Lusitania

Today is the 98th Anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania (1915).
I know. I talk about it every year.
But for my family, it's a thing.
Well, I guess, it's really just my dad and me.

Our exchange on the subject this year went something like this:
My text to Mum - Dad's phone doesn't text (I know!!): Tell Dad I'm thinking about conspiracies today...Anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania.
The reply I got back: Dad says "stay on deck and keep your life jacket handy"
My reply: Aye, Aye! :-)

Yes, we really do point out the anniversaries of the sinking of the largest ships in the world to each other every year. The Titanic and the Lusitania. My dad has a soft spot for the former, myself, the latter. A tragedy to lose both and for two completely different reasons. People romanticize the Titanic, but most don't know much about the Lusitania - unless you are a history buff, a lover of big ships on a conspiracy theorist! The sinking of the Lusitania is shrouded in mystery - even though history books give her only a sentence or two.

ps - yes, I am well aware that I am a dork, a nerd (thanks, Kel!) and a goober.....but more importantly, my father's daughter.

Morrocan Chicken & Cauliflower Rice

I have just started a 21-day food challenge through Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint. For the next 21-days we will be cooking almost all our food (3 times a day, 7 days a week) in an effort to break some bad eating habits as well as build new good ones (less coffee and alcohol, no processed sugar, no grains or legumes). I won't lie, I spent 3 hours in Hannaford's the other day just finding and getting the food for the first week! BUT, so far, Matt's chopping/dicing skills have been SUPER handy, reading the next days recipes the night before isn't a bad thing, trying new foods can be mentally challenging and everything has been good!

it looked so pretty while cooking - also made the house smell delish!

The cauliflower rice is in the pot above.  

And this is the finished meal! The cauliflower rice is underneath the stew.

It's been a bit overwhelming to be cooking a completely new recipe every meal (lunch is leftovers today!) and it takes more time and many, many more dishes - but it's all (my) allergy free and tasty!

I'll be sure to let you know as I go through the 21-days how everything is going. In the meantime, if you're curious about Mark Sisson or the Primal Blueprint (and the theory behind it) please check out his website!
www.marksdailyapple.com

Do-Over!

So last summer, too late into the season, Matt and I planted a tree at the end of our little driveway. The Japanese Beetles killed it in less than 3 months.

This spring, at the right time, Matt and I replaced the tree, with the tree I really had wanted last year: a Cleveland Flowering Pear Tree. It's a fast grower (approx 3 ft a year!), hardy and is very low maintenance as it naturally grows in a pear shape. We re-dug the hole and mixed in miracle-grow tree/shrub dirt to help it get a good start. I'm hoping it grows like a weed!

full grown Cleveland Flowering Pear

 The other news to share is the side yard.... I have cut back into the crazy weeds every year. The above picture with Oliver and his truck, the 'grass line' is right at the clothes line - there are 2 blankets on it. This was year 1.

This was the view from the far side looking back at the house. Reese gives you a bit of perspective on how much scrub was there.

 So the rock in the middle of the picture is right where the clothes line was. The weed whacker and I had quite a time (on several Saturdays) clearing out the side yard. This was about as far as I got year 2.

Last summer, I cleared all the way to the far driveway, circled down the driveway (see below) and really opened up the yard. While this is great to get rid of all the scrub and expand the use-able yard..... it also means that when you are sitting on the couch in the living room, you now have a clear shot all the way across the yard and into our lovely neighbors' yard and living room windows. Not the best. Don't get me wrong! We have wonderful neighbors and feel very lucky! But, some kind of visual edge to the yard wouldn't be a bad thing.

Enter our new 6(!!) Green Giant Arborvitae! They are fast growers (3-4 ft per year!!), super hardy and since we bought them so small (1.5 gal) they were only $15 each! I call that a victory!

Here they are all planted - the wider angle really lets you see how much more yard we have now. We planted them 5 ft apart to allow each tree 2.5 ft to grow width wise before they start to grow into each other to form a hedge. 

This view is taken standing in our yard looking towards our neighbors with our new green giants. I know they look small now, but in a few years they will hopefully create this!

If they do well, we might extend them down the driveway a bit - but that's for another year!