My Yard now ,ART, Name Strips and the BEST Guacamole Recipe ever!

Hello friends, I am back finally. We had Mark's Memorial at the church and my daughter gave a beautiful eulogy. I cried and so did everyone else, I don't know how she did it. 

After the Memorial, we had a lovely catered barbque dinner in my backyard and Mel and her husband Jeff paid for it. How is that for a loving friend? My friends Molly and Tina came along with Mel all flew in from California. Susan my cupcake friend  and her husband Esko came from Seattle  and drove back another five hours in the same day and Laurie drove clear over from Lopez Island with her husband Kit. Cousins and inlaws and friends all came and we had a lovely time. I still feel Mark in my home. We moved here in 1976, the same year our son was diagnosed with leukemia. Mark and I were married 45 lovely years. I miss him so very much. We all do.

Our lot is a third of an acre and I have planted many flowers and bushes and plants. My friends are buying a flowering tree for us to plant with Mark's ashes. He asked for this specifically. So I will be going in to pick one out when the rain goes away. I am thinking dogwood or hawthorn. You can see a small dogwood I have in my backyard now. Our daughter gave it to us for our 25th anniversary.

I still have another case of blue bottles and am going to try to drill more hole in the bottle tree above. I have two of them and the one has tons and tons of bottles on it. In case you do not know, bottle trees were made in the south in the slave days as they believed that evil spirits would go into the bottle and could not get out. Works for me. I love the blue with all of the green in the garden and the red bike and a large fountain I have. Tons of work but worth it.

My neighbor Connie came over and helped me plant things in my flower garden and also helped me clean out half the garage and get rid of lots of "stuff." That evening I invited her over and I made the recipe below and hot tortilla chips and some crackers and bread. I had a bottle of wine and we had a nice end to the day. This recipe is lovely. I doubled the avacados. Enjoy!

GRILLED CORN, AVOCADO AND TOMATO w/ HONEY LIME DRESSING (Please SHARE so it will save to your timeline. You can refer back to recipe later).

1 pint grape tomatoes
1 ripe avocado
2 ears of fresh sweet corn
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
Honey Lime Dressing
Juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp honey
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
Dash of cayenne pepper
DIRECTIONS
Grilled Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad

Remove husks from corn and grill over medium heat for 10 minutes. The corn should have some brown spots and be tender and not mushy. Cut the corn off the cob then scrape the cob with the back of your knife to get the juices. Set aside and let cool. Slice the tomatoes in half. Dice the avocado and chop the cilantro.
Honey Lime Dressing

1
Add all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
2
Combine the sliced tomatoes, avocado, cilantro and grilled corn and honey lime dressing and mix gently so everything is evenly coated. Be careful not to mash the avocados. Let the salad sit for 10-15 minutes to let flavors mingle

And for a good laugh, look at this!

I have asked those people who prayed for us and supported us through Mark's brain cancer to please send me a 2 1/2 inch x 6 1/2 inch jello colored piece with their name on it and city if you have room. My address is 1521 N.Argonne #276, Spokane Valley, WA 99212-2555
I plan to make a
 quilt called "Hugs and Prayers" with them and would like anyone who did pray or send notes etc., to please give you your info for the quilt.
Thank you most sincerely

Along with the strips some people sent bright fabrics to go in and a few sent some random blocks to add to this...the colors are going to be fabulous and I have some fun ideas...hope you will be a part of it too