Windows

I love windows!  In the houses that I have lived in for any length of time, they have always had big windows with lots of natural light.  I could never live in a house that doesn't have a lot of natural light and I have always been that way.  As I am typing this, when I just typed natural light I started to put natural life.  I think natural light does bring life (or a good energy) into a home.  Good energy that you feel in someone's home does come from the folks who live there but natural light does play a  role. 

Wow! I said all that to say, I love these windows!  I love the corners that are totally glass.  The pane glass in the middle adds variety and design.  If your home is on the dark side, consider cutting out a window or maybe removing a wall to open up a space that might bring in light from another room.  Also, you don't always have to cover windows with drapes.  Look for architectural design pieces that you can put in your windows in place of curtains or drapes.  This one I have in my window.

I also think glass shelves in a big window with plants looks great.  You can also have a mix of plants with pretty colored glass pieces.  The natural light shining through plants and glass are really attractive.  Also stained glass looks very attractive in windows.  This is a piece in our breakfast room.

Cute Idea for Summer Picnics

I thought this was a cute and easy idea for summer picnics. There is no expense in this.  I have picked up over the years these old aluminum pans painted white with red trim.  But you could use a white or red bowl. 

Just a clever idea for summer that's cute, easy and inexpensive.

My Herb Garden

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Far away from the hustle and bussel of the busy city, grows the little garden that I love.  This is my little herb garden and even though these plants look small now in a couple of months they will have grown  into huge mounds. 

Every year I have wrote about herbs and how wonderful they smell and taste, but I would like to say that you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't grow at least one herb in a pot or flower bed.  Poke one in some where and next year you will find that you want more. 

This is chive butter.  It is so easy to make and it taste so wonderful.  When my children are home for dinner and I make this butter we have to have two loaves of baguette bread, they love it.  The baguette bread is best with this butter.  It is one to two sticks of salted butter and a handful of chives or garlic chives and chop fine and mix into softened butter.  This bread and butter is great with soups, salads, light dinners with fish, salad and vegetables. The butter is also very good on steamed vegetables or in a baked potato.  I really like garlic chives the best but this year couldn't find them. 

As always, I thought of taking a picture when it's almost gone. 

 

Quotes!

I think most people love quotes and here are a few news ones I've found:

Host to God or a hostage to Ego!

Be nobody but yourself!
                        E. Cummings

Love completely without understanding!

A temple is not a form but a state of mind.

Just look at us, everything is backward, everything is up side down.
     Doctors destroy health
     Lawyers destroy justice
     Universities destroy knowledge
     Government destroys freedom
     The major media destroys information and
     Religion destroys spirituality.
                                          Michael Ellner

There comes a time when silence is dishonesty.
                                           Frantz Tanon
    

Seed Saving

These are those cute little cantaloupes I raised last year.  I saved the seeds from several cantaloupes last year.  Kept them in the freezer over the winter and planted the seeds about 2 weeks ago.  I was really excited to see that all went well with these little seeds and the process worked.

I saved the seeds from two cantaloupes.  When I cut open the cantaloupe I scooped out membranes, seeds and all and let it set on a plate in the kitchen.  The membranes around the seeds will start to mold and look pretty bad.  That's when you pull all of the membranes away from the seeds and wash the seeds under cool water and let them dry on a paper towel for a week.  You want to make sure the seeds are good and dry before you store them.  Then I put them in a small glass canning jar and put them in the freezer.  When I was ready to plant, I took them out of the freezer and let them set on the counter for 4 or 5 days.  The day I planted, I just covered them with water maybe 2 inches and let them set in the water for a couple of hours before I planted them. 

This year, I'm going to save my heirloom tomato seeds.  To start tomato plants from seeds is a lot of work and I'm not going to do that unless I have too.  I will continue to buy heirloom tomatoes plants but if times are hard I will have the seeds and know how to start them from seeds. On previous blogs, probably several years ago I raised tomatoes from seed and I explained how to do it.  If you are interested you can refer back to those blogs. 

This year I have a huge raised bed for these cantaloupes to grow in and we have put a huge wire panel for them to trellis up.  Last year I didn't have enough room for them and the tomato plants got so big they blocked the sun from getting to the cantaloupes.

Gardening is certainly trial and error and experimenting!

:)

Nasturtiums

The very first herb class I attended the teacher brought a big pot of nasturtiums and I love them.  They have beautiful bright red and orange flowers (although nasturtiums do come in different colors) and we got to taste the flowers.  The have a peppery, tangy flavor and you can eat the flowers and the leaves.  These plants are related to garden cress and mustard which accounts for the peppery taste.  Since that first class, I have only tried to grow them a couple of times.  Usually, I wait to long to get the seeds and they are sold out.  I hoping this year to have them for decorating food and they are such a sweet plant I will really enjoy seeing them every day.  When they bloom, I'll post a picture of the flowers.  The leaves really have a unique look also.  You could use this as a ground cover also.

At the end of summer, let them dry out and you can save their seed for next year.  In the summer, you can use the leaves and flowers to decorate a platter beautifully or put the flowers in a salad or a flower and a few leaves on top of a dip.  Lots of ways to decorate with them.

Apple Blossom Clematis

This is a Mother's Day gift.  It's a clematis called Apple Blossom and it's an evergreen which I was really excited about.  It's the only clematis that I know about that is an evergreen.  It has a whitish pink blossom with a wonderful scent.  The evergreen is what sold me.  I was originally thinking of a clematis with a red flower but when I saw that it was evergreen I decided on this one. 

This is the look I was wanting, more airy.  Last year, the morning glories over took the head board and you couldn't even see it.  I can control the growth of the clematis by pruning.  Looking forward to seeing and smelling the flowers.  :)