Jack with his old army buddy, Leon, and Leon's lovely wife, Helen.Leon and Helen love to cook and their kitchen shows it. Leon is the main chef and Helen is the family baker. Leon grilled tuna steaks with Greek green beans and Mediterranean style eggplant. He also made a mean frittata for us for breakfast one morning. Helen made a mean cherry and peach pie. Yum, yum!
I just fell in love with these Spanish flower pots on their outdoor wall. Those are petunias growing in the pots. Helen is the gardener in the family. As you can see she has a green thumb.
Here a frog, there a frog, everywhere a little frog. Too cute!
I love this flower. I should have asked Helen for a start of it. She says it is a prolific plant that never stops blooming. Name I don't know.As you can tell from the photos here Leon and Helen have a wonderful home for entertaining. The great room has a neat wine bar that we visited each afternoon and the kitchen has a huge L-shaped island where Chef Leon holds court. But my very favorite part of the home was the lovely backyard complete with deck, hot tub and koi pond backing to a very private wooded area. Helen collects frogs so I had fun discovering all the little frogs scattered about the house and yard.
Jack and Leon kibitzing about the good old days in the army in Germany.
Joann really enjoyed all the flowers on the deck that Helen cares for daily. Joann also enjoyed looking for all the little frogs. Did I already mention the frogs? Helen still works three days a week as a nurse so Monday, Wednesday and Friday she was on the road by 5:00 A.M. to be at work at the Jewish Hospital at 5:30 A.M.
Here is the view of the koi pond with about a dozen fish. The pond has a lovely waterfall that we could enjoy from the guest bedroom window. Did you spot two of Helen's frog statues in this photo? Did I mention already that Helen has an extensive frog collection? Ribbit! Ribbit!
Jack and Leon kibitzing about the good old days in the army in Germany.
Joann really enjoyed all the flowers on the deck that Helen cares for daily. Joann also enjoyed looking for all the little frogs. Did I already mention the frogs? Helen still works three days a week as a nurse so Monday, Wednesday and Friday she was on the road by 5:00 A.M. to be at work at the Jewish Hospital at 5:30 A.M.
Here is the view of the koi pond with about a dozen fish. The pond has a lovely waterfall that we could enjoy from the guest bedroom window. Did you spot two of Helen's frog statues in this photo? Did I mention already that Helen has an extensive frog collection? Ribbit! Ribbit!
Looks like you guys had a great time and had great hosts!
ReplyDeleteJoann: Abeautiful view of the estate and a beautiful flower.
ReplyDeleteIt kind of looks a bit like a shamrock/prayer plant. Does it fold up at night when it gets dark? The first time I saw mine do that I thought I'd killed it! Mine has much redder colored leaves though, so I could be completely off base here :)
ReplyDeleteIs it this? http://www.arhomeandgarden.org/plantoftheweek/articles/shamrock.htm
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I was also calling this a prayer plant- someone told me that was a nickname because it folds up at night. But when I googled prayer plant, it is something else entirely!