Happy Memorial Day Everyone!

Everyone should take a moment today to remember all those who have died for our country so we may live in peace. We must also remember those who are fighting for our rights today either at home or abroad. Thank you to all the services for all that you have done, for what you do every day!

In Memoriam John H. McDermitt, Sr.
In Memoriam William Bond

My Garden, Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden and Cooking

Yesterday John and I woke up late (which is a rare occurrence in our home! Teddy slept in too-that was why we got to sleep in! We decided after our breakfast of French Toast that it would be the perfect day to visit the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. The weather fibbers kept saying the rain was coming, then it wasn't, then it was.... We decided to take our huge umbrella and chance it and I'm so glad we did! It was slightly overcast, which made for a great visit! I got some great shots with my camera, we spent some time sitting on various benches (they have a special event called Come Sit a Spell), there were 3 weddings going on, the orchid conservatory was just beautiful and we had a spectacular time! We then came home where John proceeded to take a nap, I caught up on my catalog and magazine browsing and then proceeded to fall asleep also. When I woke up John had just put the steaks on the grill. I had made potato salad and deviled eggs earlier so all I had to do was make the tomato, mozarella, basil salad. We had a wonderful meal and then we chilled out the rest of the evening. We read our books for a little while, finished watching the movie Young Victoria and then we watched a few shows on HGTV. Life doesn't get any better than a day like we had!!

Here are some pics of our day:

My Asiatic Lily opened the other day-it is so beautiful!


My tomatoes are starting to get bigger. I planted one plant in a container in April and I have about 8 tomatoes on there!


Last year I had bought a miniature Gardenia bush and it has started to bloom. The fragrance from this one little bush is amazing!


Off to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden! Megan and Ken had given us a Mother's/Father's Day gift of a year membership there. We decided we had never been this time of year so we decided to spend some time there yesterday. It was really lovely. Here is one of the main fountains.



DSBG is having an event called Come Sit a Spell. They have all different kinds of benches and seats for people to sit on and enjoy all the gardens. Some are made from wood, tires, recycles stumps, metal, etc. John decided he was tired and wanted to sit in the oversized rocking chair. The chair was made from wood and rope was strung back and forth on it.


Here is a handpainted Adirondack Chair at the garden which will be auctioned off at a later date.


There were many butterflies and bees at the gardens yesterday. There legs were so full of pollen I don't know how they could fly! Here is some butterfly bush with a beautiful butterfly on it and some bees.


There were some beautiful Japanese Iris blooming along the walkways. Here is one that I just loved.



I love the orchid conservatory at the gardens. There are so many interested orchids, air plants, elephant ear plants, etc. there. Here is an orchid I snapped a shot of.


We left the Botanical Garden and headed home. I had made potato salad and deviled eggs earlier in the day so all I had to do was make the tomato, basil, mozarella salad and grill the steaks. John took care of the grilling. Here is the salad right before I served it. The basil is from my garden and the mozarella is from Trader Joe's as well as the tomatoes. It was so good!


Hope you enjoyed our Saturday! Today we are just chilling out at home. Getting some household chores done and then relaxing together! Everyone enjoy your day!

Here is the coffee table my Dad and I made!

Hi Everyone! I promised I would post pictures of the coffee table my Dad and I made. I thought it turned out pretty good and we made it in such a short period of time. I love working in the wood shop with my Dad! He is so creative and he doesn't even use a plan it is all in his head! I just wanted a simple bench-like coffee table to complete my "beach-style" living room and I think this bench has accomplished that! Hope you like it!

Well it's official!

It is now official John and I will be reopening our title agency! John was approached by one of his clients and they wanted to partner up with us and open the agency back up! At first we weren't sure we wanted to do that or if it was at all possible. Then John checked out our options and he approached a title insurance company and they just told him yesterday it is a go! He will continue to work at his new job and run the title agency too! We eventually think he will just work at the agency but we have to see how it goes for now. Hopefully someday I will be able to work at the agency again too and then I would have more freedom because I would probably work part-time there. Thanks for all your support-everyone has been so supportive to John and I. We love you all!

The rest of Day 4 in NJ

Here is the rest of the botanical garden pictures. I didn't take any pictures on the 5th day of our trip-we were just riding in the car and really didn't see anything exciting. I hope you have enjoyed coming along with Megan and I on our "girls" road trip! It was a great trip and I thoroughly enjoyed it!


