I made the peach cobbler for breakfast. The house smelled sweet and butterly, one of happy and homey smells. Instead of ice cream, whipped cream is added on the side. I felt guilty to have ice cream for breakfast. It came out fine. I like the caramelized crunchy top, but it's too sugary to me. But, I can see people with sweet-tooth could be addicted with this. I could use less sugar because canned peach is too sweet to begin with. I might put cobbler on the top to make it more crunchy. Nothing wrong with the strips of white bread in the recipe. I just want to feel a little more texture in the mouth. It went well with dark roasted coffee. Anyway, the day started sweetly. The sugar was ready to burn.
Today's mission is to finish the herb garden. The herbs were moved to their temp home. Sage, tarragon and oregano have been overgrown. They are divided and ready to get shared with fellow gardeners. The honeysuckle and hydrangea finally got their permanent home. I hope the honeysuckle invites more hummingbirds. It got home near by the hummingbird feeder. The hydrangea's white flowers would pop on the dark background once the side porch and the siding is refinished. It's just skinny sticks now. I cannot wait to see it turns to be a fully bush and has lots of clusters of white flowers.
The soil was mixed in the new bed. I tested it with the soil tester. Its ph looked fine, but any necessary nutrients were none. After adding buch of compost, peatmoss and a bag of one 10 sq. feet cow manure, the soil was still VERY poor. The testers' colors were so light. They were almost clear which are not even indicated in the tester's manual. After mixing and mixing the soil till the arms got numb, this is what I got. It was so disappointing.
Our neighbor, Olga, stopped by to tell me to pick up raspberry. She had very well established raspberry bushes. Since she cannot have raspberries anymore, she pulled them out and offered me a part of it. It's very sweet of her. I offered her some of my extra herbs.
It's been a very hot day. Despite of enjoying being outside, Marilyn was worn out by the heat. We decided to take a ride for ice cream. Everybody thought the same thing. There were long lines at the ice cream place. This place, Kimball Farm is famous for their big portion. You cannot finish your small cup before melting, also it fills you up. We were on one of the lines. Marilyn's black coat was sucking up the heat which didn't help her at all. She sat down and leaned on a lady in front of us. "Marilyn, that's not nice." I apologized the lady pulling the leash. Fortunately, the lady liked dogs. "It's ok. You're so good in this hot weather." I don't think her kind words reached Marilyn's ears. Usually, she loves to meet people, but the heat was just killing her. She was not up to say hello to anybody. Two golden retrievers in the car barked at her while they were waiting for their owner. She didn't even pay attention to them. She was trying to hide from the sun. People behind us made a shade for her standing against the sun. How sweet! She was very patient while waiting.
We usually get her non sugar vanilla, but they didn't have one. So, she got non sugar strawberry and I got regular strawberry. We both got kiddy size, but still they were like small or medium size. When we got our ice cream, she didn't even want to get up anymore. I had to pull and force her to walk. We went to the back of the ice cream shop to settle down. They have a nice yard for picnic. We got a spot under the tree on a little hilly area looking down the yard. Of course, the ice cream started melting and dripping all over my hands. Marilyn was barely made it to the spot. Once the ice cream cup was put on the grass, her eyes were wide open. She finally figured out what was going on. "Oh, that's mine!"
Usually, she sits down and hold a cup with the front paws. Today, she couldn't even think sitting down. The different flavor might get her more excited. She actually likes fresh strawberries. She was so focused on the ice cream. She was a busy bee for a while. She couldn't hear anything. There were only her and the ice cream in her world.
The strawberry flavor was so refreshing. I felt the strawberry's seeds in my mouth. It was just right sweetness. I would go with medium size for this flavor next time. Cool breeze came through once in a while. Marilyn and I agreed on "life is good". We sat and watched people came and went for a while. By the time we decided to leave, another wave of people got there. The lines got long again. They were much longer than ones when we got there. Marilyn and I enjoyed driving through the farm land on the way home.
By the end of the day, I completed the herb garden, transplanted the strawberry which used to be in the flower bed along the steps to the back door. The round garden's edge needs to be closed off, but more flowers are ready to move in to both flowerbeds. And, my vacation ran out of time. The yard turned to be a little bit more happy place to be... at least to me.
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