Last Picked

Happy Friday! Well you made it another week. Good for me and you, eh? How did this week do ya? How did this month do ya for that matter?

It’s flown by on a breeze and I’m left wondering where it went and left looking at its back. Now here it is October and Fall is here for real- real.

The garden thing is officially done. Here you see the end of our labors.

The last picked. Aren’t these last pick tomatoes and peppers just beautiful? Sometimes those that are picked last can be the most special. The ones with the most promise. There’s no shame in being the last picked.

“…so the last shall be the first…”

Best,
Kwana

Mary Mary Quite Contrary...

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Well, I'm not sure how hers does, but I know mine does on a wing a a prayer. Shrug.

I did a little planting over the DIY weekend along the little patch of dirt in front of my stone wall out back.

I planted 3 tomato plants, some peppers then went crazy with seed packets.

Now I've never planted seeds before so who knows what will happen. I've got squash, 2 kinds, cucumber, more peppers and more lettuce, 2 kinds. Yikes. That darn groundhog will have a field day!

Now I just have to tackle above the wall. Hmm...

What are you planting this season? Anything?

Best,
Kwana

DIY- Weekend

Happy Sunday! What's Jack up to? Jack was up bright and early although no one else was. He was ready to go and enjoy the crazy warm weather in NY.

The DH and I were wiped out from our little DIY project yesterday of weather proofing our deck. Honestly, he did most of the work. As you can see from the above pic Jack did none. Brushing weatherproof on all those slats take a lot of time.

Now I know why people pay the big buck to get it done by someone and yes, it did take extra trips back to Home Depot because we didn't buy nearly enough. Ugh.

Oh well, in the end, it was a job well done and money well saved.

Today it's onto garden work. Spring is here even though the thermometer says summer. Whew, slow it down Mother Nature.

Have a great day!

Best,

Kwana

Spring has Sprung - so they say

What's Jack up to? Jack is getting tired of me not being able to play with him in my normal way. Sorry Dude. I hope to be up and around real soon.




Happy Friday and happy first day of Spring! Spring has come with a chill in the air in New York but never mind I'm sure that pretty soon my garden will be back in bloom and the flowers will be out as they were last year. So let's celebrate Anticipation today.




And have a great weekend!



Best,
Kwana

P.S.
Update: Check out the first day of Spring snow coming down this morning! I'll keep waiting.

Perspective

What's Jack up to? The wild one is resting up today after a busy Jack type weekend. I'm happy to say he's a shaggy dog no more after getting a long overdo hair cut. He had a lot more pep in his step after his grooming and let everyone know how fine he thought he looked. He's so vain.

Hello Monday! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

We’ve had some slightly warmer weather this weekend that finally melted all the snow and left me with this sad view out my kitchen window.

Sigh, just looking at it makes me tired thinking of all the work it will take to make it look like something pretty this spring.

But wait, what’s that over there in the corner down by all those hard rocks?

Looks like all the work is not up to me at all. Don’t you just love it when things are put in perspective?

Perspective : the interrelation in which a subject or its parts are mentally viewed ; also : point of view b: the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance

Strength-the quality or state of being strong : capacity for exertion or endurance

Best,

Kwana

How my garden grows

What's Jack up to? Right now he's ignoring me as I'm calling him and I'm sure he's getting into something that he's definitely not supposed to. I should be very afraid and I am.

It's finally Friday for a week that I thought would never end. Not that it's the end. The weekend will be just and busy and filled with stress and the week. But onto better things. After my sad gardening post I wanted to post some good gardening news. We did actually see some fruits from our labors this year. I'm sure next year will be better. Lessons have been learned.

Tomatoes on the vine

Peppers

Very Strange cucumber that I'm afraid to try

A nice ripe tomato

Have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Kwana

Thieves in the Night

What's Jack up to? Just being Jack and enjoying his Labor Day. Not that he's ever laboring. He leaves all that for me. Jack is a master of chilling. He'll be spending today crafting ways to coax someone into giving him some Labor Day BBQ. I'm sure he'll prevail.

