Check Your Annabelle Hydrangeas

 

My Annabelle hydrangeas have been growing, but I started noticing these weirdly formed leafy clumps, as if they were stuck together. I just figured they would open later.

And then I saw a gardener on Instagram explaining what these are.

If you carefully peel open the stuck together leaves, you will find this:

A nasty little caterpillar worm that is using this to lay eggs.

Not good.

The gardener explained that if you want the bush to bloom properly, you'll have to open these leafy clusters and remove the caterpillar and nest.

Gross.

It looks like I'll have a gardening job to do this weekend!

Check your hydrangeas, gardeners! I hear this mothy infestation is bad this year.

Summer Salad

 

Summer salad season is officially here. Yay! I love a good salad, sometimes as a side dish, and sometimes as the main.

I made this salad for Memorial Day, and it was so good. Simple, but packed with protein and fiber.

Protein and fiber. Protein and fiber. It seems that's all we hear from nutritionists and diet coaches. Apparently, we don't get enough of both, and it's best when the two are combined together. That's what makes this salad a winner.

Chickpea and Quinoa Salad

1/2 c. quinoa, rinsed and cooked according to directions

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Grape tomatoes, cut in half (about 1/2 c.)

Cucumber, chopped (about 1/2 c.)

Small Red onion, chopped

14/-1/3 c. Garlic Expressions dressing, or your favorite oil-based dressing or marinade

Chop all vegetables, add to bowl, and add chickpeas. After quinoa has cooked, let it cool to room temp. Add to bowl, then top it all with dressing and toss. Refrigerate for several hours until ready to serve.

Optional add ins: Kalamata olives, red pepper, artichoke hearts. Top with favorite cheese before serving, such as feta or freshly grated parmesan.

We paired this with grilled turkey burgers. So good!

Memorial Day is the kickoff to summer. We plan on having lots of meals out on the deck to enjoy the season.

Smiles and sunshine!

A Rose or a Poppy?

 

I needed a sympathy card, and this painted flower was on my craft table. My first thought was "Oh, a poppy for Memorial Day." But I think it's actually  a rose. Painted in red, it looks like it could be either one.

I paired it with a Penny Black leafy layer die in white, and a stenciled and stamped (Gina K)  background.

This is one of my favorite color combos for spring and summer cards...aqua, red, and sage green. Fresh.

Happy Tuesday (that feels like a Monday) !

Ed's Epic Biking Adventure

 

Every summer, my husband likes to plan one big biking adventure. One year, it was from the east coast to the west coast...of Michigan. 

This year, he wanted to bike from southern Ohio to northern Ohio. Cincinnati to Cleveland. He saw a lot of interesting things on his four day journey.

Small town curiosities...

...and big city sights.

Holmes county was beautiful, he said. Lots of rolling hills and of course, Amish.

It's not every day you get to pass a horse-drawn buggy!

He biked through the Cuyahoga River Valley and saw lots of flora and fauna.

In total, he biked 325 miles in four days. Impressive!

And while Ed biked, I worked in the garden. The sun finally made an appearance, and it has been very mild weather. There's more to get in the ground today.

Hope your Memorial Day weekend has been memorable!

Innies and Outies

 

Still making birthday cards! This one uses a birthday cake turnabout stamp and die set from Concord and 9th. I paired it with some sentiments from Penny Black that seemed perfect for a cake card.

Penny Black has some really great sentiment sets that work well for the outside of a card as well as the inside.

If you are like me, you often finish the front of the card and tell yourself "I'll put something inside later." And then, when you need to send that card, it seems like such a bother to get out stamps and ink and add the inside greetings.

I found a way around that.

I cut a bunch of scrappy white papers that were on my table to a 3 1/5 by 5 inch size. And then, with Versafine Onyx ink, I stamped a bunch of my favorite sentiments on the panels, some in portrait mode, others in landscape mode.

Now, I have about two or three dozen "innies" on hand, and can quickly glue one into an assembled card for the occasion.

Piece of cake! 

Deer Strategy

 

My back yard shade garden has always given me problems.

For starters, there is a large maple tree with roots that make it hard to dig and plant around.

And then there are the deer, who tend to eat even those plants labeled as "deer-resistant".

To get around the root issue, I've decided to put a lot of pots in the garden of various heights and sizes. A lot of these pots were left by the previous homeowner after the move eight years ago. I moved them back here and added fresh potting soil, then found some begonias that will work in shade.

And even though begonias tend to be "deer-resistant", I'm not taking any chances.

Deer tend to avoid plants that are either 1.) smelly, 2.) fuzzy and 3.) toxic.

I have a TON of garlic chives growing in my herb garden. I decided to dig out clumps and add them to my potted flowers in the hopes that the smell will keep the deer away.

Fingers crossed! I will report back if this works this growing season!

Hooray! It's Monday!

Happy Monday, café friends!

A fresh new week. What's on your agenda?

For starters, I need to get to the post office today and mail some cards.

I made a few more birthday cards in some fun party colors using Triple Step Hooray stamps from Concord and 9th.  These were easy to stamp because I chose to alter only one color for each card. Blue and green repeated, then added either yellow, pink or orange.

Simple, colorful cards great for kids' birthdays.

The other things on my agenda this week:

*writing

*gardening

*practicing my dulcimer and penny whistle

*prepping for an upcoming neighborhood garage sale.

I haven't participated in a garage sale for a few years. We still have some items in storage that need to get to new homes. Our old dining room table and chairs, for starters. A few pieces left from our Moms. I'm also going through every closet and cupboard in the house and getting brutal. Lots of old "I might need that one day" items, from crafts to books to candles. I may post a few crafty things here to give you first dibs. 

Spring cleaning always feels cathartic. 

Can you believe Memorial Day weekend is fast approaching?! Any plans?