Top Ten Songs of 2016

1. "Top Down" Kari Faux - Lookin good and i'm feeling great.

2. "Deja Vu" J. Cole - Put a finger in the sky.

3. "Work" Rihanna & Dreezy - You know I dealt with you the nicest!

4. "Oh My" Tate Kobang- Another "Insecure" find....best show EVER.

5. "Moody Mondays" Eric Prydz- goth pride!

6. "Let Go" Deadmau5- I love songs that have more than one song in them.

7.  "Petty" E-40 feat. Kamaiyah- Yep.

8. "Keep You In Mind" Guordon Banks- The new Luther Vandross

9. "Boss" Disclosure- This is the car trip hit of the year!

10. "Both" Gucci Mane feat. Dreezy - I don't usually do this...

Anton & Mommy's Top Car Songs of 2016

Having a snow day has produced a great thing...time for me to go through iTunes and burn a compilation (yes, I use CDs and iTunes, judge away!) of the greatest hits of 2016. These are the  tunes Anton and I  (and sometimes Papa) listened to on repeat as we traveled to and from karate, the coast, Portland, and all of the other car trips we took. The music rotated but a few things stayed constant: 1) Anton would always get passenger seat even if there were other adults in the car 2) Anton would immediately search for gum or candy before applying seatbelt 3) Anton would immediately change whatever music was currently playing (probably a good thing since it was usually explicit rap) and navigate to the EXACT song he wanted to hear, even if it had been the same song for several weeks (months). The kid knows what he likes. This compilation is a of taste of those songs...although not ALL inclusive. Weird Al Yankovic was purposely left off of this list...we are all a little burned out right now on Weird Al as much as we love him. Also, for the music 'splainers, I realize that most of these songs did not actually come out in 2016, I'll do that later but it won't be kid-friendly.

Without further delay...here are Anton & Mommy's Top Car Songs of 2016! ***drumroll***

1. "Rock Your Body" Justin Timberlake
2. "Stars 4-Ever" Robyn
3. "No Promises" Icehouse
4. "Keep You In Mind" Gourdan Banks
5. "Not The Future" Bad Lip Reading
6. "Please Don't Turn Me On" Artful Dodger (Disclosure Remix)
7. "Born This Way" Lady Gaga
8. "White Noise" Disclosure feat. AlunaGeorge
9. "Moody Mondays" Eric Prydz feat. The Cut
10. "Rumour Mill" Rudimental feat. Anne-Marie & Will Heard
11. "Hey Boy" Take That
12. "Seagulls! (Stop It Now)" Bad Lip Reading
13. "WTF (Where They From)" Missy Elliott feat. Pharrell
14. "iT" Christine and the Queens
15. "Doin'It Right" Daft Punk
16. "Boss" Disclosure
17. "Hang With Me" Robyn
18. "Can't Stop the Feeling" Justin Timberlake

Late Summer 2016 Garden Update

I'm reminded of the Motels song "Suddenly, Last Summer"...one summer never ends, one summer never begins. This one feels like you blinked and it was over. Everyone can already tell Fall is starting to creep in here in Corvallis...though I wouldn't be surprised if we get one more heatwave before all is said and done. Either way, today I felt motivated to start cleaning up in the veggie garden, tore up a plethora of weeds, picked a plethora of veggies that were hidden among said weeds, and planted some peas and a few herbs.

Apples are going insane this year...I believe we can officially call this a "bumper crop" year for ye 'ol apple. This is particularly good news since our super cool neighbors have a cider press and are going to put all apples to good use! Hard cider!

One of the 3 dahlias i'm going to dig up tubers for and replant in Spring in a different spot. I have never done it and am ready to mix up my dahlia game.

The front flower box has been a real hodge podge this year. I just have been putting things in there that need a home and leaving anything that likes it. Those silver plants have been there since February or earlier. They can stay as long as they want as far as I'm concerned. The Love Lies Bleeding amaranth in the front was transplanted from the hanging planter in the back that it outgrew. Note for next year...plant LLB in flower box or directly in the ground...they need space. Didn't work out in the hangers.

Front yard.

Love how all of this cool grass has volunteered. I hope it fills up the whole yard!

Searching for something to plant here...pulled the bulb fennel, an interesting experiment that ultimately did not yield positive results. Right now we've got a little kale, horseradish and chives. Might plant some more kale or hearty greens.

Moss will need to be replanted come later Fall when it gets moist but this patch is still lovely!

The haricots vert didn't do their thang they way they should this year. Not sure what happened but they never took off like last year...planting some fall peas and maybe we'll have better luck. The lemon cukes made the most of the space not taken up by the green beans.

Lovely pot from Anne!

More lovely pots from Anne! And the hanging basket with it's new inhabitant, a Fox Tail plant.

Celosias in yet ANOTHER lovely pot from Anne! Did I mention she brought these on her person all the way from New Jersey! I am lucky!

Plant sick bay featuring the tree that made a full recovery was moved then almost died again, a tomato plant that has made an astounding comeback delivering lots of Indigo cherry toms, and a sunburnt blueberry bush at the end. And Mackie's butt.

Next year we are finally going to build a proper raspberry patch according to Colin. We'll see! It's a shame we haven't got our act together there because we had a great crop this year that didn't really picked because it's too prickly and inaccessible.

San Marzano toms...they look like peppers and don't have many seeds...super fun to grow! They were in to their spot, woot!

Lots of tomato varieties this year...I'm loving these pineapple yellow ones...they are just starting to get ripe now. 

Post veggie garden cleanout...I removing one of our rhubarb plants to make more room. And how much rhubarb does one family of 3 really need?

Zucchini off the chiz-ian this year!

