Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Back in Action

Last week, my mom and I went on a trip to the Outer Banks. We stayed in Kitty Hawk and had a fabulous time. The weather wasn't great while we were there, but we still had a fun time. We went to the beach, the pool, hit the tiki bar, watched a movie, played Uno, and went to the outlets. I wanted to stop in and check out the local yarn shop in Nags Head, Knitting Addiction. It was a really cozy shop with couches, comfy chairs, and a kid's play area. AND they have a resident cat, a lovely gray kitty named Purrl (what an appropriate name for a knitting shop cat). I managed to leave without any yarn, but I did buy a great book of patterns. 


Of the restaurants we tried, my favorite was Kill Devil Grill. The food was awesome, and while it was a little loud in the dining area, it had a great old-fashioned diner atmosphere. Mom got chicken piccata, and I got crabcakes. Mmmmmmmmmmm. In fact, I ate seafood for every dinner we had because I live in the mountains where the seafood isn't so great or available. Barefoot Bernie's was fun and delicious as well. We shared a hot crab dip appetizer and both got steamed shrimp for our entrees. We also went to Rita's Ice-Custard-Happiness two out of the four days we were there. I wish we had a Rita's in Roanoke. Is there someone out there that wants to start a franchise here? 


I loved the foot-washing station they had at the hotel. Maybe I just don't get out a lot, but I had never seen one of these things before. Here it is:
You step on, and the water automatically comes on to wash the sand away. Sand be gone!


When I got back to the mountains, I found lots of tomatoes, flowers, green peppers, and lettuce. Here are some photos of the status of the deck garden (all started from seed and featured in a previous post):


Maters (Roma)

Teeny Green Peppers

Bells of Ireland, Molucella laevis (ain't they perty?)


Lettuce/Mesclun 
(it grew like crazy whilst I was gone cuz no one was cutting it)

Bachelor's Button or Cornflower, Centaurea cyanus

Now, it's time to get crafty!


Leaf out.

3 comments:

  1. Those Bells of Ireland are beautiful. How have you liked growing lettuce & greens this year? Why do your Romas look yellow/ white?

    I planted late this year so our 1 volunteer tomato has some babies on it now, and I'm happy to see that it's a Juliet because my favorite thing to do with tomatoes is make sauce. The three I planted (in June!) aren't blossoming, which is worrisome because I think I saw blossoms a week or so ago and now I don't - they're Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, and a yellow saucer. We'll see, but last year's Juliet was so prolific we'll be good either way.

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  2. @EG

    Thanks! I love the Bells. J definitely likes the mesclun lettuce and declares how delicious it is every time he eats some. I sowed some baby spinach for myself, but it didn't turn out very well. Only one plant survived, and it is just now getting some leaves. I think it's just the picture/exposure that makes the Romas look yellow. They are a light green and haven't started turning red at all yet. Are the three tomato plants you planted heirloom varieties? I'm not up on my tomato names.

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  3. My spinach didn't do anything for me this spring. Two cuttings and it went to seed. I'll try again this fall and then hopefully the established spinach will produce for me in early spring. I planted way(!) too much lettuce this year. Planting while it is still cool and keeping it watered is key. Your pepper plants are doing better than the ones I started from seed!

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