How I Spent My Sunday...

It's a beautiful day today...so unlike yesterday.  Yesterday I was content to just cocoon and stay under the radar...flipping through books I've brought home from the library (pretty good ones, too...The Jewelry Architect, Potted Gardens, Garden Whimsy, Home Herbal, Cooking in the Moment, DIY Projects for the Self-Sufficient Homeowner, The Kitchen Garden Cookbook, and my new favorite The One-Block Feast).  The One-Block Feast has a blog on the Sunset Magazine website and can be found here.

 I can't wait until our Farmer's Market and Locals Only Market start up for the season.  This year I'll  be doing some "farming" in the backyard, too.  I currently have quite a crop growing in my front window...parsleys, sage, rosemary, oregano, tomatoes and zucchini.  I purchased a two-part galvanized laundry sink at the antique/flea market in Owensboro a few weeks ago and that will house my herb and lettuce gardens.

My three small things for today:  (listed before the day actually started)

• Finish getting the sunporch ready for the season
• Move the galvanized "planter" from the dining room to the garden area
• Sow lettuce seeds

And as they say on TV, here's what really happened:

• Transplanted the sage, small tomato plants, Irish moss, Rabbit's foot fern, and sedum;  moved them to the sunporch.
• Planted the pelletized seed I purchased from Cook's Garden.  Soon (within 3 weeks, or so they say...) I'll have pots of lettuce looking like this:

So the galvanized planter is still residing in the dining room "warehouse", and although I spent some time sprucing the sunporch, it's far from ready for spring and summer enjoyment.  Since I ended up with a fresh new mosaic, I've joined the Little Red House link party hosted by Mary.  Visit & enjoy!

With the 10-day forecast looking mostly like warmth, storms, and clouds, I'll have plenty of time to finish painting and doing other inside things.  Carpe diem.

Tuesday in the backyard {smells good!}

Click to enlarge

Saturday was a "good" mail day...my issue of Jeanne d'Arc Living arrived in the mail from Raised in Cotton. I have spent many an hour looking at this issue. The pictures are just so gorgeous and inspiring.

I'm lovin' the scents in my backyard. Lavender, jasmine, and soon the scent of freesia will perfume the air.

Fabulous Friday

Early morning...fixed a breakfast tray to take out to the garden...Sumatra Black Satin coffee prepared in a French Press, yogurt with fresh strawberries and blueberries, and a mini bagel. Dining by the roses with birds chirping...priceless!

A bit of re-arranging is in order. That awkward area above my kitchen cabinets...moved two empty wine crates up there. Cookbooks now reside in them, with some vintagey items sitting on top. Moved the plate rack that I was going to paint up there and now have the Fiestaware displayed in the rack. A wine rack...holding two lovely bottles of 'two-buck Chuck' Merlot and Shiraz. A new view, and a little color splash for the ho-hum renter's kitchen.

After mopping the floor (where does all of this dirt come from?), I've moved a small kitchen bar set to the center of the room. Next "TO DO": clear out the refrigerator and make a grocery list for shopping at Sam's Club tomorrow morning.

Got my hands on a little electrical "thing" for the sunporch. It screws into the light socket and provides 2 electrical outlets AND a socket for a lightbulb. That solves my ~~no electricity on the porch~~problem.

My Dream Garden

If only I had a real backyard...one that I could actually have a garden in...surrounded by a white picket fence. I first became enamoured of this style while reading a Susan Branch cookbook...her drawings are so sweet...

I've pulled out all of my old gardening magazines...Country Living Gardener, Country Home Gardening, and the summery issues of my favorite magazine, Victoria. Ideas abound...I'll keep dreaming.