The Parents Place

A couple of weeks ago I was at my parent's house taking pictures with my new purchase...this bougainvillea is in their driveway...it was exploding with magenta red awesomeness...

My daughter and my step-father...he looks like such a crabby-ass...well sometimes he is but you gotta love him...i totally love how you can see the fence in the french doors...

CAUTION...the color of this geranium may burn your eyes out...

I never get tired of the lovely echeveria...i love this type it is so broad and flat and hugeriffic...now im off to get some stuff accomplished...hopefully!

Among Other Things

My ass hurts...yesterday i hoed and planted some garden beds...how fantastic is that chive bud?

I planted a sage seedling in the perennial herb garden bed...

Little lemon basil...

Violet basil...i need to start more seedlings for this variety...most of them ate it in March...

Sweet basil...yum!

I still need to start a few more plants...but i must hoe again tomorrow...yes my ass is crying...but our stomachs and palates will be happy later...the above is a picture of my husbands rooted plants...i thought they looked so pretty in their little rows!

You Decide...

Breakfast or...

Dessert...either way it was yummy!

Yeah For Me

I was included in another treasury...yeah for me...i have been having a super dry spell creatively speaking...not that i dont have ideas and sketches...the motivation to follow through on creative projects has been dry...sales are low...hahaha they are always low...im too tired and unorganised...and there are too many people asking for mom currently and there seems to be a never ending amount dishes to do...sometimes i just want to watch tv all day and let my brain shrink( as if i could!)...how terrible is that?...but i know i have to keep chugging along... hopefully my initiative will return and my bank account will be full and the sun will be coming up over the horizon...

On a brighter note the lovely illustration is called Wobbly Giraffe on Elephant by themonkeysart
Id like to thank Harem6 for including me...Thanks...and if you visit the treasury thats my turquoise lantern.

The Incredible Shrinking Tart

Lately i have had all sorts of baking disasters...this is my latest...

I am fairly decent at making a butter pastry...pate brisee...its one of my favorite things to make as it makes me think of my childhood...there is nothing better than the baked off scraps of mom's pie crust.
A couple of weeks ago i made lemon curd and pate brisee...well i over processed it...my husband actually laughed when he tried to take a bite of it...it was hard and chewy at the same time...the lemon curd never set up...i am thinking i undercooked it...

So this time i made a grapefruit curd...overcooked it...im thinking this is why the flavor was so mild and it was grainy...yum...the flavor was okay but grainy is never good...also i gave a whirl at a different butter pastry from my gourmet cookbook...the crust tasted delicious but it shrunk like a mother you know what...never had that happen like that before...so next time im going to try a different pastry that Lily from bigBANG left a link for...By the way it might not be as bad as i am making it out to be because my husband ate the whole thing.

If You Are Going To Come By

May i suggest you do it in the spring and summer...

The wind blows less and there are so many beautiful things in the garden...

Like itty bitty lavender flowers for your roasted potatoes...and lots of rosemary and thyme for your meat...there may also be rose petals for your glass of water and scented geraniums on your tart...

Treasury

This is Natasha...she is from Transylvania...my cahiers were featured in a treasury along with her...i think she is kinda sexy in a sweet way...if you have an etsy account swing by and make a comment!

Tomatoes

Roasted for dinner last week...

If you come here enough...you will see this type of salad often... i think this is the 3rd photo of a tomato cucumber salad published here...what can i say we like salad...

A package of little jewels...

Yep...definitely jewel like and tasty!

My own little tomato starts...one year we had 17 tomato plants...I had the worst heartburn by the end of summer...but i couldnt stop eating them.

This Morning

There was a bloom on the Queen Elizabeth rose bush i thought was dead...

Also there were early morning cuties...

Two Spanish cousins who couldn't decide which one was prettier...

And finally a delicious ruby red grapefruit from the garden...i am going to try to make a curd with the others because as my daughter says,"this one disappeared in my mouth."

Eau de Sophie

She is turning three next month...i can hardly believe it...

So I made an illustration/collage in honor of that for her... now i need to scan and print for the invitations for the upcoming event...

A green bottle because she LOVES green most days...

Lots of flowers because her birthday dress is full of them...and well i love flowers.

Dinner

You know when you are tired because you have 80 million things to do that you can't do any of them?

And then the evening comes and there are children crying and a husband on the way home... you want cook a lovely dinner but really do you?

Roasted veggies and lazy scrambled eggs with toast do the trick...everyone is satisfied...especially mom because its takes 10 minutes to prep the veggies...and 30 minutes later you toast the toast and scramble the eggs...daddy can take care of the dishes!

And now I wish I had some right now!

Indoor Gardens and Morning Shadows

Here are some mini gardens my husband made for me...he makes them for me to see before he decides to sell them...the top one is my favorite...it reminds me of sea plants

I love how they are itty bitty...this one was filled with tiny cuttings of pachyverias and graptoverias
Here is the sedum forest...its all stretched out because its not getting enough light...it does look pretty though...the little flowers are so cute.
I am surprised the cat has not screwed with them yet...he totally jacked my succularium

Some shadows on the kitchen counter...Have a nice morning

Art and Nature

I saw this piece called Shocking Pink Merci Girl with Mimosa on the front page of Etsy a while ago. I loved it because of the colors. Whats even better about Thevy(what a fabulous name by the way!) Guex's work is its a collage. She uses leaves and flowers and petals...FANTASTIC. If you come here you will know three things about me.
First: I LOVE flowers
Second: I love flamboyant colors
Third: I love food
This piece covers the first two loves...if only it were edible
(also further down on that list if i made it larger...french things...i dig them...this piece also falls into that category as well)
Please check out the shop ThevysHerbarium
check out her blog too!

Right Now

We have wrapped up our egg dyeing...

Here is the helper...she is very silly and has banana on her face...

The helper wanted to try and hold all of the eggs...I told her that was probably a bad idea...

Eggy eyes...

The helper is very excited for the Easter bunny and beagle...

All you need to dye eggs are some food coloring and white vinegar...

The last of the dye going down the sink...now its time to get ready to go to Grandmother's house!