Flower child

Tutu's favourite spot is always where she shouldn't be – in this instance, in amongst the ornamental sage? and marigolds – which have done exceedingly well after their precarious start to life.

I had a slow start to the weekend, only venturing out around 3.30 this afternoon, to try to bring the front yard into some kind of order (one of my recently planted yews is on the way out, along with I think all six of the variagated bushes planted along the fence out the back). My enthusiastic early Spring gardening attempts not so successful and this latest discovery joining the ranks of my failures, the best still being my overfertilized back lawn ... now a mottly array of burnt dead patches and stubborn green tussocks.

Beans

After pulling a carrot from the crowded patch and finding it to be about 2 centimetres long and not ripe, I was flabergasted to find that my 'Italian Bush Beans' had yielded at least one meal's supply, before bunnies or disease or gardening ineptitude could strike – and yummy they were, reminiscent of beans from Mum's garden at 108. Tomatoes are yet to ripen.

Fin soaks up some rays

Fin (who is at this moment bugging me to go outside) enjoying some afternoon rays.

Fin and Tutu go raspberry picking

Fin and Tutu can't believe their luck with the onset of ripening raspberries in the backyard. Very hard to drag them away from their pursuit.

Sonya's 4th of July celebration

Sonya (from work) invited me to a birthday brunch on the 4th ... a very nice way to start a three-day weekend ... and topped off by this delicious concoction of berries and cream.

Hitting the trail

Pete and Rina invited me to go horseriding AND strawberry picking on the 4th of July weekend. It was a hot Saturday and about a 30-40 minute drive south to Rosemount. Horseriding here is not quite the adventure I remember from my youth ... where we were let loose to do as much damage to ourselves as possible ... but a slow plod along behind our 'trail leader' around dusty soybean and corn fields - similar to our family holiday experience at Grand Marais.

Strawberries were not quite ripe and, due to procrastination on my part are now bagged and sitting in the freezer awaiting some kind of culinary interaction!

Tom Waits at the Brady

Took a mid-week trip to Tulsa with my friend Steve to see Tom Waits. Very different to Chicago a couple of years back. We had much better seats and the theater is much smaller (about 2,000) so the interaction with the audience was more raucous. He was in fine gravelly form.

We stayed at a historic B&B by the muddy Arkansas River about a mile and a half from town. Tulsa was typified by a lack of taxis and ATMs!