this little life of mine

Teaser Tuesday: The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week is from page 21 of The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce (I've cheated a bit and posted four sentences instead of just two):

She pulled her tangled throughts away from that, tried to think on other things. Already the village poets were beginning to sing of the syndic's hapless daughter, stolen away for the vampyre's bride. Yet with all their singing and moaning and murmuring in all the fortnight since, not one of Eoduin's friends or kith had stirred a step to climb the steeps again and confront her murderer. That is not justice, Aeriel raged silently in despair.

Musing Monday: Mid-Year Reading

From Rebecca at Just One More Page:

"Now that we’ve come to the middle of the year, what do you think of your 2009 reading so far? Read anything interesting that you’d like to share? Any outstanding favourites?"

So far this year I've read 16 books (I'm currently on #17, and after a slow start, am finally getting into it.) I've had mostly winners this year; very few terrible or not-so-good books. By far the best books I've read are the second and third books in the Annals of the Western Shore series by Ursula K. Le Guin (Powers and Voices), and the second Looking Glass Wars book Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor. I also really enjoyed Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies,  Little (Grrl) Lost by Charles de Lint, Exodous by Julie Bertagna, and Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr.  So far the only real disappointment was A Haunting in Cambria by Richard Taylor, and while I haven't finished Poemcrazy by Susan B. Wooldridge, I was really enjoying the book before I set it down, and just need to pick it back up again.

This Week's Garden Update

The garden is totally exploding!

The once-dying Early Girl tomato plant appears to be making a comeback. It's grown a foot and has more little tomatoes on it:

The zucchini plant is working overtime and producing more ginormous squash:

The little bell pepper that is sharing an earthbox with the squash seems to be holding its own, though it's almost completely covered by the zucchini leaves and gets very little sun:

While the other two peppers are doing great and I even found a couple good-sized peppers on one:

The Big Boy tomato plant is doing fantastic and is covered with dozens of little green tomatoes:

The plants all look very healthy and pest-free (so far), so we'll have to see how they all stand up to the 100+ degree temperatures!

In other gardening news, the echinacea is starting to bloom:

... these pretty white flowers have bloomed (I don't recall what their name is):

... and the lavender is beautiful and delicious smelling:

I'm very excited at how lovely everything looks! Except for the lawn, of course, which is a crabgrass-infested, dryed out mess, but I guess we can't have everything! Cheers!

 

In the Kitchen

It's been a while since I've cooked anything fun or different for dinner, but the bumper crop of zucchini we've been getting has inspired me to try something different. Or forced me. Or something. Anyway, yesterday I picked up the latest edition of Vegetarian Times which has five different recipes for zucchini and tried the Braised Zucchini Wheels with Sesame-Mint Pest this evening. 

  

It was fairly easy to make and was really delicious! I know it's supposed to be a vegetarian-only dish, but it made a really good side dish for the hickory marinated tri tip steaks I cooked up!

My Beautiful Rose

The Midas Touch rose I planted last year is simply awesome! I can't get over how big it's grown, and how it's always covered with dozens of gorgeous, sunny yellow blooms. I went out and trimmed it up a bit, taking out all the deadheads and faded blooms, leaving only the buds and new blossoms.

I found one blossom that was particularly pretty and cut it off to bring inside:

Not only is it pretty to look at, it also has a wonderful, delicate scent. Similar to the Peace rose, but not as strong. Simply lovely.

Teaser Tuesdays: What-the-Dickens by Gregory Maguire

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser today is from What-the-Dickens by Gregory Maguire. I'm actually nearly finished with this charming little book, but here's a couple sentences from the beginning of the story, Page 26, to be exact:

"What's a skibberee?" asked Dinah.

"Ah," said Gage. "You'll have to wait and find out."

... and so will you! Hee!

  

Surprise!!

Check out the two zucchini squash my mom found in the garden yesterday:

We didn't go out to look at the garden at all this past weekend, so we have no idea where that one monstrosity came from. It's HUGE!!! She said there's several more, so we'll be eating zucchini till it's coming out our ears!!

Five

I installed our new house numbers last night. They're slightly bigger than our old ones, but not overwhelmingly so, and they are SO much more awesome! I ordered them through House Numbers Only, and they were delivered within just a few days! I chose the font "Viva", although I was very tempted to buy either "Calypso" or "Lyric", because they were really cool fonts. However, I was afraid people wouldn't be able to recognize the number 5 with the "Calypso" font very well, and the "Lyric" font looked a bit too bold. I'm pleased with my final choice. I think "Viva" goes well with the style of the house and the new light fixtures, and definitely fits my personality!

