Black Eyed Susan's Kitchen

PINK BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

         

It is the first birthday/anniversary of Beverly's Pink Saturday blog posts on her blog, How Sweet the Sound. In celebration, let me first get out the Pink Champagne, and our prettiest wine glasses. A toast to Beverly's brilliant idea, and to all of the lovers of pink who post about it every week. May we never run out of pink thoughts, or pink ideas, so that we can continue to tickle one another with...what else...PINK! Happy Pink Saturday, everyone.
♥, Susan      

THE GREENING OF OUR YARD

         

Yesterday, I featured some of the garden gates of our community garden. Today, I would like to show you the vegetable/flower garden in our back yard. Last year, we grew a veggie patch with no fencing. It was a bit messy, but the deer and bunny rabbits thought it was an outdoor buffet just for them. This year, we figured out a new tactic to grow our veggies, hopefully without our furry friends. First, we put in a fence around the garden (please note, I am using the royal "we" as it was my husband who did ALL of the work) and lined it with chicken wire. Then, we lined the inside perimeter with bricks to keep the bunnies from digging underneath. So far, we have horseradish, onions, carrots, peppers, okra, eggplants, lettuce, parsley, tomatoes, greenbeans, zuchinni, and broccoli coming up in the garden. The outer perimeter has been planted with marigolds, zinnias,sunflowers, daisys and nasturtiums. I also planted some chinese lantern plants. I am so excited to see these things grow!
             The rest of the gardens, are looking very happy so far this year. The Banana Magnolia has once again surprised us with its beautiful leaves, and the hostas and ferns, are absolutely huge this year, taking over the birdbath and the steps to the screened porch. The garden in front of the house has a new yard sale find this week, a vintage cement planter that I thought would look lovely planted with the begonias and vinca vines. It sits at the end of the front porch  with some other plants that require some shade.  The rest of the front garden seems very happy with the weather that we have been having.
          For all of the garden and art lovers who read this blog, I would like to strongly suggest that you take a peak at Char's blog, Somplace in Thyme. She has pictures of a cactus garden "planted" with Dale Chihuly glass sculptures. To say that her pictorial of this botanical show is awesome, really is an understatement. Now, I am off to water the garden.
♥, Susan             

FARMERS MARKET AND THE COMMUNITY GARDEN

               Sunday mornings, we have a farmers market in town. It is, more market that farm centered at the moment. The Garden State, has not produced much produce yet as it is still early in the Spring, there were however, lots of flowers and herbs for sale, including these great looking dianthus, which were tempting, but I declined. This is my favorite booth at the market. The adorable red head sells pickles and has been a staple here for several years now. Growing up in New York, and having Jewish deli food at my disposal, made me miss these half sour pickles, so I was very happy to find them at the market a few years ago. Probably an acquired taste, pickled mushrooms, tomatoes, and saurkraut bring me back a little of my childhood...now if only they sold pastrami sandwiches.   
               After the farmers market, we stopped at the community garden, where I took pictures while my hard working husband watered our garden. You can tell that some of the gardeners are aging (us) as we have put easy access gates on our garden fencing this year. When I was in my 20's and 30's hopping over the chicken wire wasn't too bad, but in my 50's that is a whole other situation. Here are some of the many garden gates found this year... our gate,  and the garden club's gate, and  an old chain link gate, and  a quicker make-shift gate (we did this last year), and a very sturdy chain link gate, and a cute gate with a shabby chic feel to it, and, one of my favorites this year, a very zen style of gate. Now, these gates are for letting the humans into the gardens, they will in no way deter the deer, who have already started to stalk the community garden. My husband was livid when he saw three of the tomato plants razed down to the dirt and a tell tale hoof print right next to them. We now have 4 rows of string wrapping around the top of the garden which is supposed to help keep them out...its like Caddy Shack only war on the Deer. This garden is proofed with netting all around it...we will see if it works. One of the fun finds in the garden this morning? A little sign that says no bunnies allowed...I hope those bunnies can read.
♥, Susan           

THE NATURAL WORLD OF PINK

            It isn't always easy being in the pink...on rare occasions, it can be a real effort. Today, I will let our natural world sing the praises of pink for me. Happy Pink Saturday, and please take a moment to see Beverly's blog, How Sweet the Sound, and read all of the other wonderful pink posts.
♥, Susan   

LIFE ON MARS AND THE SPORT OF YARD SALES

              