Speaking of labor, check out what happened to all my labor. There has been a thief in my backyard. I woke the other day to find all my collard greens gone. Stripped off the stalk just when they were about ready to be picked. This is what I have left from my little leaflings from the beginning of summer.

How sad is that?

I wonder what terrible night creature got to them. He'd better not let me see him. Of course I'd probably run like a little girl, but I like to think I'd give who or whatever it was a real butt kicking.

Later in the week. I'll show some happier pics of finer veggies.

In the meantime I'll enjoy a glass of Labor Day wine and some BBQ to soothe the pain. Have a wonderful day and Happy September!

Best,

Kwana

Summer Monday

What's Jack up to? He's gearing up for a week of fun in the sun, well knowing Jack he'll be hiding out from it while he plans his newest delivery man attack. That sly Jack.

I've got tons on my mind this Monday morning. Just because it's summer it doesn't mean the work slows down for Dear Mom. My to-do list for the week kind of makes me want to... to-don't. But being the adult in the house, that is not an option. Rather than list things here I'd like to think of more pleasant things so I'm posting some progress pics of my garden. You can see the old pics here and I think you'll agree there has been some major progress.

It's slightly slow going in the tomato area and I could be tending things better than I am, but all in all I think it's progressing nicely. Check out the collard greens.

Look squash blossoms.

Check out these string beans. Aren't they pretty!?

What's on tap for your week?


Best,
Kwana

Weekend Wonderer

What's Jack up to? Chilling out after a long and really hot weekend. Not too much jumping around today eh, Jack?


This Really has been a particularly hot weekend in New York. Especially for June and especially in my house and I don't see any relief any time soon. I'm really busy with writing work and end of the school year things for the Dear Teens. Mom stress is at the same high level as the outside thermometer. These are the times that no one warned you about when it was all smiles and congratulations over you having babies. Teens are not babies.
So of course as a writer, when I get stressed I turn to books. Romance, Self-help, The bible. etc.


I picked up this one book in B&N because the title was just was calling my name THE WORN OUT WOMAN. Check out this anonymous quote at the beginning of the first chapter:

"Don't ask me to relax; it's my tension that's holding me together."

It just made me smile in it's perfection.

In between working on my new proposal I did a little work in the garden to give my eyes a break. I thought I share some pics here of the Collards I planted. Thanks to PVE for coming through and finding these at Carlson's.

I'm a girl that likes to feel the dirt in her hands when planting. Guess it's time for a new mani huh? Boy do my hands look old! UGH.
Here is a freshly cut bouquet of roses that the DH cut for me right before a flash thunderstorm on Saturday. It's so nice to have flowers from your own garden on your table.
Now to get a little peace of mind at said table...

So how was your weekned?

Best,

Kwana

The Secret Garden

What's Jack up to? He's having a happy Saturday just being Jack. His newest thing is ripping up any napkins or paper towels that he can find. Oh the joy for me! More to clean up. Nice.

Today I thought I'd post some pictures of my not-so-secret back garden. Last weekend the DH, DD, DS and I planted a few vegetables. I wanted to plant tomatoes for the longest time but with a only a front yard (I'll show photos of that later) and not much back with this stone wall I had no clue where to put the veggies.

Well, Nana came over and being the Southern woman that she is she knew just where to put it. After being merciless with one of my plants that she said just "had to go" she had the bright idea of planting the veggies in front of the stone wall. We now have tomatoes, cucumbers, string beans, squash and peppers planted. We'll see what takes. I'm looking for collard greens to put up the hill in that barren spot but can't find them. Our local place was all out last weekend. Who know they would be so popular in Scarsdale?










Are you The Mole? The new season starts Monday night on abc. I'm going to give it a go. I like trying to figure out stuff like that. See these rocks covering that big hole. We don't have mole but we've got a pretty big and scary groundhog that's driving me and the DH crazy. Ugh! I hope he or the deer don't eat my veggies.

Best,

Kwana