Young hazelnut orchard a little down the road from us

We've had a rather quiet week, even the 4th (of July) didn't spark much activity over here.
Newberg doesn't have a parade and not even fireworks, they save all that for the 'Newberg Old Fashioned Festival' which takes place at the end of the month.
We could have gone to McMinnville or Sherwood for a parade and we thought for a fleeting moment to go to St Paul where the yearly rodeo sports both such events, but we weren't very motivated this year.
We are still working diligently in 'our' garden and are actually having a lot of fun doing so, so we decided to stay home, make some pie and throw something on the BBQ and call it good.

Which we did .. James made a grand slam and the weather was such that we could have it outside:

 


I baked a cherry pie from those cherries we picked last week ..

We did walk to the pioneer cemetery that day, which is just a couple of hundred yards down the road from us ..

It's a beautiful little cemetery with the old graves mixed among the new. The oldest are from the mid-1800s:

                                                       

The huge pine trees add  a wonderful element of shade and smell. It's nicely maintained with benches provided here and there to sit and enjoy the peaceful surroundings ..

The trees are humongous!

Our road, as well as all other rural ones at the moment, is lined with an abundance of sweet-peas. They're considered an obnoxious weed but I love them ..

Of course I had to bring some home ...

Like I said, we're working hard on our new site ..

All this ivy, together with just as much blackberry, is coming from out an around the trees and off the fence.

James is cutting it loose while I rake it in piles, after which it gets thrown in the cart. A couple of times during filling it I climb in it and stamp it all down .. after which it is carted off to the burn-pile.
There's a burn-ban in place at the moment so I guess we'll have a huge bonfire in the fall!

The grass in front of us is not being watered and they let it go brown/dormant now the weather is getting hot, but dandelions are still coming up so I'm still mowing ..

This is a zero-turn mower which takes some getting used to, but I'm starting to do alright!

Look at me go .. like I know what I'm doing?

We do most of the work in the cool morning hours. In the afternoon I sit in the filtered shade of the maple trees in our yard.
Spinning, reading, just relaxing .. life is good!
                            

Ahhhhh ...  ♫ summertime, and the living is easy ♬