Sandcastle in Truro

The sandcastle/moat that I made in Truro back in September.

All pics from the weekend in Truro and Provincetown are here.

Flower Window

In an effort to declutter I have decided to take some pics of old projects that are getting grungy and taking up too much space in my life.  I made this 3-D cardboard piece many years ago (in the 90s) after a visit to Siena, Italy.  It is a combination of cardboard, paper painted with pen and ink and tin foil.  It was inspired by a visit to the cathedral above.

Cookies in the Cookie Jar

My favorite cookies . . . Chocolate Mint Cookies.   Pretty easy to make and they taste like the Girl Scout Thin Mints.  The beautiful cookie jar was made by Jeremy Ayers in Burlington, VT, a gift from my brother.

Tool Box Redesign

I spray painted and decorated an old dingy toolbox, filled it with some basic tools and gave it to my brother as a birthday gift.

July 4th 2009

We headed down to the Westport, MA and Providence, RI area for the 4th of July.  There happened to be a Waterfire Festival downtown Providence.

We enjoyed the lighting of the bonfires and then rushed to the waterfront to catch the fireworks.  As you can see we found a somewhat gritty location, but it was a great show.

Chowder at Farnhams

In our never ending search for the perfect chowder we made our first visit to Farnham’s in Essex.  We used the chowder rating scale that we developed with some friends.  Jay gave the chowder an 8.0 and my rating was a 7.8.

Bird Sighting

in Winchester Center.  I have no idea what kind of bird this is, but I liked how the water looked swirling around it.

Interplanting

This year we are having better luck with our cucumbers.  We made 4 mounds and planted the seedlings on the top of each mound, hoping the mound will retain more moisture.  Since there was a clear space between the mounds I was able to squeeze in some onions in the cross between the mounds.  I have read that onions keep pests away, so between the onions and the mounds we are determined to finally have a decent cucumber crop this year.  We have also mulched with sea grass to suppress weeds and retain moisture.  All seems to be going well so far.

Sunflower Seed

A new sunflower seedling in our vegetable garden with the seed still on top.

Update: Birds or Chipmunks kept eating my sunflower seedlings.  After several failed attempts I cut up toilet paper rolls to 3 inches in length and put them around the seedlings once they sprouted.  This seems to have saved some, but not all my sunflowers.  The critters were able to get to a few despite the protection.

Pick Your Own

These strawberries and sugar snap peas were the first pick your own fruits and veggies from our CSA Farm last weekend.