Some plants are making a statement in this tiny garden of ours, I love how the Clematis is peeking through the Hydrangeas. I am happy to see some of the moves we have had created with plants last year have offered space, to new growth this year. The beauty of Johnny Jump ups could overtake everything. The reseeding of this beautiful plant is breathtaking. Its reseeding process takes a more natural approach than me planting. I get excited discovering this plant in unusual places in our garden.
Iris has taken a slow growth, but not too shy to show off the beautiful blooms which blends in with the theme! I keep saying to myself I am not going to buy any more plants but ends up buying every time I see them. This is it no more. Plan is take care what I have this year.
I remember to this day when I first encounter this beautiful flower. I loved how it could add sculpture to a boring garden. I keep adding this to our garden every Fall. I could use some other varieties of this. I do not have deer visiting my garden although I could have a possibility. I have got rabbits and wild turkey always roaming around.
Yes, this Summer we decided to venture into growing radishes. This is not a highly consumed vegetable in Sri Lanka mainly to the distinct aroma during cooking process. Although, I can enjoy this in many ways in salad, lightly cooked greens, and cooked as a vegetable.
It was an experience directly sowing the seeds to the ground. Since they are clustered together there is a clump of Radishes growing together. We discovered so many varieties of Radishes it was fun planting all these. I need to weed soon before they take over the radishes.
I am planning to thin them by making a salad soon.
I have spent fair amount this year without the annuals on building our garden. This was one reason I took an active part in garden club. I enjoy planning out my garden, learning about new plants, and finding out what is domain to the area I live.
I remember growing up, I took a keen interet in gardening after visiting couple of my mom’s friends and my best friend's garden. They work truly devoted to building their gardens.
I also remember the best part was visiting the annual flower show in Sri Lanka. It was an exciting event to watch, all the plant lovers admiring plants. This is what I will be working on this Summer building up a layered garden!
This has been something I have done since I was a little girl. Following my grandmother, who use to feed the squirrels, birds, and chipmunks. I grew up with feeding the feathery friends.
It was fun to fill the bird feeder and hang it outside with little Nicolette. She enjoys it more than me, filling the bird feeder, and carrying it.
I hope to capture some images of birds actually feeding on our feeder this summer.
I am super excited this summer to see my Clematis vine take off. After many struggles the clematis seems to taking off on its own this season. I was delighted to see the pods shooting up and the vine is beginning to wrap itself around the near by Hydrangea bush. It seems to be doing really well in this spot, in the front yard.
I think it adds so much fun to a garden with its beautiful blooms. Training it to climb the post is going to be interesting. I have already attempted this task with help from my neighbor.
I remember a neighbor in VA did a phenomenal job in her yard with this beautiful plant. She almost made a privacy screen. I am excited to see my purple garden is taking off with its very first vine.
We have a Robin’s nest on our front entrance rhododendron tree. I was excited to see the movement on the front yard when we were mulching our beds. It was interesting to watch how the Robin work to build it nest.
After building it it lays still for hours without much movement. Only leaves to get food and sits on her eggs entire day is amazing. We tried to keep the window shade closed for its security. We have avoided using the front door as much as possible to minimize the traffic.
Little Nicolette is very much interested in watching the Mama bird but there is no papa bird involved in this at all.
I have been tackling some projects in our yard. I was surprised to see the survival emerging through dirt. Last years herbs are coming to life after the New England’s harsh weather. This allows me to buy less herbs to add to the garden.
I have chives, thyme, sage, mint, and oregano perking through the dead garden. I am amazed to see this life after the long and hard winter we had.
I have added tomatoes, lettuce, swiss chard, parsley, thai, and regular basil. The raised bed give a feeling of a checker board pattern from a distant. I hope we are into a warmer Spring.
This has been one of my favorite hobbies for a long time. Growing up I was not able to produce anything of my own and not having the freedom to wear cosmetic jewelry was part of my culture. However, I did admire my friends wearing them and making a statement. I took a beading class thinking that I can make my own jewelry and the ability to make unique pieces for myself. I visited this back very recently, when I saw some beautiful faux pearls at the craft store.
I love the feeling of having a strands of pearls but wanting to treasure the pearl necklaces which was pass down from the family. I decided to knot the faux pearls and now I have few strands that feels great but can be paired with clothing for everyday. Easy project to finish. Perhaps, I could make some strands as presents for friends during holiday!
Enjoy!
Last Summer was my first year getting back to work. I was at school setting up my classroom for this coming Fall. On my way home I was able to pick up these chairs from the roadside. After few weeks I was able to pick up two from my neighborhood. I accumulated total of four chairs but two different styles. This was sitting in my garage for a long time.
I needed a chair to work at my working table and Nigel needed one to read in his room. The solution was to pick up a gallon of paint with primer and I love the shade of swiss coffee ( very softer white).
The outcome is these beautiful chairs in our home!
I remember growing up my mother loved making clothes for me and when I got older she had a dressmaker who would come to the house and make dressers. It was a fun experience. Now, I take part in sewing and making little things for Nicolette. I do know this is a gene that I share with my mother and she was a very talented person.
