The Garden In July

We just returned from a week-long trip to Minnesota where the weather was absolutely beautiful. Highs barely in the 80s, cool evenings - a dream! Now we've returned to the amazing humidity of North Carolina in July. Thankfully, we're in the midst of a rainy spell. At least the plants can enjoy it - and maybe they get a laugh out of my afro-like hair.



The lilies have begun to bloom! They make a lovely addition in July - thank you, previous house owners, for planting them!


Thank you for the cannas, too!


The "sink" flower garden - it's a jungle in there! We need to do something about the lamb's ears before they devour everything in their path.


Our hen has its first chick!


Marigolds are totally rockin'.


Butterfly bush in bloom.


The zinnias are unstoppable. To think I almost didn't buy them, and now they're easily my favorite flower (and most prolific AND longest lasting) of the summer.


The dahlias are making a triumphant comeback after being eaten by deer early in the season.


We had some unwelcome visitors while we were away - deer tracks right in the flower bed! Not uncommon, unfortunately. We might have to put some fencing back up as they're eating the tomatoes (something they didn't do last year) as well as the beans.


Carmen peppers (sweet peppers). Trying to let them go red on the vine.


Yep - I think the cucumber trellis was a good idea.


Cherokee purple heirloom tomato


Bring on the juliet tomatoes!! We just got a dehydrator, so my sundried tomato dream will now become a reality.


Our backyard is home to some amazing mushrooms. Check this guy out!

The Backwaits In Action!

Here are some shots from our recent performances at CCB Plaza and Mark & Sandi's wedding reception. Coming soon to the YouTubes! Cheers!!

CCB Plaza - with The Midnight Gladness band and The Dry Heathens!!
Thanks to Reese & Justin for the pics - you guys rock!









Mark & Sandi's Wedding
(I promise - we'll play "Cruel Summer" next time!)

Acting - Without Multicolor Spandex This Time

I've been focusing on my craft so much these past 6 weeks it hurts. Between keytars, random sewing projects, and the garden I've been keeping busy. In addition, I've been taking a fantastic acting class at Manbites Dog in Durham. Tonight is our final class, and my partner and I will be performing our scene from The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Matthew McDonagh. We play an Irish mother and daughter and, according to the internetz, we look like this:

So, it's a far cry from the full-body zentai suit that I wore last year for Balzac. Every actor has his/her crutch - perhaps Spandex is mine. At any rate, any interested parties should definitely check out the next performance at Manbites Dog: Goin' A Buffalo, by Ed Bullins. If their last show, the amazing Fistful of Love, was any indication, Goin' A Buffalo should be on your must-see list. Support your local theater! Or "theatre," if you must.

The Backwaits! This Friday!!

What's that? The Backwaits are playing downtown this Friday? Right by my anatomically correct bronzeness?

That's right, fine friends. Everyone's favorite keytar cover band duo will be helping you beat this heat this Friday at 6pm. Rob and I have been working on what might be our best set list yet. We're playing in conjunction with Durham's Third Friday Art Walk & Culture Crawl, and will be opening for Midnight Gladness and The Dry Heathens!

The Bull's Balls (aka CCB Plaza) will host lots of great local rock this summer. In particular, you won't want to miss

Dom Casual & Shipwrecker - June 26
Fontana & Malt Swagger - July 10
Fire In The Woods, Roxcetera & The Beloved Binge - July 31

C'mon down and check it out!! Durham Rocks!

Pickle Time!

Used the first batch of pickling cucumbers to make ... well, pickles! What else? We also used our home-grown dill. I'm looking forward to trying lots of recipes in The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving (x-mas gift from Ayme & Scott!). As the name implies, the recipes are small scale. Since I canned about 10 quarts of pickles that turned out terrible last year, I'm eager to do 3-4 pints of things to find out what I like and what works. For this batch, I used the basic "Favorite Garlic Dills" recipe. I think some Bread & Butters might be next.

Garden 2.0

June has not been especially kind to the garden. After our leisurely spring, we slammed headfirst into 100+ degree days with no rain. Some of the Garden 1.0 items (lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, and soon the broccoli) have retired to that great compost bin in the sky. I've been planting lots of green beans and volunteer tomatoes to take their place. Here are the latest pics.


Cabbage harvest!


Zucchini/Squash bed. I'm going to call hubris on my former zucchini/squash posts. For whatever reason, these plants have not been very prolific. Not sure if it's due to lack of pollination, change in location, too hot too quick, or what. Lots of them have been dying on the vine. Disappointing! I played bumblebee over the weekend a pollinated some myself. It seemed to help a bit. Unfortunately, I know we're in a race against time before the squash borer bugs claim these plants for good.


Sungold Tomato - this guy is doing fine. It's over 6 feet tall, and we had our first taste the other day.


Knock on pile of wood, our Carmen pepper plants are thriving. We had lots of problems with our peppers last year due to Japanese beetles and deer. The deterrents seem to be working so far this year!



The cucumbers love the trellis. I heartily recommend growing cucumbers this way.


Won't be long before we'll have some Celebrities.


And I think I can safely say we'll be up to our ears in Juliets. We bought two plants, and have transplanted at least 3 volunteer Juliets from last year. Fine by me - they're great! Hopefully this year I can try making sundrieds out of them.


Stokes Aster. My flowers haven't been thriving like I hoped they would. Again, I'm blaming the intense heat. Luckily we have a long growing season ahead of us.

Summertime Threads

I hate summer. There's really no sugar-coating it. When it gets hot, all I want to do is stay inside - yet I still feel the need to be productive. Thank goodness for sewing.

Here's the latest from my cache of '70s patterns. These collars are flippin' HUGE. Jeez. The name of this fabric is "Mod Circles." Now I just need a bouffant hairdo, some white boots, and I'll be set like Jell-o.








We were in the midst of a crazy downpour when these photos were taken. This picture cracks me up.



The original pattern (on the right). I decided to go sleeveless - though I do love the sleeves here:

Man About Garden

The peas are almost as high as Rob's eye!



Eat those aphids, ladybug!



Golden Cauliflower peeks out at us.



Cucumbers are going nuts. Beans keep their distance.



Juliet tomatoes are on their way.



Celebrities, too.



The light is a bit harsh in this photo, but the rhubarb leaves are enormous!

Cauliflower, We Hardly Knew Ye

When you're ready to categorize your cauliflower harvest as "a big event," maybe it's a sign you should get out more. I'm going to try to take my own advice. Nonetheless, we harvested our first-ever head of cauliflower last night. And, dude! It was, like, totally awesome!


Moments before - resting in its leafy bed.



"OMG - she's got a knife!"



"This lady is sick. Smiling while she's holding my decapitated head!"


Yep. That's some cauliflower, all right.



Since neither Rob nor I particularly *likes* cauliflower, we decided to pickle it. I finagled the pickled veggies recipe from [restaurant name withheld to create intrigue]. Turns out it is super easy. This mix contains cauliflower, carrots & red onion.



Look out cabbage - you're next!!

Early Summer Blossoms

Summer has officially arrived in NC. The 90-degree temps look like they're here to stay for awhile. Luckily, we have some hot weather loving flowers around the yard. Here are some of the latest blooms.


Magnolia Tree
Rob has decided he doesn't like the Magnolia. I told him he was a boil on the butt of humanity. Then we had a good cry and realized that laughter through tears was our favorite emotion.



Alas, there's not a movie called "Steel Zinnias" that I can quote from for this caption.



Cleome makes up for its thorns and its cat pee scent by producing really funky flowers.



Sugar Snap Peas



Cucumber