Wicked hot weekend!

 

The weekend was another one of dealing with overpowering heat and not a drop of rain. Other than grabbing some needed grocery items on Friday afternoon, which was a scorcher, meeting up with daughter and her partner on Saturday at a wine bar to celebrate his birthday over a chilled glass of Portuguese Rosé - which was great - we stayed close to home. 

Watering is tiring at the best of times, dragging heavy hoses while batting off mosquitoes and bees (I've yet to find a bug repellent that truly works!) in triple digit temperatures is stupid. . . . . . .but sometimes has to be done for the greater good.

Neighbor is away, the vegetable patch is mine for a while, and I'm not going to allow these gorgeous tomatoes to suffer - he told me to pick them and use them which of course I'm doing. 

The weekend harvest!

These 'Beefmaster' tomatoes are excellent - and we actually made old

 fashioned sandwiches with sourdough bread, mayo, salt and

 pepper - delicious! The flour was out as I also plan to bake some

 whole wheat cheese scones this week - on a cooler day of 

course - as they go well with tomato dishes.

Early Sunday morning prior to another hot day, Bob fired up the grill. 

We cooked corn and red peppers for future recipes and grilled thick

 slices of leftover bread to use in Panzanella (below).  

With a bowl of 'green soup' (spinach, potato and zucchini), also made 

early morning, we had supper ready without having to heat up the kitchen.

Sunflowers are on their last legs. Picked a few smaller heads for indoors

 but they too are going over now.  Two of the really huge heads, still

 on their sky-high stems, I've enclosed in net bags and hope to gather

 seeds for planting/eating - must save them prior to nibbling visitors

 such as this. . . . .

. . . . who showed up Saturday evening to enjoy a dessert of ripe figs! 

A murder of crows visit the top of the fig tree daily now, noisy but fun

 to watch. Robins really love the figs and come non-stop all day long, 

along with many other birds, and of course the bothersome squirrels.

What's happening in your garden?

Today it's a wee bit cooler so I plan to slow-roast some tomatoes for 

sauce and soups - always a tasty treat on a cold winter's day. . . . . .which

 can't come soon enough for me!

Moving on with life - Summer garden bounty.

Last evening - the kitchen island!

Bob picked the figs Saturday afternoon - and has the mosquito bites to prove it!

Our neighbor, also a Bob, picked the tomatoes from his garden before leaving on a 

trip. A load of tomatoes as you can see - many of which I'm sharing with others today.

These two bowls of figs have gone to others also as I will have plenty coming

in the next couple of weeks. I'll also be harvesting more tomatoes whilst neighbor

 Bob is away and I'm minding his cat.

Sharing the bounty with others feels good. 

Making tomato sauce for the freezer will take time. Pesto will also be underway

 again this week - after the hurricane passes with hopefully no severe damage - as

 the basil plants are huge and need snipping.

Kitchen jobs have been keeping me busy whilst the concerns of what will be

 happening to the house next door have kept me wondering/worrying ------ but

 now we know!

It will be razed!

Yes, my long time neighbors moved out this weekend and we are feeling lonely.

We've now heard the buyers will start demolition of the house soon.

Their plan is to build in the $500,000-$750,000 range which means our little

 'cottage', and the cul-de-sac, will most likely be 'overwhelmed' by a mini-mansion. 

This is what's happening all around our neighborhood, but this will be the first

 such new construction on our street. We see many more larger homes coming - 

several houses on our street are owned by elderly people who moved here in

the late '60's when the subdivision was built - and they are still here even though

now in their nineties, bless them!

But none of us are here - or anywhere - forever of course.

The construction companies are waiting in the wings, breathing down our

 necks, scouting the neighborhood for those FOR SALE signs, then pouncing.

The house next door sold the first day the owners put their sign out!

This has become a year of many changes for me - sadly, most not favorable.

I think I'll leave you now - perhaps bake fig tarts, or drown myself in 

homemade pasta sauce!

Stay well, be safe dear friends.

The fig-eating bunny - neighbors - hurricane watch!

Welcome to a new month. 

Almost can't believe we are this far into the year. . . . and haven't been away

 anywhere since early February!  

When we headed to the North Carolina coast for that chilly, but fun, weekend

 break, we never dreamed it would be the only trip away from home for

many months.

Our planned visit home to England in spring never happened. I'm so missing my

family and friends, and still don't know when we will be able to go.

Dreams of a cruise this year came to a halt. Plans to leave home are on

the back burner right now.

So here we are in August and the only excitement - of the scary kind - might

 be brought by a hurricane with the name Isaias, which nobody seems to know

 how to pronounce!  We are inland but still always have to be concerned as 

hurricanes have often wreaked havoc this far from the coast, and we've

 had severe property damage in the past.

This morning our dear neighbors are in the process of moving out after renting

 the house for over 12 years!  We are going to miss them so much as they cared 

about us, made sure we were safe. . . . . and that we woke up each morning if our

blinds weren't open!!!

The property has been sold and we are now on tenterhooks as to what will happen.

As the purchasers are a contractor/realtor couple who purchased as soon as the

 FOR SALE went up, we feel they will probably not live here but will either renovate

 and flip, renovate and rent out again, or (and this is happening all around 

our neighborhood when older houses go on the market due to its prime location),

 knock down and replace with a larger new build!

Time will tell - trying to stay positive as we don't want a bad situation which could

mean our own For Sale sign going up!

A bit of happiness among the somber goings on this morning, was our own

 'Peter Rabbit' quite unconcerned by moving trucks and many strangers on his turf!

He popped out at 7:30 am for a breakfast of dropped fruits under the fig tree.

Meanwhile, the birds, mostly catbirds, mockingbirds and robins, have taken a

break from serious pecking at the figs high up in the tree. . . . . I know they'll be 

back later though.

Sunny Saturday morning. . . . . . . perhaps a weather lull before the storm arrives.

  Very hot though - heat index predicted to reach 105-107F this afternoon!

Tomorrow I start my cat sitting job for three weeks as our other next door neighbor 

will be away.  It takes Ms. Nala cat at least a week to get over being left by her 'dad' 

and become happy to see me twice a day.  By week three she may even climb into my 

lap for a cuddle!  I will also be harvesting the tomatoes, peppers, basil etc.  

Hoping this late summer month will be a good one for us all.

The darling buds. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . aren't waiting until May this year, that's for certain!

Here it is Friday again - gosh this week has flown by.

Heavy rain during the storms of Wednesday evening, followed by

 sunshine and mild temperatures all day Thursday, really started things

 moving around the garden. . . . .even my two fig trees are showing green

 leaves and teeny tiny figs!  All this is quite lovely except for warnings

 from the weather people that tonight and tomorrow there will be below

 freezing temperatures!

Please, please don't damage our lovely plants, shrubs and trees 

fickle Mother Nature.

Here's my potting shed yet again! The akebia quinata (or five leaf akebia) vine is

 already climbing and twisting madly and its little bunches of purple chocolate scented

 flowers are blooming.

It's also known as the chocolate vine and is a shrub native to Japan, China and Korea.

It has naturalized in the eastern United States and grows to 30 feet or more.

I keep mine trimmed somewhat as it's inclined to get a bit out out hand on the 

shed, especially as I have a bluebird house there - not that they've nested in it yet,

 they prefer the larger birdhouse in the front garden.

How beautiful - the start of a new crop of figs in Summer, hopefully!

Happy weekend hours. Whether sunny garden chores call. . . . . . . . or you

 are still tucked up cosily in a warm place out of the winds, and perhaps

 snow. . . . . .make each day count.

Reminder regarding figs . . . . . . . . .

They're almost done for this Summer. . . . . . . . . 

me too!

Wandering through the 'District'. . . . . . . . .

On a recent quick visit to Washington, DC we took a little time to wander 
around one area we always enjoy, Chinatown. 

