Elephant, pink eyed peas, wildlife and more...

OK, first, I apologize to all Cactus Monday folks that I have no cactus anything here today. I am just plain exhausted and cannot think about one more thing today!!! My daughter and I took the kids to a wildlife rescue, and we walked in the heat (although we did have a lot of shade here, from massive trees, thank God)...the pic below is of the three of them posing on a large cat statue there. It was a neat place with a new permanent black bear habitiat, which was really awesome to see!

I did 4 loads of laundry, and cleaned, and took the kids to a park for 1.5 hours, made dinner, fed everyone, and tended to the garden. Here is a pic of the first pink-eyed pea I took off my plants to check the size of the peas...and they were perfect! Of course, I had to share it with you, and see...they really are pink-eyed, rather than black-eyed! They are ultra sweet, and it sure is easy to see when they are ready to come off the plants due to the color change. I cannot recommend planting them highly enough. Of course, my middle name should be FUN, so these plants are perfect for me!!!

Here is Donovan's finished paper mache elephant! It turned out so cutely! He was so proud showing his mom and dad! Now we are thinking we must make some Fathers Day gifts from the left over glue/water mixture. I am thinking of fashioning an alligator pencil holder for my husband. He loves alligators!!!

Here are a few shots of Donovan's zinnia pot. The last pic is of the latest one, a very tall, ballet pick flower! This pic does not do it justice...it is really beautiful! Can you see how tall the one is compared to the others???


Thanks for stopping by!!!

Magical Pink Eyed Purple Hull Peas, and other fun stuff!!!

Today my DIL's parents took my grandkids to a zoo, and Donovan came to my house with what they had purchased for him!!! It was a paper mache elephant to make, starting with a balloon...and the final product was to be a pinata!

They had included two balloons, and both of them popped on us! My sweet grandson is sort of scared of popping ballons, so we made a command decision to use something else for the body. How about a big old clear plastic juice jug!

It is turning out really cutely. We have to finish it up tomorrow. It comes with colorful tissue paper to also paste on, but I think I will allow him to paint it with acrylics and I can speed up the process with a hair dryer! Speed is very important to a 5 year old!!!

Donovan just loved doing the paper mache. I told him he came to the right person for any more of this in the future! Who knows what we might come up with! I am always looking for a partner in crime when it comes to projects!!! He stayed up until 10pm working on this, and fell asleep instantly after his head hit the pillow!!!

Next to show you is my 2nd re-do on the version of drawing my EDM mug! This time using pastels...this was a quickie pic to do, but I just love what a soft thing you can come out with using the pastels...blending is a lot of fun!

Below are the first three tomatoes discovered on my Bush Tomato plants today!!! They had formed way down low on the plant, so I did not see them until they had gotten to this size already! The largest one is about 1.5 inches in diameter! Very exciting!!!



This sweet butterfly was flitting all around me today while I was out in the garden, and I thought of a hiaku as it flew around on the breeze.

Little Monarch on the breeze
Gliding in the air
Live free, and do what you please!


Now for the magical part of my so called Black Eyed Peas! I had forgotten that I had planted the pink eyed purple hull variety of southern pea, that is in the family of all different sorts of peas similar to the BE'd pea, but they all have different actual pea colors and with different colored "eyes".

My bean pods started turning purple and I thought there was something wrong with them, until I realized the variety I had planted! LOLOL!

They are turning a very dark purple. I am waiting a while to let the peas inside get bigger. The pods look like they are ready to be picked, but I want to let them grow a little longer. I sure hope I will have enough to make more than a handful!

I had given my friend 23 plants when they were seedlings, and now, it looks like we will both get a handful off...although my plants are still flowering...I wonder how much longer they will go. Hopefully all summer! Isn't tit so cool that with the colored pea pod, how easy it is see what needs to be picked??? I love this. Actually...I am contemplating planting more from seed. I understand that a lot of gardeners wait until after July 1 to plant to minimize pests. It would be fun to see if that really helps! I had to re-treat them today with a wash with the soap/oil/water solution, and then rinsed again with the hose so they would not burn in the sun. The soap in that solution is keeping the plants a real healthy dark green color! This is fun!!!

Have a nice Sunday everyone!