RUG HOOKING BLOG

About Me

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I'm a mother of four grandmother of seven and great grandmother of three. I live with my husband in the house that we built with the help of my brothers and will have been married for 57 years this February.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

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Today is a rainy Sunday. We went out to our favorite family restaurant for breakfast and now I have free time to post.

The last of the visitors have left and are on their way back home. It was so nice seeing them again.
I have had some expected visitors and some unexpected visitors as well. All were welcome. We had a great time and the house came to life for over a week which was very nice. Now, all is quiet again.

Warning. This post is photo heavy. Here are some photos of our visitors.


My husband's nephew and his wife from Quebec. Missing is his brother from Montreal. He went out when the photo was taken.


My brother and his wife from another part of Quebec stopped in on their way up to our home town.  This photo is out of focus. That's little old me on the right.


My daughter Christine and the boys relaxing on the swing. They have grown so much



Of course, the kitty must be included in the photos.


The grandkids were feeding oatmeal to wild ducks. The ducks were pretty tame.
We went to the lake at my other daughter and son in law's cottage and had a relaxing day but I didn't take many photos. It was a cloudy day so we stayed mostly inside.  The next day we went out on the lake and I found out I was getting out of breath. I need to start walking again or go to the public indoor pool. Weeding is too stationary...


To keep the boys busy, I got them to pound nails in the deck boards. There was a frenzy of pounding.  They had a great time and felt good about fixing my old deck. One of the boys found out that the little hammer had a neat screwdriver in the hollow handle.



I read these books that some of my friends lent me. Vatican has 823 pages and Piercing The Darkness has 441. Vatican by Malachi Martin was very eye-opening. I enjoyed reading both.



I harvested over 20 pounds of beets and filled 2 large pots to make beet pickles.


I never froze beet greens before but thought I would give it a try this year.


In all I made 18 pints of beet pickles. I don't have a single beet left in my garden.


I made 7 + jars of Rhubarb Pineapple Strawberry jam. It uses strawberry Jell-o which doesn't have strawberry in it so I can eat it. The extra went in the fridge. I only use a tiny bit on my toasts so this will last me a long time except if George gets into it.


I harvested a whole bunch of Basil and made 7 containers of Pesto base with olive oil for the freezer. When I need pesto, I just thaw the base and add the other ingredients. So yummy... I still have a tons of basil in the garden.


I've been harvesting all my cabbages, broccoli and cauliflowers and froze some.  They all grew so large this year with all the rain we had. Also, I froze green and yellow beans.  My freezer is full and I cleaned out the garden where the veggies were harvested. I still have kale, broccoli and brussel sprouts left in that garden.


And now for those who love flowers, here is fragrant Debbie Oriental Lily. Oriental Lilies are more fragrant in the evening I find.


This one was just starting to bloom. It's called Muscadet Oriental Lily, also fragrant.


Just starting to bloom is fragrant Dizzy Oriental Lily.

This is fragrant Golden Stargazer


And not to be outdone is fragrant Pretty Woman Oriental Lilies.


This is Bombshell Hydrangea which is getting crowded by daylilies.


Here is the culprit Daylily called Decatur Cherry. They are so pretty. I think they are one of my favorites Daylilies


This is one of the Fire Light Hydrangea that the deers ate some of the buds. I'm glad that they didn't eat all the buds. It's starting to change color already and will turn to pomegranate-red in late summer. Please don't look at the weeds in my lawn. Bad Creeping Charlie has taken over.


I started the taller red Impatients from seeds and our friendly plant nurseryman gave me a whole tray of mixed shorter Impatients this spring.


This is an old Houldini Clematis that has been having difficulty because the trellis on which it was climbing was taken down to work on the chimney last Fall. Unfortunately, it started to grow with no support and is folded in two on itself. I hope it will do better next year. It's a very tall climber.


I love these happy Rudbeckia. They add a bit of sunshine in the garden.


My only Lavatera that survived from starting seeds indoors. Next year, I'll plant directly outdoors. They dislike being transplanted.

