A New Planting on the Front Porch

We did some planting this weekend.  This pot on the front porch had a lobelia.  It was lovely.  But I think it got too much sun and being on the concrete was more than it could take.  So we replaced it with this interesting combo we found at the garden center at Lowe's.

Any tag that starts off with "Low Maintenance" and "Stress Reducer", I'm stopping to take a look.  The tag also says "Full Sun", so that will work in this location.  And the two plants are perennial so we can enjoy them year after year.

White Striped Sweet Flag and Blue Arrows Rush are new to me.  I had not heard of either of these two plants previously.  But I must admit that I like the way they look together.

I got it out of the plastic pot it came in;

And in to this beautiful urn with inlaid mother of pearl.

A stunning and beautiful and very sophisticated look for the front porch.  I can't wait to see how nicely this fills in over the coming weeks and months right into fall.

If you are looking for something to add some "swish" to your front entrance, consider this combination.  I think you will be very happy.

A New Planting on the Front Porch

We did some planting this weekend.  This pot on the front porch had a lobelia.  It was lovely.  But I think it got too much sun and being on the concrete was more than it could take.  So we replaced it with this interesting combo we found at the garden center at Lowe's.

Any tag that starts off with "Low Maintenance" and "Stress Reducer", I'm stopping to take a look.  The tag also says "Full Sun", so that will work in this location.  And the two plants are perennial so we can enjoy them year after year.

White Striped Sweet Flag and Blue Arrows Rush are new to me.  I had not heard of either of these two plants previously.  But I must admit that I like the way they look together.

I got it out of the plastic pot it came in;

And in to this beautiful urn with inlaid mother of pearl.

A stunning and beautiful and very sophisticated look for the front porch.  I can't wait to see how nicely this fills in over the coming weeks and months right into fall.

If you are looking for something to add some "swish" to your front entrance, consider this combination.  I think you will be very happy.

Brooks Brothers Sachets

Having clean and fresh smelling clothing is important to me.  I don't think I am the only guy out there who feels this way.  However, I think we are still living in a society that thinks it is wrong for a "guy" to think about such things.  So I'm breaking down that barrier today with this post.  I am letting all the guys out there know that it is not wrong to want your clothes to be clean and fresh smelling.  You have permission to give such things your attention.  It doesn't make you girly.  It doesn't make you a sissy.  It means that you want to take a little pride in yourself.  That having been said, I want to share with you an item I recently found at Brooks Brothers.  These neat little pouches with a clean cedar scent.  We'll call them "pouches" rather than "sachets" to butch it up a little.  These are very lightly scented with a generic cedar scent.  I placed one in each of the four drawers in my chest.

The other two I placed on a shelves in my closet.  They release just enough scent to make it nice when you open the drawer or enter the closet.  The blue and white check pattern is nice.  Notice I did not refer to it as "gingham."

So, log onto the Brooks Brothers site and order a box or two of these for yourself or for a friend.  Ladies, I think you would enjoy these also.  The scent is very generic.  These would work well for either sex.  A great find!!!

Brooks Brothers Sachets

Having clean and fresh smelling clothing is important to me.  I don't think I am the only guy out there who feels this way.  However, I think we are still living in a society that thinks it is wrong for a "guy" to think about such things.  So I'm breaking down that barrier today with this post.  I am letting all the guys out there know that it is not wrong to want your clothes to be clean and fresh smelling.  You have permission to give such things your attention.  It doesn't make you girly.  It doesn't make you a sissy.  It means that you want to take a little pride in yourself.  That having been said, I want to share with you an item I recently found at Brooks Brothers.  These neat little pouches with a clean cedar scent.  We'll call them "pouches" rather than "sachets" to butch it up a little.  These are very lightly scented with a generic cedar scent.  I placed one in each of the four drawers in my chest.

The other two I placed on a shelves in my closet.  They release just enough scent to make it nice when you open the drawer or enter the closet.  The blue and white check pattern is nice.  Notice I did not refer to it as "gingham."

So, log onto the Brooks Brothers site and order a box or two of these for yourself or for a friend.  Ladies, I think you would enjoy these also.  The scent is very generic.  These would work well for either sex.  A great find!!!

