And another gifting favorite…my talented friend Gabby hand crafts these exquisite baubles from her home studio in Telluride, CO. You can see the full collection at agabby.com.

Every town should use this system. I saw these bikes in Portland, Maine.

We have a new kitten named Ernest Evans. As you can see, Ernie was a big help on the studio project.

My sunflowers have suffered a bit this summer with the unusually cool temps and extra rain. It was fun to watch this one find its own sideways journey.

This is a Silkie chicken. She may lay eggs someday but now she is just cute and fluffy.

Our garden has proven to be an interesting experiment of sorts. Lettuce is the prize-winner of the crops. In fact, it really steals the show. I’d like to say we have this much other produce growing but that would be a big lie.

With this bumper crop we fed ourselves, a few friends and took the rest to the local food bank. Yes, they welcome fresh produce. Please give it a try if you have excess in your garden.

Lorraine, our cheeky chicken, found a new roost in the pine tree in our back yard. We’re new to chicken antics since we’re first time owners. Mostly Lorraine flaps and sort of flies one inch above the ground in a straight line, with her feet running. Gaining this type of height to the tree branch must have been quite a feat. She sure was happy once she made it. I though she looked content enough to lay an egg but I guess that would have been a disaster. Lorraine is three months will apparently lay eggs anywhere between four months and a year. Unquestionably, the first egg will be well documented.

The greenhouse and garden were a tad wild and weedy after the anniversary junket, but the lettuce didn’t care. See that salad bowl at the end of the photo? The goal is to fill it every day this summer. No more grocery lettuce for us.