Winter Storms ~ Just in time for Christmas

We've been stuck in a weather pattern since December 12 where we have had a significant winter storm every other day. Each storm bringing more precipitation than the last. Friday's storm left us with flurries into last evening, as the Nor'easter started dumping upon us early this AM. I just went outside my kitchen and took a few photos of the snow.

My Poor Garden

Aside from being over-run with weeds, it has suffered massive amounts of water, as well as lack of sun and heat. The tomato vines are full of fruit, but they aren't ripening very fast. You can faintly see the tinges of yellow that the fruit is thinking about ripening.


The squash has suffered some issues with all this rain.


Out of all my pepper plants, this is the first hint that peppers are going to be coming along...maybe in time for the first frost?


My poor flowers have suffered dearly as well. This is the only bloom on my Hydrangea, and it is only about the size of a 50 cent piece.


The only thing thriving in all this rain is the kale.

Wet Wednesday

Thank GOD it has stopped raining for now.

Triple Party Fun

Yesterday we held a Triple Party for three teens. Ashley finished her first year of Technical School, Tony graduated High School, and Tony's sister graduated college. I didn't take any action shots at the party because we were fighting wind and rain. Thank God we had canopy tents set up for cover so the day was not a total loss. I did capture the food I contributed to the occasion...I kinda went a little overboard...but that is the creative side of me when I get an idea in my head and run with it.

"Veggie Platter"... Hidden under all of the veggies is a bunch of fresh kale that I picked from our garden.


"Fruit Bowl"...Just for the record, I didn't have a bowl large enough in my house to mix this quantity of fruit. I had to clean and disinfect my sink in order to mix it up. I used 1 Watermelon, 2 cantaloupe, 2 pounds strawberries, 3 pounds red seedless grapes, and 2 fresh pineapple. And yes, it all fit in the basket that was lined with tin foil.


The cake turned out great. The idea in my head was coming together masterfully. The topper exectuted exactly as I had it planned out in my head. Everything looked great when I went to bed Saturday night.


Unfortunately, heat and humidity with the fluffy boiled icing request did not agree. I knew the weight of the topper would not be supported sufficiently with the slowly sinking, sad and droopy icing on the cake. Instead, I used the cheesy plastic topper I had as Plan B.

By the time I got the cake to the party, the droopy frosting had conveniently slid south and the cake was exposed. I wasn't even going to try to fix it at that point. No one seemed to mind that the icing had slid, they were anxious to dig into the cake and there wasn't much leftover at the end of the day.

WHAT?!?!!!!???

A quick check on the web for one of our local TV stations to see what happened to the doom and gloom prediction for hot and humid weather today...It's been cloudy, raining and cool...
Note the expected low for the day is higher than the current temp.

Unpredictable Weather

A freak storm blew up late this afternoon and dumped a bunch of rain and hail upon us.

Close up of the hail. It came down so fast, and in less than a minute we had this much sitting on the ground. Unbelievable!

I haven't assessed the damage, if any, to the garden or flowers. No time to do that tonight. I have to go on stage with my daughter tonight for her induction ceremony into the National Technical Honor Society. Will blog with pictures about the ceremony tomorrow.

5/22/08 - The veggies and flowers are fine!