YAKIMA VALLEY ROCKS ~ CRUSTY BREAD ~ ASPARAGUS

YAKIMA VALLEY ROCKS

One of the first things you think of when you retire is, "What in the world will I do with all my time?" I haven't had a problem with it so far as I have been able to keep myself busy. But now I have discovered a new hobby to take up even more of my time, and I must say I am enjoying this one very much. It gives me a way to be creative in addition to having something to do with my time. My new hobby is rock painting! This hobby goes along very well with picking up rocks on my walks, because now I also get to paint them. I got started on this hobby when I saw a post on Facebook from a group called Yakima Valley Rocks (#YakimaValleyRocks). This is a group of people who paint rocks and then hide them around town so other people can find them. The rocks have a note on the back for the finder to post a picture on Facebook. Sometimes the hider will post clues on Facebook so you know where to look. When you find a rock you can either decide to keep it, or hide it again so someone else can find it. The group encourages people to re-hide the rocks to pass the fun along. Linda found our first rock last week when she went to a Little Free Library close by our park. Below is a picture of the one she found there. I posted it on Facebook and the lady who painted it said it was her first try at painting one! I think she did a great job. Since this beach scene rock was our first find, we decided to keep it.

People also take the rocks on trips so the rocks can "travel" to far off places. One of the Yakima rocks even turned up in Hawaii today! There are lots of rock painting groups on Facebook and chances are there is one in your town, too. Just looking at all the beautiful painted rocks will guarantee that you will get bitten by the rock painting bug, like I did. Of course, as soon as Linda found her rock, off we went to Michael's craft store to get the needed supplies so I could join in the fun. Right now I have four rocks I am working on, with a coat of Mod Podge sealant drying on them before I can hide them. I am going to keep a couple of them since they are my first ones. I figure I will put some out in the garden along with the rocks we are collecting on our walks.  Here is a picture of the rocks I have done so far. The red heart-shaped "love" rock is the one I am going to hide. The little yellow one is not finished yet as I have to paint a design on it. I am so pleased with the ladybug and the yin-yang rock that I have decided to keep those two.

First batch of painted rocks

CRUSTY BREAD

I tried out a new recipe this week for crusty bread and I think this one is definitely a winner. Linda said it was her favorite, so I will be making this recipe again. The recipe is for Rosemary Garlic Skillet Bread and you can find the recipe here. Although this recipe comes from a website called "Diethood" I can assure you it is not diet food. This is another no-knead recipe, which I love because I don't have a huge mixer to do the kneading for me. The recipe is easy to make and yields a very nice loaf of bread. I used half whole wheat flour and half white flour and although it did not rise as much as I had hoped, the flavor was perfect. Check out the picture below, it will make you want a nice warm slice of homemade bread.

Rosemary Garlic No-Knead Bread

ASPARAGUS!!

Last summer I decided to try my hand at growing asparagus so I went to Lowe's and got the last six-pack of asparagus plants they had. I planted them then put a little fence around them because they were so wispy and I didn't want Summer to trample them. In the fall I was supposed to wait until the leaves turned brown, clip them off at the ground and then lay down a layer of mulch. I was going to do that, but before the leaves ever had a chance to turn brown it snowed, and the snow stayed on top of the asparagus for the next three months until just a few weeks ago. Linda went out to the garden this week to check on the plants and she found three tiny spears sticking up out of the ground! We both went out and looked again and we found a couple more. At this point that seems to be the only ones that survived, but I am totally amazed those did. Since asparagus is one of my favorite things in the world, I went to Lowe's last weekend and got some more asparagus plants. I am determined to grow my own asparagus!

The largest spear that came up this spring

New plants to plant this summer

And of course, no blog of mine would be complete without a parting shot of the little Summer Girl. You know what they say, "If you want the best seat in the house, you know you're going to have to move the cat!"

Summer hogging Linda's recliner

See you next week!