Christine Lukasik

Tomato Tot

Yum!

Found and scanned a bunch of old photos this weekend. This is a funny shot - guess I was really proud of that tomato!

Flowers

We've been growing some nice flowers over here. These goofy brown-eyed Susans are _such_ troopers! They bloomed in early July sometime, and the same blooms look almost as fresh as they day they popped out. Might have to get some more of these.

flowers

We've been growing some nice flowers over here. These goofy brown-eyed Susans are _such_ troopers! They bloomed in early July sometime, and the same blooms look almost as fresh as they day they popped out. Might have to get some more of these.

They're doing it again...

With the hope of remaining in this house long enough to actually enjoy the fruits of our labor, we've begun the transformation of our yard/bank from booooring brown mulch:

To something slightly more appealing:

With some much needed help from Scott's dad - thanks superThom! - we planted Weeping cherry trees (double pink blossoms), pampas grass, pink pampas grass - can hardly wait till that blooms!, zebra grass, sasa dwarf bamboo (green and variegated), barberry bushes, eucalyptus, dahlias, lantanas (also known as polecat geraniums), a variety of lavenders, wonderful harlequin purple butterfly bushes, smoke grass, and, well, lots of other sun-loving stuff.

Next phase wil be putting in some bulbs (I think fall is the right time to plant them) for early spring color - likley a mix of crocus, hyacinth, daffodil and tulips.

So, here's hoping that this time next year we're still there, and enjoying the growth of all these super neat plants.

Meanwhile, here's some more before and after shots:

our life in pictures...

We've been a little busy (and a lot sore) over the last week or so.

First, reaaaally early last Sunday morning, we, um, liberated some free range bamboo from a nearby neighborhood.....a really fancy nearby neighborhood....then drove through said neighborhood past all the early morning joggers with all of it sticking out of the back of the jeep:

Then on Monday, we got this pile of slightly over 8 ton of rock delivered:

So that the back garden path could begin to look more like a path and less like a grassy mistake:

Then, because wheelbarrowing all that rock wasn't quite enough work, we got a dump truck load of mulch and fill dirt (the latter to even out the level of our entire side yard):

...and now are tearing up the side yard to install some walls and beds to create some sort of level and appealing entry to our back garden:

Sooooo. Who wants to help?

more holes, more plants, the start of a path!

Yet more landscaping work is being done...here's the latest picture

and just for context, here's the next most recent shot

and a picture of the beginning.

moss milkshakes!

Scott and I are trying to get some pretty major projects done around the house, so in case we have to, we're ready to put it on the market. Things like painting the entire interior of the house (though only a few years old the paint is trashed, staining, carpeting and screening in our large, 2 story deck to add living and safely enclosed cat lounging space, and potentially installing a 2000+ gallon pond/waterfall in the back yard to complete the landscaping plan. To that end, we've been spending lots of time at pond stores as wel as reading books on how to install/design your own pond. Yesterday afternoon, Scott stumbled upon this amusing, odd (yet useful) tidbit of information. From the Creative Homeowner Complete Guide to Water Gardens, instructions on how to transplant moss: Dig up a chunk of the moss (with some soil attached), take it inside and crumble it into a blender (!). Add equal amounts of water and buttermilk (!!) and process until completely blended. Add water, if required to acheive the consistency of a cream soup. Spread the moss 'shake' in the location where you want a new colony of moss to grow. Keep constantly moist until new moss is established.