Happy July 4th!

Happy July 4th!

We hope you have a safe and fun holiday with family and friends!

Checking things off of lists

There is nothing better than checking something off of a list.

We stumbled onto a cowboy oil painting at Rerun Consignment in our favorite vendor's booth.  The painting was perfect for the kitchen and I loved the colors.  It was a beautifully painted canvas wrapped around cardboard!

Even though life was busy, it seemed like framing the painting before it was damaged was a good idea.

I took it to our new favorite frame shop, Candlewood Frame Shop. Once again, the experience was really wonderful.  First, they had a sale on their frames which allowed me to bring in a few extra items to take advantage of the discount.  Second, it was a delightful experience in picking out the frames and mats.  It can be really stressful to think about picking the "right" combination - perfectionist on overload.  However, I have only had good experiences and love the suggestions, often combinations or finishes that I would never consider.

So, in the end, I was able to frame the oil painting and that inspired me to frame the two western themed fruit labels we picked up in Oregon this spring.  I also had an Andrew Wyeth print that we framed.  The Wyeth print was part of a collection we picked up at a vintage store this winter.

Actually framing our purchases - check
Getting (most of) the framed art on the wall - check

The Wyeth print is still propped against a chair and I have a prairie photo we purchased in April that is also propped against a chair, so the list continues.

Plant geek: garden update

 Our garden is looking beautiful!  The recent rainfall has helped everything stay green.  The moisture has also caused the weeds to grow like crazy and we have been putting in a little extra time to try to pull weeds when the temperatures are a little cooler. 

I guess we always have plenty of "therapy" to keep us on track.  The best therapy is pulling a bucket of weeds - at least that is what I tell myself.  If you agree, we have plenty of "therapy" to go around (and extra gardening gloves).

 Our cucumbers are really taking off and because of my husband's diligence, they are growing up the fence like we had planned.  I am always amazed at the tendrils on a cucumber plant - beautiful and amazing how something in the natural world works so well.

 While this is a dragon fly, I want to joke that it is the same size as the mosquitoes in the yard.  One of the downfalls of all of the rain is the chiggers and mosquitoes...not fun!  I am trying a new insect repellant from LuLu and Max.  I am a big fan so far.

 We try to grow new things in the garden each year. This year's grand experiment is the tomatillo!  I am super excited to try to can some salsa verde.  I am doing some reading to make sure that I know what I am doing, but I am pretty sure that we'll just take it one day at a time and see how it works out.  The plant has set on some small fruit - a good sign.

I planted these on a whim and sort of forgot what I had planted.  They almost got yanked out of the ground when we thought it was a weed.  Thankfully, I put two and two together and remembered they were part of the actual garden plan.

 The plant also has some blossoms, so we must not be messing up too bad.

We also pulled a bunch of onions tonight.  We have some giants in the harvest.  My husband thinks we should enter them in the fair and I keep threatening to put him in open class.