Summer colors

pretty pink hydrangeas

white hydrangeas

green grapes

purple lavender

green plums

and red tomatoes.

The first two tomatoes of the year! No worries, the remaining tomatoes are much less tattered. Must have been all those storms this spring?

so pretty.

Happy four-day weekend

We're in full vacation mode. And lovin' it.

Mom and Dad and Caitlyn and Grandma Katy are all here visiting. The weather is great. We're on vacation from work. And most importantly, we're having fun.

Today we headed to Scotty's for lunch. It's a long-standing drive-in in Bismarck. It was delicious, as usual. I love the vintage-ness of it.

My yard continues to produce some great flowers - here's a selection of the blooms this week.

Mandevilla, above

Clematis

Delphinium - from Grandma Clarice - thank you!

Hello summer

Yesterday we spent time in the yard and on the river.

Today Corey is spending time on the golf course and I'm spending time painting and sewing (and of course, blogging).

Here is our Saturday in photos ...

Pretty green fern.

Peony. Still so beautiful.

A sunny Saturday afternoon spent floating in Marina Bay, in Mandan, ND.

Having a boat (or in our case, knowing someone with a boat) is fabulous.

Having a cold beverage is fabulous too.

Having friends is fun. At one point, these folks had 10 boats tied together.

Such a great day.

Pretty green colors

My chive plant bush is getting ready to bloom. I know I'm supposed to cut the flowers off if I don't want chives overrunning my garden, but they look too pretty to chop off. The combination of the greens and pink/purple is surprisingly lovely.

When I moved into this house, I planted a little plum tree. For the past four years, I've been wishin' for plums. This is the first year my plum tree is growing what look like the beginnings of plums. Now if only the birds will leave them alone, we might have plums this summer. I'll be sure to update my plum status again soon.

My grandma gave me a whole stack of hand-me-down canvasses, with the deal that I paint her one. So here it is - in the works. I'm making it for my grandparent's cantina (fancy garage on the river). I think it will eventually have the look of turquoise ocean meets sky. I sprinkled Kosher salt on the wet paint to give it some texture. And hey, it's supposed to have the "beachy" look, so why not add some salt?!

I've painted two layers of color so far. I think I'll add one more before making it look like something.