Well they were...until one family came and took all of them (and the box)! I'm glad they found a good home where they can all stay together.

Late Spring 2016 Garden Update

Here's the latest from the garden!

Purple tomato cages installed in honor of Prince RIP. Zucchini in the foreground and haricot verts under the teepee. This was Still some lingering favas that weren't big enough to harvest yet.

Big favas!

Lots of big favas. Enlisted some help shelling from Anton and Mikayla...was also amused to learn favas are called the "dark horse bean". You really have to want them, they take a lot of work to get through the tough exterior to the sweet goodness inside. Oh how poetic. I'm going to make Fava Mint Pesto, recipe here.

Another shot of the veggie garden, snap peas in the foreground, garlic and onions in the back.

Proud to stay these nasturtium volunteered themselves yet again. I just sit back and let them do their thang. 

Last year I threw around a bunch of Love in the Mist seeds, not know if anything would happen but hoping so since they are one of my faves. Thanks Universe for letting them explode the way they are doing this year!!

I love when the moss carpet flowers. 

Added several pots to the front yardscape this year. Thinking more about texture now that things are actually starting to grow and establish. Baby steps.

The lord surveying his manor...avec Belgian beer.

Sugar snap peas. Have a decent crop but would have been better if I would have done...

THIS. Next year I will buy that wire and we have those stakes and I will grow bountiful snap peas without facing any heartbreak when they fall over and break. The end.

Harvested fava bushes and a few garlic bulbs that got in my way. Going to wait until next month to harvest the rest of the garlic.

And there you have it...only other heartbreak not pictured here are the grapes. The disease they've had for years appears to have taken it's final toll. Going to enlist Colin to rip them out and we'll try again with a different varietal. On to summer!

Spring Garden update 2016

 We have had a very warm and luxurious Spring so far in Oregon. I planted tomatoes in early April...and they are thriving. That said, it's going to get down to 39 this weekend so I'm going to put a little blankey on them. I refuse to back down now! Favas, garlic and onions doing well though I need to rethink how I plan onions thanks to a tip from my garden saavy neighbor, Ben. (TRENCHES...seperate the bulbs!) Weeding constantly, my Sit N' Do has been really handy...been doing a lot of sitting and doing. Fortunately, OCD weeding of gardens is one of my favorite hobbies! Have a feeling this is going to be a bountiful year for the garden.

Front yard apple tree blossoming in the sun.

This artichoke plant has a mind of its own. I think it volunteered in this spot by our driveway. I never do anything to it or even harvest the chokes because I think they look pretty when they flower. It just keeps doing it's thang.

It's always exciting when you see the first spring of new dahlias starting to emerge. These popped up last week.

The favas are about a foot taller than when I took this picture a couple of weeks ago. It's amazing how they blast out of the ground as it warms up in April/May.

Anton and Colin hammer fertilizer stakes in the evergreen and fruit trees.

Garlic, baby.

Herb garden. The flat leaf parsley is bolting but I'm trying to contain it. Fennel, sage, thyme, oregano, dill and chives all doing what they need to do. I love how I have chives year round...those chives refuse to leave, it has been years and they are still pungent and delicious.

House. Dogs.

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I have really been please with this new idea of potted evergreens and annuals in the front yard. I think it really adds texture to a flat and hard to fill space. That's the lemon evergreen that almost died...we replanted it in a pot in the backyard for the last year and it totally recovered and is ready to be front and center again!

Tomato, planted mid-April.

Calendula

Sedum/ Succulents

Bulb fennel. Trying it for the first time in the front yard with kale.

Psychedelic colors.

getting ready to load up the backyard with zinnias and dill.

Early Spring 2016 Garden Update

Spring is beginning to, um, spring. And here are some of the exciting signs of that from the garden...still early days, though and still officially Winter...but the silver lining to global warming is that we got an early Spring and the plants are stoked (for now!).

Onions, garlic and favas in early February...they really sprouted up in the last few weeks, though! I really power-planted favas this year *Ariel Pink song reference

Sugar Snap peas...got 2 sixpacks of starts in the ground early this year and rigged up this string contraption which they seem to be taking to. We need some order in the growing process with our snap peas...last year it was like one big snap pea dreadlock and hard to access.

The veggie garden on the first day of March.

After years of discussion, a gate is actually going up to potentially keep deer out...thank you Colin Cigarran for your efforts!

The Camelia started blooming very early. Pretty and also messy.

I totally forgot I planted these bulbs last October. What a pleasant surprise...they are now surrounding the apple tree in the front yard!

I have had to replant much of the succulent garden...that large bare spot is where Missy likes to "guard" the house. She has created pattern baldness in my succulent garden...thanks a lot, Missy. Missy lives with us again which has it's pluses and minuses when it comes to the garden. Pretty sure the mailman isn't too happy about it, however.

Thank you neighbor, Ben, for gifting me with this Lilac tree start...I have big  plans for it and so far it seems to like it's spot in the front yard. 

Is there any smell more heavenly than Daphne? That's correct! There is not.

It brings me great joy to not have to replant the herb garden basically at all this year (except for dill). All that is pictured here just came right back from last year with no additional support from me; chives, parsley, thyme, sage oregano (there is rosemary too if you want sing Scarborough Faire**) and the giant fennel.

Peat pods are already showing signs of life. I planted my peppers and tomatoes earlier than you are "supposed to" but when did I ever follow the rules?!

* Not Enough Violence is a song not about veggie gardening...but it COULD BE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOoYKI3WpBI

**Scarborough Faire is a song by Simon & Garfunkel that references herbs heavily.
https://youtu.be/-Jj4s9I-53g