What I'm Into: July 2015

In The Garden

As much as I love the garden preparations that happen each spring,  the green that summer brings reminds me of the beauty of living things!

In the flower beds: The bachelor buttons need some serious deadheading. The morning glories are creeping right up toward the top of the arbor. The cosmos are as beautiful as ever. The other flowers that I don't know the names of are keeping right up! My mums are confused again...They've been blooming for over a week.

In my little vegetable patch: The last of the snap peas are coming on. I'll keep them as long as they stay green, but they're dying off one by one. I've harvested green beans twice. I love going out to the garden to pick beans and then taking them inside and serving them for dinner that night. I haven't had a cucumber yet....but surely they'll be coming soon!

I'm thinking about putting in a second batch of peas and MAYBE trying to grow some zinnias yet. Fall is coming QUICK, but I always garden on the side of believing that there will be time.

In The Kitchen

This Leek Soup was pretty good alongside BLT's. My sister added bacon and cheese to her soup.

I organized all the recipes in my recipe book. I had a bunch of tried and true recipes tucked here and there that needed hole punched and filed. I also had a pile of recipes that I haven't tested yet that needed to be sorted and categorized. After about 30 minutes, the recipe part of my brain was ALL in order!

Watermelon, blueberries, lime, and ginger found their way into my Vitamix and the result was SOOO good.

Last week, my sister made this cake. It was her first time at making a cake from scratch by herself. She really set the bar high! Jay came over to help us cut into it and stayed for a game of Mille Bornes (which he won, btw). You must make it. You better invite people over to share it with or you will proceed to eat it all.

My Reading Chair

I finished  five books: "The Melody Lingers On", "The Mapmaker's Children", "The Children's Story", "Holy Is The Day", and "The Prayer Box". You can read my thoughts on each one here.

I gave up on: "Lost In A Good Book".

I'm working on: "Keep In Step With The Spirit" and "The Story Keeper".


Around The Internet

These cutting garden tips are something I'm going to keep in mind. I've come to love the idea of English Cottage Gardens ever since I started my own cutting garden three (ish) years ago.

Apparently, they dumped some planes in the ocean after WWII instead of taking them back to America. Looking through the pictures of the aftermath made me think about the men who spent so much time on and with and in these planes and the lives they returned to (or didn't) when the war was over. The planes may be at the bottom of the ocean, but the memories live on. It seems like the perfect picture of the absolute absurdity of war.

Last summer I discovered "chocolate birthday cake" milkshakes at my favorite diner. Maybe I can make my own with this marshmallow sauce. 

Moms letting their toddlers pick out their clothes taught them one thing: nobody really cares what we have on.

What have you been into this month?

As usual, I'm linking up with Leigh!