If there were life on other planets, would there be extra terrestrial yard sales? I'm thinking maybe so. This morning, as I was checking my typepad info, I noticed many visitors from the blog, A Beach Cottage, and on further investigation, learned that this is a very lovely blog owned by a woman named Sarah who happens to live in Australia. Imagine that, a woman living on the other side of the world, doing the same thing that I do, and writing about it. Turns out, my newest blog buddy Laura, from Shorehouse Chic, wrote  about a yard sale that I had. Laura was a blog guest on Sarah's blog and so these two ladies are talking a little about Black Eyed Susan's yard sale. Now, it is my humble opinion that if you are a professional saler then you should be able to have a fantastic sale yourself, after all, you know what you look for at other sales and how happy it makes you to find everything set up nicely and actually priced in a manner that is legible. At any rate, I feel very honored to know that there is a little buzz about this sport that is so much fun for some of us.
              Last weekend was very busy with gardening, so there was not much time for the few yard sales that were listed, however, feeling the need to keep in shape and stretch those sale muscles, I managed to stop by three of them. One was more of a high end sale where someone wanted to get what she paid for most of her things...there were a lot of pretty things, but that is not what I go to yard sales for. The second sale had some rocking CD's that daughter in the middle scooped up. They were under $1.00 each. The third sale had country furniture that would make you swoon. It was gorgeous and very high end...as in a $1600.00 corner cupboard. What I did find at the third sale was this group of white ironstone. Vintage, ironstone with no chips and very little crazing for 4.00 per piece which turned out to be an unmarked coffee pot and 3 piece butter set with a Johnson Bros. mark underneath. Yes, I did have the audacity to ask if he had a best price and much to my surprise he said 6.00 for the two...I said sold! I seem to be drawn to white dishware these days...this is looking like the beginnings of a new collection.
              I was so glad to have met Laura in person. She is a smart, creative and fun woman who knows her way around a good yardsale. She lives very close by and I have a feeling that she and I will become good friends. After all, we run in the same sports arena. Now I am off to read about Sarah in Australia and her yard sale adventures.
♥, Susan    
              

GARDENER IN THE PINK...FOR SATURDAY

             We all know that pink is such a cheery color...it makes us smile. You know what else makes me smile? Having daughter in the middle home from college for the summer :)  true happiness. Today, we planted ferns from the backyard, into the fernery. Notice the pretty pink gardening gloves and the pretty pink tshirt. There you see my warn in green gardening gloves and Jenna's new pink gloves...like mother, like daughter?
         Wishing everyone a happy pink Saturday, and when you have a minute, please stop by Beverly's blog, How Sweet the Sound, and see all of the other fun, pink posts.

♥, Susan   

MOTHER NATURES DAY/MOTHER'S DAY

              Peace, love, a beautiful walk in the woods, this is what makes a wonderful Mother's day. This was one of the highlights to my day on Sunday, and this has been one of my favorite places to walk for as long as we have lived here. Down the path, to one of the many forks in the "road", and either decision is a good one. If I should become tired, there is always a bench to perch on, but there is so much to see, bridges to cross, creeks of water to explore, Honeysuckle to scent the air, and a pond to contemplate, and there I see the youngest of my children, my son, who accompanied me on this lovely walk. A sculpture found, compliments of Mother Nature and then back to home and our own gardens where we see the peonies looking very much like the Prima Ballerina's of the floral world. A new addition to the garden, a rose bush called, Hot Cocoa from Jackson & Perkins, found at Lowes. The color was irresistable to me. I love it when I find something unique for our garden. If you would like to see a few of my favorite blog  gardens, stop by Suzies Georgia Peachez blog, or Brenda's blog, A View From the Pines. They have the most beautiful and unique gardens.
♥, Susan            

PRETTY FOR BLUE MONDAY

            I have talented friends...there, I said it! When  Black Eyed Susan's was a real brick and mortar store, one of the most popular sellers was Elizabeth Holcombe, crafter and artist extraordinaire. Her handmade purses and totes were loved by all. It seems that we still have the ability to tickle one anothers fancy as she sent me this gorgeous purse in a swap last week. The blue in the flowers makes me so happy and the fact that a good friend made this for me, well, that's just a bonus. If you would like to see other pretty blues for this Monday, click your way over to Smiling Sallies blog . It is a highlight for an otherwise blue Monday.
♥, Susan 

A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA SPECIAL

            I couldn't resist a second post today, because I knew you would like this.... Mother Nature said, lots of rain and a little sunshine, and voila! These pictures are the huge azaela's in Fair Haven Fields. Note in the picture  , the roof top of the church and the flag pole? That is how tall this is. When we first moved here, almost 20 years ago, I  was struck by the beauty of these Azalea's, and here they are, thriving, so many years later. That is a very tall Holly tree behind the Azalea. As we walk down to the other side of the garden, we see the red Azalea's. I hope that  the depth of this color comes through in these pictures, because they are just beautiful. The dogwood trees give your eyes a break from that riot of color. The Dogwoods and Azaleas are the  stunning view today in front of the community gardens. I hope you enjoyed my pictures. Wishes for a Happy Mothers Day to my Mom, my Mother in law, to all people who have mothers and to all those who are the happy care givers of others. Your nuturing will always be remembered and appreciated.  ♥, Susan           

THE PINK NIGHT OUT

               This week we were in town to see the movie Pretty in Pink...a perfect segue to Beverly's Pink Saturday link up. If you love pink in any fashion or form, stop by her blog, How Sweet the Sound and read all of the other pink posts.
        There were so many girls at the movie, that I came to realize that this has become a bit of a cult classic. The best part, other than the movie itself, was that many of the girls dressed not only in pink, but in 1980's garb. There were leg warmers and stiletto's everywhere. It was all very pinkalicious. From the store windows, to the local diner, everything was pink! Even the curb was painted pink, and of course, it was all for a very good cause, to raise awareness and pay for breast cancer research. The local press agent was pretty in pink, and one of my favorite sights that night was the pink lights illuminating Tiffany's. It was a pinktastic evening and we really enjoyed ourselves. Now, I am off to read about everyone elses pink attitude.
♥, Susan