I sooo love my friend

I am just not sure what to do.  The gardenia bushes we planted a year or so ago just look terrible....they look like someone sprayed them with napalm.  They are leggy and they try to put out leaves and then the whole branch dies.  Then, other branches are doing just fine.  No bugs that I can tell, so after putting on my stethoscope, I'm diagnosing soil issues, because I can't think of anything else--even after reading several planting manuals.  I think I'm going to loosen up the soil, add compost, manure, and acid type stuff to it and if that doesn't do it, after blooming season, I'm taking the clippers to both of them.  That's my usual solution--bloom or else.  I think a little pressure is a good thing.  Even for a bush.

What fries my bacon is, that around the block, at the house the bunny loves, is an old established gardenia bush that never gets any attention, gets white flies on it's leaves, and still blooms.  They key may be "old established".  It's not the same species as mine, and that may also be part of the problem.  The flowers aren't super fragrant, and are smaller, but they are OK, so I may be back over there snitching from that bush.  No one is living there right now so I may go over and throw the old girl some fertilizer, give her a big old slurp of water, and see how she does come blooming season. 

Now on to yesterday's lunch.  I was invited over to a friend's house in Oak Cliff for lunch and to say that it was a total blast really doesn't cover it.  She is one of my most favorite people and her home is to die for.  It's up on a hill, almost all glass, and warm contemporary with fabulous art everywhere.  I felt like I was up in an incredible tree house.  She has several seating areas outside, one on a lower level with a koi pond adjacent, and the feeling is just other worldly. 

And her kitchen....omg.  It's a chef's kitchen--you should see the drawers for utensils-- and her pantry.  Just incredible-- and can she ever cook.  We had her homemade pizza, a salad that I could eat right now, and wonderful cheese and nibbles to munch on, while she put the finishing touches on the pizza.  I had to laugh...here was my friend with her pizza peel, all loaded and ready to slide off on her 500 degree pizza stone, and she slides it off  just as easily as the guy at CPK.  Please....she made it look so damn easy and I happen to know it's not all that damn easy--especially with an audience!  And it fit purrrrrfectly on the stone.  Now, in case you aren't drooling yet, here's the kicker:  it was a rosemary chicken and shallot butter pizza--cooked. to. perfection.  Cake balls were dessert. 

Did I mention she is beautiful, tee tiny, and rides motorcycles with her husband??  Thanks again, Jodi, for an incredible lunch, but more importantly, for your friendship.  You rock, sister.