Around Pinehurst | August

 

We did a lot of this during the summer.

Ashley yard work, Summer 2011

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Fave Garden Pickings 2011

By far, my fave bouquet of the year:

I grew those Peonies!

And yes, there were only three that bloomed.

But they were so easy, 

so carefree,

and totally going to be like my whole garden next year.

Well, once I leave room for these:

hydrangeas

hostas

peonies

I will totally do these again next year.

Even though summer was short here,

there is all sorts of great color in the yard.

And, I finally found

crocosmia

and beautiful purple bearded iris

Truly, my garden should be shades

of yellow, purple and white

to best go with the house.

But I love pink.

I can't help it.

What is popping up in your yard lately?

Linking up at
Savvy Southern Style

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Cheap Gardener

I admit it
I'm never going to pay a landscape architect
(sorry Cornellians)
to plany my yard for me

To design my firepit/swimmable water feature...
that is a different story.

But for my garden,
I am really fortunate that I have a very green thumb.

I stick it in the ground
or I forget to stick it in the ground for a few weeks

and the next year

I get these



I am cheap.

Aside from the clearance,

no really, just take them because they are dead

pots of plants I bring home regularly from

Home Depot and Lowes,

I also have a super secret supplier up the road

who sales GORGEOUS

peris mostly (you know, the ones that come back)

for dirt cheap wholesale prices

To the public.

Large plot of land,

but I like how uncrowded it is.

Not that the masses read my blog

but also, it starts getting close to home

if I post that address

But if you really want to know

and you live in East King County

(you know, not really Seattle)

let me know.

I would even say with $50 in your pocket,

it is worth the gas to come from the south and north ends

and even the west side. 

You will leave with a carload of

GORGEOUS

HUGE

plants. 

If they don't bloom the color they are labeled

or don't perform spectacularly for you

You get a credit to come get some more

Fred (oops) might even have a way of getting you your funds back.

Yes, because, you see,

to pay, you write on a slip of paper what you took

and you either tightly fold up some bills

and slip them into the cash box

OR, I've seen folks leave IOUs

OR, I've seen folks slip in a $50

(there is no change available,

unless there is the rare other shopper on site)

and shop on "credit" for a couple of visits.

It is awesome.

It is what I love about small town living.

Yes, this "city" girl said it.

Anyhow,

Another great source for me

is Grocery Outlet.

Yes. Grocery Outlet.

This time of year,

they often have out tomato plants

(I got two on my way to Costco for their plants which I skipped this year)

I am growing one plant upside down (it is HUGE)

and the other traditional

We shall see which I like better.

But, of course, you know what else I got

at Grocery Outlet

Thought I would not like pink ones.

I thought so wrong.

Especially next to the

tall, yellow spikes of Columbine

and the heavenly lavendar and purple allium

Man.

I love this time of year.

Week 26 Random Pinehurst

Yep, I grew those.

On the deck.

Because she would eat them all

From the garden.

Summer's first harvest.

Tasty snack.

Week 25 Random Pinehurst

I love this time of year.

Mostly because these come out of storage.

And all those little seed packets

come out to play.

Most of these were had for free off of Freecycle.

I love playing outside

when it is still light out

at 9 pm.

Found This Week (June 12)

Found

70 degrees (finally!!)

lovely $5 picnic basket

Roomy enough for a blanket

soda

water

glasses

couple of sandwiches

and some puppy treats

Never mind that I forgot the puppy treats.

I am somewhat of an absent minded puppy mommy.

Hey...she got to chase the ball the whole time anyhow.

Found at the International District Goodwill in Seattle.

National Enjoy Your Deck Day

Apparently,
this very fake holiday
was on June 4

I say it was fake because,
if it were real
I would not have been picking paint colors

so that we could do this

on National Enjoy Your Deck Day.

Luckily,
We did grill like mad
and enjoy the flowers
on the deck
later that evening.

Happy belated National Enjoy Your Deck Day.
Uh huh.

Spring come Summer

Ahhh.

All the way up here in the North,
sometimes,
you think Summer will never come.

Then you look out into your backyard
and you see

the giant daffodils are gone

the super large "black" tulips are fading

and the peas are flowering out and popping up.

And you hear rumors that it will be a blistering
75 degrees this weekend

Yes,
you heard this Texas desert girl right

I said "blistering" in the same sentence as "75 degrees"

Keep in mind, we've only had two (or is it one)
70 degree days here
All year long.

Ouch

I need sun
My hostas, not so much

On the Outside, it is Christmas

Well

At least one of us got motivated

and got it done this year

Christmas Front Porch

Photo (c) b3 home designs

Christmas back deck

Photo (c) b3 home designs

Granted.

We have different decor styles

I was hoping to do something abit more

Pottery Barnish

And in the front, we're working it

But in the back...it's whimsical

which is cute

and because he puts up with my

lady stuff that is likely not at all his style

throughout an unGodly amount of square footage inside

the least I can do is partner up on that backyard scene

I'll have you know

My painting skills are HOT

And Rudolf really does have a nose that glows

red.

About time for a hiatus to head south along the coast.

Most of those photos will end up at Shots Fired

or blog posts at Colored White. 

When I get around to it of course.

You'll see life photos and read the heart wrenching tale

of my puppy mutt who is such a fighter

So happy she is in our lives and going to Cali with us

Go Ashley go!

Super puppy!

Happy Holidays.  Catch ya in the new year likely.

And in the summer,
I'll use this 

Beginning to Look a Lot like...

...well
a hot mess.

Whereas last year, we had beautiful first Christmas in our home photos
like this one welcoming you into our home

His first choice wreath, Christmas 2009

Photo (c) b3 home designs

It is now all I can do

to even think about how I'm going to play enough Sudoko

to top these Bingo wrapped presents from last year

Ephemeric Christmas - Bingo!

Photo (c) b3 home designs

This is the only way I get to justify

not throwing away the random

pieces of paper I amass in my life

And yes

I did play Bingo

That one time

with my mom and my aunt

and I just collected their sheets

and had PLENTY to spare

Because they are hard core like that.

What unique paper do you use to wrap gifts with?

Thanks to all for the happy birthday wishes

Around Pinehurst - October (Falling for Fall)

There are many things in life that I love:

• Photos
• Pumpkins
• Fall
• Football
• Traveling

Whilst there has been little football 

because I live in the land of Suck

(aka, "Not Texas")

There HAS been plenty of opportunity for travel

Plenty of pumpkins in site

Fall is happening all around

And I've got some fave photos 

from trips to the farmlands

which are a lot closer to home now

than they used to be

you know, when I used to live in the hood.

 All photos (c) b3 home designs

Enjoy the weather/season/beautiful colors!

Here's to our first Halloween in our house.

Giggle.

Happy October!