Lily of the Valley day!

 The weather forecast for the day was sunny, breezy and cool. I decided it would be a good day to get some gardening done but It has been a while since I had a chance for a leisurely brunch at home so I decided it was time for a Lily of the Valley themed brunch before any gardening was going to happen.

some recycled glass vessels I got as a gift last Christmas

The perfect vases for Lily of the Valley

For brunch, I went with my favorite soft boiled farm eggs, Assam tea and toast with homemade Meyer Lemon Ginger marmalade.

I re-purposed this old tea bag caddy to hold loose leaf Assam

 

After brunch, I did my weekly routine of orchid & houseplant maintenance before headed out to the garden. It was a productive day, I pulled a few weeds and planted a few more annuals. I also came up with a solution for hanging plants on the front porch.

 

I decided to use galvanized buckets in keeping with the new look of the house

heavy duty cables for hanging

I planted the buckets with a mixture of trailing petunias, calibrachoa and also double trailing petunias

Buckets should "disappear" soon as petunias begin to trail over the sides

Dogwoods look fresh against the new color of the house

I think Socrates will to stay in after last nights storm adventure

First 2 official days of Spring

my white colored "redbud" came into bloom today

Spring officially arrived yesterday, and here in Georgia, it means it is already halfway through. The weather has been lovely in the last few days, mostly sunny and not too hot. It has been nice to not rely on artificial means for cooling and heating the house. I am enjoying the fresh air while I can, soon the pine trees will "bloom" and everything will be dusted yellow.

Japanese flowering cherry on the edge of our neighbor's yard

Purple plum, occasionally, we get plums if the weather is just right

 

Dogwood buds are beginning to swell

Looking forward to Thalia daffodils

Artemisia "oriental limelight", a very showy and vigorous perennial

"Leather & Lace" loropetalum, finally blooming again after being moved 2 years ago

Chinese Snowball viburnum I got as a birthday gift last year is budding nicely

After a crazy 2 weeks of nonstop gigs and what not, today was a day without appointments for a change. My plan was to get caught up on laundry and also some much needed gardening. I was happy the nice weather has held up but I am hoping we get some rain soon, the garden will need it. For breakfast today, quick and easy was my motivation since I wanted to maximize my outdoor time.

silicone poach pods for eggs, not as pretty as a regular poach egg but a lot easier

My favorite bacon!

A balanced meal when you add soem steamed farm spinach

 

 

Leucojum transplanted from a friends yard last year blooming nicely

Almost sunset on the 2nd day of Spring

For dinner, another quick and easy meal:

Tilapia baked in curry with brown rice and pistachios

A busy week!

Socrates:"I'll keep an eye on those birds while you clean the house"

A busy and productive week so far. In addition to piano lessons and rehearsals all week, Wednesday was spent organizing the pantry for the upcoming week long "cookathon" and also doing some Spring cleaning to get the kitchen ready. Thursday was devoted to the gathering of ingredients from "your" Dekalb Farmers market, Trader Joes & Sevananda. I am looking forward to cooking with ingredients like millet flour, quinoa, sorghum flour and chia seeds. Sing with me now: "chi chi chi chiaaaa!".

  

But as chores go, they are always more pleasant if preceded with a hearty breakfast. On Wednesday, we started the day with a "fancified" oatmeal breakfast. I made Irish Steel-Cut Oats with dried Michigan sour cherries(gift from Kathy), cacao nibs and maple syrup.

In addition to the oatmeal we had fresh pineapple and navel oranges and toast with butter.

And to drink, my current favorite tea, mariage freres Earl Grey.

Those cherries are amazing!

 After breakfast, it was pantry organization, houseplant maintainence and dusting followed by piano lessons, Ash Wednesday service, choir practice and meal planning and shopping list writing.

a place for everything and everything in it's place

On Thursday, it was a quick cup of tea and slice of toast and we were off. First stop was Panahar Bagladeshi Lunch buffet for "fuel". Then it was a cart full of food including 3 cases of fruit(mangoes, asian pears and satsumas) from Dekalb farmers Market, another cart full from Trader Joes and more from Sevananda. We managed to beat rush hour leaving the city and I got home in time to unload and organize everything before heading off to Willy Wonka rehearsal, we are one week to opening night! 

I definitely needed some extra "unwinding" after such an exciting day. Luckily I thought ahead and picked up some not too sweet apple tarts from the Farmers market. Also found a new Trader Joes tea to try so it was definitely time for "11pm tea".

Lot's of thin sliced apples, almost as good as "Apple Normandy" from Alon's

Country Living arrived today, perfect end to the day

Apple tart was not too rich and tea was lemony and bright. I am now ready for Friday, beginning with 8am call time for accompanying at a Literary meet followed by piano lessons and later in the evening Willly Wonka flying rehearsal(should be very entertaining). Somewhere in there, I plan to catch a nap.

Pahiopedilum Primulinum(a species orchid from Sumatra) this morning with the next bloom opening. When the newer bloom opens fully, the older bloom drops.  I got this rom the AOS show last year and it has been in bloom ever since.

I am looking forward to attending the the American Orchid Society show and sale this weekend. It starts tomorrow and runs till Sunday. So much excitement for the next few days!