June Stuff

 The manic pace of May and June has finally slowed as far as yard work at the Rye house; I've also caught up with my property maintenance over at the Yellow house.  Our new windows are all in though we are waiting for the painters to return and paint the exterior window trim and the trim on the porches.  Here's a look at what went on in June since I last posted.  Lots of pics alert.

 View from the living room porch that over looks the pool yard.

This is Josephine, a clematis - isn't she pretty?

 And Lucy Lou, the sweet little wren who has taken up residence right outside the kitchen door.  She has been here for weeks and every time I open the door I sing "Lucy Lou - where are you?" and 9 times out of ten she pops her head out.  She doesn't mind me working right by her little rental house and isn't afraid of me at all.  I'll miss her when she leaves.  I can hear her babies crying often now, so that time can't be far away.

 yard scenes

 We have an island garden in the front of the house that had the grass growing in to the french drain so I decided it was time to define the area with more stone and keep the grass in - before and after.

 Yard scenes

My son Heath sent me this picture of Scotty looking so regal and cute!

More yard scenes

 One day this month when I was set to go over to the Yellow house to prune all the berry bushes, I gave Dan (who has been more or less limited in his activities as he heals) the charge to make two batches of chocolate chip cookie dough from a couple new recipes that have been posted on various blogs as "must try" - we are always willing to try a new recipe in the never ending search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie that many claim to make.

 One batch baked up plump and chewy - really good, the other baked flat as a pancake (and this one contained the pricey large italian chocolate chips by Agostoni - dad gummit!)  Dan thinks he forgot a cup of flour.  We crushed these flat cookies up and they are in the freezer to be used for ice cream toppings at July's pool party. Back to Dan …

 We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and I woke up to find this treat on my bathroom vanity.  I'm a scratch baker but every now and then I really just want to eat hostess donuts.

Cutie!  He's now down to one brace and getting around pretty well.  He was our guest teacher at our monthly Women's RS meeting where we get together to learn things, eat yummy food and socialize.  He also made two pans of his awesome lasagna with his own red sauce recipe and I supplied the sides and desserts.  It was a wonderful meeting and he did a great job!

 His class

 His attendees and the almost gone lasagna

 The desserts!

 If you live in the Portsmouth NH area, you must go to BRGR Bar and try their fabulous burgers and shakes (peanut butter chocolate!) and for sure the ricotta stuffed sweet potato tots~~~!  We went there last week for date night.

 The new border that I just put in - well now the primer coat is on the wood, the rocks are cleaned out near the foundation and the plants are growing like crazy!! Look below:

 Here's Gertrude Jekyll in that new border putting on her first season show.  And speaking of roses:

 Roses over at the Yellow house.  What is is about roses on wooden fences that is so appealing?

 That is Mozart - a hybrid musk rose.

 I made a low rock wall border for the barn occupant's veggie and rose garden from the rocks that used to be around the now removed rose driveway border.  It looks so tidy and homey.  Below is the cleaned up driveway.  That will now be seeded with grass and the whole driveway is going to be paved finally.

 The driveway roses gone!!  And frankly, I am relieved and I love the clean look.  The three pics below are roses that are still on the property near the barn (and that cool wooden rail fence).  They are all antique varieties and I picked a whole bunch and brought them home to Rye to enjoy here.

I also had the well checked over at the Yellow house - it is an ancient hand dug, brick lined well about 30 feet deep and it has served that property for decades and decades with super cold, delicious water and is still going strong.

Doesn't the "Giverny" border look great!  I can't wait until the plants start crawling out onto the stone like Monet's.

 More June activities - I have a couple summer dresses that felt just a wee bit short at the knees where I was pulling the dress down as I wore them so I fixed both of these with a bit of trim and now they fall in just the right place at my knees and look really cute too.

 And more June productivity - the stock tank garden outside of the pool fence that is not protected from the deer (who ate all the cauliflower and broccoli last year - now protected with deer fence wrapped around poles) got a face lift.  The grass was killed and covered with plastic covering and stone and a border was made with cobbles.  It is now neat as a pin - no grass, weeds or deer!

 Before pic here and afters below.

 My son Heath and his wife Emma were married less than a week later than Dan and I were four years ago - Heath came over and picked a huge bouquet of peonies for his wife.  I was happy to be the florist.

The pool is all sparkling clean and has had many visitors lately.  I have yet to take a swim but I will soon!

 Foxgloves that have found a home here in the Rye garden - they came from the Yellow house last year and I have many blooming all over and dozens and dozens of tiny, new seedlings in that border - hooray!!!

 Egg salad made outside yesterday for lunch on the front porch so that it wouldn't stink up the house.  It seems that anytime fish, egg salad or broccoli gets made, someone stops by and I'm mortified at the smells - hee!

It's hard to believe this border is only two years old!

 Ahhh - beach roses!!!

Local summer scene

 Pretty yard pot.

And now time to do more of this in July - walk down the street beyond those trees and do this.

And to make and eat more of these - Bouchons!  Fantastic, incredibly rich and stuffed with chocolate and the recipe will come soon.  You've had enough already, right?