Mushrooms in the Strawberry Patch

I was surprised to see these.

We have had a lot of rain the past two or three days and some mushrooms popped up in our strawberry patch.

I wonder if they are edible?

Outdoor Playpen

I bought a couple packages of rings and a few toys to make the outdoor playpen into a "play gym". I tied one of Markus' light cotton swaddling cloths to the head end to give him some shade.

He really likes the set up. He played and napped and played for almost two hours while I worked in the yard.

Ice and Snow

I started to go for my daily walk - only to discover that freezing rain was coming down. You can't see it in the photo, but it made taking pictures difficult.

Anyway, the previous days' soft snow was covered by a layer of crunchy ice. So I decided to go for a quick tour of the yard instead of a walk around the neighborhood.

After Weeks of Rain

My walking route for today - 3.2 mi.

We've had so much rain during the past two weeks and on the few sunny afternoons I've managed to be at work or busy with home improvement projects. I hadn't been on my neighborhood walk for two whole weeks! I was really missing it.

Strawberries in our front yard.

It's hard to believe that we still have strawberries growing in November. When they say "day neutral variety" they really mean it!

I thought they were killed off by the frosts we had a few weeks back, but I guess it didn't stay cold enough for long enough.

Acidanthera - Acidanthera bicolor AKA Gladiolus callianthus

I planted these bulbs in our front yard last spring. The foliage came up in the summer like it was supposed to, but they didn't bloom. I was really surprised to see them blooming now. I guess they liked all the rain.

I really should know what this round leaved tree is... but I don't.

Anyway, it's a few doors down the street from us on Wilson Ave, so I'm sure I can figure it out later.

Pink rosebud on Wilson Ave.

Unidentified Mushroom on Wilson Ave

There is a small forested area just across from Hyland Park Middle School I found lots of mushrooms growing in the grass between the forest and the road.

More unidentified mushrooms on Wilson Ave.

We've had so much rain that all the mushrooms are quite mushy. I still find them fascinating though.

Cute little mushrooms on Wilson Ave.

Interesting and colorful shrub on SW 27th St.

Pink capped mushroom on on SW 27th St.

Another view of the pink capped mushroom.

Still more unidentified mushrooms on SW 27th St.

Pretty leaf "glowing" in Hyland Forest Park

Wild Hazelnut - Corylus cornuta in Hyland Forest Park.

More Hazelnut leaves.

Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) Leaf in Hazelnut tree - Hyland Forest Park.

Snowberry - Symphoricarpos albus in Hyland Forest Park

Interesting Seahorse birdbath on SW 133rd Ave.

Stolen apple from SW Davies Rd.

I got really hungry during my walk, so when I saw a house with dozens of beautiful apples lying on the ground under a tree, I had to steal one and eat it. It was really tasty.

Yellow daisy on on SW Stirrup St.

Unidentified pink flowers on on SW Stirrup St.

I bet the hummingbirds like these.

Pink Dahlia on SW Stirrup St.

I know I've taken loads of Dahlia pictures already - but this one has raindrops!

Pink Dahlia on SW Stirrup St.

Many of the Dahlias were losing their petals, but I thought that made for an interesting view of the center of the flower.

Bluebird house on SW Tennessee Ln.

Big Mushroom on SW Secretariat Terrace

Moose sculpture on SW Secretariat Terrace

Unidentified Mushroom in Hyland Forest Park

Unidentified Mushrooms in Hyland Forest Park

Yellow Rose on SW Wilson Ave.

Yay! - The Dining Table is Finally Finished!

I put the last coat of finish on our dining table yesterday (it was in the cardboard box for most of the last year).

Anyway, it's now done except for a few pieces that attach to the underside of the extra leaves, and some hardware for the extra leaves.

If it looks a bit disproportionate, that's because it is. It's a counter height table. When we bought it, we thought it would be nice to be able to use the same chairs for the table and the kitchen counter bar (off to the right)... now I'm thinking perhaps we should have gone with a standard height because we have a low ceiling... but still, it's a very nice table. I suppose we can change out the table legs and chairs if we get tired of it.

PS - the floral arrangement is made of grape leaves and japanese flowering plum leaves from our garden.

Finches in the Weedy Garden

Lesser Goldfinch - Carduelis psaltria

I felt bad about not weeding our backyard lately... until I saw that the birds were loving it. It's sooo much easier and more fun to sit in front of the french doors in the kitchen and watch birds than it is to go out there and weed the yard. I've decided to just let it go for this winter.

Actually we have a finch feeder that's very popular. It seems like the birds take turns hanging out and sitting on the weeds and eating weed seeds while they wait for their turn at the feeder.

Another Goldfinch

Goldfinch 3

Goldfinch 4

Goldfinch 5

Quick Strawberry Pastries

We're still getting a few strawberries from our garden so I decided to try a new and easy recipe with them.

I was browsing strawberry recipes when I saw one using canned croissant dough. I remembered that Sami had bought some a long while back and we hadn't used it yet. The recipe called for jam, but I figured fresh berries would work ok too. I just mixed them up with a little bit of brown sugar and sprinkled some pearl sugar on top for decoration.

The pastries were pretty tasty and super easy. Although I think the Strawberry Crisp is still our favorite strawberry recipe.

It's Plum Season!

Strawberries and Plums from our yard.

We have day neutral strawberry plants that produce continuously from June to frost. They are excellent and surprisingly easy to grow.

The plums are italian prune plums. Sami picked about 5 gallons off the small tree in our front yard and estimates that there are still about 3 gallons left.

Plum puree (for the baby)

I filled up all five trays of the dehydrator with halved plums.

After that we still had a lot more than we can eat fresh so I decided to cook some up for baby food (yes, I know it's quite a while before the baby can eat it). Anyway, the results were amazing, and I'd happily eat them all by myself.

Strawberry Crisp

We first made this recipe last weekend. It was so good we decided we had to have it again.

I changed the original recipe by doubling the ingredients for the crisp topping and baking at a higher temperature (375F )

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Fresh from our garden!

Sami picked a big bowlful of strawberries this afternoon. He selected all the bigger ones and suggested we dip them in chocolate.

Yum!

Sami dipping strawberries.

Sami had never used the double boiler method to melt chocolate before. He discovered it's actually easy and fun to dip things in chocolate.

Close-up of strawberry being dipped.

Strawberries cooling on wax paper.

Pear and Blackberry Sponge

My Double Fruit Pear and Blackberry Sponge.

Since we have so many pears in our yard and Sami just picked blackberries a couple days ago, I decided to try this recipe.

I don't have a proper sponge pan, so I figured I'd just use the big glass dish and double the recipe, but I realized after putting the fruit in that I had only two eggs... Actually I had 14 eggs but for some reason couldn't find the second box. Anyway, it's rather light on the sponge, but still looks and smells very yummy.

After the Rain

Urban Gardening

This past week and weekend we had really hot weather in the triple digits. Yesterday and today have been rainy with thunderstorms at night (very unusual here).

On my walk into work today, I noticed these tomato plants in old recycling bins at the nearby apartment complex. It looks like they've been pretty successful considering the weather.

Loads of Little Mushrooms.

They just popped up overnight all over the bark mulch in the landscaping around the library.