Picked a Bouquet of Flowers 4 U

Hi everyone...hope your day was beautiful and full of little surprises along the way. I picked a bouquet of flowers for you all..........

Here it is, zennias, daisies and some small sunflowers oh and some lavendar to add a little splash of purple....so pretty isn't it??? For some reason I was not bringing the flowers in the house that much. Just enjoying them outside I guess. As you can see, the sun is shining....it was positively a beautiful day.

In this picture is a close up of the flowers.

Here is a picture of my hibiscus. The plant is about 4 years old now. I paid $1.50 for it at Walmart....it sure is a survivor. It seems to really like where it is growing. I my prune it down this year, which is something I have never done before, I think it might need it now.

In these next two pictures is a funny little monarch that fluttered around on my zennias, all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I thought that was quite an exciting thing...it must of loved those zennias. So, I decided to snap a few pictures of him or her.

Another picture on a different flower....I think he or she was just enjoying the sun and the smell of the flowers. I was just enjoying snapping pictures. I think when I can get more pictures made up free at Archivers, I will have these made and then frame them. I am also thinking of selling a few pictures in my Etsy store. Maybe a 5X7 for $5.00. Still thinking on that one, we'll see.

And........here again is my volunteer sunflowers. It has been fun watching them grow and watching the bees do their thing. I just could not get enough of these flowers...probably I will not see them grow like this again. I think they did very well volunteering themselves to grow in my garden. God is so good and He knows just what we need to make us smile. I hope the neighbors and passer-byers enjoyed them also.

Another shot of my fountain. I have planted some white, yellow and burgandy mums in urns and set them out in different places. The white mum is in front of the fountain....pretty isn't it?

Well, I guess this is the final white rose of the season....(sad face) I shall miss my roses....they were pretty this year, but I don't think it was a very good year for them. I have seen years when they went crazy with blooms, this year not so much.

And last but not least....my wonderful apple tree made some wonderful apples and here is one of those pies. I found a really neat recipe this weekend for apple pie. The base of the pie is a pancake. Heat the pan up in the oven, make a pancake batter and pour it into the pan, roll it around to cover the sides and stick back in the oven to bake a bit. Then add your apples and then I topped the apples with a crumble of butter, sugar and flour and spread it around. Stick it in the oven till browned on top. OH MY GOODNESS....then topped with whipped cream....that was goodness on a spoon, my taste buds were a dancing!!! (Happy, happy face)

Well, time to close as it is getting late and I need to get some sleep....this next week will be busy as we are having company from Chicago for the weekend. The flyer in the newspaper from Festival food says the Burgandy Spoon Roasts are on sale this week. Sooooo I think I shall make Roast Beef Sandwiches, chips, potatoe salad, coleslaw, relish tray and APPLE PE of course.

You all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!! Cheers ~ Louise

PS....an update on my garage sale...this past weekend, I made $8 for the three days. Weather was too nice, plus someone stole my "garage sale" sign and I had competition with Octoberfest. So not such a good sale. Depending on the weather I shall do another one as long as the stuff is set up....you just never know, the next one could be a bountiful day and I could unload some more stuff!!!!

Tomato Zucchini Tart and New Pots'n Pans

 Hi Everyone.....how's your day going?? I thought it was time to change my blog header. That is a picture of my "column" Apple tree. It's been growing for years and years. This is the first year that it was covered with blossoms, hope that is a good sign that I will have lots of apples this year. I must spray the tree this time around. I have gotten some apples but they were always buggy and the birds and squirrles got the apples before this human could. So, hopefully this year we all will be happy.

So in the above picture you see my tart in the making. I used fillio sheets, about 5-6 sheets, sprayed each sheet and laid them on each other, criss-crossing them. You can use your favorite pie crust or a puff pastry also.  The filling is anything you would like, I used Ricotta cheese, one egg and Mozzarella cheese, (you can use goat cheese, parmisian, garlic, lemon zest or herbs for seasoning. I used chopped chives from the garden.

 I then layered the pie with green and yellow zucchini, red onion (if you are not an onion fan, omit) and sliced tomatos alternating. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs or basil and parmasian cheese.

 Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. One good tip, lay the tomatoes on a paper towel to soak up the juices so it won't be so juicy in the pie. You can see in this picture, the tomato juice laying on the vegies. It didn't hurt the taste though. It was really good and I will make this again, for sure. Don't think it is carrying a whole lot of calories according to a few other recipes I have found. Another recipe I have, "zucchini and ricotta galette" is on the list to try.

Here you see my NEW set of stainless steel (made in China) pots 'n pans I just received via UPS. I guess this would be my 5th set of pots 'n pans since we have been married (40 years - yikes, where did that time go.)

Anyways, I got the set through "Silkies" a nylon place that I have been a member of, for eons, I want to get out of the membership, but have to spend my points.........I had 55 points, these pots 'n pans were 47 points leaving me with 8 more points then I can cancel my membership. A person can use just so many pairs of nylons, knee-his and socks. I don't wear nylons much anymore so I do have a well established inventory of nylons and knee-hi's now. Time to cancel and save some money. The pots 'n pans only cost me $12 for postage and shipping.........but it is hard to tell how much I spent on nylons, knee-hi's and socks over the years??!!??!!

Well, I worked on my water fountain last night for about 5 hours.....let's just say, it is coming along fine. I am very sore today, my feet and fingers were cramping up last night from all that heavy lifting, but I am better today. Ready for another round today. Which reminds me, I must close this blog for today as I need to get ready to go to the store and get JP his prunes. So you all take care and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh. Cheers ~ Louise

Have a great Memorial Week-end and remember those that died that you could live and enjoy your freedoms.