A very random collection of things

This is what leeks look like when they're about to bloom. This is what happens if you never harvest your leeks. I would be so ok with this bed being taken over by leeks and garlic. We don't eat that many leeks now that my free subscription to Bon Appetit ran out, but it would be kind of neat to just have plenty on hand, right there in the dirt.
Both tomato plants are doing great, starting to get little green tomatoes. I have a cherry tomato plant and a grape tomato plant, and the shape difference is even apparent with little baby tomatoes. The basil next to them is doing well enough that I'm already looking forward to more homemade pizzas. mmmm. basil and tomato and roasted garlic. (the little tomatoes I grow just get eaten whole - I buy bigger ones to put on pizzas.)

We've discovered baking potatoes and roasting garlic at the same time. Easy dinner of baked potatoes that may or may not be covered in garlic, and then left over roasted garlic for sandwiches or pizza later in the week.

Judo tournament last weekend: Fought novice division - one person in my weight class, and I had way more experience, so I got first place for the first time. Also my lungs and stomach were far more cooperative so I had much more fun all day. I was so incredibly hyper and talkative afterward that I had to keep wandering around finding new people to talk to because I could tell I was annoying people.

The week before, we went to a WWII style hangar dance. It was fun, but probably not something we need to do again. A good adventure though, and something we'd been talking about doing way back when N did more reenacting. Pics are on facebook.

I went and saw someone's thesis defense. It was good to find out what they are like in our department, and some of our committee members overlap. It's basically just a 1 hour talk, and then time for 30 minutes of questions. It was not a grilling, there were very few questions during the talk and an hour is just not that long considering I've already given 30 minute talks over just part of it. I'm really glad it occurred to me to go - it was just a sudden brainwave.

Project Complete: Oven Trim

Before we moved in: there were two separate wall appliance holes. Presumably one for an ancient microwave or something. N (with some help) cut the divider out and made it one big hole for our double oven.
Our double oven fit - but wasn't the exact dimensions of the hole - see the hole across the top and the ragged edges on the sides.
Eventually, we developed a plan. It's not the perfect plan, but it's better than a hole! We spent some time in the trim/molding section at Home Depot, mostly considering things like the dimensions of what we were trying to cover up. The side pieces are something called "shoe" molding, and the top is just crown molding. We originally thought we'd just do the top to the edges of the hole, but the edges were not super clean, and we decided this looks better. We stained them to the approximate color of our cabinets, and boom! No hole. I love it.

time to be outside

Project Complete: Deck Trexification. Last year we had a few stairs break on the deck. Rather than replacing them with wood, N replaced them with Trex, some kind of recycled plastic product stuff that doesn't rot and doesn't splinter. This summer, he finished replacing all the stairs and all the flat railings of the deck. Every thing else would be a more major rework to replace, and more importantly, doesn't need it yet.
This year's tomato plants. I got one of the kind that did so well last year, and a new different variety. Both are flowering already, so I have high hopes.
The strawberry that lived! See all the fruit on this guy? Hopefully the birds won't. We did nothing at all to help it live through the winter (I meant to look up whether I should cover it, but didn't get around to it... ) and it came back strong. It's got something like 10 little fruit ripening now.
Irises in the side yard. More plants that just survive with no attention - those are my favorite.

We've entered the part of the year where afternoons in the shade are fantastic. There are few things I like more than reading on the deck, listening to the breeze in the trees all around me.