Lavender Fields Forever

My front yard...this was taken a few weeks ago; it's time to trim it all down now, but for a brief shining moment, it was just lovely.

Team Coco

It may not look like much, but this is THE most delicious dessert: it's rice/coconut/nuts pudding, all warm and yummy inside a coconut. YUM! You always split it with someone but then wish you had one all to yourself. It comes from Sipz, a vegetarian restaurant...Did I mention YUM!

Last of the Season

Boo! Farewell, lovely peonies, until next year...

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Week of Darlingness: Thursday

Week of Darlingness: Wednesday

Week of Darlingness: Tuesday

Week of Darlingness: Monday

It was so fun for me to get out Tallulah Mae's baby album (pre-digital camera) that I thought we'd have a whole week of baby pix. Enjoy!

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Then...
And now...

Two bird's-eye views of Tallulah Mae in her original baby bed, which we thought we'd get rid of once she got to a certain size. However, she loves it more than just about anything (except olive oil, butter, peanut butter, and B.). (Has your head exploded from that baby pic? Mine has!)

Tallulah Mae's Doppelganger

Look at that face--it's Tallulah Mae's long-lost cousin...this is Rosie, and she was very sweet; her owner had just run into a store. Love her big spot!

I'll Get Right to the Point . . .

Let's just call this "Wordless Wednesday," shall we?

(Only now it isn't, because in order to announce that it's "Wordless," I had to use words! What a conundrum...perhaps I should have used mime?)

Into the Maelstrom

My bee girls have discovered the artichoke flower...

Long Lines, But a Keno Sighting

What were we and all of these--many of them quite odd, if I may say so--folks doing on Saturday? Why, we were lining up for the Antiques Roadshow! It was fun, but we were there, on our feet, for 4 1/2 hours with only two things to be appraised. We spotted Leslie Keno (no Leigh) and all of the other appraisers we've all come to know ("Gun Boy" "Sports Girl" "Bowtie Man"), and we may be spotted when the show airs behind the host, Mark Walberg, as he's either saying hello or good-bye (look for my shocking pink dress). No cameras allowed inside the appraisal area, so these not-so-good ones above will have to suffice, alas.

We had a hand-colored woodblock print appraised by Nicholas Lowry--he of the wild plaid suits--who was exceedingly nice, funny, and charming (our artist's name is "Kunst," so you can imagine...). It's worth about $200 (much more than we paid). Then we took our plastic water pitchers, a whole bin of them...and {crickets}. They'd never seen anything like them, blah blah blah (actually a bit rude, frankly). It was the very end of what I'm sure is a long and exhausting day for them.

Still, it was a fun little adventure. We saw many oversized (crappy) paintings, the guy up there with the harpoon, the blond oddball up there with some sort of violin/sax combo instrument that she kept playing (badly); she also had her t-shirt signed, right on her chest, by Mark Walberg (he had quite a few groupies, actually). Tempting to go into the Feedback Booth, but we passed...

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Eye.Eye see.

Eye. See. Tallulah Mae.

P.S. Love those little white eyelashes...that's actually Miss Mae going grey, because they used to be black...awwww...

Stanley likes to sweep the ground clean of pine needles and other detritus. He has a built-in broom...
He thinks it's quite funny, too!

Looky Here!

Check out Sprouty McSprouterson here...it's the last, lonely artichoke of the season. The artichoke's thistle family tree is quite evident here, yes?

Festive!

Cranky McCrankyPants has left the building, y'all! Yay!

P.S. I have been meaning to thank all of you who left such nice comments on my "I Like" post...they were so sweet!

Cranky Pants Alert!!!!

Lordy, was I ever cranky today! Waited all day for something to be delivered, had to cancel my cello lesson and not go to the post office to mail Etsy packages while I waited around. And the thing was delivered...at 7:10 p.m.! Really?

Our TV is broken...and I had the whole first season of The Tudors (I know I'm going to get an email from a certain someone about THAT! Hi, Miss D.!) from the library, which I'd waited weeks for. I got clever and realized I could watch DVDs on my computer, so I happily watched the first disc (not historically accurate, but fun to watch nonetheless. Also? Jeremy Northam, need I say more?). I put the second one in and...nada. Now DVDs won't play on my computer. First they did, and now they don't. ARGH! Little annoyances, but annoyances all the same.

SO, after all that domestic melodrama, the things above were what made me smile today. That face...those flowers from my garden...that face and those flowers. Oh, and a cup of tea and a chocolate digestive. That is all.

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Ears missing, tongue out.

Tongue missing, ears out.

Think Pink

I can't type "Think Pink" without thinking of this lovely confection from one of my favorite movies, Funny Face; I watch at least part of it every time it's on TV. Ah, Audrey...

(Please be advised : if you click on the link above, the video just starts playing immediately).

I Like

The ocean.
Stanley.
Mechanical chimps wearing leis.
This weird photo.
Peonies.
This sentiment.
Pink chalk.

What do you like today?

In the Poppy Patch

These poppies are just lovely...and so ephemeral. The flowers last about 2 days, at most, and they're just like crepe paper. The pods sort of explode the seeds everywhere once they dry...little holes appear, just like a mini salt shaker.

These were a big surprise when they first came up. The poppy seeds were included in a mystery seed mix that I bought at the very cool Museum of Garden History in London ten years ago. They just fill the same space every year, over and over...and then they're all gone.