Macaroni Salad, Crest Avenue Style

Over the Fourth, we did a lot of cooking.  One of the most delicious dishes we made was Macaroni Salad. This is a tried and true recipe that I have made countless times over the years.  It is fool-proof.  It turns out wonderful every time I make it.  It is simple and delicious.  I would like to share it with you.

Crest Avenue Macaroni Salad

Ingredients

8 ounces macaroni (your choice - elbow, rotini, penne, rigatoni)
1 cup mayonnaise (do not use Miracle Whip)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon creamy Dijon Mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup finely diced celery
1 cup finely diced red, green, yellow or orange bell pepper (use a variety of colors if you like)
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 fresh, chopped tomatoes

Directions

Cook macaroni according to package directions, preferably al dente; drain and rinse with cold water until completely cool.

Combine and whisk together until smooth, mayonnaise, vinegar, Dijon Mustard, sugar, salt and pepper in large bowl.  Stir in macaroni.  Stir in celery, pepper, onion and tomato.  Preferably, serve chilled.  Overnight, if possible.  Can be served at room temperature.

Macaroni Salad, Crest Avenue Style

Over the Fourth, we did a lot of cooking.  One of the most delicious dishes we made was Macaroni Salad. This is a tried and true recipe that I have made countless times over the years.  It is fool-proof.  It turns out wonderful every time I make it.  It is simple and delicious.  I would like to share it with you.

Crest Avenue Macaroni Salad

Ingredients

8 ounces macaroni (your choice - elbow, rotini, penne, rigatoni)
1 cup mayonnaise (do not use Miracle Whip)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon creamy Dijon Mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup finely diced celery
1 cup finely diced red, green, yellow or orange bell pepper (use a variety of colors if you like)
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 fresh, chopped tomatoes

Directions

Cook macaroni according to package directions, preferably al dente; drain and rinse with cold water until completely cool.

Combine and whisk together until smooth, mayonnaise, vinegar, Dijon Mustard, sugar, salt and pepper in large bowl.  Stir in macaroni.  Stir in celery, pepper, onion and tomato.  Preferably, serve chilled.  Overnight, if possible.  Can be served at room temperature.

Festive Gift Bags From Bev

We had company over the Fourth of July weekend.  Our favorite gal, and my BFF, Bev came for a visit. She arrived on Thursday and left early Monday morning so we had her for the entire weekend.  Fun, fun, fun as usual.  We only got into once, so that's a good visit.

She brought gift bags and we enjoyed everything in both bags.  Take a look.

She is so creative.  Look at the fanciful way she added such flare to two plain, white bags.  I was impressed.

Inside each bag was a selection of various fireworks which we enjoyed on the deck.

What Fourth of July celebration would be complete without good old-fashioned Sparklers.

There were also huge sparklers that burned forever and were designed to do more than just sparkle.  They had an extra "BURST!"

Love these cocktail napkins.  And we have plenty left over for next year.

The little white, metal containers with the flag painted on them were citronella candles.  Boy did we ever need those.  The mosquitoes were out in full force and, unfortunately, they found Bev the most tasty of us all. Sorry honey.  Next year we will make sure we have lots of mosquito repellent and not the kind that eats off your toenail polish!!!

Festive Gift Bags From Bev

We had company over the Fourth of July weekend.  Our favorite gal, and my BFF, Bev came for a visit. She arrived on Thursday and left early Monday morning so we had her for the entire weekend.  Fun, fun, fun as usual.  We only got into once, so that's a good visit.

She brought gift bags and we enjoyed everything in both bags.  Take a look.

She is so creative.  Look at the fanciful way she added such flare to two plain, white bags.  I was impressed.

Inside each bag was a selection of various fireworks which we enjoyed on the deck.

What Fourth of July celebration would be complete without good old-fashioned Sparklers.

There were also huge sparklers that burned forever and were designed to do more than just sparkle.  They had an extra "BURST!"

Love these cocktail napkins.  And we have plenty left over for next year.

The little white, metal containers with the flag painted on them were citronella candles.  Boy did we ever need those.  The mosquitoes were out in full force and, unfortunately, they found Bev the most tasty of us all. Sorry honey.  Next year we will make sure we have lots of mosquito repellent and not the kind that eats off your toenail polish!!!