This a basic skirt I made for Nicolette she was happy to wear it to school. I am planning to sew more hopefully I can get few projects done before the school year ends. I bought the fabric as it is. I did not sew the ruffles all I did was add a lining and an elastic. This is my baby step towards making her clothes. I have knitted a dress for her. Hopefully I can sew a dress for one day!
Enjoy!
Taking baths has become a fun routine in our house. We are still working on finishing our bathroom but having the tub has helped us on getting back into routines. Nicolette enjoys her bath time to the fullest. She loves to gather her toys and play for couple of minutes before she goes to bed.
I add a little bit of lavender oil to the water which makes it very calming and a soothing. The aroma of the oils fills the room with a calmness which helps every one after a busy day.
Enjoy!
This sounds a little crazy. I was peeking through the front door to see if had any luck melting the snow from the previous nigh rain. To my surprise I saw a turkey at my front yard. I have not seen a wild turkey up close. I took the camera and started to take pictures from inside the house since I did not want to startle it.
Then I began to follow it outside with my camera. Later in the day as I was pulling the car to the back of my house I saw two. However, this time though they were picking my my compost pile. I could not take any pictures. We enjoyed the unexpected visit from turkeys very much.
Enjoy!
We turn all the clocks in our home yesterday except for all electronics because they convert to time saving automatically. That being said I decided to celebrate the turn of Spring with something springy. We made this wonderful recipe from here.
This is a very adult cake though, I did add few spoons of confectionery sugar to the filling/frosting. Depends, on if you wish to offer your kids less or more sugar. I did not buy the mascarpone instead I made it at home or I would say substituted it with home
made stuff. This was yummy and I did enjoy it but I would like to sink my teeth in it with a cup of hot tea.
Can’t wait to get my hands in the dirt for another season of growing!
Enjoy!
We got nineteen inches of snow. We are at home and trying to dig ourselves out. I think we are tired of ALL this snow. Total of twenty four inches. We love the snow but not this much. With all this I was able to spot this beautiful Cardinal. I bet this is a boy and he was hanging out all by himself.
Our maple tree is cracking and my dear neighbor told me that I need to be careful when I am around the tree.
Enjoy!
I have to admit going back to work with a four year old and a fourteen year old could be challenging. There are days I am overwhelmed and tired. However, I do manage to do some cooking at least once a week. Most of the meals are Sri Lankan food such as curries. When I take on this task my little kitchen can look like this.
I do find this way of cooking could be very helpful for us to survive the crazy schedules we have. All meals go into containers and we serve them over warm rice. Sometimes it is much easier to serve the curries from the containers to the plate slide it into the microwave for few minutes and serve the warm rice over it.
This way we could have dinner at home instead eating out. I save most of my time to get my projects and fill mailing orders!
Some of the vegetables we consume are beets, potatoes, cauliflower, and many more like to keep my options open so I can introduce new food to the table!
Enjoy!
One of my goals in life is to become a vegetarian. But, I have to start some where and I had the perfect opportunity to do so. I was away from my family with a coworker on a conference. My coworker being a vegetarian become a huge influence. I have not being eating meat for past week. I have been dutifully preparing them for my family though.
This has open up so many options for me. I am not a compete vegetarian yet but I am doing my best to get there. The most difficult part will be giving up eating fish because I grew up loving it!
This is my breakfast! not too bad this is a combination of grains such as quinoa and millet. Greens - Kale, chick peas, soft tofu, sautéed onions and hint of thai red curry powder and smoke paprika. I relished the earthly taste with a slice of toasted whole wheat bread.
Enjoy!
Little note cards and post it notes get stuck in the physical mailbox at work. I have been pondering on this for a while how to make elegant invitations for everyday activities. This was in my to do list for a long time. I decided to work on it by simply stamping them.
I love to get hand written notes in my mailbox. The idea of someone taking the time to write a note is a luxury in the society we live now. I know I have fit in to this society with connivence on many occasions complaining who has the time to write “thank you” cards e- cards are great! But there is a side of me waiting for those hand written notes and cards.
Here are some samples of cards I have been working lately.
Enjoy!
According to the forecast we were hit hard with wet and wild weather. This was m second experience of a blizzard. As of Thursday afternoon we were not sure about the school cancelation. Finally when they decide to cancel the school on Friday and wait to snow fall I was relieved about the school cancellations. Both schools were out actually many schools were out.
I wanted to take few pictures before the snow fall and after the snow fall. It was a lot of snow and continued until Saturday mid afternoon. We finally decided to dig our way out to the driveway to clear the vehicles. Panduka and Niegel decided that they can handle the job without me and I was relieved from the news. That was a lot of snow for eight to nine hours. The wind was a bit out of control. I saw lightening in my town with snow fall. We almost had our power out but it came back.
The snow was dry, fluffy, and light. It was almost two feet. The drifts around the kitchen window was almost high as the window. We are ready for more snow this Thursday!