When we arrived at the Botanical Garden this is what we saw first. Very pretty!


There was a whole section at the Skylands Botanical Garden that was a lilac meadow! I love lilacs and the smell is intoxicating!

Here are a few more lilacs that were blooming while we were there:







While walking along the woodland path I noticed this plant that was growing there. At first I thought it was an andromeda but when I got up closer I don't know what plant this is-I thought the flower was interesting though.



The Japanese Primroses were in full bloom when we got there. This woodland path was lined with them.


I loved these white and yellow iris in the iris garden.


This clump of iris looked so beautiful against all the greenery!


Another gorgeous iris!


The hosta had just come out also. Love the color of this one!


I have always wanted to grow a golden chain tree. This one looked so graceful swaying in the warm breeze. I love the bench under the tree too!


This garden urn caught my eye. I love architectural things in gardens.


One section of the garden had statues up on a wall. This one isn't the angel of wine but it was next to that one. I think it might have been the angel of fruit.


Here is a fountain that was hidden in almost a secret garden.


The Rhodedendrons were just gorgeous and this one was no exception.


Here is a bright red one that was blooming along the path also.


I came upon these blue iris near the stream along the woodland path. They were such a vivid blue-just gorgeous!


These Siberian Iris looked great in front of this boulder. The gray from the rock really brought out the blue/purple color of this iris.


Azaelas along the woodland path.

Well that is it of my trip. Thank you for bearing with me, I just love to take flower pictures. I hope you enjoyed this little tour!

Day 4 of my NJ trip (Well some of it)!

This was part of the last full day of my trip to NJ. I am going to break up this post. Today I will post some of my parents gardens and the botanical garden and then tomorrow I will post the rest of the Botanical Garden pictures. There are just too many! Sunday morning Megan and I went to Van Heusen and Bass outlet one more time. I bought John another golf shirt and I got 2 more tops at Bass for myself. Really love no sales tax on clothes in NJ! My Mom, Megan, my sister, Sue and I went to the Skylands Botanical Garden in Ringwood, NJ. What a beautiful place! I had gone to the Ringwood Manor when I was a child with the school but never to the gardens. You know I love flowers and I was not disappointed. NJ has been very cool this Spring so not all the flowers were out, but that didn't matter because what was out was beautiful! I also took some pictures of my Mom and Dad's flowers. I will start with them and then show you the Botanical Gardens flowers. Hope you enjoy the tour!


If you were a bird wouldn't you love to live here! My Dad made this and he is very proud of it-as he should be.


My Dad also built this gazebo and then planted a wisteria on it. He had to wait almost 12 yrs. for the wisteria to bloom and last year it finally did. This year it had even more flowers!


This is one view of my Mom's garden, which I love.


Here's another view of her garden. Not many flowers blooming right now but they will be soon!


My Mom has a constant battle with squirrels and this one just annoyed the heck out of her! She said it comes everyday and few times a day and perches itself on her birdbath and drinks water from it for almost 1/2 an hour!!


My Dad rescued this azaela from another part of the yard. It was doing well there but it seems to be doing really well by his barn/shop!


Mom has this azaela in her garden up by the house and it is always a showstopper!


My Dad planted this iris along the picket fence he has down by his barn/shop (my Mom claims he stole it from her garden-they just crack me up!!). Isn't it a beauty!


Their rhodedendrons just started blooming and they were absolutely beautiful!


Here is another pretty blue iris along the fence.

Skylands Botanical Garden:


Megan took a picture of me, my Mom and my sister, Sue at the beginning of our tour in the Garden.


Here is a closeup of the same picture of us.


Megan came down a spiral staircase and I caught this picture of her.


This picture I thought was a great one of Megan and my Mom.


I don't have that many pictures of my Mom, so I asked her if she could sit up on the wall and I would take a picture of her. First I didn't think she would be able to get up on the wall and then she just hopped up there!

Here are the Tree Peony's-they were all just gorgeous!







Here are some azaelas. We start with the white azaela and then move on to the Exbury deciduous azaelas that were growing along the woodland trail. They were just beautiful!!







Tomorrow I'll post the rest of my Botanical Garden pictures. There will be some beautiful iris, fountains, statues and lilacs! I hope you can join me!