Why I Oughta...

This is the view of a backyard of a home down the block from us (as viewed from the alley).  They recently did a pretty amazing upgrade of their backyard and in lieu of a fence, they put up this really tall stand of arborvitae.  It looks really great. The reason I call it a "battle" is that someone else on the block recently installed a row of taller arborvitae as a privacy hedge adjacent to a new tear-down home. We have a few of these things in our yard that I planted.  We bought them from Costco and are a bit less than half the height.   And they weren't cheap, so I know these folks made a sizable investment with these! I'm jealous of them and the privacy they've given the homeowners almost instantly.

Looks like a new storefront is opening up on 3rd Street just West of York.  Sweet P Doll Studio is said to be 'coming soon' based on the sign in the window.   According to their Facebook page , they're set to open in October and you'll be able to 'make' dolls. Coming Soon! A place for girls to create for their 18" Doll! Like our page and stay tuned as we count down the days till we open in October 2013! Sounds like a really nice addition to Elmhurst's downtown that will provide a reason to be "downtown".  Guessing they'll have the full birthday party routine, right?   I could see my daughters loving the whole doll-making process.  We've been to American Girl (Well...we walked thru it when I was there, but I think Nat has actually taken them to the whole lunch thing) and The Babe was in heaven.   I wish them a lot of luck!  I'm sure we'll be in there shortly after they open.

At a yard sale this weekend, we came across this blue Lake Louise plate that we couldn't pass up.  My in-laws have been to Lake Louise and have come back with lots of photos and stories from Banff. The plate was made by the Sigal Brothers in Windsor Canada and has at $5.95 price sticker on the back.  It is "made in Japan", so it likely has *some* age to it, but I can't figure out how old.  I did find a companion plate on Ebay ( here ), but the one we bought has a larger/longer description on the back and appears to be a bit older than the one being listed for sale.  They're asking $10.99, so my $0.50 (I haggled!) deal is looking pretty good.

While up in Michigan, we stopped in a bunch of yard sales.  At one of them, we came home with these two Westmoreland Milkglass candlesticks and the little bowl in the middle.  All for $2.00.   They're currently up on our mantle, but I know that while Nat adores milkglass, she isn't that into clutter.  I think these guys might have to get packed up saved for when/if we ever have a bigger house...

For the past two years, I've put sunflower seeds in the backyard along our far west fence line.  The've done fine there, but this year I decided to try something different.  I put them in our front yard and instead of just one variety, I used three different ones that all have different colors and sizes. I dropped the seeds in earlier this summer and mostly forgot about them.  They're on the south side of our yard and the walkway is on the northside, so I have to be purposeful to walk over there to check these out.  I also (recently) put the pumpkin seeds down right by these sunflowers so now I have two reasons to spend time here! As you an see from the photo, at least one of the plants is pretty far along, but the others are starting to catch up.  They grow in big spurts and move fast upwards.   Here's a photo from two years ago in late August that shows where they were then .  I'm thinking we'll be right on track this year again with flowers opening up i

Over the weekend, we went up to Michigan and were able to attend the annual Glad Peach Festival in town.  They had all the necessary elements to have a great fest:  a good theme (Peaches and Gladiolas!), a small town atmosphere, some fun events, and great weather. We even saw the crowning of Miss Coloma 2013!  The Babe loved that. I know A LOT of hard work goes into the production of the festival, but what is a fun time, could be an amazing festival, I think.  Start with upping the number and variety of peaches.  Where's the peaches?  And the gladiolas?  That's a start, I'd think.

Look at those beauties.  They're getting big but not getting anywhere close to being red. This is a variety that I have not grown int he past, so I don't know how fast they'll turn, but the plant is throwing off quite a lot of fruit.  There might be eight or ten of these things on the vine right now.