A Touch of Ireland

Wishing you a rainbow

For sunlight after showers—

Miles and miles of Irish smiles

For golden happy hours—

Shamrocks at your doorway

For luck and laughter too,

And a host of friends that never ends

Each day your whole life through!

A sweet Irish Blessing, but what I'm really wishing for you is a Shamrock Shake, lots of green beer, that your first rounds picks from your bracket win today, and a few daffodils straight from the fields of Ireland!

I had my friend Jamie over for dinner on Sunday night.  I had picked up three dozen daffodils earlier in the day and was telling her how I would love to be able to enjoy fresh flowers while I was at work AND at home-but it seemed kind of silly to bring them back and forth, and a little too much to buy fresh bouquets for both my home and office each week. 

On Tuesday one of my consultants surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of bright yellow daffodils, I told her exactly what I shared with my friend on Sunday night and that I had a bouquet sitting on my dining room table at home.  It must have been the luck of the Irish!

Glad to share "A Touch of Ireland" with you today, and the first blooms of springtime at my house this morning!

Fall Flowers

So my back porch went from this:

To this:

In a few short months. 

When we first moved into the Marriott after our house flooded, I would come back home at least twice a week to water my plants.  This lasted for a little less than two months.  I blame the construction workers for storing lots of things on our porch AND the fact that we had no floor for some period of time.  Well, I did have some surviving basil-ha!

Enter my fun floral friend who loves cooler temps.  The pretty Pansy.  I stopped by my favorite locally owned garden center after work and got busy weeding and planting when I got home.

 All I needed was a flat of these lovelies and a nice glass of vino for my fall planting session.

 My Pansies with the cool October sky in the background.

A little up close look at these beauties.

 Oh and with that surviving basil?

 I made a pesto sauce for my angel hair for dinner.  Didn't have pine nuts, so swapped out walnuts, it worked out well.

A pinch of kosher salt a few garlic cloves, walnuts, a few bunches of basil, some parm and EVOO-yum yum yum.

 My creation with a side of corn bread.  I've decided to embrace that my cooking style has developed into north meets south, Jewish meets Baptist.  It's working for me.

A Pop of Pink (and green)

Well I am finally joining Trish in celebrating all things Pink & Green.

Yesterday I stopped by Cox Farms on my way home from work.  After I saw all the gardening goodies my friend Lacey got, I couldn't help but go the very next day.

Here are some of my additions to replace what Virginia's hot summer temperatures have taken away.

In true pink and green fashion.

Pink Gerber Daisey's

Basil

I now have a lot of basil plants, I'm hoping to make some pesto down the road and not feel racked with guilt each time I pick some!

There's lots more where that came from, hopefully I can get everything planted later today!