See It Sunday: Crime

Lens Day: Graffiti, originally uploaded by LapisBlue.

Photo Friday: Noisy

 

Wordless Wednesday: Brandy Rose

Teaser Tuesday: Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week comes from page 251 of Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr:

"I needed a backup plan." Irial smiled, but this time it was dark and deadly, tinged with more than a little challenge. "I need her."

"You can't have her," Niall started. But Irial gripped his arms: every lovely memory Niall had run from and every whispered horror of the Dark Court came rushing to his mind in a morass - then Niall felt like he was swallowing it, like he'd been drinking that too-sweet, forcibly forgotten wine. "Stop."

Clouds

 

 

Birdie

 

Another Earthbox Update

This morning mom and I decided to go out and dump the putrid water out of the dying tomato's Earthbox. It stopped taking water almost immediately after planting, and the water that was sitting in the reservoir was seriously stinky! We are hoping that now we've gotten rid of the bad water, that the dying tom might make a comeback.

After that little task, we took another look at the little garden and I made a discovery: a little baby bell pepper that I totally missed yesterday:

 

It'll be a while before its big enough for harvest, but it's still very exciting to see!

The rest of the yard looks pretty good, too, despite the dry, dying, crabgrass-infested lawn:

 

Our patio is pretty and peaceful with the bright Cosmos and Pansies and our charming little yard critters:

 

Some of the flowers (day lilies, echinachea and the one I can never remember the name of) along the side of the house are blooming or about to bloom:

 

 

 

And on the other side, there are pretty flowers blooming as well:

 

 

And, out front my Midas Touch rose is blooming like crazy:

 

 

 

Earthbox Garden Update

 

Our little garden is really booming! The Big Boy toms and the zucchini are exploding! There's a chance we'll have some little squash ready for harvest by next week!

 

 

The little pepper plant that's sharing an Earthbox with the zucchini is doing pretty well, too:

 

There are little peppers starting to develop!!

 

The other two pepper plants look okay. Okay, the one on the right looks good, but the one on the left is a little puney, and from the looks of the leaves, something is attacking it.

 

 

The Big Boy tomato plant looks really good and is loaded with blossoms!

 

 

The dying Early Girl tomato plant still looks sad, but I think the one little tom has gotten a bit bigtger since last week:

 

 

We have hope that it might yet be saved!

Photo Friday: Monochrome

Serene Expression, originally uploaded by LapisBlue.

Teaser Tuesday: Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week comes from page 23 of Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr:

She looked at the other tattoos, but her attention returned to that image as if compelled by it. That one's mine.

Gardening is HARD, and Yet Occasionally Rewarding

Our already small Earthbox garden is rapidly shrinking:

It appears the Early Girl tomato plant is dying. Whether it's from disease or pests we aren't sure yet, but the leaves are curling, have black spots, and are drying out. It's stopped taking water. We moved it away from the other plants (and noticed the Big Boy toms were looking quite pitiful, so now we're afraid we might lose it as well) and sprayed it with insecticidal soap:

It's a real bummer, because I noticed a little tiny green tomato has just started to come to life:

I got a couple shots of the leaves. We also noticed some little black flying bugs - like fruit flies or something - all over the stalk of the plant.

 

 

*sigh* GARDENING IS HARD!!!

Luckily the other plants seem to be doing quite well, and we can only hope that whatever attacked Early Girl won't get everything else. Anyway, here's our other tomato plant:

 

And, here's two green bell pepper plants:

 

And the third poor little pepper plant we stuck with the zucchini is actually doing great despite being crowed out by its ginormous Earthbox-mate. It's even got a nice big blossom on it:

 

 

By far the SuperStar of the garden this year is the zucchini squash plant. It's HUGE, covered with giant yellow blossoms and already has three little squashies on it like the one below:

 

 

So, there's that.

Out in the front, my Midas Touch rose bush has grown like CRAZY, and we can't even cut it back beause it's got a few beautiful blooms on it and dozens of ginormous buds:

 

 So I can grow zucchinis and roses. Not too bad, I guess.

Home and Garden

Well, our house is all painted and it looks wonderful! It's a kind of greyish blue and the scalloped trim is just slightly darker; the trim is a bright true white. It's such a relief to have that done!

Our new outdoor lights were installed, too:

 

They look SO much nicer than the old ones. Ew. Shudder!

This morning, mom and I trimmed and mowed the front and back lawns (such as they are), then put our garden back in order.

 

I'm thrilled at how well these flowers are doing! Check out these Cosmos:

 And the pansies just exploded!!

 

 

 

 Yay, the day lilies are finally blooming!

