mutant veggies?

So we planted carrots this spring. They look like they're ready...they're poking out of the ground:

I took a hand spade and dug down into the dirt. Here's what came up: short, knobby carrots. What the ???

Here's what they look like after the tops were cut off & I washed these mutated knobby..."things". Aren't they ugly? I did a google search to look for possible answers. Here's what I found out: If you have heavy clay soils or rocky ground with low fertility or if you planted your carrots too close together - less than 2 inches apart -- you may see this problem. Hot weather may also trigger root problems and, when followed by periods of wet weather, will cause roots to expand rapidly and develop cracks.

We certainly didn't have hot weather here in northern IL this summer. I think hubby planted the carrots too close together. Yep, I'm blaming him. :-) Oh well, now we know for next year!

yummy dinner

Baked rigatoni with tons of cheese (obviously!) and hot Italian sausage...

Sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic...

And because one cannot have enough garlic, you gotta have garlic bread, too...

my baby is going off to college!

OK, so he's not leaving-leaving. It's not like he's going to live in a dorm on campus or anything. He's going to be commuting every day. But still...it's a big step. It's college.

I can't believe he let me take his picture this morning. Maybe he was still half asleep. Notice the commuter mug of coffee in his hand. :-)

daytripper

Brian and I took a day trip to Evanston, the north shore town where he grew up. Evanston is right on Lake Michigan and is home to NorthWestern University, full of culture and diversity, restaurants, coffee shops, and unique stores. See the store to your right, The Spice House? The smells alone drew us into that shop. I ended up buying chai spice, pizza seasoning, organic bay leaves, and vanilla bean pods.



We stopped at The Brothers K Coffeehouse for tea (Brian) and a mocha (me)...

Drove down to the lakefront and enjoyed the sound of the crashing waves...

The white clouds on the horizon looked like mountains (click on pic to enlarge it for better viewing)...

Last stop on the way home - Kaufman's Deli. We simply had to load up on kosher corned beef (*choke*...$12.89/lb.), garlic bagels, and their awesome tuna salad. Here's Brian eating a corned beef sammy and dill pickle in the car (we couldn't wait until we got home) ...

girls just wanna have fun

My sweet nieces, Hannah and Sarah, spent the weekend with us before they start school later this week. Here they are with Uncle Brian in the backyard.


Sarah with Zippo.


Hannah playing a video game at Tony's Subs...

Cuteness and coolness...

Mmm...sub sandwiches at Tonys!

mmm...birthday cake!

My Aunt Suzie had a family BBQ at her house yesterday, August 9th. She surprised me (obviously - check out the dork face!) by bringing out a white raspberry cake that she had made for my birthday...

The cake was beautiful; covered in real whipped cream and fresh raspberries...

It was delicious, too!

my sunny, special summer day

What a pretty summer day...a good day for celebrating a birthday!


Nothing but blue skies, puffy white clouds, and lush trees...

I did enjoy some free time indoors doing something I love...scrapbooking and card making. Here I am in my little "studio" downstairs. There's hardly any natural light, so I apologize for the quality of the pictures.

My son, Tim went out and got me an iced mocha from my favorite coffee shop, Honeyhill. He said, "I don't have to get you a card now, do I?!" I told him I'd much rather have a coffee drink than a card...

my birthday evening

Hubby and I went out to dinner at Lindy's Landing...

We sat on the vast, vacant front porch on a swinging glider and relaxed a few minutes...

View of the lake and marina from the dining patio...

I had tilapia with mango relish; rice pilaf; and broccoli...

And a margarita, of course! Happy birthday to me!

fireworks

Every second week in August, the little town that I live in puts on an awesome fireworks display. My friend lives right on the lake where they shoot off the fireworks, so she invites everyone over to her house for the evening. Here's a view of the lake just as the sun was setting and we were waiting for the fireworks to begin...



I don't have a fancy camera; just a Canon A590 IS. And I've never read the instruction manual, so I have no idea what to do with the settings...you know, aperature and all that other fancy stuff. I basically point and shoot. I think the pictures turned out kinda cool anyway.

some kitchen decor

Little shelf on a wall in my kitchen...the yellow dish with the bird on it is new; got it from the antique mall this past weekend. I plan on painting my kitchen a light, creamy yellow in the near future so I'm starting to collect some yellow decorative pieces.


Large shelf in my kitchen. I think when my kitchen is repainted, I'm going to forego this big shelf. I'm tired of it - have had it hanging there for many years - plus it's an outdated look, I think. I change the decor on this shelf all the time. Right now I have a red and white theme going.

Yellow candleholders bought at the antique mall. I splurged a bit on these, but just *loved* them. I passed them up at first, but then kept thinking about them as I was shopping, so went back and got them. :-)

Until I get tapered candles, I simply turned the candleholders upside down and used them in another way!