PITTSBURGH

This past Tuesday, I arrived for the Pittsburgh LWML convention where I have displayed for ISM, Inc. Rob and Penny were here for the same convention, stayed a couple of nights with Matthew and Angie. We did a little sightseeing with the boys.

The local commuter (two or four cars traveling by rail) is called the T and moves people north and south in the Pittsburgh area. Rob and I discovered that if you are 65, all you have to do is show your Medicare card and the ride is free.

Waiting for the T at the West Munrow station (two blocks downhill from Matthew and Angie's home.

Always on the smart phone looking for information (train schedule).

Arrival downtown and now a short walk to the INCLINE (a short railroad up the mountain).

CLICK HERE to ride with us to the top of Mt. Washington. Don't worry, it's not an open air car so you will not risk falling out.

Downtown Pittsburgh from the top of the Mt.

Looking at the confluence of the rivers - unique to Pittsburgh.

One of the many bridges leading out from the Pittsburgh peninsula to the other side of the rivers.

Rob and Penny wanted a documentation of this historic moment.

Matthew with his two boys, Caleb and Isaac.

The Selles carry on an age-old tradition - THE TOUR OF THE YARD. It almost seems as if they are in prayer over this healthy plant.

On July 29 (today) Ross and Miriam moved into their new home on the north side of Pittsburgh. Ross has been the strength coach at the University of Pittsburgh since January. Taylor seems content now that the movers are putting together her bed upstairs in what will be her room.

Elizabeth (Liz) is growing up fast. As soon as I gave her my phone to talk with Karol, she headed to a distant part of their new patio.

THE GREAT BLESSING OF BEING AT THE CONVENTION IS THE NEWS THAT MORE THAN 150 NEW PRAYER PARTNERS (FOR ISM) WERE SIGNED UP. WE ALSO HAD MANY WONDERFUL CONVERSATIONS WITH FOLKS WHO ARE ALREADY TOUCHING THE LIVES OF OUR INTERNATIONAL STUDENT FRIENDS (AND FAMILIES).

SUMMER'S HERE!

What do you think of when the weather gets hot and you'd like to cool off. Watch Joshua and Kaitlyn have some water fun.

CLICK HERE to see the video. What do you think? You'd like to join them?

THE GARDEN IS GROWING (Finally we're getting somewhere)

The tomatoes have begun to bloom. I can "see" the tomatoes already.

Beans - they have just begun to bloom. In the front are small eggplant and peppers.

We just picked our first edible pea pods (or should I say, Karol picked them).

My carrots (front five rows) had a hard time getting started. The beets (in front of the beans) are doing very well. We've already had beet greens.

This must be a mighty pepper. The plant is small, but it has already set fruit.

We ate lots of asparagus and froze even more for the winter. The cool and wet weather made it grow really well.

I'm out in Pittsburgh right now for the LWML convention (Thursday through Sunday). I'm enjoying my stay with Matthew and the boys (Angie is working in Dallas for a few days.

Isaac loves "lion."

A mourning dove from outside of my office window.

We re-mulched this flower bed and added a few new plants.

A very pretty corner of the yard.

Karols herbs (cilantro, basil, and two kinds of parsley) are in this flower bed near our back (front) door.

WHAT'S BLOOMING?

Here's a little pictorial rundown of what's blooming in our yard right now. The pictures do not give the complete history. That can only be discovered by a personal visit.

False indigo (baptisa)

Siberian iris

Yellow iris - the smell is like sweet perfume.

Daisies located in our "wild" areas.

Honeysuckle

Highbush cranberry

A shrub down by the pond

Yellow iris and water lily in the background.

Can't remember the name of these wild ones.

PROTECTED

Just a couple of shots this time around to show how my blueberry patch is now protected:

Andrew was the brains and most of the brawn behind the project. He knew how to do it from his days of working at the pheasant farm in Janesville, WI, some years ago. Zip ties fastened the net to the chicken wire fence. Now, the birds, and the deer, will be unable to enter the patch.

Joe gave us such a HUGE piece of netting that we only had to splice it once in the middle. We did this with copper hog rings that brother Rob had at his shop.

The netting is raised by the cedar pole in the middle of the garden. It holds all of the wires which in turn hold up the whole of the net. All I can say is "SLICK!"

GARDEN UPDATE

Well, it keeps on growing I shot a couple of videos again of what the garden looks like. Enjoy.

CLICK HERE to see the video of our lower garden.

A couple of rolls of bird netting to cover my blueberry patch. I fixed the door tonight and soon will get this netting over the top. The berries are forming and within a month, they will be ripe.

Rob gave me some perennials for my flower bed, and I bought the impatiens for our flower box.

 CLICK HERE to see the video of our upper garden.

During the brief thunderstorm, I started this cherry bowl. It needs microwaving so that it will dry, but in several days, it will be a finished bowl.

Jean and Paul brought this plant when they visited several weeks ago. The hummingbirds love it.

Just one more shot of these beautiful iris.

TRAVELING AGAIN

This time the travels only take me with an hour and one-half from home. Today I first traveled to Montello to visit Joe and Jane, avid outdoors lovers and great with garden and orchard (in addition to a host of other things).

Jane and Joe keep an exquisitely well groomed garden...perennials, pines, and hostas (and a whole lot more).

Simply beautiful!

A large selection of evergreens adorn the garden.

...and do they have the beautiful iris.

 

I never thought that I would see a "sampler" of sedum.

This beautiful falls is located right in downtown Montello.

From Montello, I drove to Neshkoro to drop off some fresh asparagus at Pat Muehrer's home (she was off playing bridge in Berlin). Then I headed to Poy Sippi to wait for Rob and Penny to return from taking the Baker family to the airport (returning to Kazakhstan for a month). Enjoyed leftovers with them, and before the sun set, I headed back to Rosholt. The sunset was beautiful. Judge by the following pictures.

The frogs are making all kinds of noises tonight in this warm weather. It will be music to my ears as I lay down to rest.