Hail storm

I snapped a couple of pics of the hail storm we had yesterday. I had never seen hail this large, thankfully they seemed to fall without great force. It also seemed to last longer than most hail storms, I would say about ten minutes. I am just thankful it didn't do any damage.

Kitchen garden

I am so proud of my little garden this year. We have only worked on this location for a couple of years and I am so amazed at how far it has come along.  This was all grass and weeds when we started and we moved all the concrete border from the front of the house to the back. We then peeled up the st augustine grass and move it to the front of the house. I must say our Troy Built tiller is glad to live in Arkansas where the soil is sandy.  I know when we lived in St Louis the neighbors who borrowed her called her the widow maker. The soil there was clay and heavy.  Then we added grass clippings and shredded oak leaves by the wheel barrow full. A few bags of cow manure and some lime and wha-la a little Kitchen Garden!  Tom and I just love watching it grow. Max loves to chase the salamaders! The birds love to roost on our primitive tomato stakes.  We have already enjoyed pea pods, radishes and garlic from our garden this spring. I can't wait till we get some juicy red flavorful tomatoes.

Pretty color combo

I am always amazed how all the colors in nature just work. So many interior designers spend hours getting the colors just right for a room, mother nature must be a natural. I just wish my lily was alittle closer to the lavendar.

Pea Pods

I was surprised by this crop of pea pods. I had planted some the first year we lived here, but really didn't have much success. I keep all my extra seeds in the freezer, and I always go thru them each spring when planning my little kitchen garden. So I threw all of the pea seeds I had into a twelve inch square. We had our first meal of beef and pea pods last night and this morning I picked a second meal. I guess all the compost we have added to our garden is paying off. I was just hoping for a few lovely blooms but some sweet crunchy peapods are surely welcome.

Hosta/Azalea garden

I have been rearranging and babying my hostas for the past three years. I have a sum and substane with its beautiful large yellowish green leaves, down to minature hostas that I brought with me from my garden in St Peters. The show of the garden this year is the center pic, a plain green yet stunning hosta.
It is terrible I really don't care for their blossoms and usually cut them off right after they bloom but the texture they add to the garden is wonderful. I also have three white azaleas in the bed. I also moved two azaleas that have been struggling on the south side of the house since we moved here. They have only been in their new location a little over a month and are already showing signs of happiness.

Sneak peak

Well, I probably should take a photography class but afterall, this is just a sneak peak at the king size quilt that I am hand quilting right now. It is made up of these two blocks set on point with a border added.  I am echo quilting the applique and putting a central design on the plain blocks, then I hope to use a grid pattern to tie it all together. It should take a while to get all that done. I have 2/3's of the echol and central design quilting done.  It has turned into my evening project as I watch tv.  I am throughly enjoying it, but don't know how much longer I can quilt into the summer months since the batting is wool.  I love quilting thru the wool batting, I have heard other quilters say it is like quilting thru butter, and I must agree.

Second Crop

It seems like a long time since I planted the little radish seeds, but they are finally forming some great tasting radishes! I am also picking a few pea pods daily. Hopefully, by the end of the week, I can make some stir fry and add them to the other vegetables.
My tomatoe plants are finally taking off also. It seemed for a while they were going to drowned in all the rain. Thankfully, the soil here drains nicely and they survived.  We already have a few little tomatoes forming, a great sign of hopefully things to come.

pink

I am not much of a pink person, but this pink rose has the most beautiful shade of pink.  It blooms each spring and again in the fall. During the summer it survives the hot and humid weather without much care.  I am not sure what kind of rose it is except that is a hybrid tea.