Not bento - ROSES!

My garden is really starting to ramp-up and it's well on its way to the standard "Victorian Lady of Easy Virtue" look that it takes on in May. Seriously, there are so many blooms in my yard that it actually gets to be a bit MUCH!

This is a 'Zepherine Drouhin' rose -- thornless and lovely. Over Mother's Day, my husband installed a climbing frame that extends over the arch of our porch.

This "lamp post bed" is full of red Knockout and pink Carefree Wonder roses that are *just* beginning to show. Yum... the Carefree's have such a lovely sent.

I'm a sucker for irises and these 'Batik' ones are my absolutely favorite color. Behind them is a small stand of two-tone bearded irises. (The deep red ones are just coming up, but not yet ready to blossom.)Behind them is a large baptisia autralis (false indigo.) This beauty grips my heart every year and doesn't let go until the last bloom drops. (I have some in my big back garden as well.... sigh.)

My "hostafarian" bed along the side of the garage was designed by my "enabler" and wholesale plant dealer, Emanuella. She loves BIG plants and this bed really has her flare.

It's full of lots of varieties, plus ferms, tradescantia (spiderwort), heucheras (coral bells) and alchemilla mollis (ladies mantle.) On the two trellises are climbing hydrangea to match the two mop cap varietals in the back corner. (I'll include better pics later.)

Dad's and Boy's bento (#42 and #43)

For the Hubster, I cooked up some chicken nuggets and chopped them up so he could make his own sandwich roll-up. Lettuce, tomato, shredded cheese (in silicon cup) and ranch dressing were included for him to put together with the tortilla I tucked into his lunch bag.

Cherries, a cheese wedge and carrots filled out the box.

For the Boy, I made a sliced turkey and cheese rollup:

Some chips, carrots, chocolates and fruit cup balanced it up a bit. I added a bottle of G2 (low-carb Gatorade) for his drink

Mom & Dad bentos (#40 and #41)

We're still busy, busy, busy and the bento count shows it. All our other meals were general leftovers and I didn't even bother to present them nicely. This is the first TRUE bento I've made in a bit.

I cheated, though -- the chicken isn't homemade. I got it at the grocery store and just gussied it up in the Leaflet Tight box. Cherries and carrots rounded out the box and I added containers of yogurt and jello and some candies to the lunch bags.

Dad's bento (#39)

More stick-to-your-bones meals for the hard-working Hubster.

A slice of meatloaf from the freezer, fresh-made mashed potatoes, and some edamame to round things out. (There's home-made BBQ sauce in the cup.)

The edamame from Costco comes with little packets of salt, so I tucked one in when I added the tomatoes, mini Reese's cups, and cheese.

The boy just had a regular PB&J sandwich -- so no bento pics.

Boy's bento (#38)

I've been packing us lunches every day, but haven't had the time to photograph them (even in my "quick and dirty, stick it on the kitchen table in natural light and shoot it with my cell phone" fashion.)

There were a lot of spaghetti leftovers and sandwiches in regular plastic storage containers, with little or no thought to presentation, so... I guess they weren't really bentos and I'll have to let them slide and not get counted.

Here, however, is The Boy's bento from today. Since it's just yet another "decontructed" PBJ, I'm not sure that it's worth a picture, but... gosh darn it, I took one anyway.

Family bentos (#35, #36 and #37)

I stopped at Sam's Club and picked up a rotisserie chicken for a quesedilla dinner last night -- with the intention of having leftovers for our bentos today.

I added a lining of lettuce and some picks, but neglected to add anything to make the now-dry chicken at all appetizing. (Yuck!)

The rest of the bento is rounded out with cheeses, crackers, tomatoes, nuts, and grapes. I added frozen berries to vanilla yogurt, but had to wrap it all in plastic wrap when I overfilled the container and worried about spillage.

Note to self: the Hubster doesn't like honey-roasted peanuts. They all came back in the otherwise empty bento.

My bento was pretty much the same...

The Boy had another "deconstructed" PB&J sandwich:

There's waaaay too much of the same pale green in this bento, but he doesn't like many veggies that aren't green. I'm having a heck of a time explaining that green bell peppers and red bell papers are essentially the same thing, only less ripe. Oh, well, it was nutritious and he ate it all. (Note the TastyKakes! Aaaaargh, how can we give these up?!)

Dad's bento (#34)

I had picked up some boneless pork shoulder ribs (sometimes called a "picnic" shoulder) on sale at the grocery store. They had to be cooked last night so I browned them in a dutch oven and covered them with barbeque sauce before popping them in the oven for 90 minutes. I pulled the pork apart and let it sit and cool. (Hubby had to work late again, so it was his dinner at 10PM last night before getting put away for leftovers today.)

The veggies are propped up on a bag of airplane pretzels.

The other tier of the bento box includes his rolls and treat. I wish I'd had coleslaw...