,. Bush beans.   Of all the garden stuff,   I want these to be a bumper crop.  I’m sure hoping for that!!

opps, there’s my shadow.  These are pole beans from Brenda  that she gave me 2 yrs ago.

artichoke

Eggplant!  Haven’t had success with growing these  in the past, so this is the year for my eggplants.

It’s a red or green bell pepper.  See the tiny pepper in the middle?

Roma tomatoes.  I don’t like em , but the grow so easily.  If all other tomatoes fail, the roma will produce.

Tomitilla plant.  First time I grew these.  I have 3 or 4 of these plants and all of them have lots of flowers, I should be able to make salsa with them.  See the grapes on the fence in the background?

That’s most of the garden, have a few other things growing too.

You know that one actor who played Judge Harding in the Mickey Rooney series from the late 30’s, early 40’s?  He had a garden and some  roughneck young people trampled through it  which led him to run outside to get them.  In the process, he had a heart attack and died.   He loved his garden, I can relate to that!

Late afternoon train (these first 2 photos are the same train).

Cloudy day train (June 21 09) at 4:15 pm   2nd photo of 2 other locomotives on the same haul.  You can tell that they are different by their numbers.

Amtrak was late one morning.  It was coming through at around  5 am (an hour late) .

Update- These are wonderful. I simply love them. Silky skin is the result. I’ll take a bath oil bath once a week.

Santa Maria Novella Bath Oil- (2 0z)  $78.00.  I’ve been thinking of this throughout the day… wishing I could have a bottle.  I’d pick the darkest bottle on the left or far right.   see the neat video about Santa Maria Novella It’s about 14 minutes.  I loved seeing the pharmacy, the way they make their soap… the lady putting on the labels by hand….  watch the video and you’ll see what inspired me to make up these bath oils today.

I made my own instead!   Didn’t even realize how many vanilla bottles I’ve collected.  They work great.  In the Pyrex is  unrefined coconut oil and olive oil.

The finished bath oils

1. (left to right)  Vetiver and Rose absolute bath oil  these are 2 oz bottles.
2. flue blend bath oil- Ravensara essential oil, Tamanu nut oil and Tangerine essential oil.
3. Ginger Bath oil.  There’s about 30 drops of ginger essential oil in the bottle.  All these bath oils have the same base- unrefined coconut oil and Ex Virgin olive oil. (a little more coconut oil than olive)
4. Lavender Bath oil containing lavender essential oil and lavender buds which float to the top of the bottle.    Wondering what these 4 bottles cost?  It’s kind of hard to tell… depends how much essential oils I use.  I’m estimating about  $7.00  for these 4 jars altogether (not counting the bottles or labels).   Bottles are expensive if you have to buy them.

Have to go take a bath and try one of them out now.

Two Vanilla  perfumes with the type of vanilla of old books!

Patchouli Leaves by Montale.   I had a sample of this and I gave it away.  (sniffle sniffle).  This was a 2ml sample compared to a smaller 1ml vial.   The reason I loved this sample was because of the old book scent.  That’s what this vanilla was- an old book scent.  Lucas Turin explained the mystery of why old books smell like vanilla when the paper breaks down over the years and some chemical process takes place.  It’s an autumn mood invoking scent.  Why did I give that sample away?  Some days I wish I had it back, but I have another sample of this type of vanilla.

Dulcis in Fundo by Profumum.   More “old book pages” vanilla!  this is why I don’t miss the Patchouli leaves sample  so much since I have 2  ml’s of this!  Dulcis in Fundo.  The ingredients include “Mexican vanilla”.   Of the two, I like Patchouli leaves more, but still am very happy to have this sample of Dulcis in Fundo .

These aren’t the only two perfumes with  the vanilla of the old book pages (compared to the rich sweet vanilla in Shalimar), but if you  wear anyone of these two perfumes and take a break to read a book on the sofa,  it’ll be a good hour with a book and the fragrance of this  distinctive vanilla.

Hi, it’s still fragrance month at our tea time  (even though it’s dairy month in Wisconsin)

Here is Jasmal by Creed.  I was given a 1ml. vial with only 1/4  in it, but that was enough to know how beautiful this perfume is.  It’s EDP  in strength and to me it smells like lily of the valley- so real  and pure like.

This is a green smelling Jasmine I think, even though I detected a beautiful  Lily of the Valley flower.  These expensive perfumes are worth trying for the reason of knowing what is out there and to find  one you really like.

