asian pear chicken salad

 

 

california chicken caprese sandwich

puff pastry salmon with pesto

 

 

puff pastry salmon with pesto

 

preheat oven to 400

 

4 pieces of puff pastry

4 salmon filets

1/4 c sliced almonds

1/4 c pesto

2 tomatoes sliced

 

place puff pastry and salmon, making sure they do not touch, on silpat. sprinkle each salmon with a tablespoon of almonds and season with s&p.

 

bake for 10-15'

 

place puff pastry on plate

top with

 

T of pesto

2 slices of tomatoes

salmon

 

so simple and swimmingly delicious...

 

in the garden today~

its hot this week, back up to 100 degrees, perfect time to stroll with the dogs, snap some pics, pick some fruit and call it an early garden day...

 

 

the honeycrisps are the size of baseballs

 

 

started planting a red garden on the side of the casita. genie, my giraffe was very busy this year, she hosted bird nests in her head and a wasp nest in her back...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have hundreds of dragonflies, decided to move the bench under an oak so I could enjoy it from afar as I watched them flit about the rose garden...

 

 

 

 

 

the trees are filled with olives

 

 

my neighbors goats admiring the cooling view ...

 

 

I have never seen so many vultures in my life, called a committee, I counted 55 overhead, it was like a 747 flying over and blocking the sun. the group stayed a few weeks, its dropped back to a couple dozen this week. we live in fire country, this doesn't make me happy to see them sunning on the power poles, their wing span is almost 6', easy to hit both wires and spark a fire. at one point three were sharing this pole, I was out there barking and making screeching calls to scare them off, two left, this one laughed at me... being on the top of a steep hill they fly the thermals all day long, they swoop down to just feet above my backyard then soar all day long.

 

 

with the heat I lave learned to really appreciate the shade this avenue of silk trees offer, smothered in summer flowers it a haven for hummingbirds, the woodpeckers have a lovely nest at eye level as an extra bonus. I can hear the babies chattering 100 hundred feet away.

 

 

my property is surrounded with this irrigation ditch, just the sound and sight of water is cooling on a hot day...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

although it looks dry and dusty, its a riot of color in spring, I planted almost 1000 iris this summer, doubling what I had this spring.

 

 

 

you can spy some on the constant vultures in flight on the right

 

 

garden chronicles, in the rose garden~

 

 

 

 

 

the rose garden is really heading down the home stretch!

 

 

 

 

major changes have been happening all summer in the rose garden, finally, all the water is in, the furniture was purchased and now the pathways and patio are next! last weekend we started purchasing the pavers to line the walkways, they should be delivered soon, meanwhile I was busy getting fill dirt to level the pathways and patios. this is rock country, for every ten yards of fill, 4 yards must be rocks and boulders that look like volkswagon bugs! tired of not being able to even put a shovel in without smacking rock we designed a screen. I scoop the crummy dirt and throw it at this screen, the rocks tumble down and on the backside we finally have viable leveling dirt!

 

 

I will say I was so dirt coverd after moving 20 yards of fill I looked like I was straight from burning man, but thrilled to have clean fill and i felt none the better after a hot shower!

 

 

it was a hot day, I went out early to start raking smooth the fill, business was halted pronto when two dogs threw themselves down in the smooth wet dirt in the pitiful shade or a rose bush, it was already 90 degrees at 9am and they were wiped out!

 

 

a nice new level main walkway~

 

 

I planted a couple dozen clematis on wooden posts for vertical drama in the garden

 

  

with every shade and hue and hundreds of roses...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I must say I find my rose garden heavenly...