Giant Zucchini

     Can't claim to have produced this mammoth specimen - a friend brought some to tennis yesterday and I was the lucky recipient of this beauty!

I made fritters with about one quarter of it (enough for three meals). Now what should I do with the rest? Suggestions welcome!

Damp Basement

     After all the rain we had earlier this week, I was horrified to find puddles in my basement when I went down there this morning. It was actually in the crawl space so no furniture was damaged but some carpeting I had down there was pretty wet.

   Unfortunately, with the high humidity we have at the moment, it will take ages to dry out. I had to throw out some cardboard boxes which had soaked up quite a bit of the water, but stuff I had in plastic bags seems to be OK. It was a good reminder not to stockpile stuff down there so I will be doing a bit of decluttering soon.

The Grand Tour

    As I have said before, I have a pretty small garden around the house. However, all the borders are packed with plants, mostly perennials, that are really blooming with all the recent rain. So, today's post is a tour around "the estate"!

I'm afraid I am not much of a photographer, but this will give you an idea of what's blooming today.

This perennial is called Balloon Flower (Platycodon Grandiflorus) - you can see the balloon shape of the buds before they open.

I have slipped in an indoor violet as it is blooming so spectacularily!

Echinacea and some Bee Balm.

Self-seeding sweet peas - they come up every year but are just one colour and have no noticeable scent. Very pretty, nevertheless.

Phlox and more Bee Balm.

My first attempt at Sunflowers - they have really reached new heights this week!

    I hope you have enjoyed this tour of my garden. Today we had two thunderstorms with more heavy rain so I expect things will have grown even more by tomorrow - and the grass needs cut again!

 

More Bounty From the Garden

     Considering I only have a small patch of garden set aside for growing food, things are producing well. Today it was raspberries, haricot beans (my first attempt at growing them) and a large scallion for tomorrow's breakfast omelet.

The raspberries will be my dessert tonight. I have been nibbling a few each day but this is the first substantial picking. I will have the beans tonight too, with a lamb chop, mint sauce and new potatoes. Yum!!

 

 Big excitement today! I finally got a haircut after 8 months. It is such a relief to have a neat head of hair again. My hairdresser has been worked off her feet this week (the first week of opening) so I am very glad she managed to fit me in. I just hope I don't have to go so long before the next cut!