Clouds

Last evening my youngest son was on his way to the grocery store when he spotted these amazing clouds and came right over to get me outside to see them.  So glad he did.

I wondered what causes clouds to be red, orange or even peach-coloured. Here's what I read:

Just before sunrise or just after sunset , light rays from the sun follow a longer path through the denser part of the atmosphere near the bend in the earth's surface near the horizon. Most of the blue light is filtered out and only the longer wave lengths are left... first yellow then red.  That's why as the earth rolls away from the sun, presenting a thicker atmosphere for light to penetrate, the colour  of the clouds changes from yellow to roange to red.

          You probably already knew all this but I found it very interesting.

The above pics were taken to the East while the one below was in the Western sky.

Happy Friday!!


Granny Marigold

A Fence and some Fruit

Can you believe two posts on consecutive days?  I'm amazed myself!

I wanted to show you my DH's latest project. So we have this big dog who will not cross over a low fence and since I don't want him lumbering around where he shouldn't be ( in my flowerbeds)  we have had wooden fences for years. Now they are getting shabby and we thought we'd try plastic pipe  ( inch and a half white water pipe from the lumber yard)and white plastic chain which will attach with large cup hooks. This should make it easy to unhook the chain and give it a wash from time to time.

                            Old fence with Japanese Anemone September Charm  starting to bloom behind it.

              The beginning of the new fence. As you can see the chain is just held with clamps for now.

                      Cherries have come down in price so we bought another 20 pounds.

While at the fruit stand we saw over ripe peaches for .59 lb so I picked some with the idea of making a peach crisp but once I had them cut up I realized they were so very ripe I'd be better to make jam. So I did. 4 little jars.

Okay, I'm off to the porch again. When I'm not in the kitchen or out in the garden everyone knows just where to find me.


                Granny Marigold

Flowers and a Couple of thrifty buys

                                My pots of Petunias are pretty happy so far.

We used to have Perennials Sweet Peas growing near this spot and some are popping up in odd spots. They are all shades of pink so far. I know they'll want to grow 8 to 10 feet tall so I won't be able to find tall enough stakes for them here. We'll see what they'll do.

                           The Zinnias are blooming...

             ....and the Rudbeckias and Nasturtiums.

                               This red Dahlia is quite happy in this sunny spot.

Enough about flowers.  I went to the thrift store this morning and while there I checked the apron drawer like I always do. I found this very sturdy apron with three big pockets that I am going to use as a gardening apron. Now I can carry the tools I need with me as I garden..

I also found a different purse. I had bought one recently but even before I put my wallet and other stuff in it it was very heavy. Also it had short handles so I couldn't put it over my shoulder.  This one might not look quite as nice but will be more practical. One of the wonderful things about thrift stores is that if you make an unwise decision you haven't wasted more than a couple of dollars.

Well, I'm off to sit on the porch swing.  Hope you're having a good day.



                            Granny Marigold

Cherries and Camping

Summer time with all the lovely fresh fruit and vegetables makes me happy. Yesterday we bought a 20 lb box of gorgeous big almost black cherries.  Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, we'll go blueberry picking one last time.  Last night I made a delicious veg soup with our own green beans, bought carrots ( the kind that still have their tops attached) and new potatoes. Yumm.  I use Summer Savoury in my veg soup and I find without it it just doesn't taste right.  I only found 3 volunteer Summer Savoury plants in my garden this year.  Must let one go to seed and shake it around a bit to have more next year.

As I mentioned in my last post DH took the grands camping.  They love being by the river and even though the water is very cold they like walking through to the other side.

Hikes are always fun. A cane for DH and a nice walking stick for the little man.

Here the girl is about to cross the river. She took sandals to protect her feet. Wise decision.

                A tired out grandad enjoying a quiet moment by the camp fire.

Hope you had a great day.   


              Granny Marigold

Housework

How do you feel about housework?   Do you have some sort of schedule whereby you "get it all done"?   Or are you more apt to wait until the house looks like a disaster and then clean?
I fall more in the first category  and in winter I don't mind doing what has to be done but in summer I want to be outside not inside cleaning.  Another thing about housework that I resent is that it truly is never ending. Floors you wash on Saturday will very soon be dirty again. Same for dusting... and laundry...

I grabbed some fun pics off the internet. Hope you enjoy them.  I love how the women washing dishes seem to be enjoying themselves.  Maybe this first woman represents most of us.  (Doesn't this first pic make you think of Lucy in I Love Lucy?)

My DH painted these shelves in the livingroom yesterday. They are usually full of assorted family photos. When I took them all down I could see that I hadn't dusted under them for a long time.  The main reason they needed painting was because the picture frames I have are all metal and the metal had left black marks on every shelf. So this morning I tried putting a coat of clear nail polish on the part of the frames that rest on the shelves.   Hope that does the trick.
(As you can see some of my Christmas things stay out all year long.  Just in case you wondered!).

Making meals is part of housework, isn't it?   So this  might qualify as having done some housework. DH picked up the flat of eggs at the farm where we normally buy them.  I love the extra large ones that we get.

Now that I've had a chance to sit for a bit and get rested I'm off outside again. The sun keeps going behind clouds but they are the fluffy summertime clouds and not the kind that bring rain. At least I hope they don't because DH and the grands are going camping tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting today.   I enjoy your comments so keep them coming!!


                      Granny Marigold

This and That

Thunderstorms are somewhat unusual around here but last night we had one and my but was it loud. Every time there was a flash of lightning the rain fell even harder and I lay in bed wondering what damage my flowers would sustain. Had the storm been forecast I would at least have pulled the pots of Petunias under cover.  Well, nothing was ruined and IF we get some sunny days I think most everything will pull itself up again. Unfortunately the weather forecast is not terribly promising.

While taking stock of how badly things were beaten down I realized that certain plants had become quite overgrown and today youngest son came to dig out the worst thugs. Spiderwort was the first to go. From an 8" pot a few years ago it had spread to a good 3 feet in diameter and was sprawling over.
Next he dealt with a grass that was supposed to look so great but never did. Can't remember what it was called but I am keeping only one grass and that is a gold-barred one that grows about 4 feet high and actually looks nice.
Next to go were 2 large patches of Lysymachia ( not sure about the spelling). It had mostly reverted from variegated to solid green and didn't look nice any more.  You get the idea. Anyway, I hope to keep things a little more under control now.

In the kitchen this week I tried to use up bits of this and that in the fridge.  Half a container of cottage cheese, a cup of sour cream and an 8 oz box of cream cheese plus another half box... ended up as a cheesecake.  I tried to make a blueberry glaze but I think there was too much glaze and not enough berries. Oh well. It tasted great. Also had a cup pf cherry pie filling leftover. Used most of that.

Also in the fridge was milk that was needing to be used. I should have doubled the recipe but didn't think of it. Now we have baked custards and still more milk to find a use for. That's cinnamon on top not the usual nutmeg that egg custard calls for. I'm not a big fan of nutmeg.

Well, this post certainly turned out to be lengthy. I thought I had very little to say but apparently once I get going.....


Thanks for visiting today.


Granny Marigold

My Week

It's been a week since I last posted and it seems as if the more time passes, the harder
 it is to "get back into it". But I shall make an effort. It has been a very busy week.
On July 1 my DH's younger brother, who was a widower, remarried in a lovely
outdoor wedding. My DH's 2 sisters came from out-of-province and left this morning.
 Although they didn't stay with us they did spend a lot of time here.
Then on the second of July we had our annual family BBQ to which the sisters came
 and saw all their nieces and nephews. That was great too.

My flowers are growing. Lilies are blooming as are the Daisies....

                                                  ....and the first Dahlia 

         

                                 and the Montbretia ( or Crocosmia if you prefer).
                                 The Hummingbirds seem to love this flower a lot.

    
           My sweet little grandson turned 7 today. His mom made him a Spiderman cake.

Thanks for visiting today. I hope you are having a good week and good weather.

                Granny Marigold