Guild Challenge and Gardening

Wednesday was our year end meeting for the Caledonia guild. Pot luck. Yum. Tons of healthy salads AND tons of not-so-healthy desserts. A perfect combination.

Our challenge this year was to take a book, any book, and use page 12 as inspiration for a ... something.  I made a telephone table mat.  Cute, eh?  Not.  one.  single.  friggin.  vote.  sigh.  Must avoid challenge try harder next year.

This week's schedule was:

• catch up all leftover late quilt jobs
• finish the garden
• quilt my own Bunny Hill quilt.   

The catch-up part took me until Thursday.  Today I got out to the garden with the zucchini and cucumber plants.  I've been waiting until the cucumber beetles and the squash bugs decided to go somewhere else for their seasonal buffet.  Hopefully I have waited long enough and they are all over at the neighbours'.  Today's supplies included a big pile of newspapers. Thankfully, DH was his usual, um, forgetful self on garbage day and the newspapers didn't go out to the recycle truck.

Problem area covered in weeds and grass with roots as thick as my toes.  I am NOT hoeing and digging this crap all summer.

Solution:  cover problem area with thick layer of newspapers, then top with mulch.  In this case, the mulch is from our grass clippings pile.  Issue dealt with. Mostly.  By this time it was almost noon and I was hot, sweaty, smelly, (attractive sounding, no?) and hungry.  There is more to do but I got the worst of it.

Nauseatingly healthy salad. Garden lettuce, broccoli, blueberries, strawberries, feta cheese, eggs cooked just shy of hard, and my homemade dressing.

LATEST DISCOVERY

Crocs (you know, the shoes) are ridiculous.  I finally broke down and bought a pair.  Seriously.  $35 for plastic shoes that are covered in holes.  That is a ridiculous price.  And they are very unattractive.  They don't keep your feet warm, dry, or clean.  Which makes me wonder what the hell good they are?  The only thing they have going for them,... ok, TWO things:  they are easy to slip on, and they hose off without doing any damage to them.  because they're plastic, silly.  Even the dog has no interest in running away with them.