Read the Instructions...

Yesterday, I received a suprise phone call from a dear friend of mine. I mentioned that Derek and I planned to plant our first garden later that afternoon. Her words of advise were "follow the planting instructions." Well, I kind of did, but not all the way. I tried to leave ample space between the tomato plants, and rows of various vegetables, but used more seeds than stated on the seed packages, so we shall see.

My mother and father-in-law helped us plant, so I followed their lead. I made a lovely plan-o-gram of our garden for my own record, but here's the rundown:

*10 tomato plants consisting of varieties including Celebrity, Juliet, Porter, and Improved Porter

*1 large row of onions

*1 large row of okra

*4 pepper plants consisting of sweet yellow and red bell pepper, orange bell pepper, and moderate bell pepper

*1 large row of french fillet green beans

*9 mounds for squash and zucchini consisting 2 different varieties of yellow squash (we both love squash...)

*1 row of new potatoes

In addition, I planed strawberries in large planters 2 weeks ago, but no signs of life thus far. Stay tuned!

It's the Small Things in Life...

What a beautiful Spring day it is in Fort Worth. My animals and I have a routine when I come home from work. We all walk to the barn together (including Scout the horse) who walks from wherever he is in the pasture to follow me to the barn. Clearly, this conditioned response is directly correlated to supper time, but, I still cherish my few minutes with 1 horse and 3 sweet barn kitties every evening.

This evening I was able to capture a rare photo op with all 3 kitties actually posed and looking at the camera. Enjoy Spring while it lasts!

Updates about the garden to come soon....

Will the Garden Grow?

Since we've had a stint of incredibly warm weather for February, my fingers are crossed that Spring is right around the corner. Aside from the opportunity to ride more frequently, I'm extra excited because Derek and I have tilled the plot for our first garden!

I've discussed Gardening 101 with Derek's grandparents, and they've already provided lots of guidance ... and ... will hopefully be available for some on sight consultation when we plant.

This weekend Derek tilled the plot for the second time AND we bought all of our seeds. The only thing I'm missing is tomato plants.

Anyone have any suggestions for items I may have overlooked that grow well in the North Texas summers?

Valentine's Creativity

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today was a regular Monday, but I left work on time today in order to get a ride in before Derek got home from work. Derek had a really funny card for me and a tasteful bouquet of flowers when he walked in the door, so that was a sweet surprise.

So, the main point of my post today is to share photos of the incredibly cute and creative "Heart Day" tree my mom created. She purchased all the items at Michael's and turned a somewhat drab (sorry mom) porch decoration into a cheerful celebration of today's 'holiday'. Two thumbs up for creativity, mom.





I know it's hard to tell in the photos, the square items are retro Valentine cards mounted on sparkly red backgrounds.

Please excuse the poor photo quality, I resorted to my cell phone camera for these photos...

The Island

I began the new year by reading a fantastic novel that came highly recommended by my mom. I am in process to catch up on 'reading for fun' until grad school resumes on January 22.

The Island, by Victoria Hislop, is an incredible novel. I devoured the novel over a 3 day window and didn't want to stop reading. The story follows the life of a family that lives on Crete, in a village called Plaka. The town is located across the shore from an island called Spinalonga (which was once a Venetian strong hold with a fort, and shadow of a village still there today). Spinalonga was an active leper colony for almost a 100 year span up until the late 1950's. People afflicted with the disease were brought to the island from all of Crete and even mainland Greece, including Athenians.

The characters in the book are captivating, and the author does a fantastic job to get the reader emotionally involved from the first chapter.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!! And, Happy Rose Bowl Day to the TCU Frogs. We are finally able to use our flag pole with the TCU flag that Derek gave me for Christmas!

New Discoveries

One of the fun things about being new home owners is discoveries you make during the first few months. Some are fun, some not so much. My mom helped me plant some pansies recently, and while working in the yard identified a 'random' bush (actually 3 random bushes). The bushes in question are indeed pomegranate plants. It's been really fun to watch them grow, and since I have never seen a pomegranate bush I thought I'd document the stages of growth. I checked at the store this weekend and pomegranates are selling for about $3.75 a piece - a bit over priced for a fruit that most people use for decoration. :)

Side note, I actually like to eat the seeds so I'm excited about this!