Memorial Day weekend

We stayed home over the holiday weekend and worked around the house. Yes, all 3 days of it. It was pretty nice, but we worked hard!

Brick walkway along the driveway. What a project! About 120 bricks, two dozen bags of sand & gravel and viola! Pathway. Well, not to mention the 12+ hours it took us, but it was so worth it! We're still waiting on a good rain storm and another coating of sand, but it's done and it's so set in you can drive on it. Go Paul!

The driveway before:


And After! :)


Detail from the house looking down the driveway.


Of course an entry would not be complete without pictures of our growing things. The backyard!

Walking around side (garage) of house to the back - PLANTS


Patio plantings (zinnas & flat leaf parsley are slowly growing in the bed)


Garden growing quite nicely


Tomatoes! We have little tomatoes!

Beefstake


Patio


Roma


Heirloom yellow


We also have one called, "Mr. Stripy" (heirloom) it's growing a little slower

Squash - we have blooms!


Lettace (special kind from Paul's grandparents in Ohio)


Limes (inside) - they are growing like mad. We've got a key lime pie recipe ready!


More Northern Arizona pictures to come. They are still being uploaded (we've got over 550MB of pictures!)

Northern Arizona trip

We're back from our 5 day trip to Arizona. We started out by flying to Phoenix on the 18th and drove up to Sedona for our first night. Wow! Red rock country! It is an amazing site. I don't have pictures uploaded yet, but I plan to soon.

After Sedona we drove up to Flagstaff and used it as our base for the rest of the trip. It was HOT for May, but we had a great time. We spent one day at the Grand Canyon, one at Walnut Canyon and another around Sunset Crater.

Here's a couple of pictures:

Us at the Grand Canyon, Mather Point:


Beautiful California Condor & Ravens in flight (we saw 7 flying around the South Rim) The condor has a wingspan of 9-13 feet!


Car's thermo reading on our way to Phoenix to return home - 113 degrees - it did read up to 115.


Flagstaff, crossroads of the west.


More stories & pictures to come!

More planting in the backyard

More planting (of course!)

After a day of selling off old college/pre-marriage furniture at the neighborhood yard sale, we dedicated Sunday afternoon to planting. We decided to try shrub roses and balloon flowers in the recently made bed between the pathway and birdfeeder. The bricks aren't set in their final places, but we at least know the shape of the flowerbed...



"Knock-out rose" bud & new bloom



Balloon flower (one plant is lavender and the other is sentimental blue)


Looking from the garden & top of the pathway back towards the house (Paul plans to build a bench somewhere near here) We can't wait to add on to our patio area as well (to the right of the grill). Paul also wants to build a pergola over the entire patio area (with fans & lights). We haven't decided on the materials (brick? concete? wood?), but it is in the "master plan"


The garden is growing! The tomatoes are a little slow, but we planted basil around them... read that they chemically help one another (and smell SO good!) The carrots, spinach & lettuce seeds have come up nicely. The broccoli is growing quickly (and we're battling little green worms that love to feast on their leaves). The peppers have blooms (jalapeño, banana & green) and the squash is looking better. Can't WAIT to have some fresh veggies :)


On the patio we have tomato plants, more basil, rosemary, flat leaf (Italian) parsley, zinnas and other flowers.


Welcoming petunias out front.


The mailbox has got some new annuals - royal purple petunias and the burning bushes have finally put out new leaves... the azaleas are near their end of blooming, but at least the grass is looking greener. The next project will be to finish the brick walkway along the driveway...

Wilmington trip

A day at the beach - or 20 minutes at the beach :)

This past weekend we took a trip down to see our "neighbors" and their new house in Wilmington. What a glorious day it was! A little breeze, a lot of sunshine and the perfect temps! We spent the early afternoon helping them clear away some crazy overgrown ivy and checking out the new house. It is the cutest! It's close to the Masonboro Sound in the most cute community. The house has a front porch & swing, a screened in porch with fun lights (and a blue ceiling), an awesome hammock and a great big out building (powered!) We can not wait to visit again!

After lunch at Dockside - and watching lots and lots of boats, we took a sidetrip to see the ocean.

Wrightsville Beach, May 7, 2005 - Paul & Julie and Philip & Jennifer




Surfers & Seagull


Hang Ten?


The boys


The girls (can you tell it was SUNNY and WINDY?!)


"J [heart] P"


Ladybug on the beach and lots and lots and lots of crushed shells


Like all new homeowners, we spent a bit of the afternoon at Home Depot & Lowes! We helped them get a new dining room light, outside solar lights, a digital thermostat and install them all! The thermostat was a PAIN! Paul & Philip fought with it for a good 3 hours, all b/c the manual was WRONG! All the while, Jenn and I were painting the kitchen (freshly wallpaper-less)! By 1am, the painting, installing and lighting was done and we headed back to I-40 to drive home. The traffic was light and we made good time getting back home. We hope to do it all again soon!

Bird watching

Since Paul is out of town, I find myself doing odd things to pass the time each evening. Last night I sat at the back door with my camera trying to take pictures of the elusive indigo bunting. I got one, blurry again. He's a fast little character and knows when I'm watching.

I did get a pair of doves (very common in our backyard) along with some small black/brown birds (don't know what they are) and a pretty house finch (red).

Yes. I need a new hobby.

Bunting on feeder


Pair of Doves on the new, but not complete, pathway


Misc. birds on feeder

An afternoon in the backyard

Yesterday afternoon we had to water all the lovely plants and garden veggies, so I stayed outside and wasted some digital space. I took too many pictures (trying to perfect my "up-close-really-close" angle for flowers) while waiting for the birds to show up for their evening feeding.

We saw a NEW bird at the feeder this week - it was BRIGHT blue, but NOT a bluebird. After much watching of the new bird, taking pictures through the door at dusk and searching online - my dad answered - it's an "Indigo bunting - Passerina cyanea" They've got one too, down in Atlanta! They hadn't even seen one, so I thought it was pretty cool that we BOTH have the same new bird at the feeder.

Bird on the ground (blurry)

On the feeder (rear square "cake" feeder)


The garden got a nice watering and Paul saw the broccoli had collected some water, kinda pretty:




Indian Pinkie Hawthorn blooms -so dainty and hidden in the old growth:



Red dalihia - they are very regal next to the rosemary!


Fountain & panisies - the fountain adds a really soothing effect to the backyard