Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.

 -James Bryce

bon fire and family plus one...

vintage light fixture...

the cats get their drinks of water out of this when they are outside...

Terri made it originally...

but Craig and I took the old beads off last night and put some of the new ones on...

a lot more colorful and fun...

coleus...

this looks so much better...

weed killer and then the weed eater...

this area is coming along...

the yard looks so good now!...

my son and husband...

ditto...

one of Steve's many faces he makes...

another one...this is the one that happens when I whip out the camera...hehe...

Craig trying to start a fire...Tia watching...and Steve in the background watering the new dwarf lilac...

he did it all by himself...

finally...

I'm the camp fire girl around here...

Tia and Craig hanging out...

they did marshmallows while Steve and I took a walk...

then when we got back we came in and I had to call Rebecca back...

she had been calling...

hope you are having fun this weekend!...

seedless watermelon...

oh, was this one ripe...it popped as soon as I stuck the knife in...

and it's so sweet and juicy...

most of it was cut up and put in the fridge to get cold for later...

but the rest was juiced...

and it was so good!...

if you have never juiced watermelon before...

try it...

your elbows stay dry...

new Steel Magnolia video for "Just By Being You"...

http://www.cmt.com/videos/steel-magnolia/534403/steel-magnolia-just-by-being-you.jhtml

These guys are really great and Josh is from here!...

check out the video...

another before and after...

before...this grapevine is a volunteer... planted by the birds...

and we finally got it moved this morning...

we will know in a couple days whether it makes the move or not...

it's in shock right now...

taken it back...continued...

this is what we started on this morning...

we have so much stuff!...

and this it the tree they started cutting down this spring to make room for the new porch...

but it won't die...

the ice cream chairs are waiting for their new bottoms...

this will be an herb garden...

Bebe holding down the weeds...

look real close in the middle...that's doofus...

before the weeding...

Bebe...

getting there...

rose of sharon...

bean greens will be ready in a day or two...

it's looking better every day...

hope your weeds are easy to pull today...

on the Illinois prairie...

Steve bought some strawberries...

they don't look too bad for all the rain...

cleaned and cut them up last night...

strawberry shortcake...or our version of it...today...

Steve found this at Walmart yesterday...

Home and Gardens...

would you believe this is plastic?...

$2 each...

I have 12 of these...

they were my mom's...

Napco made in Japan...

the glasses make perfect domes...

they are tall...

and narrow...

dishwasher safe...

yeah- he's picking up some more...

Temper gets you into trouble.

Pride keeps you there.