Southerner in the Northwest: SPECIAL EDITION: BITS & PIECES ~~ PARTING SHOT

BITS & PIECES

Every week when I sit down at the computer to do my blog, I wonder what in the world I am going to write about. Sometimes I do have a few topics in mind ahead of time, but then other times I have nothing when I sit down. But it usually comes to me when I look back over my pictures. Most weeks I have WAY more pictures than I can post. I'm sure the photographers out there understand this! Inevitably things keep getting put off. So this week's post is going to include some of those pictures that were previously consigned to oblivion.

Let's start off with a new restaurant in the area that we tried out a couple weeks ago, Provisions Restaurant & Market (click on the link to go to their web page). This one is located in Terrace Heights and is both a restaurant and a little attached market. Linda had a gift card that the school had given her for her volunteer efforts last year, so we were excited to give it a try for lunch.

A new favorite place to eat!

The menu has lots of choices on it, and also has vegetarian and gluten-free options (Emily, take note!). I ordered a small BBQ Chicken Pizza and Linda had the Three-Cheese Pasta. Both were hearty-sized servings so we had enough for lunch the next day! If you are in the Yakima area, check it out!

Pizza at top, pasta below

Since last week's post, Linda and I have picked all of our produce and pulled up the garden. I know, it's sad. The only thing left is one Delicata Squash plant that still has 2 squash on it. I let it go an extra week so they could get a bit bigger, but I am going to pull it up tomorrow.

What's left in the garden

A sad sight

We dug up all our potatoes this past week. We didn't get as many as we did last year, but some of them were absolutely HUGE!

Red potatoes

Despite my bemoaning the fact that the garden didn't produce as well this year as previous years, I still managed to get a lot of peppers that I don't know what to do with. In years past I could always make Jalapeno Jelly or Hot Sauce and take it down to Dad, as he loved spicy food. Alas, that is no longer an option, and since I am the only one here who eats anything approaching "hot," I can only make as much as I can eat. I did make a nice Jalapeno Relish...and let me tell you, it is hot, hot, hot! Good on hot dogs, sausages, and such! I also dehydrated some peppers and tomatoes, and ground them up separately into powders to use in spice mixes.

Jalapeno Relish

Getting ready to dehydrate

Speaking of Dad, Linda cut this beautiful rose off of the "Dad Rose" bush this past week. We put it in a vase behind our favorite picture of the three of us.

We still miss him terribly!

This time last year we were getting ready to head down there to spend three weeks with Dad. It was the last time we would ever see him. He was doing pretty good and we had no idea what would happen in just a few short months. But we cherish all the time that we had with him and are glad that we made the trip so often. Because...you never know.

While we're on the subject of roses, below is a picture Linda took a few days ago. We actually had rain here in Yakima. Not the little sprinkle like we usually get and everyone calls it "rain." No, this was a hard rain that happened during the night. Everything was soaking wet the next morning. It made pulling the garden up so much easier!

The "Precious Rose" with rain drops

Since it is the Fall season, I thought I would include a picture of our current flag in the front yard. You can probably guess why I love this one!

A southern flag in the PNW!

A couple of weeks ago I got my hair cut and my hairdresser friend gave me some eggs. They weren't your usual eggs, though. These came from "mini-chickens" and they were cute as a button! Here's a picture showing the size of these eggs compared to a regular egg. The chickens themselves are so cute! Sorry, I didn't get a picture of them. Thanks, Tina, for the eggs, they were delicious!

Mini-chicken eggs

I belong to a lot of Facebook groups, several of which are nature-oriented. Lots of people post pictures of insects to these groups, and you can learn some fascinating things on there. One thing I learned is what this black stuff is on the lettuce plants that are being eaten by the caterpillars. It's poop! Here's a picture of a caterpillar pooping. Never let it be said that my blog isn't educational!

There is no privacy on the Internet!

We had our last drinkiepoo outside a couple of week's ago as the weather is just too cool at that time of day to sit outside now. This picture shows our set-up for having drinks on the porch. It is so nice and relaxing to sit out there, listening to and watching the birds. The owl statue is one that belonged to Linda's mom, and the little table is one that belonged to my mom. So we have a piece of both of our mom's on the front porch to accompany us.

Front porch drinks

Speaking of birds, you probably notice that I don't have any bird pictures posted so far. That's because the only birds around now for the most part are sparrows and house finches. They are going bonkers eating, though. Getting ready for that cold weather that they KNOW will be here soon! So, in the absence of any new bird pictures, I am going to include one from our walk at Randall Park the other week. I just love this one!

Leaving a trail of diamonds in his wake

I'm including this picture below especially for L.H. I know she loves flower pictures and this shows the last of the sunflowers that I picked and put in a vase, about a week ago. They are all gone now.

We miss our sunflowers already!

PARTING SHOT

I have a few pictures of Summer Girl that have never made it to the blog. I usually have several pictures of her each week, and I have to decide which one or two I want to include. These never made the cut before, so I think they deserve to be in this week's "special" edition. We all know how "special" Summer Girl is, after all.