The Patio, Soda Testing

Flower Report
We've got a few more blooms this past week from some of our more stalwart plants.

Here is 'Red Casacade,' growing on the trellis at the front of the house. It's finally begun putting on new shoots, getting taller, and blooming. It has weensy little red flowers, but when it really comes into its own, it will be completely covered in them.

'Red Cascade' in bloom

And our blackberry lily (Belacamda chinensis) has been putting on its hestitant little blooms--just a few at a time, not very large, a bit pallid. Still, it's trying. And in the middle of July, too. It deserves some points for that.

Blackberry Lily (Belacamda chinensis)

Meanwhile, our pinky-white Zephyranthes in the front bed have burst exuberantly into seed. There's a great big clump of them, all popping with papery, espresso-colored seeds.

Zephyranthes seeds

The Continuing Chronicle of the Shade Patio

Matt worked his special brand of concrete magic on the patio. He made a sort of thin sludge out of Kwik-rete (or however it's spelled) and used water and a wet broom to brush it into the spaces between the pavers. This will achieve

1. No more weeds growing up between the pavers
2. A sturdier patio, with fewer shifting bits (we never could get all the pavers to lie perfectly flat. And brother, we tried.)

Matt cementing in the patio

While Matt worked on the concrete, I finished sanding in the rest of the foundation for the walkway. Undoubtedly, someone has the knack to settle those stones so they won't rock or shift, but that someone isn't me. I'm hoping that adding the decomposed granite around the stones will help to stabilize them. They look nice, anyway.

The walkway, sanded (decomposed granite yet to come)

Soda Taste Test
And finally, we turned our attention to really serious matters and taste tested most of they sodas they sell at our little corner store here in Elgin.

Soda taste test

Inventory was limited, so we weren't able to compare Dr. Pepper to Mr. Pibb, for example, or Sprite to 7up.

We did have a bottle of Pineapple Jarritos, though, so that counts for something.

Here's Matt, sampling one vintage.

Matt sampling a soda

We had each tasted 13 different sodas to see which we were able to identify. Both Big Red and Big Red Peach were recognizable by smell alone. The others... were a little more of a mixed bag.

Here's Matt's response to Coca-Cola, a drink he's never had any problems with in the past:

Matt's reaction to Coca-Cola

He said, and I quote, "Bleaugh! What is this, pumpkin-flavored soda?!"

I got Coke right away, but I identified Pepsi (a drink I claim to loathe) as Dr. Pepper. Whatever. It tastes different when your eyes are open.

Other embarrassing snafus: I thought Pineapple Jarritos was Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, and Matt said the Diet Coke was Squirt.

Yeah, you think you could do better? Try it. When you're blindfolded, they all taste like corn syrup.