Thanks for staying to the end. I enjoy your comments.
Have a safe rest of summer everyone.
Hugs, Julia



18 comments:

  1. You are like the Energizer bunny. My, you are productive!
    I am so impressed you know the names of all your Oriental lilies. They are beautiful!
    Thanks for all the pictures. So nice you had so much family time. Making memories :)

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  2. That looks like a truly wonderful time.
    Loving your garden, and your productivity. The spikes of our oriental lilies are just emerging. If a late and hard frost doesn't take them I hope to have displays nearly as lovely as yours.

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  3. Looks like wonderful company. You will eat well this winter with your well stocked freezer and pantry. Loved the pictures of your flowers your yard must smell heavenly
    cathy

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  4. I love all the photos and it's so good to see you in there too! Those grandsons of yours certainly have grown...I remember when they were born! You are a busy bee this time of year. Those beets look like red jewels and I'm betting they are super tasty too. My lilies are about done these days and I can tell Fall is on it's way, even though we're getting hot and humid right now. We had our share of visitors too and the house was way too quiet when they all left. I do have family planning on coming in the Fall which is when our weather is best so I have that to look forward too. Have a good week and enjoy your beautiful gardens!

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  5. How great to have family visiting. I use to take the stamen from one lily and brush it on another one and the following year a new color of lily would bloom. I had fun doing that. Janice

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  6. Oh my, you have been quite busy with your garden!! Those jars of pickled beets make my mouth water! Do you ever make pickled eggs with them? They are some of my favorites! I would be embarrassed to have you see my garden right now...the weeds have taken over.

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  7. You have such a beautiful family! Gatherings are always enjoyed! :-)
    All of that canning and freezing is giving me ideas for my next garden...sure would be nice to enjoy that summer freshness when it is winter! :-)
    Thank you for more flower pics....I have the Fire Light Hydrangea in my Pinterest....and look forward to adding that to my garden next year too!

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  8. You are amazing! You are good at putting food by. I am not so good at it. My jam turned out like glue, but now I think I get it (understand) and next time, it will be good.
    I love your garden. That is such a cute photo of you and your brother.

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  9. Hi,
    Fantastic Julia! What a great harvest. I have my onions drying, 104 onions. YAY!
    Only 18 garlic this season. I lost all of the German Red garlic in the -50 degree winter days before we had snow.
    And today I am going to finish freezing my beans.
    Thank you for posting the flower photos. Beautiful!

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  10. Such a beautiful family. It sounds like it was a lovely time.

    I need your basil pesto recipe. I have so mug basil. I love seeing all your canning projects.

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    1. I emailed you the recipe. I hope you enjoy eating pesto as much as me.

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  11. Lovely to see your visitors.

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  12. You're such a good gardener, Julia!

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  13. I love the color of beets. Ever have beet hummus?

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  14. Hi Julia,
    WOW!!! You certainly are one BUSY LADY!!! So nice to have a houseful of visitors, but I'm sure it is nice to get back to normal!! The boys really have grown up and I'm sure they were good helpers!!! Boys and tools just go together!!
    All of your garden goods look AMAZING and how nice to be able to enjoy the bounty for those cold months!! I'm sure it is all delicious and wish you had a "scratch and taste" button!! Your flowers are BEAUTIFUL and for someone like me with NO GREEN THUMB, they are a joy to see!!!
    Glad you are doing some reading and hope you are able to hook as well!!! We all need that time for renewal, don't we?
    Have a good week, my friend!
    Heart Hugs~
    Julie xo

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  15. I love the world you build and share:) Loved seeing the photo of you! Such a light:) Loved seeing the beets and canning and all the work of your hands. Beautiful the way you tend and care and store away. And those lilies - ours are long spent. So good to see all the smiling faces in your garden still:)

    Big joy to you as you live so fully your life:)
    The warmest of hugs,
    Jennifer

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  16. It's always so lovely to see you in pictures!!! A rare occurence. How great to have visitors!I am so impressed with your harvesting and production and storage of your harvest! That's super impressive! The basil idea is a very good one. I have just boiled up a load of pears with honey that I picked when out walking yesterday. I want to put it in the freezer but it is pretty full! Definitely need to do some clearing out!!! It's already got rhubarb and old apple and pear in it too as well as my home grown courgettes and beans! Ooops, need to eat some!!!

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  17. Loved the photos of family and especially the flowers. I'm a flower lover but live in extreme heat in Phoenix and no water it's difficult to grow flowers that will last the summer.

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