Peeking into the Neighbors' Gardens!

Hi guys! Too hot to walk!? Not if you have a puppy in the house.



cool and shady beach lane

Mo and I walk three or four times a day, and a minimum of a half mile each time, according to my Walk My Dog app [I'm a bit dubious; it doesn't seem that far], so for July we might have walked about 40 miles. Each walk takes between 15 minutes and half an hour---I won't do the math but that's maybe 30 hours? It makes me hot, sweaty and tired just thinking about it. If I could remember to use the app for every walk, which I do not, MMDW will tell me a summary at the end of each month.

I love my doggy but this gets a smidge boring. So what we do as we meander through the neighborhood, is peek stealthily into everyone's gardens....

Lots to admire. Look at the immense 2o foot sunflowers!

 

 

 

The edges of this beach lane's sidewalks are so prettily planted in the margins of the old weathered fences.

Funny sidewalk ''volunteers"...

a tomato?

squash?

Pretty wildflowers...

Daylilies...masses of daylilies.

A LOT of black eyed susans. The seeds must have been very dispersed after Sandy.

The hurricane flood, almost two years ago now, and the very cold windy winter weather really damaged a lot of my area's gorgeous hydrangeas. It's been fun and interesting to see the new varieties that people are planting instead.

I love this new delicate lavender hydrangea.

 

 

 

 Mo likes the blue ones! Even if they too are turning pink in our ''wrong'' sandy soil.

 

 

 

 

 

This blue lace cap is amazing! I believe it has also now turned dark rose though.

It's hot at midday but this has been a fairly cool summer. These past few days have been blue skies and sea breezes and just about perfect. Like Kelley here in the comments, the late summer days make me a bit nostalgic and homesick. For years in mid-August I'd pack up the kids and head up to my family's home in Cape Cod. Usually we'd fly up, in the crummiest little planes! If we were lucky the pilots would fly low over the Cape for a stunning aerial view. (Unlucky could mean fogged in on Natucket!)

Today was such a Cape Cod day---I could just see myself there: a morning spent with my mom shopping in the wonderful boutiques and stores of the Cape, then an afternoon of sandcastle building at our little beach. Drinks on the deck at sunset, and maybe a lobster boil dinner---with a big extravagant steak for me, since I don't eat seafood. Maybe--ice cream at Lulu's? Some perfect things and ways should never change, I think sadly. But of course change happens, and those days are gone except in our hearts.

Does summer's beauty make you sad sometimes? Or it brings back fond memories to enjoy?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach

 

 

Farmers Market, Seven Dollars in my Pocket

 

Hi guys! Yep, my pockets ''were to let'' as the heroes say in old fashioned novels. But don't worry, I'm not going to inundate you with ads or requests for ,lol, donations! Just poor planning on my part, I forgot to detour to the local ATM before shopping. One drawback of an outdoor farmers market is that it's cash only.

So what should I BUY!? Swiss chard looks interesting.

Lots of beautiful mid-summer ''truck garden" produce, plus eggs and herbs and cheeses. I think these softball sized round zucchini would be excellent stuffed with quinoa or couscous. [How would I precook the little green spheres? Microwave?]

Many onions for my planned onion tart. Lori from Humble Quilts has shared her rustic tart crust with me for that project.

 

But to me, fresh tomatoes almost always win, they're such a luxury.

I bought a couple heirloom tomatoes and a very tasty though funny looking giant yellow squash.

Every summer I must make fried tomatoes at least once. It's a tradition, from my dad, through his Virginia-raised mother's background. Like ham and fried chicken, but yummier. In my childhood home, fried tomatoes were traditionally served with pork chops [and gravy!] and corn on the cob. I usually just have the tomatoes and corn, plus a salad or squash.

Recently my friend Mel had mentioned loving squash dipped in cornmeal and fried. I had to try that! And it is delicious. We decided the cornmeal would be great used for fried tomatoes too. After all, I now own a huge sack of cornmeal, what'll it be?

I mixed in some flour and paprika, dried onions, pepper and salt. The flour helps the crust stay on the tomato and not stick to the pan.

Fried, yes, fried---in olive oil instead of bacon grease like my mom did. She kept an old green crock in the fridge, with the Sunday morning bacon renderings collected. I wish I had this crock! Wonder if my brother saved it?

The tomatoes [and the giant maybe Delicata squash?]---were wonderful. Well worth my seven dollars and I even had a few dollars to spare for a few ears of corn.

Frugal Lizzy? I'll be, like, on all the frugal queen blog rolls. Or maybe not! It's grey today, a perfect beach hike day! I hope I find treasure...

love

lizzy

gone to the beach......

 

 

 

 

Blowsy Roses in a Cobalt Jug

Hi! The markets here have been selling what they call ''field roses"---such a sweet old-fashioned seaside summer flower.

The bunches are mixed colors and very inexpensive, about 5 or 6 dollars a dozen. And unlike fancy long-stemmed Valentines roses, these open up into tiny colorful cabbage-y blooms.

 

I love them in my big old cobalt Bennington jug.  It takes a lot of flowers to fill this guy, so I don't get to use it often.

 

 

They last a long time. I snipped the final buds and tucked them into a lavender Mason jar.

So pretty. And no, they have no scent. Too bad. I love them anyway.....

 

 

love

lizzy

gone to the beach