Woohoo! Almost Done!

And it fits and looks good on!

Just the finishing to do. I'm putting out in the universe that I'm doing that this weekend so it makes me do it. 

Six Years!

Snapdragons from the community gardens at my farmers market

I can't believe it's been six years since I've started this blog. And I'm still Princess Hot Flash [I would have thought by now, I would have be Princess No-Hot Flash] and at the rate and intensity, I should change my name to Princess Supernova or Stinky Supernova with all the sweating I'm doing [on bad days, it's once a hour for pretty much the whole day and night]. I know, I know, too much information. 

Anyway, I'm glad to see you are still coming for visiting to see what I'm up to. Hope it I can keep it up. Don't know what has gotten into me, but this month I've been posting a lot. Maybe it's because I'm in between crazy projects and decide to make more time for myself and not put so much pressure with the restaurant stuff. 

2 robins and a woodpecker

Sounds like a start of joke but they were just hanging out in my yard yesterday. Wish I had my camera with me. :( The woodpecker had a red head and speckled body of white and black. I hear him pecking in one our trees later that evening. 

The 2 robins looked pretty young--probably teenagers. And really tame or not jaded with life with human and just looked at me when I went to the back door. They were just hanging out near my back steps in the shade.

No pictures of the birds, so how about pics of veggies and stuff. 

My first harvest of kirbies

I'm thinking a making a small batch of Oisobagi Kimchi from No Recipe with a little supplement from my farmers market or if there are more cukes to pick.

Wild Strawberries

Not sure if I should pull or leave it. Tiny strawberries that either the birds (baby robins) or chipmunk are eating before I can get to them. That's okay Captain Wheatgerm keeps bring home tons of lbs of strawberries to make jam and whatever else I can think of. This week, strawberry and mixed berry jam,  a mixed berry pie and I'm going to try out some fresh strawberry sauce. 

Bed of fern

This bed of fern is probably really old. It's has been there as long as we had the house and probably longer as it didn't look like a new bed when we moved in. This year it's doing great.  Maybe I can find smaller leaves for the tables at the restaurant. [see my distress impatiens on the bottom left corner. They are doing great.]

They look great in my white bathroom

Summer/Winter Chair Project

The summer part of the project is to cleaning the frame of the chair--scraping the rust off, taking of the ripped out seating and then making a decision about the color. Then I'm over the winter I'll going to weave up a the seat with the rice bags I've collected to make up market bags

Who plans a vacation to Florida in July?

Captain Wheatgerm! Because he watched all the seasons of Dexter in a 3 weeks and he thought it would be a good idea. Not expecting hot and humid weather like Thailand and bugs, bugs and bugs. Thank goodness they didn't only bite me and Captain Wheatgerm had his fair share. As he should since he booked and planned this trip. 

This is my last post of our vacation. I finally got into an album on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/princesshotflash/sets/72157645292510917/

If I've bored you to death already with the pictures, here's a couple of highlights from that album that you haven't seen yet. 

Auto Train

Overall, the Auto Train was fun. Sleeper accommodations were fine for a night or two. If you don't expect the Oriental Express then it is great. I would most definitely do a long distance train ride again. Maybe Chicago to Seattle?

Our beds opened up

Bed were okay. Bottom bunk was suppose to be a double bed. But there is no ways, Captain Wheatgerm and I could do that. Bathroom/Shower was a laugh. Like all the reviews I read, you are basically showering in the toilet. Just make sure you wipe down everything after a shower and you are okay. 

morning at the beach

With the thoughts of a refreshing dip in the ocean, the morning when we were at the beach, the water temp was 83º and it would have been more like a hot bath. So just my feet got the dip.

Looks like the bird from Up

Ahhhh! The air boat ride. It was the coolest I felt in FL minus being indoors with AC at full blast. There were so much wildlife to see. It was really fun. And the driver Randy was great.

Alligator

We even got to see raccoon on a rain detour. It's not a real long ride but fun. It's on the Tamiami Trail. Wish we had known because we would have gone west instead of east that day.

Shuttle Atlantis

Kennedy Space Center is a must if you are nerdy designer type like me. Actually, most people would love it. It's an whole activity. They let you bring your own food and that's a most definitely a must cause the food is pretty pricey. They even have lockers to store your stuff. The guides there are very informative. I loved, loved, loved the Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit. So cool, lots of interactivity. 

Almost done!

And yes, I made great progress on my Lodi cardigan. I'm now on the first sleeve. I hope to finish before summer. Just in time for the fall season or summer in my office.

Flora and Fauna from FL

Wanted to a quick post of things I saw in the Keys--Bahia Honda State Park and Everglades--Buffalo Tiger's Air Boat Tours. 

Bahia Honda State 

From our airboat tour from Buffalo Tiger

My Garden Survived

Not exactly sure what I did to make this happen. I mulched and gave it a good soak before I left and I know it was stormy while I was gone. And I did the crazy water bottle technique. But whatever it was, this is great for me as more veggies =healthier Princess Hot Flash. 

Cucumbers are coming in

my sole survivor cucumber seedling is doing well and so is . . .

my lonely swiss chard

my row of lettuce look so beautiful

one lonely bean but many blossoms

I'm melting

Don't know how people do it in FL. I look and feel like hell. My short layered hair, is one big pouf and constantly sticking to my seat. 

For the past 3 day, the elements has gotten the best of me. The bug bites, the heat and humidity would be more than enough for one person but today the sea won, just minutes away from arriving back from boat ride, everything in my stomach became the content of the trash bucket. 

Instead of showing me looking like a mess, here are couple of pictures of my time in the keys.

Bahia Honda State Park. Lots of dry seaweed, not sure what kind, definitely not ogo.

Dinner @ a floating Thai restaurant. The search for good Thai/Asian food goes on.

Enjoying a cold one. The prelude to the full costume.

Guess Who?! We were the only people on the beach except the cleaning crew. I was so happy.

Path to the old bridge

Beautiful morning sky! View from the bridge.

Clean and extremely warm water. 83 degrees.

Got to go. Losing internet connection.