An Inspirational Quote

Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.

An Inspirational Quote

Victory creates hatred, defeat creates suffering. Those who are wise strive for neither victory nor defeat.

An Inspirational Quote

Those who are awake live in a state of constant amazement.

Sun Tea

Every summer I look forward to drinking sun tea. It's so refreshing and easy to make. You can make this drink with any kind of tea. All you need is a glass picture, 8 tea bags, 8 cups of water, plastic wrap and a warm sunny day. Pour the water into a glass pitcher and place the teabags into the water. Cover with plastic wrap and place the pitcher outdoors in direct sunlight all day. When the day has ended and the sun is setting bring the tea indoors. Pour into a glass with ice, a fresh lemon wedge and fresh mint. The rest can be kept in the refrigerator.

"Close up of a Rose" Watercolor

This is a close up watercolor of a rose that I painted for my mother in 1998. She hung this painting in her dated 1970's kitchen right after I gave it to her. When My father sold the house after my mom passed away, he put a lot of his stuff in storage. We cleaned out his storage unit last month and had a huge sale. I came across this painting while rummaging through his things and decided to keep it. Maybe I'll hang this painting in my daughter's room.

My Japanese Iris Blooms

These are Japanese irises. They grow at the edge of my veggie garden. They' re very pretty when in bloom. They bloom in the late spring. I dug a few of these up from my mother's house and they are now spreading like crazy. I will have to dig them up and separate them in the fall. Maybe I'll give some to friends, so they can enjoy them in their yards.

Close up of my iris blooms.

Vegetarian Stuffed Mushrooms

For those of you who like stuffed mushrooms, here's a nice light vegetarian stuffed mushroom recipe to make for dinner guests or your family.

Ingredients;

18 button mushrooms, washed, stems popped off and stems chopped

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 small minced onion

1/2 diced tomato

1 tbs chopped fresh basil

1 tbs chopped fresh parsley

1 tbs olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 tbs lemon juice

1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

3 tbs Romano cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Carefully pop stems off from the mushrooms. Once the stems are removed, finely chop the stems up and place them in a medium bowl. Set the caps aside. Place the rest of the ingredients in with the chopped stems and mix together well. Stuff the caps generously with the mixture. Place in a baking dish lightly greased with olive oil and cover. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. When they've been in the oven for 25 minutes, bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes. remove from the oven and serve with your favorite main course.

It'a Garden Party Day!

Ceilo from "The house of roses" has invited me to join her garden party, which is today. Here are some of my garden pics. There are so many different pretty garden photos from Ceilo and others displayed on Ceilo's blog " The house of roses." If you get a moment and want to view some beautiful photos of the many different gardens of others, check out Ceilos blog by going to "My favorite blogs" list and click on " Ceilo's Blog name " The house of roses".

My white rugosa roses.

The Stella Doro lilies are growing nicely in my front landscape. I love lilies and have many different types through out my landscape in both my front and back yard.

This is my hydrangea bush. I have five of these pretty bushes through out my yard. This type if hydrangea gets pretty big. It starts out with pretty apple green blossoms in the late spring. By summer the blooms are white and in the autumn they turn a very beautiful rosy blush color. Once these extremely large blooms turn rosy, they dry out on the bush. I like to pick them after they've dried and place them in nice baskets around the house. Dried hydrangeas will keep their pink color right up til the following fall.
This is one of my purple spirea bushes in my front landscape.

I'll Be Off My Blog All Week, Meanwhile Enjoy Watching Beauty At It's Finest!

I'll be away from my blog all this week. I'll be back next tuesday with a delicious vegetarian stuffed mushroom recipe to share with everyone. Have a great week!

Ladybugs As Natural Pest Control For The Garden

Friday I went out to my local garden center and purchased 1800 ladybugs for my rose bushes. I released them among the roses, so they will eat the aphids that are feeding on my rose buds. Ladybugs are considered beneficial insects for gardens of all kinds. They are a perfect way to combat many types of garden pests. They eat a variety of insects that attack vegetable plants and many other plants in the landscape. Ladybugs and many other beneficial insects are often used by organic gardeners. The more beneficial insects we can use in our gardens, the less harmful chemical pesticides are needed to eliminate unwanted pests, thus keeping our ourselves healthy and the environment cleaner. I have already noticed a decrease in bud damage caused by the aphids since I released them on Friday.
Ladybug on a daisy.

