Mushrooms!

Hubby and Friend Butch went fishing, no it's not the start of a funny story, they went fishing to a place Butch (native, born and bred here guy) had been before and he told Hubby that they would look while they were there and see if they could find any mushrooms.  He said they were Morels.   I got very excited because I love these things but have only had them and found them in Missouri out in the timber.  They are an ugly mushroom but so good.

Well they didn't catch any fish but they did find mushrooms.  This is what they looked like after soaking in salt water for a short time to get the critters to crawl out, and then I cut them in half, dredged with flour and fried in hot oil.  Gosh they were good!






  

Sorry for the blurry photo.  Some people used to call them dishrag mushrooms because of the texture of the cap and those old waffle weave dishrags!                                

I think I may have the best friends in the world!  I showed up to a salad pot luck to end our Bible study season  and start the summer break and they were all there for a surprise party - for me! - they called it a 'Grandma Shower' and said it was gifts for grandma to have at her house or give to the new baby or enjoy!  We played games and everything and it was lovely,  it even included those peonies in the vase. (they smell more like roses than roses do!)   What a lovely thoughtful thing to do, we have most of this bagged up and ready to take with us on our trip to see the new little Miss Lily. 

We are so excited to see her and of course the kids. (as if)  I distinctly remember my parents asking if I was bringing the kids over soon, and I used to tease them - "can I come with the kids?" - my dad said "sure but don't come without them!"  Getting all packed and ready to go, we have a friend who will house sit while we are gone so we don't have to worry about the garden.  Can't wait!

Flowers!

I have been to Hawaii and been amazed at the huge brightly colored flowers that grow in such profusion.  Having grown up in an area of Northern Wyoming that gets what we used to call 9 months of winter and 3 months of fall, flowers are a treat, and now that we live in the semi arid, 4 definite seasons, cold winter type climate again I find myself thrilled with the flowers we do get.  It is planting time and I am elbow deep in dirt and mulch so I'm sharing my flowers for now.  When they are small and delicate and you only see them for a little while you appreciate them!

The Golden Rain Tree is just starting to bloom, it will be covered in a few days

Chives -not usually grown for the flower but aren't they pretty?!

This is Thyme

The pretty pink  Honeysuckle -   Oh the fragrance!

A very exciting bloom on the tomato plant!

Not sure what these are, they may be a weed but they are so pretty I can't pull them out. 











Think I saw a few more blossoms out this evening, I will have to go out with the camera and capture them as well.  Hope you enjoyed!

Spring and stuff!

We are going to officially start planting the summer crops tomorrow.  Hubby has some he's started in the house as do I and a few of them are ready to go out now we think.  It got up in the 80's today (around 30C) and that is pretty warm feeling after such a long winter, and of course I am ready to start complaining about the heat!  (It's what I do!) 

Some things are already coming along and these flowers are one of my favorites.  This color is known as a Colorado Columbine as it is the state flower, and I have many memories of going to the mountains and finding these lovelies all over in the woods.  They are in the 'purple' section of the planter out in the front.  All the flowers that are out there are purple and my goal is to have a lot of different purples in this area.  Purple people obsess like this I am told - so its normal!

  We have all these huge trees around the house and that means birds - lots of birds, as in sometimes a little 'Hitchcocky' number of birds.  They make a lot of noise, but for the most part they are not too bothersome noise-wise, I could wish they didn't all pooh on the car (how do they know?) but overall they are fun to watch and fun to listen to, especially when danger (in the form of a cat) comes walking through the yard.  They will follow the cat all over the yard chirping like mad to alert everyone that there is a cat in the yard!  The most amazing thing though to me is the absolute silence that falls on the back yard when the sound of a hawk is heard!  You could hear a pin drop! None of them even move - it is fascinating.  After the big winds we've had the last few days Hubby brought this onto the porch, he didn't find any egg or babies near it so hopefully it's an old one but look at the workmanship of the thing.  We think it is a Robins nest.  There are a lot of Robins in the yard every year.

Well I hope no little birdies were in it when it fell.  Oh and we are not making soup with it!!

These are the jars I got at the thrift shop we went to last Saturday, they were having a grand opening sale for a new location and they had a lot of great deals.  We got a stool for the breakfast bar area, these jars were 35 cents ea., we found a back-up heater for the bathroom, and I found some brand new photo albums that hold 4"x6" photos.  The one in front with the strange lid turns out to be something of a collectable so I put its lid on one of my antique jars and will put a modern canning lid on this one.  What fun!

And just one photo of our Miss Lily.  Isn't it sweet?  Miss Lily had to go back in the hospital for a couple of days due to severe jaundice.  We think she will be home tomorrow.  This is harder on her Mommy and Daddy than it is on Miss Lily.  And we as parents watch our children suffer a little and smile, sigh...been there done that!