 Patriotic Decor Ideas for you. There are so many suggestions-from simple to more complicated. You can see it here.

Memorial Day is 10 days away. What? Are you gathering with family and friends to honor this holiday? Wendy from WM House Designs has a blog post filled with party ideas from food to games, as well as this delicious looking Watermelon and Cucumber cocktail. So much is packed into this post you won’t want to miss it here.

Are you growing flowers this year? If so, you will find such great information from my gardening friend, Kim from Shiplap and Shells. My garden is mostly vegetables but this year I am trying to plant more flowers. Her post on Pinching Cut Flower plants is filled with tips on how to make the most of your cut flower plants. This is timely for me as many of the flowers I am growing from seeds are the right height to pinch (yet I’ve never done it as I am a bit apprehensive). Plus Kim has the most beautiful pictures of her home and garden so you won’t want to miss it.

Speaking of beautiful flowers, you have heard me many times say how much I LOVE lilacs. However, we cannot grow them in Phoenix. But, they do grow in the mountains! I am so excited that we are here during lilac bloom and naturally, I cannot help myself from cutting bunches and bunches. Ah, simple pleasures that melt away the stress.

I had hoped to post this week but was having some computer challenges. As requested, I will soon share my sourdough bread recipe. Until then, have a marvelous weekend and keep the faith!

Happy 1st Saturday in May! We are experiencing the absolute best weather~cool mornings and days in the low 70s. All the windows are open and the birds are singing and life is good. As I write this I am home alone, which is rather rare and I am enjoying the quiet and stillness of the morning. Let’s get started chatting about all good things this week.

A Late Birthday Celebration

Now for the second year, my dear friend, Christine, takes me to the English Rose Tea Room to celebrate my birthday. If you live in the area, you MUST go to this very special place. You can choose to dine out on the patio or inside the very girly, rose-filled tea room.

In addition to high tea (with those lovely small sandwiches), they have daily specials. We order the most delicious watermelon, arugula salad with chicken with a few pots of a rose tea. What a delightful time we had and I look forward to this being an annual birthday tradition.

It seems like I don’t dress up very often lately, so it is extra fun to pull out a very feminine skirt (purchased long ago from Soft Surroundings) and heels for lunch. I think decorative longer skirts are back in style? Is that possible?

Thank you Christine for a memorable day! The English Rose Tea Room is located at 201 East Street, Carefree, Arizona, 480-488-4812. If you want to see a video of the interior, check out my Instagram @lifeatbellaterra.

Technology Overhaul continues

A few months ago, we embark on re-doing our antiquated wired technology system…and the project continues. We hope to wrap up soon, but what an undertaking. Twenty-three years ago, when we restored this house and all the walls were open, we had miles of wires installed to have a “smart” home. Well, everything is now obsolete and the wiring worthless, so it’s been a huge project to update it.

We are nearing the finish line and it’s nice to remove all the old, larger equipment for a system that is fast and efficient. We are even seeing our electric bill go down which is a big plus. Looking forward to fixing all the holes and doing a final clean up.

Big Week in the Garden

My artichoke plant is really producing this year. I am able to harvest 4 good size ones this week. Typically I parboil them and finish them off on the grill with a homemade Remoulade sauce. However, this week I try a new recipe where I baked them instead. Less work but I prefer grilling them. But I really think it’s the yummy Remoulade sauce that’s the best (with the most calories!)

Strawberries are juicy and delicious but will soon be gone as soon as the temperature increases.

The peach tree is abundant with fruit. For the first time ever, I am netting the tree this year in the hopes that we get to eat the peaches before the birds.

Remember the gnarly looking hollyhock plants near my garden? Still not sure what caused the disfiguration but all those plants are now gone. Nearby, I have nasturtium that comes up every year and that, too, is looking a bit stressed. So we pull all the sickly plants and reveal that my small raised flower bed needs some attention.

The soaker hose is dried and requires replacing (thank you, hubby). New healthy soil is added and I plant several seeds~zinnias, pincushions, and poppies. We have quite a few quail roaming the property and they are notorious for eating new shoots and sprouts.

Metal hoops and bird netting is added and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a lush flower garden!

Spider Mites~yuk!

Just when you think things are going well in the garden, I now have a nasty case of spider mites. Spider mites feed on the leaves through their piercing-sucking mouthparts. They remove contents from individual plant cells, leaving behind the the cell wall, which makes the emptied cells appear silvery. The most noticeable damage of symptom of infestation is white stippling on the leaves. Heavily infested plants take on a faded, yellowish or greyish cast. Severely infested plants are covered by a thin layer of webbing created by the large numbers of spider mites.

First they attack a very large tomato plant which I pulled and discarded. But the mites are spreading to the tomatillos and possibly my eggplant. We’ve had windy days here so it’s highly possible they are just blowing all over the garden.

Isopropyl alcohol seems to do the trick. I spray a solution of approximately 70% isopropyl alcohol on all the affected plants. So far so good, but they can devastate a crop very quickly.

In gardening, there is always SOMETHING trying to ruin your crops.

Baking and Making this Week

Last Sunday was National Raisin Day (yes, who knew?). It was a good excuse to whip up some homemade rum raisin ice cream. Again, I don’t need the calories but it is really, really good. You can find my recipe here.

I need to share my go-to sourdough bread recipe where I add cheese (gruyere, mostly), fresh rosemary and garlic. If you have sourdough starter this recipe is made the night before with little work, and bakes the next day.

With a lone zucchini that was beginning to decline, I made healthy Zucchini brownies which are gluten free, paleo and deliciously fudgy. You can find the recipe here.

Gravestones Arrive

It took me a while to get up the energy to order gravestones for Cooper and Sox.

But they arrive this week and I am pleased with them. From Etsy, they are black granite, approximately 12″ x 6″ and personalized with laser engraving. Our hearts are still heavy from losing both dogs, but now they are memorialized properly in our family’s pet cemetery.

Monograms

I LOVE monograms but have never had one made for myself or my family. Do you have a monogram? Coco from The Crowned Goat has a wonderful post about creating one using Shuler Studio. The photos are so dreamy that I am excited about finally getting my own monogram. What a great idea for gifts, too. See it here.

Happy Derby Day (May 6th)! If you need any Derby Day inspiration, you can link to two previous blog posts on Derby Day recipes here and How to Set the Perfect Table for a Kentucky Derby Party here.

Have a marvelous weekend. A few of my friends are arriving today and spending 4 days here. I expect we will have lots of fun. Do you have anything fun planned for the weekend?