Green and Thriving

With all this rain we've had, our garden is lush and thriving.  I believe we've had around 10 inches of rain since June 1....amazing.  My green beans are slowly climbing.  

I also planted a second bed of green beans this time since the last three years our green beans were eaten by deer or munch on by insects.  Keeping my fingers crossed for lots of fresh green beans later this summer.

And our garlic is actually looking great too!  I'm excited.....  

Of course a summer can't go by without lots of kale.  A mixture of red, dino and other varieties.

The regular basil is planted in the upper topsy-turvy planter......

and the bottom portion is planted with African basil.

Oh look, a bat house!!!  Yes my friends, we have a bat house in our garden thanks to Bike man!  It's rather high, but bats like to be higher than lower.  So far the mosquitoes haven't been too bad in our yard, so maybe the bat house is working.

Today was absolutely beautiful with sunny skies and 80 degree temperatures. Perfect for pulling weeds and hanging out wet laundry.  In fact, today is the longest day of the year.....and tomorrow is my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom Moo, love you.

Quiet Time

I just wanted some peace and quite tonight after work, so.....

 I headed down to the lake and sat on the dock with my feet in the cool water.  So refreshing, and yes, it was very quiet.  The only noise I heard were the dragon flies swooping around the water.

A beautiful and calm night.  This is just what I needed to feel normal.

Kickapoo Valley

What a special day.  After several years, I finally got the pleasure of meeting a blog friend from Southwest Wisconsin.  Ironically, I grew up in Southwest Wisconsin so this made it extra special for me.  I began reading  Knead....Weave.....Grow several years ago and immediately knew I would love the creative woman behind this blog.  Her quaint country home is nestled in the hills of what is known as the driftless area.  The famous Kickapoo River is very close-by and is known as a popular river for canoeing.

Across from the house is her lovely vineyard.

And here is my beautiful blog friend, Joanne!  I had such a wonderful visit and I was absolutely thrilled to meet her.  Joanne and I have similar interests including cooking, gardening, bicycling and loving the outdoors.  

I also got the chance to see Joanne's studio where she enjoys weaving rugs, wallhangings and special sewing projects.  Wow, I was so impressed.  I truly feel in love with her special quiet place.  I hope to visit Joanne again......maybe by bicycle next time.  Thank you so much Joanne......

The View

The view from the cemetery in Richland Center is amazingly beautiful.  Too bad I didn't have my good camera with me tonight on my evening walk.  The iPhone wasn't quite capturing the beauty, but this is the best I could do.  I'll try to return to the cemetery tomorrow night or Thursday night and see if I can capture that awesome view.

Please Move Over

It was really hard tonight when I wanted to start packing my suitcase.  Please move over Aiden, ok? I'll be headed to my parents house this week since my dad is having a surgical procedure and I want to be there for him and my mom.  Staying positive that everything will go fine.

Got out for my first bicycle ride today with Bike man.....yes, my first!  Was a good ride, but I really felt those small hills.  I have a lot of catching up to do on the bike, especially if we want to do another bicycle trip in August or September.  We'll see what happens......      

A Night to Grill

I put together a new grilled burger combination tonight.....a BBQ burger with onions, cheddar cheese and grilled morels, served with grilled seasoned asparagus. No hamburger buns so I toasted English muffins.  It's all yum my friends!

Abundance of Rain

Rain, rain and more rain.  Over 2 inches of rain fell last night, which caused havoc to many fields, roads, streams and low-level areas.  

Bike man and I went on a little drive early in the morning and headed north.  I was really surprised to see gushing streams in fields caused by excess rain that came down all night long.  We saw flooded farms, and many houses with standing water or pools in their yards.  The rain has finally settled down tonight, but more rain is expected after midnight.

I have to apologize for not blogging more often, but life has become busy, so realistically I will probably post once a week from now on until my crazy life settles down.  So, I was just thinking about vacation time.....what vacation I have to ask myself.  Too busy for a vacation.  That's pretty sad isn't it?  I hope things settle down soon because I hate it when life flies by and I can't even enjoy it.  Thanks everyone for still reading my blog.