a walk thru the garden

I thought I would take a walk around the yard this afternoon. The light is changing, always a sign that summer is drawing to a close.

It is difficult to see the stream in the center of the photo. Thought it might show up better than that, so another attempt will be made one of these days. There are sparkles off the water in the camera lens and if I would get out the manual and read how to slow down the shutter again, I could probably capture a few.

I believe this is the last of the day lilies and was surprised to even find this one blooming today. It was a nice surprise as it is truly a pinky peach colored one. I had ordered one of the "pink/peach" collections several years ago and was disappointed to find mostly "orange/peach" to just plain apricot colors in the group. This one will be moved to the flower gardens this fall or next spring. The day lilies were outstanding this year.

The Bonica roses are still doing their thing. They seem to just keep on blooming. Actually they have become my favorite rose because they are the only rose I can grow. I do have a Rugosa Rose that does its thing, but these little roses never let me down.

There are many other flowers and plants I photographed today and have in the file now. The red berries on the high bush cranberry are very pretty and there was some tickle grass blooming behind the pond. I didn't realize how interesting it was until after I had pulled it then I was trying to find a place to "plant" it so that I could get a photo of it. Perhaps these and others will show up in the dead of winter, when I am dreaming of green leaves and the shadows they create in the yard.

BREAD!!!!

Not sure what is going on with this sourdough thing, as I have another starer sitting outside gathering wild yeast. It is easy. All you do is mix 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of water in a bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and sit it outside to gather wild yeast. It took less than 12 hours to get the last starter going. It rained last night so thought there might be some other type of wild yeast floating around here.

Here are a couple of websites that are interesting and helpful if one wants to start on this adventure. Sourdough Baking by S. John Ross and Science of Cooking.

So today I baked the first loaves of sour dough bread from the starter. They didn't waste any time doubling in size so it must be a good starter. They turned out rather tasty and have a wonderful crust on them. Flavor is pretty good as far as the sourdough is concerned. I like mine a little more sour so will have to work on that. We had some with our lunch.

Summer's Bounty

I have finally been getting enough cukes to can a few jars of dill pickles. This one jar at a time thing is not a whole lot of fun, but after seeing the ripped up cucumber plants right after the hail storm on July 17th, I am thankful to be doing one jar at a time. I tossed a cayenne pepper in this jar. Have several types of cucumbers in there so we will see how they fair.

This was the pickings from yesterday. The yellow zucchini decided it didn't appreciate being pounded by hail and took off. There are a number of Jalapeno peppers in the photo. Something I really don't need a great many of, but due to mislabeling on my part or the seed companies, I have a lot. The majority of them were suppose to be Anaheims. Peppers I find much more useful.

The onions are starting to mature. They aren't going to be very big, but here again, glad they are still out there. All in all I am pleased with the amount of items I have harvested so far due to the beating it took in July.

Flowers

The photos are of some of the flowers that grace our deck area this summer. They have been under cover more than once when hail threatened. I started all of the flowers from seeds early in the spring.

Some of you may remember the bicycle planter I received for Mother's Day from my daughter's family. It looks a little differently now. I have had trouble keeping the top container wet so I will have to look for a different one next year.

I was happy with the little purple daisy. They have started blooming profusely. The other photo is of the flower containers on the steps . They contain petunias, poppies, verbena, fan flowers, lobelia and alyssum. Found a nice peach colored alyssum that I really like.

What's that smell?

The other day I decided to get a sourdough starter going again.

I use to have one years ago and baked sour dough bread frequently.

So the other day I mixed up flour and water, covered the bowl with a moist towel and placed it outside during the day to catch some wild yeast.

This morning when I came into the kitchen I noticed a strange smell. Then I remembered the sourdough starter sitting on the counter waiting to be feed. Sure enough, that is what it was and it is going to be a good starter.

I have another one going using a different method and it is rather poky, so I inoculated it with the one that was started when I took the crusty outer layer of dough off and added more flour and water. I will have to wait and see what flavor it has, hopefully the two will be a little different.

40 Years!!

I thought I should post something since it is August already!! Hard to believe the year is going by so quickly. I was cleaning things up in the kitchen this morning and had a pleasant surprise when I looked out toward the pond. They Egyptian Lily was blooming. This thing might have another name, but I think that is correct. It has several more sets of blossoms. I was glad it survived the hail.

The other photo is of a candy lily. I raised this from seed several

years ago and have not seen any seed like it since that time. They are a very dainty little flower. They come in pink, yellow, and red/orange. Their foliage is similar to the foliage of an iris.

I was cleaning the kitchen because my high school classmates are here this weekend for our 40th class reunion, my how the time flies!!! Some of them came out to our home last night for a get together. It was fun seeing a number of people that I only see at these gatherings. I am enjoying them a little more, must be my age!