Cucumber!

This is my first cucumber plant. Next year I'll plant at least two. I love how the little tendrils grab onto things so it can climb. And it seems to grow about an inch a day, which is just amazing to watch...

Isn't it cute?

And I haven't really had any trouble with pests. I picked a few caterpillars off one day, but that's it.

Genealogy

This is a little off topic... but my editor is letting this slide.

Findmypast (the British version of Scotlandspeople, the Scottish version of ancestry.com) is allowing free access to their documents on days England plays in the World Cup. For a poor genealogy buff like myself this is fabulous. Especially since the 1911 English census was relatively recently released and findmypast appears to be the only one of two place to get images.

Back to the photo. I've done a little research on my grandmother's cousin's father who was from England. His family remained in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England when he moved to the US after 1901. The photo is said to contain Florence Eliza Higgins (his sister), Lady Bingham and Fred Topsfield, on May 28, 1924. (I thought "Lady Bingham" and "Fred Topsfield" would be uncommon enough names to help me find more information... but apparently this Yankee doens't know the English.) The 1911 census image I acquired last night confirms that Florence married a Mr Clamp - which brings up another interesting British research issue - the marriage indexes are, um, annoying. The Higgins household includes the Higgins family members I'd seen in other censuses (censusii?) plus a young daughter Bessie Ingram Higgins (which confirms the mother's maiden name - Yahoo!). Mr Clamp is not there, but Florence Eliza Clamp is listed as married (not widowed), which is interesting. Altogether a productive 90 minutes of research.

Low Maintenance Plants

The camera and cord have alternated being MIA, but we got a new computer connection and the camera has been available enough for me to finally post something...

I'm all about low maintenance... so I've been very happy with the Dusty Miller and Mexican Lavender in the front yard. I was expecting the lavender to smell good, but was sorry it learn it doesn't. This year I got some English Lavender to fill that role.
The dusty miller is so happy that I had to pull about 15 little Millers out of the lawn this year.
And our 'lavender' rosebush:

and the rather pretty rose from the rootstock.

I'm not a huge rosebush fan, but I love that they keep coming back despite our less than stellar care for them.