Getting Fired Up

E's friends Miguel and James were visiting a few weekends ago. Miguel and James are E's friends from grad school and they all try to get together at least once a year to watch movies, eat copious amounts, etc. These guys also know how to get things done. E casually mentioned we were thinking about getting a grill (fairly inexpensive, quality but low-key, since we are not the biggest grillers in the world; well, at least, not yet.) Once they arrive, laptops were pulled out, Consumer Reports was consulted, negotiation calls were made, and in less than 24 hours, they had borrowed Mom's PT Cruiser to pick up our new beauty:

Thanks, guys!

Hot Fun in the Summertime

Has it really been more than a month since I posted? Good heavens. Summer does that. Just yesterday, June was beginning, and now we're halfway through July.

Here are some garden pix, but they are, again, rather dated. I'll try to get some new ones this weekend:

Here are just three of the many black raspberries we were able to enjoy from our out-of-control bush this year. The berries are finished now, but the plant is still growing like a weed. We need to take the bird netting off so it's free to be. Said bush can be viewed here:

The Yukon Gold potatoes are dying back a bit now, but at their peak they were a healthy and bushy two-feet tall:

The tomatillo plant is now overflowing out of the approximately four-foot tall tomato cage we placed around it. But you can get an idea of its enthusiasm for growth here:

Peppers, all of which now have offspring:

The tomatoes are now near the top of their cages, too:

And because I don't have enough outdoor crazy, I thought this was a good idea:

Our shmanciest local garden center had it's annual summer sale in late June. It started at 6 a.m. on a day I happened to have taken off, so I thought I'd go for a few minutes and see if there was anything. I expected to be home shortly. Two hours later...

This sale was a madhouse, by the way. I rolled in at 6:30 and the parking lot was packed, with people with fully stocked carts already headed for their cars.

So the damage came in at: two boxwoods, two Scotch brooms (one for Mom), a foxglove, a Sweet William, a St. John's Wort bush, an evening primrose, and my prize find, a dwarf lilac. I've wanted a lilac since we moved in, but never got around to it, and turns out, when I did, it was on sale! Love a sale.

I've been slowly putting these in the garden and containers. Pictures to follow.

And finally, there is house news. We're going with gray for the dining room and blue for the living room. The dining room is underway, with the living room to follow. Here's a color preview:

The darker gray on the right will be the dining room, and the blue the living room. We'll have white from the chair rail down in both rooms. And with that, we have a trifecta of National Trust for Historic Preservation colors on the first floor – La Fonda Jalapeno for the family room, Woodlawn Silver Brook for the dining room, and St. Francis Spirit Blue in the living room. I love that it worked out this way.