vacation from the garden

Boy, am I looking forward to get back in my garden!

I've spent the past week in the mountains of Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. With my two sisters and our families we had an amazing adventure. At Yellowstone, we saw herds of 2000+ bison with newborn calves, we wandered through alpine flower fields in a July hailstorm (altitude 11,000 feet), we watched coyotes hunting, grizzly bears mating and black bear cubs loping after their mothers. We stayed at a remote cabin in a Montana valley - a great location to catch up with family. Then we visited my sister's new home (and her garden) in Bozeman MT.

Soon I hope to post photos of my sisters garden. Soon also, I hope to get on a plane out of Salt Lake City back to Boston. I've been sad to hear about crash of the plane in SF. Our flight has been delayed 3 hours, since our plane was coming from SF and the airport is closed. They are finding another plane for us. I look forward to getting home to Skippy. Also, to seeing my garden after a week away.

summer on the water

Fireworks, thunderstorms and shark warnings... Its summer. I've been on vacation this week. Today, we were fishing on Cape Cod Bay on "the Roxy" from Rock Harbor, Orleans MA. It was a wonderful day with awesome fishing. Beautiful sun and water. The catch for the boat was 11 bluefish (8 kept) and 2 striped bass.

We grilled a super fresh filet of bass this evening with new summer garden produce: the first cucumbers and zucchini squashes, fresh grated horseradish, ripe Meyer lemon, new garlic. My mom and I made roast potato salad with the first potatoes of the season, and coleslaw with garden napa and carrots.

Can't beat it!

vacation

We had a fantastic weekend at the Inn at Crotched Mountain in Francestown NH. It was a relaxing weekend - we hiked and dined. They have a "dog-friendly" inn - Skippy loved it too. He ran in the big fields and swam in the brook. What fun!

They have a lovely backyard with several apple trees, a peach tree, and a nice vegetable garden.

Here are photos of the Inn and our hike nearby: Vacation slideshow

Here are photos of their garden: The Inn's garden slideshow. I look forward to a return visit in mid summer!

vacation wildflowers

I've been away the past week. Any guesses where from the local wildflowers?








I suppose you can't really tell where I was from the wildflowers, so here's a scenic photo:



This may have been one of the cooler locations around the Northern hemisphere this past week. Even so, it was warm here. The glaciers are suffering from the heat.

vacation

We've been on vacation. Nothing like a couple days in the back woods of the White Mountains, NH! This is Dry River viewed from our hike up the Dry River Trail heading toward the south side of Mount Washington and the presidential range - near Crawford Notch. We only hiked a few miles on the trail. But we did a lot of swimming - especially Skippy. A true water dog!

Back to the vegetable garden tomorrow.

Florida souveniers

Nothing like fresh fruits and veggies from a warm climate - in the middle of winter. I picked these up on my last day on vacation in Florida and carried the box on the plane. Tonight, we squeezed a key lime on the tomato with our salad. Yummy!

Tomatoes $2/5. Key limes $2/7. Giant avocado $1.79. Can't beat it for tasty veggies!

the gardener is on vacation...

I'm visiting my parents in southern Florida. Talk about perfect weather!! I'm just going to post a bunch of photos.



This is my Florida breakfast. A grapefruit from the backyard and bread made with frozen zucchini and summer squash from my garden. Yummy.




The grapefruit and oranges are heavy on the trees and the trees are in full bloom - at the same time! But I missed avocado season. The avocado trees are just starting to bloom now. I've never seen an avocado blossom before. Quite small. The bees are all over them.

These are avocado flowers:

vacation

We've been up in the mountains on vacation. My photos of waterfalls and wildflowers are at Skippy's Backyard.

I wonder what I will find in the garden after being away?

vacation

We're on vacation this week. I wonder what my garden will look like when I return. Out of control zucchinis? Ripe tomatoes? Overgrown weeds?

my sister's garden in southern california

Aahhhh.... Warm weather! I've been visiting my sister near Santa Barbara, California. She has a lovely garden with lots of pots, containers and ornaments. Many types of plants that I am not familiar with. This is a wonderful vacation from the New England snow!

More photos of the California flowers and some from our boat trip out to the beautiful Channel Islands are at Skippy's Backyard.

Vacation packing

We are leaving for a week in the Maine woods. I picked all the vegetables I could find in the garden, especially the ripe and partly ripe tomatoes. Lots of cukes, a few beans and lots of lettuce. I packed all this up and we brought it with us to the cabin.

Lactuca sativa

Cucumis sativus