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I feel truly blessed by friendships made here on the internet. Not just from my dealings personally, but for how other people reach out to others too. The past few weeks I've been thinking of Gina of Antique ART Garden, as a lot of you also have, and the outpouring of love, prayers and friendship for her and her family have deeply touched me. We don't know each other except through our blogs and emails, but deep bonds have been forged.
***
To know someone here or there
with whom you can feel there is understanding
in spite of distances or thoughts unexpressed
~ that can make this life a garden.
Goethe
***
Thank you,
Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL
This morning I made up a list of things to do and got maybe three or four of them done. I do feel good about what was accomplished and tomorrow will be a gift of another day to continue on.
After breakfast, I got a load of laundry going, then headed to the back of the property to measure, then haul out a humongous barrel that we are going to use for a rain barrel. We 'found' this many years ago, now it will be put to good use. We will set it up on cement blocks to raise it off the ground. We have to re-route the gutter to the top of this, cap a pipe in the barrel so the water won't run out and we should be ready. Although, we don't know if this thing leaks or not. DH said what if they threw it out because it leaks. If it rains anytime soon, we'll find out whether it does or not. The thing is 55" high by 34" in diameter, made of fiberglass and whatever. It already has a spigot.
I had to dig up some baby crepe myrtles that were in the space where we want to put this, and they are resting in a bucket of water, until tomorrow. I have to figure out where they will go.
Below is a picture showing it at the back of the garden. Haven't decided yet what to do to camouflage it. This was just the first phase of getting it set up. Since we lost our well, we 'need' this indispensable tool.
The top of it is up to about to the top of my shoulder.
Here is Tork, our little outdoor girl, she was waiting for me to come in and make her breakfast. I mix up dry cat food with a spoon or two of canned cat food, and some brewer's yeast for fleas, and some fish oil for skin and hair. When it's made she runs down the hall to the back door so that she can go out and eat it in the screened area off the back of our cottage.
Here we have a heavenly pound cake I made for the first time this morning. We both love this.
Here is the recipe which I found at Food Network
Ricotta Orange Pound Cake with Strawberries
Ingredients
* 1 1/2 cups cake flour
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature, plus more to grease the baking pan
* 1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
* 1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
* 3 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. almond flavoring)
* 1 orange, zested (didn't have so used dried lemon peel instead)
* 2 tablespoons Amaretto (didn't have so used Triple Sec)
* Powdered sugar, for dusting
* 1 pint strawberries, hulled and quartered or 3 oranges, cut into supremes
(Didn't have strawberries, but do have nectarines and cherries to cut up to serve on slices. Today we just had it with a cup of tea, plain.)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan with butter. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine.
Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, ricotta, and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the machine running, add the eggs 1 at a time. Add the vanilla, orange zest, and Amaretto until combined. Add the dry ingredients, a small amount at a time, until just incorporated. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the cake is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 45 to 50 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Using a mesh sieve, dust the cooled cake with powdered sugar.
Meanwhile, place the strawberries (or orange supremes) in a small bowl with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Let sit until the juices have pooled around the strawberries.
To serve, slice the cake and serve with a spoonful of strawberries and their juices over the top of the cake.
******
Here we have Queen Crepe again. I just love these huge blooms and they smell nice too.
Here are a couple of Duchesse de Brabant blooms to end this post.
In reference to our hot and humid weather I will close with this quote.
******
"What dreadful hot weather we have!
It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."
Jane Austen
Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL
We had a nice quiet day today. Thought we were going to get some much needed rain, but it blew south of us. It's breezy and very warm and humid still. It's almost 5 p.m. is 90 and feels like it's 103 with the humidity being at 67%. Rain is predicted, but it's a wait and see if they are right or not.
I have two Gloxinia growing in my scullery window area. I hope I can keep them alive. The other one has buds, and I'll post them when they bloom.
Here is a basil sprig that I found in the cart we used at the veggie market last Monday. Someone must have bought a plant and this was broken off and left. Well, I made sure I didn't crush it, loaded in our veggies, and when we left I took the sprig. I told DH I was going to see if it would root.
Well, I've had it in the window all week, and today noticed the roots.
Hurray. Tomorrow I'll pot it and put it in my shed garden.
What a treat, for free.
I wasn't about to leave that sprig in the cart that's for sure.
There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude,
a quiet joy.
Ralph H. Blum
Have a great week.
Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL
