Images from my day

Life is good.

Iris

One of my irises that bloomed, the color is really striking this year, with the yellow and violet tones.

garden update

new photos fromm the butterfly garden. The first is a pincushion flower up close. This is the first picture I feel shows the color of the flower, it is very pretty. If you click on the picture you can see it even larger! They are blooming like mad, but have yet to attract many butterflies. Not sure what I'm doing wrong (if anything). The second picture is the newest addition, a bird bath from Christmas tree shop that cost less than $20. Nice!

Lost without LOST

I don't know about anyone else, but I will be missing LOST all summer. The season ending was great, although I'm upset that they drowned one of my favorite characters. They also hinted that the future of the castaways is not going to be happy. I know I'm a little obsessed with happy endings, but I would like things to at least turn out o.k. for some of the people. I mean, if the leader of the group is contemplating suicide in the future, what does that mean for the rest of the people? I'm not liking that.

Anyway, it wasn't half as depressing as the season ending of Ugly Betty, and that is supposed to be a comedy! I watched it on vacation and was really upset with the way they ended it for the year. It wasn't really a typical cliffhanger- more like a plunge right off the top of the mountain. Argh.

Well, there aren't any more good shows to watch... that is until the Dead Zone season begins. I love that show!

On a lighter note...

A great picture of Jonathan with Nonnie and Grandpa

The Only Thing to Fear

FDR- There is nothing to fear but fear itself.

Well, here we are, in the War on Terror. Hmmmm, isn't that what he was warning us against? While we have been worrying about "terrorists," children have been going hungry, people have been devastated by a hurricane, "No Child Left Behind" has continued to go underfunded (and I don't think it would work even if it was funded), thousands of Americans have been killed in Iraq, tens of thousands have been injured, the injured soldiers have had to endure horrible conditions in Walter Reed, the vice president has shot someone in the face, a young man in Virginia shot down his classmates, and the only thing the media seems to care about is Anna Nicole Smith or whether or not Rosie O'Donnell is in a fued. Honestly, I am so mad I could just scream from the hillside. I don't understand why there is so much media attention to the fact that Rosie said that 650,000 Iraqi's are dead, who are the terrorists? She is right, we are over there in a war that was founded on LIES. BIG FAT LIES. Why doesn't anyone care??? How can they defend it by saying that at least Hussein isn't in power. WAS IT WORTH IT?? BILLIONS OF DOLLARS have been spent, that could have been used on supporting environmentally friendly products, education, election reform, health care reform, SOMETHING!! I was so naive when we started this war that I actually believed that there were weapons of mass destruction, and now I will never believe another thing that this administration says. And I am so pissed that everyone who says anything about THE BIG FAT LIES is said to be unamerican, unpatriotic, even crazy. Oh and the kicker, if you want the troops brought home, you don't support them. WHAT??? I am so tired of it!!! I think we should all be as outraged as Rosie is (no matter what you think of her personally) and if that makes me unamerican, then so be it.

windy day

Can you tell it was windy at the Breakers? Well, it makes sense, since it does border the Atlantic Ocean... you should have seen the waves that day! They don't call it the Breakers for nothing!

Laughing with Mommy...

This was taken at the Glass Onion restaurant in Middletown, RI during our vacation. Jonathan did really well at sitting in the strange high chairs and keeping himself occupied while we ate our fancy dinner. I fed him some applesauce (or something like that) during the wait time, and we played a game with his burp cloth. He likes to play peek-a-boo with the cloth.

Rosecliff

Here we are visiting Rosecliff mansion in Newport. Jonathan is more interested in looking at Nonnie. Later, during the tour, he peed right through the diaper and onto Mike's shirt. Not good. One of the dangers since they don't allow strollers in the mansions. They are so gorgeous though, makes you feel like you are summering in Newport just like the Vanderbilts. Rosecliff was actually the background for four films, including True Lies and the Great Gatsby.

ready for summer...

I'm all dressed up here, where are we going?

Tulips

Tulips from the side lawn. This is the first year that they bloomed for us! Maybe this is a sign of good things to come...

In other garden news, the zinnia seeds that I planted in the butterfly garden are starting to pop out. Very exciting!! The scabia- butterfly blue (also called a pincusion flower) started to bloom in their pots, and are continuing to bloom now! They are really pretty, but hard to photograph. I'll try to get some pictures soon.

Dinner is served

Last night's dinner! Doesn't it look yummy?

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_21978,00.html?rsrc=search

The link above is for the marinated pork seen above. It is my favorite Rachael Ray recipe, because you can use the marinade for pork, chicken, beef or portobello mushrooms. I don't use it on beef, as I like beef cooked differently, but I have tried it on chicken, pork and the portobello mushrooms, and it is delicious. I also make the pan gravy to go with it, because it is soooo tasty. The spinach and tomato dish above is from the 2, 4, 6, 8 Rachael Ray book that I just got from my mom for my birthday, but it is pretty basic. Sautee the tomatoes, then add garlic, salt pepper and wilt spinach. Would love to hear from anyone who tries any of the recipes shown! : )

Put me in coach!

Hey Joe Torre, I got your new pitcher right here! No, not Roger Clemens, Jonathan! He's as ready as anybody else you've got.

Planting (in the butterfly garden) finished!

Some pictures from the butterfly garden, finished planting the flowers today. Hopefully they will grow and bloom! The bottom one is already blooming!