Week 48

The Growing Season

Now I have a whole mess of different tomatoes and peppers in the garden. I'm not sure what some of them are...but in come cases, the shapes are already giving them away. In the first picture below, you can see a tomato taking on the short, pudgy, wrinkly shape of a brandywine. The following picture features the familiar elliptical shape of Roma tomatoes.




The morning glory is starting to climb its trellis in the foreground of this bed, while sunflowers and cucumbers take off behind it.


These squash leaves belong to the gremlin gourds, they are climbing the fence nicely. This was an idea I borrowed from Uncle Kevin.


Looking like El Jefe the jalepeno!


Several of the onions are starting to show some serious growth...can't for the life of me remember which are the sweet (yellow granex) vs. the storage (pumba) though.


The garden in some nice morning light.

Week 47: Gigantic Baby Saves World

....from an invasion of flying saucers!!!





This is what happens when the week picture gets taken while Mama is on call at the hospital...total anarchy! It should be noted that after the gigantic baby defended Earth from the flying saucer squash invasion, she then destroyed Earth herself in an attempt to get the week blocks.

As for the flying saucer squash, they are pretty much like any other summer squash. They are delicious and prolific in the garden....so if you're ever visiting east Tennessee you better remember to lock your car doors at night or you could end up with a flying saucer invasion!

Week 46: The Biltmore

So, after 7 years of living in east Tennessee we have finally decided to by season passes to The Biltmore Estate in Asheville. It is a beautiful estate with plenty of room to picnic, walk and enjoy the tranquility of nature. It doesn't hurt that they have a pretty sweet vineyard as well with wine tastings year round. (if you're ever visiting and interested in a wine tasting, tell us so we can take advantage of these season passes!)

Caroline's week picture is in front of the actual Biltmore house. You may be wondering how we got her to smile on a hot and sunny afternoon.....

....and here would be the answer. Unprompted by us, Lily hopped up to the driver's seat and did her best KISS impression to get Caroline to smile. I suppose we're fortunate that she didn't peel off down the front lawn of the estate!

The Flying Saucer has landed!

Although Caroline is not quite sure what to make of it....

Week 45

The Week 45 picture is from a brief trip to Knoxville to celebrate Emily's birthday. All 6 of us drove out on Sunday afternoon. Gran and Uncle Jonathan were good enough to keep an eye on all four kids while Emily and I enjoyed a night out for dinner and a movie to celebrate her 23rd birthday! On Monday, we spent some time at Gran's school where we actually took the week picture.





Are those matching outfits?....thanks Nana and Papa!

Area 51

This is only a temporary title for the garden this week in honor of the second vegetable to make an appearance this year....the elusive flying saucer squash! We're hoping that Caroline will approves of these so, in the event that they produce like most summer squash do, we'll save some serious money on baby food this summer.

Of course, the first vegetable to come in were the sugar snap peas, and they are delicious. A good number of them don't make it out of the garden after being picked. Even Caroline agreed with them after I steamed and mushed some up today.