Deja vu summer

This summer is shaping up a lot like last summer:

1. we once again mulched the asparagus bed with more cocoa bean shells
2. and we're harvesting asparagus now (Mike made asparagus risotto today for our Monaco party tomorrow)
   
3. I'm not planning a garden this year, but I'm going to try to grow some herbs on the deck, if the raccoon will let me
4. the phoebe (or her daughter?) came back to build a nest on the cable next to the gutter; after a battle of wills where I tore down the nest every day for several weeks, and she rebuilt it every day for several weeks, I gave up; we'll have baby birds at the front door again this year
5. we're once again hosting a Grand Prix of Monaco (and Indy 500) party Sunday, but we are desperately hoping that there will NOT be a repeat of the devastating Hugo tornado

One difference this summer is that I can't really take a vacation...due to a mandatory vacation schedule dictated by my company for the remainder of the year, all but two of my remaining vacation days have to be used on company designated days around standard holidays, like the Friday before Memorial Day, the Thursday before the July 4th holiday, the Friday before Labor Day, etc. So I get some four day weekends, but no full weeks off until Thanksgiving. They claim this saves money, and if it saves some of our jobs, I'm not going to complain too much. (Plus, we're getting a lot done around the house this weekend.)

Catching up

Let's see what's been going on...

I went to a quilting class last weekend, and made a couple of practice blocks with Margaret J. Miller's AnglePlay method.



Spring stuck around for the weekend, so we spent some time cleaning out the garden and ditches. Are these found items trash or treasure? A faded Pepsi can, a golf ball, and an old, but broken, glass screw cap.



We cooked dinner on the grill again tonight (beer can chicken), and Mike tried a new chocolate mousse recipe. All in all, we seem to be able to feed ourselves OK.

Chocolate Asparagus

The asparagus bed is 16 years old now. A few of the original plants have died, but it still produces more than Mike can eat. (I don't eat it, but I'll grow, cook, and freeze it for Mike.)

We didn't really prepare the bed properly when we started, just turned the grass under with the tiller, so of course we've been fighting the weeds ever since. One of the mulches I really like is cocoa bean shells. They sell it in bags, and I bought the last 4 from the garden center yesterday. These bags were torn and leaking, and the shells were starting to clump together, so I got them for half price. Tonight I spread them in the asparagus patch, and the smell of chocolate is everywhere. They degrade very slowly, and are small enough to form a nice barrier around the stems, but don't prevent new spears from poking through.

They also last for years, so we'll be picking chocolate asparagus next spring.

Other news from the yard: I finally picked the first tomatoes of the season - two little yellow grape tomatoes. It's been a slow year.