Versailles on a Rainy Day. We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.

Celebrating gardens, nature, photos and creativity. Writing, words and books. In a Vase on Monday. Follow Susan Rushton on WordPress. Link to my Twitter account. Link to my Pinterest account. Link to my Flickr account. Link to my 500px account.

Where the present and past collide. Saving Zucchini and Tomato Seeds. I grated a zucchini up to freeze and got 5 cups out of it. Before grating, I took the core, cleaned out the seeds as best I could and put them in a large glass bowl full of water. I let it sit for several minutes. The dead seeds should float to the top, the good ones will fall to the bottom. Used a slotted spoon to take out the ones that were floating, drained the rest.

Top of the recent orange beanie. I was happy to see that the pattern actually twisted into place. I was concerned about what would happened to it as I began to decrease. It took a bit of thought, but I worked the ribs by doing the decrease on the rib, such as knitting 2 together then purling 2 together then in the next row decreasing each one into the stitch next to them until two ribs were eliminated.

Gardening To Fill The Pantry! August 11, 2015. Went out to the tomato plants the other day and the plants are booming. The tomatoes are clustered like grapes. All of the tomato plants have between 16 and 24 tomatoes on them. Among the plants however I found something rather surprising. The cherry tomato plants had tomatoes that, although smaller, looked exactly like my Beef Steaks. See the 4th of July Tomato just below the cherry ones? .

I have finished all of my committee work until after crossover. The Appropriations committee still has some heavy lifting to do, meeting often into the evenings, debating various parts of the budget. The full House is also having floor sessions that last well into the evening to ensure we vote on all of the bills before Friday, February 27.

This is our entry for the 2016 Competition. Last year we submitted 132 photos showing how we have transformed the gardens from overgrown borders and fence lines to an inviting interesting space with something to catch the eye throughout the year. Although we cut back for winter we are are careful to heap leaves under hedges and large shrubs to give wildlife including hedgehogs a refuge and hunting ground. In the less formal beds as t.