June 24th: We finally got to have Joey to ourselves this month! He was so fun and so adorable to watch and to interact with. After dinner and books, he had a bath with just a tiny bit of bubbles. At first, while the water was still going, Joey sort of freaked out. But I turned off the water and played with him until he started enjoying his bath time.
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| Checking out the speed boat |
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| There's that sweet smile (minus the gums) |
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| In his pajamas and ready to wind down for the night |
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Joey is walking now when there's a place to hold onto
Here, he's walking along the fireplace landing |
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| This was also a fun place to play with trucks and cars |
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| Scrumptious little boy |
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| Joey is more verbal now and makes cute faces with his mouth |
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| I'm still getting used to Joey with teeth! |
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| Beautiful face on a beautiful grandson |
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| We love you so much!! |
Through the summer, our herb garden needs trimming and using. I like to cut the tops of the herbs; rinse them off; and dry them in the microwave. Once they're completely dry, I remove the stems; crush the herbs, and pour them into labeled jars. I love having fresh-dried parsley, rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil, and lemon balm on hand for cooking. It makes the house smell great too!
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Fresh rosemary from our herb garden. This is the easiest herb to dry because there's no leaves!
I simply run my fingers down each stem to remove the needles after drying them ;-) |
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| Parsley, thyme, and oregano during the drying stage |
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| A closeup of oregano, which is the most difficult herb to remove all the stems from |
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Aromatic herbs from our garden ready for the kitchen spice rack!
June 28th: Mike and I spent the afternoon and evening picking apricots from a friend's tree; buying canning supplies; washing and pitting buckets of apricots; and canning the soft ripe fruit. In all, we canned 14 quarts and 41 pints of apricots! We will surely enjoy them
What a way to spend a Saturday!
We had so many buckets full of apricots to clean and pit
Some of our old canning jars, and new ones bought on the way home from picking the fruit
Loading up the dishwasher with canning jars
Immersing the filled jars into boiling water baths
Light sugar syrup for the apricots and hot lids for the jars
After processing, the fruit looks beautiful and delicious
My #1 kitchen assistant and best buddy helps with the huge task of cleaning and pitting the fruit
Filling the jars by smashing the apricots into them
This fruit will be a cross between apricot halves and pureed apricots
Mike and I took turns with the back-breaking job of cleaning and pitting the apricots,
but he did MOST of them while I filled jars and processed them--that was the FUN part ;-)
If only the fruit were BIGGER and less of a chore!
Our beautiful jars of apricots finally done and preserved for later enjoyment!
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June 29th: Our backyard this summer during transition of new and old plants. It will take a few weeks before the flowers all bloom, so it's hard to tell what's what on some of these plants:
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| Butterfly bush, Shrubby Cinquefoil, a mini rose, and Wisteria |
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| Heather, a desert shrub, and Plumbago |
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| Pineapple Sage, Paprika Yarrow, a desert daisy, Purple Salvia, Pink Scullcap, and Heather |
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| Red flowering Yucca, Moonshine Yarrow, Golden Crownbeard, Blue Fescue, and Pineapple Sage |
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| Germander, Rose Salvia, Spanish Lavender, and Red Flowering Yucca |
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| Purple Salvia, Chocolate Daisies, and Grey Santolina |
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| Russian Sage, Pink Verbena, and Purple Salvia |
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| Our garden boxes in the fenced lower yard beginning to take off! |
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This year we're growing bell peppers, hot peppers, squashes, and tomatoes
I already picked 3 beautiful zucchini and a yellow squash this week |
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| Older and more prosperous grapevine in our lower backyard |
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| Mike added this metal trellis that Jess and Seb gave us |
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| Newer grapevines in the lower backyard |
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