Random stuff

The other day when I was out taking pictures of the pretty hydrangeas, I could NOT resist cutting a few blooms to put in vases in the house. They are just too pretty and too plentiful this year to let them stay outside!

Here are some in the kitchen:

Aren't they just SO pretty? Man, I love hydrangeas.

Also? A while back I was raving about the delicious olives in Spain? Well, they arrived and I've been slowly but surely devouring them! They are SO good. Not as good as the ones in Spain, but very close...They are better at room temperature, but a little saltier than the ones in Spain.

I also ordered marcona almonds from the same website, La Tienda.
Marcona almonds are fat and stout. They make them blanched with just a bit of salt. They are most tasty, as well!

In other randomness, I found these photos from my flower-arranging class I took a couple of winters ago! It was really fun, and we got to bring the arrangements home! We inevitably gave our arrangement to Dan's Grandmother, who was MOST appreciative of just about anything. She was the most gracious woman who ever lived!




The color is terrible in these!
Looks terrible!

I also did three more gardening jobs this week - a couple for some local businesses! I'll take photos soon after the fleurs get well-established.

Ok. That's all I gots today. Happy almost weekend!

The Rain while in Spain

While we were away, it rained and rained and rained and there were tornado warnings and it was generally just icky. The upside of that is that my plants and fleurs are mucho happy! Our dogs? Notsomuch. They both hate thunderstorms, so it was a tenuous week for them, but they are both doing VERY well...In fact, our dog Sadie, who had the emergency surgery? Is back to 100% already. Totally and completely fine in every way.

Here's our little sweet pea!
What a mug!

She's getting her summer haircut today, so she'll be looking pretty funny when we get her this afternoon!

I picked another giant romaine lettuce on Sunday:

And the basil plant out back is getting ridiculously huge:

The hydrangeas are utterly GORGEOUS right now. They all have a bazillion blooms:


I don't know what the thing is about the yard back there, but one of the hydrangeas is the bluest of blue, the other three are more whitish-blue.

Then, I have this one on the side of the house by the driveway. The colors in these blooms are so rich and lovely:
I've had this hydrangea for probably 5 or 6 years now and this is the first year that it has given me more than 4 or 5 blooms, so I'm just thrilled!

And last, and hardly least, the leviathan butterfly bushes in the back. I'll call them Godzilla and Mongo. Here is Godzilla:Easily 15 feet now and filling out beautifully, the flowers are just now starting to bud.

Here's Godzilla's brother, Mongo on the other side of the yard:
Mongo is about 8 or 9 feet tall and easily as wide. I need to do some serious trimming as we now can no longer get through to the back gate! Mongo is going to eat one of of our dogs if we don't do something soon!

More planties and fleurs to come.

Have three jobs to do this week planting flowers, so I'm off to my beloved garden center...

Happy Tuesday!

The Alhambra

The last day of our trip we headed from the lovely hotel Bobadilla to Granada and the Alhambra. In short, the Alhambra was originally designed as a military area, and then it became the residence of royalty and of the court of Granada in the middle of the thirteenth century.

Throughout the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the fortress became a citadel with high ramparts and defensive towers, which house two main areas: the military area and the medina or court city, the location of the famous Nasrid Palaces and the remains of the houses of those who lived there. The Charles V Palace (which was built after the city was taken by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492) is also in the medina.

It's really cool. The level of detail in the wall carvings and ceilings is just astounding. The pictures just don't do it justice. Here's the view from the exterior of the Nasrid Palace.

This is the entrance:

The ceilings were amazing; as were the carved walls:









The Alhambra was ENORmous. SO huge. And, as I started the posts on this vacation, so shall I end it. My husband and I, because we are collectively 7 years old? Lost interest after about an hour of looking at the intricate loveliness in the Alhambra. We have the attention spans of small gnats. It's sad.

Here were the parting shots of the Sierra Nevada Mountains that border Granada.
There's snow in them thar hills!

Anywho, it was a most wonderful, fantastic vacation and I cannot say enough good stuff about Spain. It is utterly spectacular.

Next? We return to the garden. While we were away, it rained and rained and my garden exPLODED!! The hydrangeas are dripping with blooms and the butterfly bushes? Give me a break with their hugeness. Oh, my!

Thanks for stopping in! Adios!

I've Been QUOTED!!

I've been quoted!!!




Look at this great website!



Oh, and Happy Father's Day!