Piddlin' in My Hangout

Preparedness Challenge

Hallooooo! Anyways, here's where I've been hangin' out lately - in the garden. The zinnias are finally in wonderful bloom.

And the vegetables are starting to come in - here is chocolate mint, cucumbers and mullein flowers. We'll talk about the mullein flowers in a bit.
See the beans on the section of fencing in the garden? They're asparagus beans, and boy howdy, do they get long.
Most of them measure around 20 inches. They're oriental and great in stir fry.
I've been freezing them in small batches and putting them in bags with other vegetables for stir fry mixes. (I recently noticed that some frozen vegetables I'd bought were all the way from China! O.O Ahem, no thank you! Ain't no need for that. I'm making my own now.)Have you seen any of these lately? They're mullein plants, and they are popping up in profusion everywhere this summer. It's a wild herb with wonderful health benefits. I dry the leaves for a tea to break up congestion...

and the yellow flowers make a great earache oil when....
steeped in olive oil, strained, and put in a dropper bottle till needed.

There has been knitting in the foothills, a pair of socks for Goodman. I've been refreshing my sock knitting skills with this tutorial over at Come To Silver. It's great for beginners & whoever needs a li'l jump start.
Burgundy stella d'oros. Hope you're having a great summer!

The Dog Days of Summer

Greetings, Y'all! This burgundy Stella d'oro lily is blooming nicely in these warm, humid, dog days of summer. It's about half the size of most lilies, like the yellow ones we're all familiar with. (Um, yes, that's peppermint rootin' over to say hello to Stella. ;)
Here's a look at the nifty prize I won over at Aunt Kathy's Place. Thank you, Kathy! She's having a two-month long contest so shuffle on over & leave her a comment for a chance to win other nifty stuff. I've actually had a notion to get back into sock knitting lately, so I plan to cast on a pair in a few weeks. Oh boy, not knitting is rough on me, but I got to the point I had to lay the needles down for awhile.

We had two birthdays in the family this month. SIL wanted cheesecake so I made up this Baker's House New York Cheesecake. It's the first baked cheesecake I ever made, but he loved it.

Punkin I (# one) had asked for a hot fudge sundae for her birthday dessert, so we made a sauce & added some trimmings. (These are later pics of leftovers...didn't think to snap pics with the candles & all. Ah, well.
I have no knitting to show since I'm pretty much incapacitated for awhile, but Youngest was here with SIL, of course, and allowed me to take pictures to show you the cozy she just made for this little two-cup teapot. She used Jewels by Sugar & Cream & a yarn ball band pattern. I like how she embellished it with a braided cord & tassel. Pop goes the color, huh.
Top view.

Hmm...can't knit...guess I'll have to read or sew... Yes! I can still sew...see ya next week. ;)
Have a good one, Y'all!