Casa Blanca Blooms

I have been watching the buds swell for weeks and now they have started to open into magnificent blooms! There are about a dozen open and probably 50 more buds, on just 6 stalks!

See the pink freckles?

I just have to share one more view.

TdFKAL DNF

A back, a left front and a tiny bit of right front is as far as I got on my Tour project. Here's the left front:

I consoled myself with homemade blueberry drop scones for breakfast this morning.

A Week Goes By Fast

It's hard to believe I haven't posted in a week!! I have been so busy with fun things and getting quite a bit done...on everything but knitting!

Here is the (dismal) progress on the left front of my TdFKAL project.

In the yard, I've done a lot of weeding and mulching to make the patio area nicer since we are using it every day. Jeff picked out a great hanging basket plant to go on the shepherd hook. I might be late getting this stuff done, but you get great sales on plants this time of year!

Here's the hanging basket, a plant with delicate white blooms. (The chair cushions aren't out in this pic, I just put them out when we are using them, so they stay nice.)

And here's a glimpse of some of the mulch I have put down. It took quite a bit of work and several days to prepare the ground and then get the mulching done. I still have to do a little more along the barn and one side of the house!

Fortunately, it's not all work around here. We've been out to the movies with friends and went to another polo match with friends on Saturday. This time, the Newport Club was playing Ireland which is an especially popular match as there are quite a few people of Irish heritage living around here.

We got there an hour early and were still a row back from the edge of the field, but we had a really nice view down the field anyway. We spread out a blanket and our chairs, a basket of munchies and a cooler with drinks and our friends joined us a bit before the match started.

Here's Jeff reading the polo news.

Some of the play.

This time, we made sure to get up close to the rail at the end to give high fives to the riders as they galloped past on the ponies. It's fun to be that close!

The ponies really seem to love the game and are excited right to the end.

After the match, we played some Frisbee on the field to pass time before the prizes were awarded and while the traffic thinned out! It's a little chaotic with lots of people playing games and kids frolicking, but it's a good time.

We've been grilling daily and our friends came over for dinner after the polo. I have to say that the marinated chicken and marinated portabello and pepper recipes in the July/Aug issue of Everyday Food are great! I should have taken some pics of those things with the green and fruit salads and multi grain bread we had, but we were hungry and dug right in! To finish it off, we had some pies from the bakery down the road as I didn't want to have the oven on in the house for any baking. They were delicious apple/apricot and strawberry/rhubarb! So summery!

I did manage to snap a pic of tonight's dessert of vanilla ice cream, topped with strawberries, raspberries, kiwi and peaches and a generous amount of whipped cream!

Butterfly Season

I will try not to run out of steam on the KAL knitting, but I am so easily distracted from it. I can spend a lot of time just following butterflies around the yard! I managed to get a couple of pictures of a monarch today, drinking from a purple cone flower.

Btw, the green in the background is the Casa Blanca which is still forming buds.

We have so many butterflies around now that their favorite plants are blooming.

Summer Fun

I haven't done much knitting so far this weekend. There is just so much to do this time of year. Even the dogs are busy with play dates.

Their friend Sydney visited today. Silas shared the pool, but he would not share the ball...not even with Saffy! Fortunately no one else really wanted it that much anyway. They all had a great time and are exhausted from all the playing.

Sydney is the Golden Retriever on the right of this picture and she has a summer haircut.

We had a little more excitement after dark when one of the neighbors set off a lot of fireworks. They were so big, I actually got the camera and managed to get a picture to come out pretty well, a nice 'star'.

We had dinner on the patio of grilled pork kebabs with an apricot glaze. We've been eating outside every night lately and the weather's been perfect for it.

TdFKAL Progress

I have a finished section to show today. It's the back. Pretty easy so far as it was lots and lots of stocking stitch and I just had to remember to do the raglan shaping on each edge.

I'll work on the left front next.

DIY Barn Door Project

Excuse the buckets and piles of debris in the foreground, here's a picture of our new barn door, almost installed!

Jeff is going to work on the spring tension a bit more and put the handles on the outside.

This was a pretty big project and I'm so happy to have it nearly done. Between the pressure washed siding and the new door, the old barn is looking pretty good! It predates our 1920's house as it was actually moved from the neighbor's property when the house was built. Sometime I'll have to take pictures for you of the chicken door, the feed shoot and the little trapdoors in the upstairs floor for dropping the hay down to the cows. I love those little bits of history in it.

Next, I have to work on my 'potting shed' area inside, so it will be ready for next season.