Bridge Walk

Good morning, my friends. It was a good and tiring day yesterday. As I mentioned, my friend Sue and I walked across a newly-opened pedestrian bridge in the neighboring community of Sherwood yesterday. We started on the far side of the bridge and walked across to where the new high school is located.

It was hard to position myself to see the whole bridge without getting a lot of lamp posts and power lines in my photo.

And then we walked back to where we started and headed on down the road to find the historic part of Sherwood.

We passed some pretty blooming things along the way. I haven't tried identifying any of these blooming trees. 

There were pretty two-toned iris.

The sun shining on these tulips makes them look as thought they're emitting light from within.

Here's another blooming tree that I don't know.

We walked around the block in Sherwood and happened upon this memorial dedicated to Sherwood's sons and daughters who served during World War II.

It was a nice day for a walk. We probably walked about 4-1/2 miles all told. Back at home, I iced my aching knees, had some lunch, and took a nap.

When I woke up, I had to decide if I had enough energy to plant the annuals. There was rain in the forecast for Friday (today), but not until late in the day. I could have waited if I trusted the forecast. But with rain in the forecast all next week, it seemed most advisable to do it while I knew the weather was cooperating. I'm glad I did, because it's done now, and it really wasn't that taxing. 

In the three patio pots, I planted African daisies, alyssum, and calibrachoa. I'm told the common name for that last one is "million bells." They're looking a little bedraggled after being roughed up in the transplanting process. There's also a volunteer snapdragon in the mix.

All three pots have the same combination, but in different colors.

I'm realizing that I need to give them some fertilizer too. I'll add that to today's list.

To their left, I planted a Sun Gold cherry tomato in the whiskey barrel there. It has a lot of equipment associated with it...a tomato cage with a stake to prevent the tomato from pulling the cage over with it and falling down. Also, we put fencing around the bottom to keep the squirrels from eating it.

In the pots that line the sidewalk, I planted geraniums. The squirrels won't eat them, and so that's what I plant. I like the variegated one in front.

Something else the squirrels won't eat...marigolds. (Sorry for the blur.)

The next two pots are in shade for most of the day, and so I planted shade-loving impatiens...

And begonias. I've never tried begonias in these pots, so I don't know if they'll become squirrel food, and I don't know if they'll be happy in this level of light. The tag said partial shade, and that's what they'll get here.

Finally, I re-established the Gracie Memorial Catnip Garden. The little rock to the right of the Gracie stake says, "I came, I purred, I conquered." I have to put rocks around the catnip. The kitties get overly zealous. They like to roll around in it, effectively killing it. The rocks are there to protect it.

I still need to plant three slicing tomatoes. Those will go in pots in the greenhouse. Also, I want to plant some lettuce seeds. That stays in the greenhouse with the tomatoes. There's also some tarragon for the culinary herb garden. I started to plant the tarragon yesterday, but the ground was dry and hard after a week of dry weather. I'll get to that next week after we've had a little more rain and the ground will be softer for digging. I have other seeds to start as well, but I'll hold off on those for a little while longer.

So that brought me to the end of the day. I had about a half hour to rest before I needed to start dinner. For dinner last night, I tried this recipe for Creamy Lasagna Soup. It's not hard to make, but it took a full hour. I used bulk mild Italian sausage in mine, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. It's made with broken up lasagna noodles, and it was tasty.

Mike was expecting something more like traditional lasagna. He was expecting a tomato-based soup. His comments caused me to write a note for another time. I'd like to try reducing the amount of chicken broth by one cup and adding in an undrained can of diced tomatoes. It might be good that way, and it will give Mike the tomatoes he's expecting with something that has "lasagna" in the name.

While we cleaned up, I noticed Smitty enjoying the afternoon sunshine on his catio. It's a good time of the year for kitties.

Today will be an easier day. I'm going to debone a turkey carcass. I'll divide up the meat into two-cup portions and freeze it in sandwich bags. Then, I can use it in casseroles or soups. Also, I'm going to make a stab at the Bow-Flex. I've been threatening to do it ever since we got home from our trip, but so far, I haven't attempted it. With my shoulder hurting, I know I won't be able to do all the exercises, but nothing is stopping me from doing some of the leg work. It'll be an experiment to see what parts of my body haven't yet given up the ghost.

Right now it's time for breakfast and some more slow-stitching. I'm coming to the end of the Tiny Treasures for this go round, and so I should probably trace the next block for Home is Where my Flock Is. These are the blocks I have so far.

Also, I want to get back to my quilting today. And if there's time, I'll get started on the new Gumballs quilt. It's a lot for a single day, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?