If you like white flower perfumes, this is the one.

Once you know what you like, if it comes across on ebay or somewhere, you know what it is and you’d know that buying a used bottle with an 1/8 left in it is worth it!

The day I tested it, it was a hot and humid afternoon.  Wow, what a good 2 hours I had  of enjoying this lovely scent.

It’s still perfume month here at the Elizabethian Tea. Look at this fruity delightful one!

I get a fruity  grapefruit splash at the beginning, but I don’t see grapefruit as one of the ingredients.   Corrida by Satellite is the perfume.  It is ripe fruit all the way and I like it.    Emotionnelle by DelRae  is similar to  Corrida ,  but  the difference is that Emotionnelle  has ripe melon for it’s fruit compared to Corrida’s  ripe purple fruit (is it black current?).

The ingredients listed are:  black current, rose, neroli, lily of the valley, jasmine, floral accord and sandalwood.  This is a  long lasting ripe fruit like scent that I’ve become fond of.   The word   “Corrida” has something to do with a bullfight.   How it got to be the name of this perfume is beyond me.

June is perfume month here at the Elizabethian Tea

Throughout the month I’ll showcase perfumes that  brighten up a woman’s life.   There are some lovely ones out there.

Smell beautiful  with the type of fragrances you love.   Why not ?  I discovered what I love to wear;   a  tuberose scent.   It’s a beautiful, strong and high strung like soprano  voices, high notes on the piano and high violin notes.  This  isn’t the only theme in fragrances I favor besides tuberose ones, but sometimes nothing else will do.    (white tuberose flowers ) photo

Amoureuse by DelRae  has tuberose in it .  It’s a heavenly thrilling scent like jasmine.  You just can’t get enough of it  which is  good.   It is  strong and heady, so  be careful where you wear it since it can be offensive to some people if they don’t care for it.  The perfume isn’t as green as this photo looks.  I love what the maker ( Michael Rouditska ) of this perfume  puts together!  Every fragrance he’s produced is worth sampling.

Tuberouse by L’ Artisian   is a beautiful tuberouse.  Did it really come out in 1978?? Where has it been all my life.  I needed this on my wedding day 20 yrs ago.   I’ve only  recently  tried it in a sample.  I love it. (Best priced of these 4)

Blu by Bruno Acampora.  It’s really blue just like German chamomile is really blue although German Chamomile  essential oil is  naturally colored.   This is a gem.  I think my life  has been enriched by sampling this!  It’s beautiful.  Seems so natural and flower like.

Tuberosa by Profumom is a strong Tuberose too.  This and the above Blu is ridiculously expensive, but you can at least sample it for a few dollars.  I love this Italian line even though none of them are worth  their  price.

There are more perfumes with tuberose in them besides these.  What’s here  are the ones I have sampled and simply love.  Tuberose is feminine, romantic and happy- all rolled into one.   Treat yourself to a little luxury in life with some Tuberose scents.

Took this one a few days ago.  It was going pretty slow which made for a good picture.   Now if only I could get a photo of the  silver and red Santa Fe ones that come by…….

Few days later…

Before photo. This is a different window in the house, although it looks like the last curtain make over.  You know these blinds all look alike, no distinction.

“You’re not making me curtains,” she says.   “Oh yes I am”,   I replied.   “I’m not putting them up” she says.   “You’ll like them”  I  answered.   Her last words were : I hate long curtains blowing in the wind.  Now why did she have to say that?  They turned out long and they blow in the wind (her window is open ).

Wish I could tell you if she liked them or not but she isn’t home yet  for the day, and hasn’t seen them.   The old blinds are in the garbage dumpster so I hope she keeps these curtains.

After photo. Like it? Can you tell that it’s a bed sheet cut in half  with some material in the middle?    This type of long curtain reminds me of  Gone with the Wind when Scarlet took down those drapes and made a dress with them.

These are the before and after photos of the window that needed help.  I will never buy blinds again.  Never.  They just don’t last.     I know I didn’t cut these sheets the right way, but it looks better than the broken blinds even if the top of the window isn’t covered.  I’m wondering how do you get a 17 yr old son to make his bed ….

The curtains are made from the top sheet of the bed   set. There  it was on the top shelf of of his closet  not being used which gave me the idea of using  it for a curtain.  Matching curtains and bedsheets look neat. Photo is a Close up of the bed sheet/curtain.

He doesn’t use the sham either that came in the “bed in a bag” at Walmart.   Maybe I could use for a valance!