Nearby is the National Building Museum - a stop there to fall in love with the 

architecture all over again, and shopping at their great museum gift shop for 

books and unusual greeting cards, many by new artists.

Washington has certainly changed a lot since we lived in the heart of the city so 

long ago in the early sixties. We need a map to find our way around now - the 

streets feel so different with so many huge buildings reaching to the sky, it's easy 

to lose our way

The little shops we used to enjoy, such as the family jeweler where we 

bought our wedding rings, are long gone, and national chains have taken over.

However, the monuments, museums such as the Smithsonian, and fabulous art 

galleries, still stand, and the city is beautiful. 

Each time I visit I am overcome by memories of my first

months of living here in America when times were much different.

Here at home I'm still up to my elbows in figs!  So no visiting anywhere 

this weekend as jam production winds down for the season.

Other than picking a few fresh figs for recipes I decide to try, the remaining figs 

are left for the birds, or anyone who wants to stop by and pick their own!

Happy Weekend dear readers. Do enjoy your pursuits of happiness, and tell

us what they are if so inclined. We'd love to know.

Farewell to figs………………

Over the weekend the figs seemed to vanish into thin air. The plump ones left on the 

trees Saturday - because I just couldn't handle any more in my kitchen - were devoured 

by birds, especially robins, and the occasional squirrel. Fruits pecked open and 

savored allowed the bees to buzz in. . . . so I stayed away.

It has been a great crop this year and I have made good use of the figs. . . . . come 

on over if you want a jar of yummy jam, I have plenty, fig and lemon, fig and ginger.

Need to do some gentle pruning soon as both trees are so big now. . . . . have some 

friends who would like a fig tree of their own so I may try propagating a few to share.

Still picking the sweetest figs………….

They just keep growing, plumping up and getting 

sweeter……hubby just keeps picking, trying to beat 

the feasting birds, despite his arms getting covered 

in mosquito bites, poor guy. 

Whereas, yours truly is still running a jam factory in

the kitchen, baking all things figgy, and now leaving 

bags of fresh picked figs on the front porch for neighbors 

to collect! 

Yes, still on the galette kick. I love making these 

rustic fruit tarts. 

I even saw recipe for a tomato galette which set me 

thinking - I might try that with a a mix of heirloom 

tomatoes for supper one evening.

Anyway, I enjoyed making this one with fresh picked figs 

last weekend - and Bob, who picks them but rarely eats 

them, actually said he loved this 'figgy tart'.

Rustic fresh fig galette

Heavenly figs……………

Good morning dear friends. Come join me in the 

kitchen this morning where I'm cooking up fig and 

ginger jam……first of the season.

Yesterday we picked this first batch of beautiful fresh figs………..a little earlier than 

usual in the season.  We've been watching those hundreds of tiny fruits for a couple of 

months now, hard and bright green, tucked between the lovely huge hand-shaped leaves. 

Nothing bothered them, not a squirrel or bird took a peck. Now, within three short days,

all has changed, their cheeks are blushing pink, they droop a wee bit on their tiny stems, 

meaning they are ripe, ready for eating, cooking, preserving.

We discontinued filling the nearby bird feeder several weeks ago, however the birds 

are coming in droves, especially robins, and we take turns playing 'scarecrow', 

dashing outside shouting and hand clapping. The birds fly off but return as soon 

as the screen door slams shut. This morning I spied a squirrel on a branch……our

garden residents are nibbling the sweet, ripening figs like there's no tomorrow.

We can't throw netting over the trees, now about 15 feet tall, and it would be 

awkward picking the fruits, so we'll share Nature's bounty as we have other years. 

We feel blessed that those two tiny trees planted several years ago are healthy and 

now extremely productive. 

Bob is the official fig picker around here. We have two trees, one a 

Brown Turkey, the other a Celeste. Last year only the Celeste bore fruit, this 

year both trees are loaded. I am the jam maker/chef.  

This fabulous cook book was a gift last year from my friend Sara in 

Southern California - I will be using it constantly during the fig harvesting 

weeks ahead - and hope to share more great recipes with you.