June the month for young brides

Tags

brides bouquets, June, postaday2012, pruning, roses

As I was in the backyard today, pruning some errant branches and weeding the bamboo jungle, I turned to my left and saw my button rosebush in almost full bloom and it made me think of my wedding bouquet twenty two years ago. My hubby helped design the bridal bouquet with my mother’s best friend and his own best friend. They created the baby rose and baby breath bouquet together at my father’s restaurant where all the floral centerpieces were being put together , between the three of them, we had so much design talent for floral arrangements. It was spectacular. I went inside to get my trusty cell phone and went around to my five rosebushes to showcase how the cluster of blooms would be so lovely in any bridal bouquet.

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Would you open a restaurant?

Tags

baking, cooking, postaday2012, Restaurant

• Would you ever consider opening your own restaurant, bar, or cafe?

• June 27, 2012

• Opening a Restaurant
• Oyster

  It has tickled the back of my mind from time to time because I love cooking and baking. However, having grown up in the restaurant business with my father and seeing first hand how hard it is; the long hours, the high possibility of failure and the stresses that occur everyday. I keep my cooking and baking right here in my kitchen where it belongs.

Never say die, one of my motto’s in gardening

Tags

containers, herbs, lavender, postaday2012

a grouping of my herbs; basil, thyme, rosemary and sage

baby lavender just planted in the container in the front

another lavender bush in its second year

Rosemary and Sage

Sage and Rosemary

thyme, one of the fragrances that I especially like

lavender bush in its second year

I don’t know if my motto comes from stubborness, perseverance or tenacity, but there a few plants that no matter how many years have disappointed me, I just can’t accept defeat. I have always loved lavender, I have taken the TGV from Bordeaux to Toulouse and from Toulouse to Marseilles and the fields of lavender are absolutely magnificent. I have, since seeing those those fields from afar and walking amongst the lavender, decided to have my own little piece of lavender paradise here in Blandford. It has been, I would say at least six years of trying and as you can see from my pictures I have gone back to the drawing board several times over. I have a friend of mine just down the road who has several big lavender bushes, so it is possible to grow it here. I have asked for advice and followed her advice but even though I have had some failures in the past, I promise you that I will have my little piece of lavender paradise. My saga extends itself to the herbage as well. In the southern parts of France, rosemary, sage and thyme grow like weeds, now I realize that in the mountains of western Massachusetts I don’t have the climate for keeping the herbs alive all year. So for over a decade, I have made my project in the fall of bringing in my precious flower pots of herbs and trying with all my patience and tender loving care to keep them alive throughout the winter. I have succeeded once or twice with rosemary but never two winters in a row. Chives on the other hand, they grow like weeds up here in Blandford which makes me so happy. I can be cooking anything such as a frittata for example and I can go outside with my scissors and snip as much as I like and voila fresh chives in the frittata. I would love to be able to do that during the winter, but I can’t seem to be able to keep my herbs alive for more than a month or two before they start to fade, diminish and then die. This year I have reluctantly accepted the fact that my house doesn’t have the sun exposure necessary to keep these herbs alive during the cold winters. Sometimes you have to let a dream go, if sometime in the future I rearrange a room in the house around keeping summer plants alive, than I’ll revisit the project of green housing the herbs, but until that day comes I’ll be replacing the herbs annually.