Home Happenings...plus Nature

In the last post, it was all about family visiting our home.  This post is all about the nature around our home, a short woodland path and of course, food!

Our Virginia Sweetspire has finally shown it's beauty after a couple years with little going on.  This southeastern native grows in moist, wet areas and in upland locations.  It is known for those clusters of white drooping fragrant flowers in the spring.  In the fall, the leaves are supposed to turn orange, red and yellow.  This bush can be invasive but we have it contained in a small area.

We are readying for a big neighborhood garage sale.  While going through our piles and accumulations of 'stuff', Laurie came across a bird bath that we'd 'retired' from service.  Since our loropetalum bushes have been cut down to a reasonable size, the bird bath can now join our concrete rabbits by the front porch.  The birds will be very happy... 

We recently purchased 2 bushes like the one shown above.  Laurie has them in planters on either side of our front porch entry.  Mexican heather, aka false heather, is a small evergreen shrub that is native to Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.  In climates like ours here in East Tennessee, it will have to come indoors in the winter as it does not tolerate freezing temperatures.  It should bloom for most if not all of the summer...

I noticed that our purple iris 'crop' is doing well this year...and spreading too!

Somehow this small azalea bush has survived it's less than ideal location next to our back deck.  Too much shade and less than ideal soil and it's still rewarding us with it's bright and colorful blooms. 

This photo is one of my favorite views from our home.  It was taken from the front porch looking back along side the house...and into what looks like a dense lovely woods.  It currently serves as a refuge for our neighborhood fox den and as an occasional place for deer to bed down.  The wooded lot (one of the few remaining) next to us feeds into a wooded common plot between houses.  The photo was taken  in the direction of that wooded bit of land.  

Laurie's latest project is a joint effort with Terry, our new neighbor who bought the new home behind us.  The project involves the construction of a woodland path through the common ground behind our house...a bit of a hill involved...so that we and Terry can easily walk back and forth between our homes rather than driving several blocks to visit... You can see the beginnings of the path just behind the big tree in the upper portion of the photo.

The ladies recruited a local 17 year old high school junior to build the path.  Alejandro worked hard on the project, even picking up bags of mulch and wood chips for the pathway itself.

This photo shows the placement of the stepping stones leading up the hill from Terry's home to ours.  Wood chips and mulch were added later.  For safeties sake, both ladies have walking sticks leaning against trees at either end of the path.  The next step will involve the creation of a woodland garden using plants that are native to East Tennessee. 

Now for an evaluation of two 'prepared' food items from grocery stores... 

During a recent food exploratory adventure at Costco, we noted these Jamaican Style Spicy Beef Patties.  We like spicy and we like to have 'easy meals' in the refrigerator or freezer.

Well...These spicy beef patties (sort of like empanadas) were not spicy and, as a matter of fact the beef filling was a bit mushy and flavorless.  Disappointing for sure!

Since I hate wasting food, I decided to try to improve on those 'spicy' Jamaican Beef Patties.  Consequently, I cut one into strips, fried them in a bit butte, slathered them with sharp cheddar cheese and then topped that creation with an egg.  I added Tabasco after tasting one of the strips.  Sadly, this updated creation did not help this product!  

I am determined to try again.  There has to be a way to make these beef patties more tolerable!  My next attempt will involve spicy taco sauce.

Onto another prepared 'convenient' food item.  We purchased this bag of Rosina Grande Italiano Meatballs at our local Food Lion store.  They are made with beef, pork, Romano and Ricotta cheese...with some Italian seasonings.

Note: This was a high risk purchase as Laurie generally doesn't like meatballs... She really can't explain why as she likes hamburgers as well as pork.

Winner, winner, Italian style dinner!  The top photo shows Laurie's dinner before adding parmesan cheese and the second photo shows my dinner after adding the cheese.  The meatballs have a nice flavor and they are firm, not mushy.  They paired well with the pasta.  Even better, sliced in half and placed on a nice bun, I was able to use the remaining meatballs for a couple of good sandwiches!  We will buy these again!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave