Peach picking

It's peach picking season here in North Florida. Last weekend I went down to Florida Peach Farms & Nurseries in Citra and picked about ten pounds of juicy peaches. I've enjoyed some of them fresh and also made a peach crisp using the fruit crisp recipe in the trusty "Joy of Cooking" cookbook that I got from my grandmother, adding a dash of good rum for a little extra interest. Okay, so maybe it was more than a dash, but the crisp sure turned out tasty.

The orchard should be open again this weekend for picking and it's definitely worth making the trip if you're looking for something fun to do. Be sure to also stop at The Orange Shop on Highway 301 in Citra for the tastiest fresh squeezed orange juice you'll find for miles.

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Best. Prank. Ever.

Georgia freaks out over the googly eyed plants
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

One of my co-workers loves the sketch that Christopher Walken did on Saturday Night Live titled "Indoor Gardening Tips from a Man Who's Very Scared of Plants." If you haven't seen it ,watch it here before reading any further.

I decided that it would be the perfect prank to fill her office with googly eyed plants. Conveniently, she went out of town for a work conference so I had ample time to move all of our office plants into her office, affix 204 googly eyes to them, and avoid getting caught.

After she got over the initial shock (see first photo), she loved it.

Here are a few more shots of the googly-eyed entourage.

Georgia, pretending to be Christopher Walken


The googly-eyed gang


My favorite cross-eyed cutie


Even my beloved papaya got into the act

King of the Mountain

Free mulch
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Apparently, mulch piles are exciting places. When I left the house this morning I spotted a young girl climbing on my mulch pile. It's funny because as I was spreading the mulch last night,* I started thinking about how much I loved climbing on dirt piles when I was a kid. One of the neighborhoods we lived in was still under development, so it seemed like there was always a half-built house that was getting a pile of sand delivered.

This girl wasn't just climbing on the pile -- she was clearly hunting something. I greeted the girl and her companion, who I took to be her grandmother, and asked what she was after.

"Lizards," she replied. "They like the mulch."

Cool, I thought -- a gal after my own heart. As a kid, I spent countless hours hunting for crayfish in the creek and catching insects.

But then I started thinking about why lizards would want to climb all the way to the top of such a huge mulch pile. My first thought was that the lizards had liked eating the insects swarming over the pile. Or maybe, just maybe, the lizards liked climbing the pile just because it was there, like Everest. Heck, it IS like Everest to a tiny little lizard! When I get home tonight, I'll check to see which lizard is defending his title as king of the mountain.

*(And yes, this means that I'm actually making progress on the front bed. I'll try to get the rest of the mulch spread out tonight, and will definitely post pictures if I do.)