Turkey Day was Lasagna

Our Thanksgiving was just a peaceful and quiet day. I'd made our lasagna the day before and thawed one of hubby's favorite pies I'd purchased from a Mennonite bakery. Peach pie.

Of course we are non traditional, why not? Whatever floats your boat, right?

While the hunters were out stuffing their faces, I got outside in the cold weather. 

I found treasures.

A box elder tree had frozen sap running from a broken branch. In the drop at the end you can see the forest and meadow reflected upside down.

In the buckthorn woods I found mossy logs with frost coming up out of their centers.

The crystals of ice and frost were beautiful. This was a look into the hole.

With the rest of the forest looking rather bleak, I found the mossy logs to be the most interesting. I imagine the center of the log was warmer from the previous warm days and had a lot of moisture.
As the moisture moved up and out, it formed the frosty crystals on the moss.

I only found it in this one place where the land hollows out in the forest. It is a bit of a swale but heavily shadowed and full of logs and downed trees from storms we had nearly 20 years ago. This section of our woods reminds me of the Mirkwood forest in The Hobbit, but without the frightening spiders!

It is a rather peaceful place both in all seasons.

Summer Daze

 

It is that time of year that I go for early morning walks and bike rides or whatever tickles my fancy when I wake up just before dawn.

I do like summer just for that reason. My days start when the glow starts outside. I don't like to sit inside and just wait for late morning to occur. I usually have walked the fence and checked the stock tanks by 6ish and visited with the mules.

The peonies have started to blossom like crazy and I do love them for those days that they offer sweet smells and vibrant colors. I have only pink. My husband thinks peonies are icky flowers and would mow them all down if he could. 

What can I say?
Yarrow, Peonies, Irisis, and Verbena are my choices for right now.

In the summer I love to have every flower I can cut and stick in a jar or vase all around the house. That is just me. The more, the merrier.

That brings me to the veggie garden. To tell you the truth, I'd like a much smaller garden than I've had for years. For whatever the reason, I just am not into the huge garden this year.

I know a woman and her husband who have been doing the Farmer's Market in town for 20 years. I decided this year to let her do the gardening and I'd come on the weekends and pick my produce from her display.

I'm even going to trade some new jars for some produce next week.

I bought some Giardiniera from her Saturday and put it in my Italian cold salad. Wow!

I came away with some real goodies from the market. It included a wonderfully fresh picked package of spinach. Even the other half enjoyed a spinach in his salad.

I came home with a raspberry/rhubarb pie to boot from the Mennonite Bakery. 

I was done with my busy morning by 9am.

Everyone who has hayfields has their hay down to be baled. First crop looks a bit thin and we need rain. 

I had to haul water out to the 'Forest Garden' with the 4 wheeler. 

Hmmm. Looks like I had visitors!

A gift that arrived in the mail the other day was two bags of toys.

I could not resist messing around with them. They were kind of cute in that I could bend their arms and legs!

During the hottest part of the day, I read a book on the porch and watched birds. Not productive at all but pleasant.

If the weather people are correct, Sunday will be much nicer and chances for rain will be the topic for the week.

We do need the rain on for the hay fields. 

My lavender is getting ready to blossom. This is my first year of overwintering one lavender plant and growing a second one. 

The Sage I planted last year somehow survived the winter and came back in a huge mound and is ready to blossom too.

Today? 
More dry winds and heat.