Home & Garden It all began with a painting and a glass of wine...

With spring arriving I always feel the need to get the garden and yard ready for out door entertaining. From late spring through fall we eat outside several times a week. I love spur of the moment entertaining so having the yard cleaned up and planted makes entertaining outside easy!

I always love having fresh herbs growing but my usual herb garden is on the side of the house and I occasionally forget to tend to it daily.
When our kids were younger they each had their own garden on the side and they were great about tending to it. I think it was the competition that kept them interested. Nothing like good old sibling rivalry!

For our new herb garden
we started out with a great selection of herbs, strawberries and baby heirloom peppers...ImageUploadedByPurseForum1396372669.903533.jpg
 
Thank you CSS, you are too kind! I hope you will one day come for a visit!
As you know from another thread I have been a tad busy with "life" of the late!
I am now back in the swing of things and have been working on a few projects at the same time.
Having pneumonia at the start of the year really set my energy level back but I do feel almost normal now...not that I am at all normal:smile:. that wouldn't be any fun at all!

We have had a very mild winter here so working outside had been such a pleasure. I have put the finishing touches on our master bedroom on the back burner while I puttered around the garden areas. I think being cooped up for so long has made me want to just be outside soaking up some natural warmth!
We worked on a fun edible project with past weekend. I will post the pics today.

Ldm, you have definitely had a lot going on, so happy for you that, other than some unspooled ribbons, nothing in your beautiful home was quake damaged. Edible art, look forward to seeing it. Your treats always look so yummy. LOVE your jam recipe that I copied from another thread.
 
The variety of herbs is now complete.
I was waiting on the chocolate mint plant...my favorite over vanilla bean ice cream!

We have had our eye on this piece for quite sometime, My DH gets all the credit for this idea!
We placed this antique flower display
Next to one of the outdoor bar areas.
The fragrance is amazing!
I can't wait to use them in spring and summer recipes!

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Ldm, you have definitely had a lot going on, so happy for you that, other than some unspooled ribbons, nothing in your beautiful home was quake damaged. Edible art, look forward to seeing it. Your treats always look so yummy. LOVE your jam recipe that I copied from another thread.

CSS, you MUST make the jam! It was my grandma's recipe from their farm in Sunnyvale/Cupertino.
I have such fond memories of helping pick the fruit and washing the sun warmed apricots in the big outdoor galvanized farm sink. The warm jam made the most amazing PB&J sandwiches:smile:

The art room isn't completely put back together, winding spools of ribbons is so time consuming.
I think it happened for a reason, time to organize:smile:
 
CSS, you MUST make the jam! It was my grandma's recipe from their farm in Sunnyvale/Cupertino.
I have such fond memories of helping pick the fruit and washing the sun warmed apricots in the big outdoor galvanized farm sink. The warm jam made the most amazing PB&J sandwiches:smile:

The art room isn't completely put back together, winding spools of ribbons is so time consuming.
I think it happened for a reason, time to organize:smile:

Recipes like yours for Apricot Jam prove that it doesn't have to be complicated to be good! And sweetened with memories makes them extra special. As soon as it opens for the season we visit our local Farmers Market every Sunday, its part of our week. There is a grower who always has luscious apricots and this year I will buy extra and make the jam. I'm already craving the Heirloom tomatoes we buy at the Market in the summer, these tame tasting pale things in the supermarket right now just don't compare.

I started to write that maybe Braxton could help Gramsie rewind the ribbon, and then I remembered my own sweet grandchildren at his age and thought again, well maybe he'd rather UNroll the ribbon so that might not work. :smile:

The picture of your plants for the garden is beautiful and looks promising for a bountiful crop.
 
CSS I may have to take a drive up north for a few cases of apricots this summer.
Sometimes ours are picked far to early at the local farmer's market.
I adore tree ripened ones. We have one tree here, I can hardly wait for them to ripen!

Braxton was very good in my art room today. I finished picking up the ribbon last night, he would have loved unwinding all of it!
 
Every Easter our family still loves the traditional egg hunt. Our kids are older now but they still love this tradition. The jelly beans and chocolate eggs have been replaced however. DH and I fill about 500 eggs with coins, fruit snacks, wrapped trail mix, lottery tickets, etc...It has now become an adult adventure.
Even my sweet dad is ruthless as he hunts for eggs, hoping to find the elusive lottery tickets.

I have been working on the garden to make sure it is worthy of the hunt. Nothing worse than reaching into dead leaves and old branches while searching for eggs. Our grandson is now old enough to hunt as well this year, he will get a 10 minute head start from his wild aunts and uncles. I have been working on making parts of the garden look a bit like a storybook for him. Bunnies and lambs are scattered about for spring. Many of these belonged to my mom. Her garden always looked beautiful, full of color and happiness. I love having these cement animals our garden now and I am thrilled that they will continue to help us create spring memories for years to come!
 
LOVE it all!!!!!! :cloud9: especially the carrot trimmed wagon.


Thanks CSS! We have had that old cart for about 25 years. DH made a new bottom for it last week, the old one finally rotted away. I am a huge fan of white geraniums, especially in this cart. They remind of snowballs.
The ones that Hostess used to make, maybe they still do. They made them in pink and white, I always preferred the white ones and my sister liked the pink ones. Now I am craving one after bringing up this childhood memory...oh dear probably 1,000 calories in one!
 
Thanks CSS! We have had that old cart for about 25 years. DH made a new bottom for it last week, the old one finally rotted away. I am a huge fan of white geraniums, especially in this cart. They remind of snowballs.
The ones that Hostess used to make, maybe they still do. They made them in pink and white, I always preferred the white ones and my sister liked the pink ones. Now I am craving one after bringing up this childhood memory...oh dear probably 1,000 calories in one!

Oh, no, now I'm craving one and haven't thought about them in years. My other favorite was the cream filled chocolate cupcake. I always saved the icing until the end so I pretty much ate it upside down. :P The irony is that my Mom was a wonderful baker and her treats were the hit of the neighborhood, but being a kid I wanted some of the store bought things. Just out of curiosity I looked up Snowballs. A serving size is 2 and they have 340 calories total. You can claim some "nutrition" due to 4 gr protein and 2 gr fiber :devil:

Your DH's ability to build things is a wonderful compliment to your creativity. The herb garden rack looks like something from a page in Sunsetmagazine, his construction of your new dining table, the fabulous rock/heart hearth, the rehab of the carrot wagon..... You 2 are a dynamic duo! This is just a great thread. Thank You!!!
 
CSS you are too funny! Thank you for the snowball details! What a fun memory those are.
My mom was also a baker and those were a rare treat for us. I seldom bought any of those glorious Hostess products for our own kids either. Our youngest once came home from a friends home begging me to by Twinkies. He ate an entire box in one day, we haven't been asked to buy them since!

I have started working on our older boys' bedrooms and balcony. They no longer live at home but I still want them to feel welcome and comfy when they visit, it's a mom thing. DH would prefer turning their rooms into a man cave or something boy oriented but that's not on my agenda any time soon!

Their balcony was a fun gathering spot for friend's when they were in high school. I have not done a thing to it for years, another project begins! It overlooks our pretty park and the sunrise view is beautiful.
I want to turn it into a morning coffee and paper spot. I also want to keep the fun beachy feeling that it had with the boys. Summer nights on the balcony after a long day at the beach, good memories!
I want the boys to always feel as though it is still "their" special place, I just plan on borrowing now!

I scrubbed it top to bottom on Friday, what a mess of layers of dust and grime. Now for a fesh coat of clean white paint! I just had a new comforter made for one of the rooms. I made the pillows to match. Pillows are so easy to make, comforters not so much. The look will hopefully be kind of a Ralph Lauren meets the beach look. At least in my mind that's how it will turn out...
 
I am finally catching up on finishing the balcony project! The painting is finished and bedding is complete for one of the rooms.

The inspiration for the colors came from our sons' love of travel, globes and maps. They have a small collection of globes that my parents gave to them years ago. The colors of the ocean blues, country browns and taupe are great choices for these areas of our home. They are masculine enough but don't scream "boys room". Using these colors together has made this little project so much fun. I love the ocean blue especially.

The photos aren't the greatest but just thought I would share them anyway.