Friday Smiles 123: The race and the herb garden

I'm joining my friend Annie at A Stitch In Time for the 123rd running of Friday Smiles.  A few of my US friends who read or follow my blog may be aware of the final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, was run last weekend.  The races for three year old thoroughbreds include the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and as mentioned, the Belmont Stakes.   If a horse wins all three, they win the Triple Crown, considered a thoroughbred racehorse's greatest accomplishment.  One such horse won last week and was crowned for the first time since 1978.

My British friends have their own Triple Crown.  It consists of 2000 Guineas Stakes, the Epsom Derby, and the St. Leger Stakes.  Their Triple Crown dates back farther than ours in the US.  Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia and other countries also have their Triple Crowns and specific tracks on which they are run.

Now I'm not really a race horse fan, basketball being my sport of choice.  I didn't even watch the race last weekend.  My reason for mentioning this is, on Wednesday, Squiggles and Bleubeard had their own race.  I didn't see how it started, but they ran from the living/dining area, through the kitchen, up the stairs to the office, and back down again.  By the time I realized what was going on, I only managed to capture two photos and they were both gray blurs. They must have kept this up at least six cycles, with Squiggles winning several times and Bleubeard winning several times.  Squiggles always beat Bleubeard on the way down the stairs, because he would leap at least three steps.  Bleubeard could run up the stairs faster than Squiggles, especially if he was in the lead.  What finally stopped them was when Squiggles, who was several lengths (or paws) ahead, stopped to examine his food dish!  That gave Bleubeard the much needed time to rest.  I swear, when I wasn't trying to get a photo of them, I was laughing so hard, my sides were aching.

Because I had no decent photos of the race, I decided to take a few photos of my herb garden.

All photos were taken early Thursday morning before I went to bed.   Imagine my surprise and shock when I removed these photos from my camera.  I need to nail down more studs so I can lay down more fodder for my garden.  Grass seems to have worked its way through all those layers, so I need to build them up at the edges again.

Even though we had lots of rain, many of my basil plants have failed to grow.  My dill seems to be doing well, though,

as does my curly parsley.  Can't say the same for my flat parsley I planted in the large white container behind the curly parsley.

I'm thrilled I haven't killed my lavender, and because this is the second year of its growth, I am now getting a few flowers.  Of course, I also need to replace the materials I originally used under the tiles.  They are a MESS.  That's what happens when you can't garden for weeks on end due to excessive rain.

I hope you enjoyed my tale (tail?) of Bleubeard and Squiggles, and saw how sad my herb garden is, even as it put a smile on my face from the harvest I hope to have on Saturday.

Now let's join Annie for Friday Smiles and grin (or even laugh) all the way through the weekend.