Invasive

So what are these maple trees growing in the midst of my flowering pots? Every morning I go around my garden and find at least of dozen of these little invaders, the fruit of all the whirlybird maple seeds which covered my yard during the spring. I have to keep tugging them out of the soil, else I would have a garden filled with mini maple trees!


All spring as I have worked on my garden, I have thought about the word "invasive." I have a constant battle with plants which at one time were tiny and lovely. In many cases a friend has said, "Oh would you like some.......... (fill in the blank: violets, ivy, mint, lemon balm, tiger lilies, lily of the valley)" or I have foolishly bought some plant that looked pretty in the store. And over the years it has reproduced, and reproduced. Now I fight a weekly battle with these plants. I just spent part of my afternoon digging and pulling these invaders. I have especially been battling ivy that has overtaken large areas of the garden. And I have another plant that I bought (don't remember the name) that is now choking out everything else, and every time I try to dig it out, the chopped up roots throw up new plants, making it worse. And those orange daylilies - they have crowded out the other pretty colored lilies I planted. I could go on and on. Invasive! Oh why did I let those plants in my garden! If I only knew!

Every time I have been pulling out one of these unwanted plants, I keep thinking of invasive in spiritual terms in my life. What is invasive, what have I let get planted in my life that now is choking out good things, what is crowding out God wants for me? The Parable of the Sower (Mark 4) talks about the seed that fell among the thorns and was choked out. Invasive.

So every morning as I weed and pull, it has also been a time to reflect on what is invasive in m life. (hmmmm, maybe there is purpose for those garden invaders after all......)

Cafe Muse - Royal Oak

Cafe Muse in downtown Royal Oak has been getting buzz recently because it was featured on Oprah for its grilled cheese sandwich. My friend Andrea and I visited for breakfast last week. It is a small quaint place with a pretty little area to eat on the sidewalk. (Expect a wait on the weekend.)

They had a selection of Harney teas - I love their teas, so that was nice!

Andrea ordered the French Toast stuffed with Mascarpone and topped with a Pear Compote. She let me have a taste and it was wonderful. It reminded me of the French toast I had at D'Amato's last week, but this version was a little better and had 3 slices instead of 2.


I got the "Plain Jane Scramble" with cheddar and chives. Now, I think my dad makes the best eggs in the world, but these probably come in second place. Soft, perfectly cheesy and seasoned just right. It came with pretty slices of orange, melon, pineapple, and grapefruit as garnish. I had the sweet potatoes with a peanut sauce which were ok, I'm not overly fond of sweet potatoes, so next time I would try the garlic fingerling potatoes. And the toast was a bit too crunchy for my taste. But the eggs were the best!

Of course, I forgot my camera and my cell phone, so the picture are from Andrea's phone, which sent very these small images via the web. But I'm sure I will be back before the summer is done. (Their desserts sound yummy, so that's motivation enough!) When I go back, I promise to post more pictures!

Cafe Dining - Bruges

I'm almost through scrapping my Bruges pages. Yes, I know, these pictures are almost a year old! Anyway, here's some pictures of a lovely meal that we had on the last night in Bruges.

Celebrating the Home of the Brave

I know I posted this quilt awhile back, but I thought I'd pull it out again to decorate for this Fourth of July. It is a scrappy quilt - made of various shades and colors, all the fabrics unique, none that exactly match, but blend together to a whole. Kind of like America!

Thankful today for freedom!

D'Amato's Restaurant

We were a little unsure when we walked up to D'Amoto's Restaurant in Royal Oak on Sunday around 11:30 am. Was it closed? It looked totally empty. As we started walking away, someone opened the door and called for us to come it. You always wonder when no one is in a restaurant....

But after a bit a few more people arrived (including Noisy Child at next table who kept running around and almost grabbed our bill and charge card twice). There was other more civilized entertainment a bit later - a jazz band. That helped to drown out Noisy Child.

We had read in the paper recently that D'Amato's had updated their menu recently and had added brunch. I hadn't been here in many, many years. (Anyone remember when this location was Keith Famie's Les Auteur? Loved that restaurant - it introduced me to mixed greens in a salad with dried cherries, which seemed so exotic at the time! Anyway, I digress.)

I ordered tea - always like it when there is a selection so I can try something new. My friend ordered an omlette which had avocado and other good stuff in it that I can't remember. (She liked it.)


And I got the Stuffed French Toast - mmmmm. The French toast was two slices of bread with a sweet mascarpone filling between and berries on top. It was nice - however the filling melted immediately so it ended up being more like a runny sauce, still good though. The serving size seemed a bit small.


Other than Noisy Child, I thought D'Amatos was good, not amazing, but good. On Sundays it's nice to have some options that aren't so packed that you have to wait in line. The regular menu looks like it has some good items as well, so I'd be game to give those a try as well.

Fun with Photos

Ok, forgive me if I get computer geeky on you! I just have been playing with a fun online photo editing page called pic resize. It lets you do simple edits to your pictures - crop, resize, draw on them, etc. It also has some fun effects that you can add to a picture in less than a minute. I like the frame, polaroid, and oil painting effects. Here are a couple things I just tried -seriously, it only took a minute! Some fun things that I can maybe use in my scrapbooking.

My Garden in all its Glory

July 1, and the garden is at its best. We've had some rain almost everyday, so the impatiens are lush and the hanging plants have all filled in. Over the next few weeks the daylilies will bloom and things will be lovely. After that it gets too warm usually and things get a bit shaggy. But right now it is glorious! (If I say so myself!)

This Annabelle hydrangea is 3 years old and is the best it has ever been. Loaded with puffy white blossoms!

A shady area with ferns, hosta, and a bird bath.

I use this old rusty lawnmower as a planter.

Caladium in a pot with begonias and impatiens. Endless Summer hydrangea almost ready to bloom!