Ladybugs getting ready to overwinter.

My Salmon Colored Shrub Roses

My Salmon colored shrub roses just came into bloom. My climbers are starting to take over. As you can see in the bottom photo the salmon roses are covered by my huge climbers. They are still blooming lovely anyway. For those of you who grow roses I recommend using rose tone organic rose food once a month. Most garden centers carry it. It will do wonders for your roses. Have a nice Saturday!


My climbers growing over my salmon colored shrub roses.

My Rugosa Roses And Climbing Roses, They're Looking So Shabby Chic

My rugosa roses are now drooping as seen in the photo above. They bloomed with so many roses and now they are stating to lay on top of my walk way. I don't want to cut them back, so people will just have to walk around them. Below are my climbers. They're trellising up my front porch railings. While sitting on my porch, there's tons of little roses poking through my railings from my climber and they give off such a nice fragrance. I planted these rose bushes when I was very into shabby chic decor for both my indoor decorating and outdoor gardens. I still love and practice decorating my home and gardens shabby chic , but I now incorporate other styles along with the shabby chic look and use a lot of nature such as, beach rocks, seashells, pine cones plants, etc... as decorative ornaments around my home.

Mango Fruity Pops

A wonderful overall nutritional source, mangoes are rich in dietary fiber and carbohydrates. Mangoes contain many different vitamins such as; A, C, E, B6, K and other B vitamins. They also contain potassium and copper making this #1 star fruit a must to add to any one's diet.
This simple and yet tasty summer freeze pop recipe, made of ripe mango and Cinnamon, is sure to satisfy every one's sweet tooth without the added fat that many other sweet treats contain. All you will need is 1 large ripe mango, chopped, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and a dash of salt. If the mango isn't ripe enough, add 1/4 cup of orange juice also.
Place everything into a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds or until smooth. Pour into Popsicle molds and freeze for 6 hours.

A mango tree blossom.

A mango tree full of mangoes.

My Red Rose Bush In Bloom

This is what I've been waiting for! My red rose bush is going into full bloom right now. This bush blooms all summer long with huge deep crimson colored roses all over it and finishes off in the autumn with large deep red rose hips. Above and below are a few shots I took of my red roses yesterday, just after a afternoon rain shower.This bush has pretty shiny leaves.

A close up of one of my blooms.

This bush is basking happily in the warm sunshine after a warm afternoon rain.

Pineapple Cinnamon Fruity Pops

For an exotic tropical pop, here's another tasty treat to try making on a hot sweltering day. Use 3 cups of pineapple chunks (known for anti-inflammatory properties ), 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 1/4 cup of fresh orange juice. Place everything in a blender and sprinkle a dash of salt in the blender. Blend on high for 30 seconds or until smooth. Pour into Popsicle molds and freeze for 6 hours.

Today's Garden Pictures

Today while sitting out on my front porch with my son, I decided to snap a few more photos of some of my garden plants. A few of them are of my humongous sage plant. Sage tastes great in potato dishes. the other photos are of my pink Rugosa rose bush and my barberry bush.
My sage bush in bloom. The butterflies and bees love it!

My Pink Rugosa Rose bush

My Barberry bush in bloom. This will later get pretty but not edible berries on it.

My Sage Bush.

Melon-Basil Pops

Summertime popsicles are very easy to make at home. They're also a lot healthier, because your not consuming all the artificial sweeteners that go into the store bought pops.

This recipe will include 4 cups of melon cubes (which contain potassium) with 1/4 cup of vitamin K-packed chopped fresh basil and 1/2 cup of organic frozen lemonade concentrate.

Combine the fruit, herb, lemonade concentrate and a dash of salt in a blender. Place on high for 30 seconds or until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for 6 hours.

My First Rose Blooms

Finally! My rose bushes are starting to bloom. The photos of the pink roses are from a huge old fashioned shrub rose I purchased and planted a few years back. This bush was small when I first bought it, and It's now huge. The bush is as tall as me and blooms profusely right through fall. It's absolutely stunning, and grows so many roses all at once. As soon as the old ones start to die back, new ones immediately replace them. This is one of my favorite rose bushes. I loved it so much I went and bought a white rose bush just like it last year.

Inspirational Quote

Inner freedom is not guided by our efforts; it comes from seeing what is true.