lovely Easter weekend

We had a glorious Easter weekend. My sister visited me on Friday and we just did some shopping, catching up and eating a great lunch. On Saturday we got her to help us with our current backyard project: replacing the bark in the flower beds with river rock/gravel. It was back-breaking work. I had her rake in the old bark, to ease her into yard work.

Hubby and I have been hard at work doing some DIY patio decorating. It’s not quite renovation since our house is new. We’ve set-up the new sitting area and got huge planters for some flowery shrubs: azalea, hibiscus and camellia. They look awesome. I will post pix later. On Saturday we actually got to enjoy the fire pit again while my Sweetness worked on smoking yet another brisket for Easter lunch.

My in-laws came for lunch after the respective Easter services. The picture below is one of 2 tulip bouquets I had gotten from Whole Foods. I can’t wait to cut flowers from my own yard! My roses have got a ton of buds. I’ve got 7 hanging flower baskets and I’ve planted seeds in them (poppies, snapdragon, alyssum) and two have freesia bulbs. I am resisting buying annuals this year, choosing instead to grow them from seeds. The wait is testing my patience.

The weather was beautiful enough to enjoy our Easter meal outside. The food was just outstanding! Hubby and I enjoy hosting and yesterday was great. I made potatoes au gratin and two different beer breads (multi-grain with brown ale beer and wheat with IPA). I thought they turned out well.