What I'm Growing in my Garden

That little sprout up there makes me giddy. I love taking a little seed and turning it into food. I've had really good gardening years and then some that really were a lot of work for nothing. This year I'm gunning for a great harvest.

 My end goal is to make pickles from cucumbers and dill that I grow myself. Most of the seedlings above are cucumbers and there are some tomatoes coming up there on the right. I am simplifying, trying food I know works for my gardening skills and the soil/sunlight combination we have.

Giant Russian Sunflowers are going to be planted too, mostly for looks and because if they work out, we can eat the seeds. If the birds don't get them first.

I've started a Pinterest page, To Garden, come check it out.

Seeing Beauty No. 2 - My Basement

Almost a month ago I went around my yard with my camera with the intention of seeing beauty that I hadn't noticed before. I enjoyed the journey so much that I repeated the process, this time in my basement.

Honing in on the details, I found lots to love about my basement. A place I usually just pass through on my way to get upstairs.

  

I think I need to visit more often, as I also found areas that could use a good dusting.

 

I pass these birds each time I take my coat off in the laundry room. Today they got a bit more attention.

There are lots of reminders that we have little boys living with us, the basement is home to their playroom.

 Memories of toys that are outgrown and more than gently used. Ones that we can't part with.

In my next photo exploration I am going to visit my kitchen.

collection

A new post is up on my photo blog. I chose to capture my collection of old books. Click on over to see Gabi's photograph, she took a unique angle in responding to the prompt.

I laughed a bit when I saw Gabi's collage of pictures because I also had the below picture ready for the response.

 

1. We have a turtle collection in our bathroom. I'm not sure how it started but we get them as gifts and find them in thrift stores. There are about 20 of the little guys hanging out on a shelf.
2. Jeremy decided we should have a duck collection, so that is now added to our list of things to hunt for when thrifting.
3. My collection of buttons is constantly being dumped out and sorted or made into pictures. And not just by me, the younger boys play with them too.
4. I want to add to our collection of older books but will have to find a bigger shelf for them. This one is full.

When I look around, there are other collections in our home I could have taken pictures off. We have a vintage glass collection, a shell collection from beach walks, rock collections that are souvenirs from various adventures and let's not forget the dust bunny collection under my bed.

I'd love to hear what you collect!

Seeing Beauty No. 1 - My Yard

 

I know we all have those areas of our home (inside or outside) that you look at and cringe and think, "I really should do something about that." But time, money or lack of motivation steps in and nothing changes.

I took my camera out this weekend (thank you Mr. Sun for coming out to play) and decided to take shots of all of the areas of my yard that need some extra love.

And instead of looking at these areas with criticism, I looked at them with the goal of finding art and beauty. Much more kind than thinking of a mildew covered birdhouse or a bunch of toys that were never put away.

I enjoyed it so much that I am going to do another photo shoot inside. Look for it in the coming weeks.

If you decide to take your own series of "Seeing Beauty", please let me know in the comments so I can come visit.

September in Review

I'm not sure where September has gone but it is definitely done.

A little recap of some the craziness that occurred:

Darien started kindergarten! It was a rocky start (he escaped the first day), but we survived it. We are all adjusting to the back to school routine and things are getting better all around.

Date night at a yummy Mexican restaurant in Port Moody. I ordered a huge platter and the waitress tried to give it to Jeremy - I don't think she believed I could finish that much food (I couldn't).

An Amazing Race style event at work. It was a lot of fun but exhausting at the same time. I'm not sure how the people on the show do it, we only had to run around for 2 hours!

A new to me piano, Jeremy surprised me with it. I've been playing everyday. I remember more than I thought I would but lots of practicing is still in my future.

Fishing on BC Rivers Day. We paid for all 3 boys to fish but Grayden didn't want to have anything do with it. We have some nice rainbow trout in our freezer ready to be cooked up.

And interspersed amongst all of it was a dose of daily silliness.

More Thrift Stores, a Picnic and Paint Chips

Jeremy and I went thrifting again Friday night - we laughed at ourselves that we wanted to go thrift store shopping again during our alone time, but hey it's our time to do what we want.

Here are some of the treasures we found while having a great time:

a matching saucer to the 2 plates and bowl from a couple of weeks ago

a hardwood duck to keep Jeremy's new collection company

and some new patterns I can't wait to try - the size isn't 100% perfect but I'm going to give it a few modifications to get it fitting just right in certain areas. (no matter which way I rotate the pattern photo it wants to load like this - I'll chalk it up to finicky old age as they are from 1969)

Then we went on a picnic to Alco Park, we sat by the river...

tried to get a good picture of us together...

had a couple of um, oranges...

met a few slimey friends...

and found a few rocks for the boys to paint this week.

We went to the hardware store to pick out paint colours for a couple of rooms in our house I have been wanting to do something about for 4 years. Since we're going to be in this house for another year we decided it is time to do something about it. Seriously, I won't show you how bad it is until I have before and after pictures - it will be more dramatic that way.

Dirt Digger Shirt

When you have three boys, you can't make something for one and not the other two. Here is Darien's dirt digger shirt:

Because Grayden is only 5 months old, I get to pick what I will make for him - no idea yet though.

I have many, many projects on the go that I can't wait to finish and post on here. Included is some redecorating I have been itching to get done for a couple of years now. Come fall I am going to tackle it one room at a time. Maybe even a dedicated space for my creating self!