A Trip to Merrifield Garden Center

We drove out to Merrifield, VA to Merrifield Garden Center over the long weekend.  They have three locations these days - Merrifield, Fair Lakes and Gainesville.  The Merrifield location was the original location and I remember it well.  In those days, Merrifield Garden Center was just about all there was out there with the exception of the Merrifield Post Office which was an enormous sorting facility.  Now, it has all changed.  And for the better, I suppose.  There are townhouses and shopping and all sorts of things to do. We were primarily interested in the tent sale and we ended up getting some really cute stuff for quite a bargain.

Here we are at the entrance to the gardens.  Steven in stripes and Bev in black with gold lame bag.

It was not a particularly busy day at the center on Sunday, so we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.  I suppose everybody was at the beach celebrating the Fourth.

Rows and rows of beautiful plants.  Here we have beautiful red begonia and flowering petunia pots.

A wonderful sea of petunias.

I believe, new guinea impatiens, more begonias in various colors.

More annuals.  This is really a wonderful nursery to shop when searching for just the right plants in your landscape.

_________________________________________________________________________________

We went primarily to see what was being offered in their tent sale.  And boy did we get a surprise. There were several tables of items from which to choose.  At least two of the tables held Christmas related items. We started talking to Sue, who was running the tent sale at this location and she informed us that she would provide us with a bag and we could fill it with Christmas stuff and she would charge us $5 per bag. We got started immediately.  The only restriction was that she needed to be able to tie the bag closed before we paid.  So we stuffed as much as we could in each bag and made our way to the cash register.

A very full bag of Christmas things from the tent sale.

I did not exceed the limit.  We were able to tie a knot in the bag.  But there was very little room left.

And then we got home and got to really examine all we had gotten.

These cute bottle brush trees and another glass tree to add to our collection.  The glass tree alone was $29.95 original price.

A pretty bejeweled cicada.

This fabulous little black Scotty.

And this very sophisticated, sequined pillow.  So incredibly beautiful.

And the back of it in a beautiful satin.

A miscellaneous fleur de lis ornament which will fill in nicely on the Christmas tree.

And who could resist a sparkly disco ball?  Certainly not me.  All of this for $5.  An extremely good deal and well worth the time and the drive.  Thank you Sue.  See you next year at the tent sale.

A Trip to Merrifield Garden Center

We drove out to Merrifield, VA to Merrifield Garden Center over the long weekend.  They have three locations these days - Merrifield, Fair Lakes and Gainesville.  The Merrifield location was the original location and I remember it well.  In those days, Merrifield Garden Center was just about all there was out there with the exception of the Merrifield Post Office which was an enormous sorting facility.  Now, it has all changed.  And for the better, I suppose.  There are townhouses and shopping and all sorts of things to do. We were primarily interested in the tent sale and we ended up getting some really cute stuff for quite a bargain.

Here we are at the entrance to the gardens.  Steven in stripes and Bev in black with gold lame bag.

It was not a particularly busy day at the center on Sunday, so we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.  I suppose everybody was at the beach celebrating the Fourth.

Rows and rows of beautiful plants.  Here we have beautiful red begonia and flowering petunia pots.

A wonderful sea of petunias.

I believe, new guinea impatiens, more begonias in various colors.

More annuals.  This is really a wonderful nursery to shop when searching for just the right plants in your landscape.

_________________________________________________________________________________

We went primarily to see what was being offered in their tent sale.  And boy did we get a surprise. There were several tables of items from which to choose.  At least two of the tables held Christmas related items. We started talking to Sue, who was running the tent sale at this location and she informed us that she would provide us with a bag and we could fill it with Christmas stuff and she would charge us $5 per bag. We got started immediately.  The only restriction was that she needed to be able to tie the bag closed before we paid.  So we stuffed as much as we could in each bag and made our way to the cash register.

A very full bag of Christmas things from the tent sale.

I did not exceed the limit.  We were able to tie a knot in the bag.  But there was very little room left.

And then we got home and got to really examine all we had gotten.

These cute bottle brush trees and another glass tree to add to our collection.  The glass tree alone was $29.95 original price.

A pretty bejeweled cicada.

This fabulous little black Scotty.

And this very sophisticated, sequined pillow.  So incredibly beautiful.

And the back of it in a beautiful satin.

A miscellaneous fleur de lis ornament which will fill in nicely on the Christmas tree.

And who could resist a sparkly disco ball?  Certainly not me.  All of this for $5.  An extremely good deal and well worth the time and the drive.  Thank you Sue.  See you next year at the tent sale.