Day 168 - Visit to Allerton Park

I finally had the opportunity to drive out to Allerton Park in Monticello this evening [to read the details about Allerton, please visit my SOOC Saturday Blog entry at shirleybehindthelens].

I enjoyed my evening there, even with the heat, humidity and mosquitoes.



A couple more pictures from my visit:


There was a wedding earlier in the day.


Some flowers at sunset:


I didn't have time to visit some of the parts of the park (like the sculpture at the far end of the park), so I'll have to go back. I'm thinking the fall.... then winter .... then spring again.

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122/365 - Fresh From the Garden

Jill's garden, not mine!



It's so nice to have friends who share their bounty. I think these will go great in tomorrow's dinner (Chicken with Cashews).

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335/365 - Sound of Flowing Water

After two months of dormancy, our water garden's recirculating pump is back in business, flowing water over the waterfall, filling the air with the soothing sound of flowing water.

All it took was two trips to the Home Depot, two trips to Lowe's, one trip to the Do It Best Hardware store, numerous calls to the local water garden contractor, research on the internet, and finally, a call to a pond outfit near Atlanta, who gave me the key information I needed to retrofit our new pump into our existing pond system.

The new pump is slightly taller than the old pump, and the pump outlet is 1.5" instead of 2". I bought several reducers, but the piping always ended up being too tall. I didn't know I was supposed to cut off part of the riser piping! So that was the trick. And the water is flowing once again.



The replacement pump is guaranteed to work for three years. After replacing the other model 3 times in 6 years, I certainly hope so.

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198/365 - First Tomatoes

But they are not from my garden.

A gift from Jill, they are a product of the hard work Jill's husband, Buck, has put into the backyard garden.
Get a load of these goodies from several weeks ago


I'm only growing some tomatoes and herbs. And my tomatoes don't look as nice as the ones I will enjoy tonight. What are you growing in your garden this summer?

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