Strawberries and a Safety Fair-Weekend with the Girls!

I have been wanting do do this post for a couple of days now and finally tonight because of a bad cold and pure tiredness, I took the time to do it. Coming home from work, I had planned on watering, staring to lay down newspapers in the garden in anticipation of putting down mulch this weekend and was going to try to get caught up on laundry. Plans can change in the opening of a door. Once inside the house, I simply had to sit down and rest for a while. Blogger cooperated beautifully and loaded the photos in record time, and if you will forgive a quickly written narrative, we have a lift off-err, a post!



The red bearded tongue is blooming and spreading. It always makes me smile to see it's tiny flowers brightening up a shaded spot. This year there are 4 patches of it. Enough to share with Rose!

We had the granddaughetrs this weekend, 5 of them anyway. I have been promising them we would go strawberry picking and this was a perfect Saturday to do it. Sunny and warm, but not too hot and a little breeze to keep the bugs away. None of the girls have ever done this before and were very excited at the prospect of picking one of their favorite fruits. Each was given their own bucket and the nice owner let us have a whole area to ourselves.

The berries were small, but the patch is very neat and had great straw covered paths to sit on so you could really get into the plants.

This one chose to kneel-that would kill my knees!

The 2 youngest ones really got into picking (and eating!).

And don't they look proud of their pickings!? I picked too, but Papa decided to sit on the sidelines and cheer them on. In about an hour we had 12 pounds. Not bad for beginners.

The strawberries were used in a fresh strawberry pie, strawberry shortcake, eating berries and freezer jam. This one loves to help in the kitchen. We made the jam on Sunday afternoon-2 batches. The girls each took some home with them, but I got to keep a couple of containers.

After berry picking we went to a Safety fair put on by a local clinic. It was held at the county fairgrounds and I was very impressed with all the displays and info. Of course you can't have a fair with out face painting. The girls each chose a different design.

Here they are learning how to wash their hand correctly. The instructor put a solution on their hands and took them into a dark room where he used a black lite to show the bacteria on their hands before washing. He told them to count to 20 3 times or sing Happy Birthday 3 times before rinsing. Back into the dark room to see how well they washed. Actually they did very well with only one little area on the oldest showing any bacteria left.

Another stop was making your own first aid kit. The girls colored bags and went down a line where they got band aids, wipes, gauze, tape, etc. I assure you my granddaughters need these kits! :)

There were firetrucks, ambulances, a life flight helicopter, police cars and and even the bomb squad on the grounds for the kids to see. There were booths on poison control, babysitting, animal safety and many more that we didn't get to. But we did make it to the free hot dogs and chips stand!

Of course we did do this slide several times. And it was enjoyed by all! Papa and I were very impressed with this fair and plan on taking the girls again next year. A great deal of time and effort went into to making this a fun learning experience for kids of all ages. A big thank you to those who made it possible and gave of their time.

A couple of roses are in bloom. This one is a Martha Stewart Heritage rose. I have had her for several years now and she always does well. And I am remembering to fertilize them this year.

A no-name miniature peach colored rose that has been with us for a loooong time.

And this is a new one this year. 'First Promise' looks very promising. Of course being pink gives her an edge with me. :)

I promise I am going out to water now. The promised rain of over an inch is staying well to the south of us and I know my plants are thirsty after several days of warm even hot weather. In fact, it was warm enough on Sunday that I finally turned the AC on!

Hope you are enjoying your gardens. I certainly have been enjoying seeing them on your posts. I have been reading a lot of them, but have not had much time to comment. Up at 4:00 AM, to work at 7:00 and bed before 9:00 PM doesn't seem to leave me much time to do do all I want. Forgive me!!

Happy Gardening!