In the past month I've been on an outdoor decor spending spree, and it was really fun to put out all our fun new stuff! Here's our new handmade copper hose pot:

  

And here's our adorable new garden gnome:

 

This new outdoor thermometer looks SO much better on our new fence than the old one:

 

Oh, and I don't think it was actually 90 degrees out. The thermometer had been sitting in the sun a bit long. Yeah, it's still too early for that kind of heat!

And finally, here's my new recycled metal lanterns. Mom and I put some small pots inside them, filled the pots with old aquarium gravel and put in a couple citronella candles. I think they looks really nice on the table with the pot of marigolds and my little froggie statuette:

 

We're both very happy with our backyard, even though the grass is dry and dead and overrun with crabgrass, but that's a project for another day. Or maybe next year. Yeah. Next year!

Teaser Tuesday: Princess Ben by Catherine Murdock

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser today comes from page 71 of Princess Ben by Catherine Murdock:

Not one soul in the kingdom, certainly not the timid servant girl who cringed before Sophia, would have courage enough to find this cell and slip me food. Any illusions I retained that my life might be my own were gone forever.

June 2009 Art Wall

A Day Out

While our house is being painted and it's all sealed up and stuff, mom and I took off for the day. We stopped at Sbux for coffee and breakfast goodies, then went to the Atascadero Lake Park for a walk. First we stopped by the new Faces of Freedom Veteran's Memorial.

It was very sad to see the portrait of an 18-year old who was killed over in Iraq. His parents must've put that memorial up last Monday.

The sky was a bit overcast at first, but eventually the sun poked out and it became pretty warm. There were lots of cute critters around the lake. I got a shot of the swan, a beautiful mallard duck and a heron, and a mama duck and her two fuzzy babies:

  

After our walk, we drove over to Morro Bay. The weather there was perfect: overcast and slightly cool, but not uncomfortably so.

There are tons of fun and interesting shops and artsy galleries in Morro Bay, but our favourite place to visit is The Garden Gallery. We saw some wonderful succulent plantings that we think might work in our future garden makeover, and I totally fell in LOVE with some awesome garden art:

Later we had lunch at The Galley restaurant. Mom and I split a plate of delicious fish tacos and Caesar salad and each had a glass of Savignon Blanc.

Unfortunately after we the left the restaurant and were looking through another gallery (Fiona Bleu, one of my favourites), I was suddenly overwhelmed with nausea. Since mom and I ate exactly the same thing for lunch, we concluded it wasn't the food (and thank God, because if we'd both been sick that would have sucked a LOT more!). We decided that it had to be the ginormous glass of Savignon Blanc.

The glasses they served the wine in were HUGE and between the two of us I think we ended up drinking half a bottle of wine! And, aapparently I can't hold my liquor anymore. Which sucks, because I already gave up cigarettes and junk food and what? Now I have to give up wine as well? What am I going to do for a vice then?!? Gah!

Ahem. Anyway, we sat for a while to let my stomach settle then wandered around some more, periodically sitting on bench until my stomach stopped roiling. After about a half hour, the nausea passed, but I was pretty wiped out (And, it turns out, badly sunburned despite the sun never actually coming out. Of course I wasn't wearing sunscreen nor did I wear a hat, so I guess it's my own damn fault.), so we picked up some salt water taffy (a MUST for any beach trip regardless of how we're feeling!), then headed for home.

All-in-all it was a really good day - except for the sunburn and the upset tummy, which is much better now, thanks for asking. So, how was YOUR weekend?!?

Summer Scents

I was in the mood for a new summer fragrance, so I walked over to Sephora on my lunch break today to test out some new scents. I tested Jean-Paul Gaultier's Classique Summer (I had a version of this a couple years ago and really liked it), Burberry Classic Summer (I've used Burberry's Brit and The Beat and loved both), Issey Miyake L'Eau d'Issey Summer, and Kenzo d'Ete Eau De Parfume. The first two I really liked and the last two stank to high heaven and NOT in a good way. After eliminating the last two, I sprayed the Gaultier on one arm and the Burberry on the other. I wandered around the store for a while, periodically sniffing each scent to see which I liked better. In the end I couldn't decide and I had to get back to work, so I bought both:

 

 Okay, I'm ready, now: Bring on Summer!!

Teaser Tuesday: Saving Juliet by Suzanne Selfors

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser today comes from page 8 of Saving Juliet by Suzanne Selfors (I just started the book this morning on the bus, and yes, I'm cheating by posting more than two sentences.). Enjoy!

I swallowed against the building bile. The actor who played the Prince of Verona perpared for his entrace. He stretched his legs, cleared his throat, then patted me on the head. "Poor little thing," he whispered.