Carol Burnside / Annie Rayburn

Wednesday’s Word: copse Wat’s it mean?

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Carol Burnside / Annie Rayburn

Copse\kops\ (adjective)

MSWORD’s definition:
Grove of small trees. Wood. Thicket. Coppice. Grove

M-W’s Word Central:
Same as coppice: a thicket, grove, or growth of small trees

Sentences:
(From my novella Phantoms & Fantasies) She looked around, not seeing anything but a copse of young cedar trees at the edge of the headlights.

The thick copse between the houses hid the Peeping Tom perfectly.

Posted in Wat's it Mean?, Wednesday's Word | 2 Comments

Here’s what’s up

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Carol Burnside / Annie Rayburn

Today is my day to blog on PFHT and the post is titled, Cycle of life and a ruthless mom. I think you’ll like it.

Last weekend I got an unexpected opportunity to attend a writer’s retreat in the Ozarks. Since it was just over an hour north of my house, I zigged and zagged up a twisty, turning two-lane highway and arrived at a beautiful cabin retreat which I shared with eleven other writers. It was great to be among others who ‘get’ the writing lingo and understand when your head isn’t in the moment, but still whirling with dialogue and plotting. We had some serious writing moments and a lot of laughs. It’s a new RWA chapter for me and I’d only met a couple of the women once before, but I didn’t let that stop me and I’m glad I didn’t. Such fun and my manuscript grew! (Follow the link and see fabulous pics.)

The garden is growing. Here’s what it looked like two weeks ago. Now the tomatoes are large enough that Hubby had to stake them. and everything is greener. Guess I’ll have to take more pics and post more often.

The cukes and watermelon are getting ready to send off runners and the corn is almost a foot high. We’ve eaten several ripe tomatoes already and Hubby gets onions and peppers straight from the garden for his morning omelet. Not bad, eh? The radishes are almost ready to pick too.

I’m not sure what’s going on with my patio tomato plant. It was flourishing and several of the larger tomatoes ripened. They are really sweet and juicy, so I’m bummed that it suddenly turned yellow around the bottom and several of the leaves were nibbled on by some pest. I’m babying it and have my fingers crossed that it will continue producing.

Get a load of these happy bell pepper plants. These are red and orange bell peppers. Keep in mind this picture was taken two weeks ago. Today the fruits are much larger and each plant has at least three with more blooms. I’ve never grown bell peppers because until recently I’d never eaten them. Couldn’t stand the green variety and it didn’t like me back, so I never tried the other colors. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the red, yellow and orange varieties taste completely different and are sweeter. These will be chopped and sliced and frozen for soups and omelets and such. Yum!

That’s about it for me. What’s going on with you?

Posted in Carol Burnside, Everyday blather, Going Places, Here at home | Tagged blogging, garden, petit fours and hot tamales, travel, vegetables, writing life | 6 Comments

On the road

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Carol Burnside / Annie Rayburn

I’m traveling with my good friend Susan Carlisle, who writes medical romances for Harlequin Mills & Boon. Quick trip to Oklahoma yesterday, returning home today. We’re having a blast talking about writing and plotting while on the road.

I do have those pictures of the garden to share with you soon and news! I picked my first ripe tomato yesterday. It came from the Patio Tomato plant. Luvs me some home-grown ‘maters!

Also on the home front: Hubby and I removed the pool cover and discovered we’d waited too long this year and had a green swamp. Ewwwwww!!!!!! Believe me, you don’t want to see a picture of THAT. I wish someone would have told us we did a good thing last year by taking the cover off early. Instead we got a lot of “Really? This early?” responses. Color us clueless.

Thank goodness we have a great pool guy on speed dial and learned from him that it’s salvageable. Susan and I are hoping for clearer waters by the time we return to my house. Fingers crossed…

Posted in Carol Burnside, Everyday blather, Going Places, Here at home | Tagged garden, Patio tomato, pool, Susan Carlisle, tomatoes, traveling, Writing | Leave a comment

Country life

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Carol Burnside / Annie Rayburn

We’ve had more rain and the gardens are loving it!

Today I’m taking more pictures of all the little seedlings and bounty of tomatoes coming on…and there’ll be a Phoebe update coming soon.

Thank goodness the rain has cooled things off because Hubby and I went to Eureka Springs for two days and returned to a broken central air unit. I’m expecting the repair man any minute now and not a moment too soon. It’s in the high 80′s (F) at just after noon and very humid.

The dogs pant within a few minutes of being outside because the air is oppressive. Currently, they’re all lying around the room sacked out as I type.

I hope all of you reading this are having a great day like I am.

Posted in Everyday blather | 2 Comments

2012 Garden, the beginning.

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Carol Burnside / Annie Rayburn

This year, Hubby prepared the soil early on our big garden, turning it under, adding fertilizer, turning it under again. A few weeks ago, he planted a couple rows of onions. A few days ago, I added leeks next to them and we talked about planting everything, but it was late in the day and Hubby had a job come up that took him out of town for the better part of two weeks and it seemed like when he was in town, it was raining or had just rained.

On Thursday, Hubby returned about 2 p.m. and I informed him that rain was forecast for that night and Friday. We headed out with our hats and hoes and got to work. When people talk about back-breaking work, I think they were talking about gardening, specifically planting. It’s also hard on the legs. I took a quick break to apply sunscreen and grabbed some Gatorade light for us both. We got tired, but kept digging in–literally–until it was almost too dark to see.

Finally we had the complete garden planted with green beans x 2, lima beans x 2, Crowder peas, okra, 15 tomato plants in 5 varieties, radishes, 3 kinds of squash, corn, watermelons, 5 jalapeno peppers and 5 banana peppers. The onions and leeks are in the foreground of the 1st picture, too close to the camera for me to get everything in the picture.

Second picture is of our mini garden inside the backyard. Yeah, we need to weed. Before we bought the place, it had been vacant for a year. Grass and weeds took over so we’re still fighting them. After this rain, the ground will be super easy to hoe and we left enough room in between the rows to till it up.

Meanwhile, on the back deck I’m trying a new (at least to me) tomato plant…a Patio Tomato. It’s supposed to be super sturdy and compact with small, but tasty tomatoes. We shall see, but right now, it’s early in the season yet it has 10 tomatoes growing. Yum… I luvs me some home-grown ‘maters. Guess that’s why I have 15 plants of them.