END OF JULY IN THE GARDEN

This week I finally remembered to put

 my summer wreath on the front door!

We are very happy to have some days

below 90 degrees.  With the humidity

being so high it really helps!

I have enjoyed the house wren

in the pussy willow tree but

he sure doesn't like me coming around!

It's always fun when there is an

abundance of flowers for bouquets!

The zinnias are starting to arrive:

I hope you have a lovely week!

SUMMERTIME "Tea In The Garden"

If it does what they say, the temperatures 
are dropping this week into the 80's so it
 is a perfect time for another tea in the
 garden.  It has been a while since it was
 cool enough to set up outside.

Please pour yourself some lovely tea.
It is Yorkshire Gold loose so you can
use the strainer to catch the grounds!

My garden is making it's transition into
 full blow summer now.  We had a cooler
than usual June and I have enjoyed my 

"Endless Summer" Hydrangeas.  
When I bought them in 2016 I was told
 by avid Iowa gardener, Beth Jordan that
 they don't do well in our above
 90 degree temperatures which is oven the
 case June through August.

She knew what she was talking about but
it seems if you can get them through the
first few years - they will survive and 
bloom after all.

I have several American Beauty Cups and
Saucers and I sure think they are wonderful.

Right now the coneflowers and monarda are the flowers that sure don't mind the heat. 

 The zinnias are coming along and 
the limelight and strawberry hydrangeas.

I am also sharing this photo of an unusual
 bird at my finch feeder the other evening. 
 I have recently started bringing the feeder in at night because I kept finding it empty
 every morning - as well as
 an empty hummingbird
 feeder.  This "bird" arrived early before
 dark so now we know!

THE JULY GARDEN

We have had some very hot weather

in Missouri - well into the 90's.  

Today we have temps back into

the 80's so I took a few photos of

the garden.  The sun is not

up beyond the north trees so it

is rather dark in the garden.

For days and days the house wren

has sung his heart out for a mate

and now they are nesting in the

little birdhouse out front.

I am so glad the roses bloomed before the

Japanese Beatles arrived this year.  They

are here now and I find them on some

remaining blooming roses, the zinnia

 leaves, flowering cherry tree, etc.  They

 aren't as bad as last year but they 

are very destructive.

I hope you have cooler temps too and

enjoy your summer week!

MIXED FRUIT PIE - PERFECT FOR SUMMER

This is a great time of the summer

to make a nice Mixed Fruit Pie.

I used 4 peaches cut up, 2 cups of

blueberries and 1 cup of raspberries.

Actually, you could do any combination of

ripe and fresh fruits such as blackberries

or strawberries, peaches, plums or blueberries.

I substituted lard for

 crisco in my pie crust.

You will need:  4 cups of of fresh, ripe fruit chopped in a large bowl with 1 tsp lemon juice.  Add 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp ground cinnamon and 1/4 cup of  flour and 1/4 cup of cornstarch - mix through.  

Pour into a pie shell bottom and add the lattice top.  Brush with egg yolk and bake at 425 for 25-30 minutes

Pie crust recipe:  2 cups sifted flour, cut in 3/4 cup crisco (or lard) using a flour kneader.  Add 5 - 8 Tb ice water to form a nice ball of dough.  Divide dough as 1/2 will be used for the lattice top.  Roll out on floured pastry cloth with a covered and floured rolling pin.  Press into pie shell.  After adding peach mix, cut the lattice strips and weave across the top.  You could use this recipe for other pies.

AFTERNOON TEA WITH SOME CF LADIES

I am pleased to share photos of an

Afternoon Tea I had on Sunday

afternoon.  We were glad to be down

 in the cool tea room and not out in

 the hot, sunny garden.

There were 27 ladies from
  "Christian Fellowship" who came to
relax and enjoy Afternoon Tea.

Gredia (pronounced Sha-re-tah) offered to
sing and we loved her two beautiful songs.

We had mature women and young women
and our new "Tea Baby" Adalea!

We were honored to have 2 women who were refugees from the Congo and Caritas Habimana who was a refugee from Rwanda.

I do things different ways for different 

teas and this time I decided to use my

 3 tiered servers at the table rather than a

buffet.  A few ladies enjoyed hot tea but because of the heat most of the ladies chose iced tea.

Here is what I served:  the scones

were Mixed Berry Cream, the tea

was Decaf and Regular Ginger Peach,  Yorkshire Gold and Blackberry Sage. 

 The Savories

were Cheese Asparagus Quiche, Hot
 Pepper Peach Ham Biscuits, and 2 types of Cheddar Cheese crackers.  The sweets were Chocolate Peppermints Brownies, Miniature Lemon Pound Cakes and Lemon Fruit Tarts.

I used the recipe for the lemon pound cake given in the link but poured the batter into mini muffin tins and shortened the baking time......they worked perfectly!

One last idea for you here today:  I baked the Cheese Asparagus Onion Quiches in shells. Instead of using Crisco - I used lard in the dough - yes lard.  I have been wanting to do  this for a long time and I DO LIKE the crust better!  You can buy lard at the market next to the Crisco. (use the link to the recipe above just change the cooked asparagus, etc)  Instead of a large quiche - I made mini ones
 in the mini muffin tins)

Out in the garden some hydrangeas are

blooming and others are starting to

bloom.  Monarda and Cone Flowers

are in abundance and then miscellaneous

flowers.  I am so enjoying having a garden.

I baked pretty much all day on Saturday
 and early Sunday morning and love, love
 my new convectional oven. I also did one
thing wrong by putting my crackers too close together in baking them - so now I learned that lesson the hard way which seems to be my best teacher always!

Here is one of 2 cheese cracker recipes I baked. This one was the White Cheddar Cheese Recipe from the July/August issue of Victoria.  I put springs of Rosemary on top of mine.