How Does My Garden Grow

Quite well actually.  I was worried when we finally got the raised garden that it wouldn’t produce because it was late and it was SO cold but it doesn’t appear to be a problem.

The first weekend in June my garden looked like this:

The Marigolds dwarfed the cilantro, lettuce, peppers and tomato starts. 

But given a month and things had changed dramatically:

I had no idea the cilantro would get so tall and the peas have positively taken off.

The carrots are up:

And a pepper is appearing:

 

Here’s my garden yesterday:

From here you can hardly tell one plant from the next.  The cilantro is HUGE!  The lettuce doesn’t look like lettuce anymore but the bunny loves it.

I have a feeling I should have kept the cilantro pruned so it didn’t flower but the flowers are SO dang pretty and they attract lots of subjects for me to photograph.  I just can’t get myself to cut it back.

Check out my sugar snap peas.  Later I picked it and gave it to Elias to chew on. 

Here’s my pepper.  It’s a purple pepper.  I doubt I’ll get a peck to pick from my one plant though.

I also get the occasional ladybug.  They are my favorite because they eat the pests.

My tomato blossom.  There’s a bunch.  Mmm.  I have big plans for some yummy pasta sauce with those tomatoes.  I can taste it now.

And some how I’m not afraid of bees when my camera is between them and me.  (Though I confess I had my long lens on. LOL)

I just bought some basil the other day since the seeds I put in didn’t come up very well.  I think it was too cold.  And the carrot tops are tall enough that I’m starting to wonder how you know when to pick a carrot.  I guess I have a lot to learn still but I have what’s important, lots of things to photograph.

Texture Tuesday–Dream

How satisfying it is to find a use for a photo that was so entirely fun to take but also pretty much entirely pointless.  ha ha  Thank you, Kim, for giving the dream assignment this week.  I had fun creating this tonight. 

Remember you can click on the photo to see it larger and, of course, remember you can click on the button below to see more Texture Tuesday photos and participate if you like.

And while this post may seem rather lame and short I need to be off to dreamland now.  Good night.

Crazy Days of Summer–Critters

Ooh, a new photo challenge.  Yay!  A reason to post these ladybug pics I got today (because posting them for no reason surely wouldn’t fly).  I found this little lady munching on juicy green bugs on my cilantro today.  Thank you, little lady.  Please come again soon and bring some friends. 

I love that in this one you can actually see the bug she’s eating.  Hey, that’s TWO, count them, TWO critters for the price of one! 

I can’t tell you how much these photos have increased my desire to get a macro lens.   A lot.  A lot, a lot.

Sweet Shot Tuesday

I got a special blessing on Saturday.  I got to take the kids to an event hosted by the organization that my sister works for.  So many brilliant, genuine smiles to be photographed there.  What beautiful people.

One of my favorites, despite it not having one of those smiles, is of this little girl playing at the water table.  She was so into it and I love how the water was captured mid stream.

After that we took the kids to my niece’s boyfriend’s tattoo shop’s (that’s a LOT of apostrophes) 1st anniversary BBQ where all three kids got to ride a skate board for the first time.  I’m pretty sure Gideon would have slipped this one in his pocket to take home if he thought no one would notice.  Or it would fit.

Our day was STILL not done.  Then we went to Jamae’s apartment to swim.  Well, I didn’t but the kids did.  Elias has no fear of water and the only way he didn’t take a header into the pool was Jamie’s tight grip on the back of his shirt.

It was such an amazing day and I got so many sweet shots it almost seems unfair to the others that there three are the only I’m posting but I had to draw the line somewhere.

Click the button for more Sweet Shots.

Good to WOW–Week 27 Sky is the Limit

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve participated in any of my regular photo challenges.  I miss it.  I didn’t know about the theme for this one and didn’t have a chance to take anything today but then realized a photo that I took over the weekend fits.  Well, it fits in that it has a cool sky.  I guess that’s close enough.  I’ve gotta get back in the saddle some how.  So I present to you my entry:

And in case you forgot, click on the button to see more entries.

A Happy Fourth

Oh what a wonderful weekend we had, and a long one at that.  Saturday was Elias’ birthday part which I will blog about but I had a stronger urge to do the 4th first. 

Let’s review the wonderfulness, with pictures.  First, it was a gorgeous day.  Days like today make all the gray days around here worthwhile.  Who am I kidding, I love gray days too though if I didn’t like to hunker down with a good book and a cup of hot tea I might feel differently.  But I digress.

We made last minute plans with a couple from our church to do the 4th at out house.  Zion just about tortured me all day asking when they would come (“How many more minutes?” every FIVE minutes) and finally they did come.  While the older kids dug into the sandbox Elias practiced his Dukes of Hazard skills completely refusing to open the door to get in his little Cozy Coupe – I mean General Lee.

Zion soon joined us on the patio regaling us with a story of … I’m not exactly sure.  She loves to tell a story but I confess that half the time I have no idea what she’s talking about.  Still, it’s entertaining, she’s downright adorable while doing it.

Rob grilled hamburgers and jerk chicken for dinner.  Our grill has been getting a lot of use already this year.  Not that I’m complaining.  Might have to let my belt out a little.  Or maybe I should throw in some more Zumba.  Probably the later, huh?  While I contemplate that I’ll just finish these Potato Skins Snack Chips. *sigh*  If only I didn’t love food SO much!

 

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen the kids convinced Tanya to set up Mousetrap.  Which took so long they didn’t really get to play. 

The kids could not handle knowing there were fireworks in the house any longer so after dinner, yes while it was still daylight, we headed out front to let ours offer.  Our display was meager but what we lacked in KABOOMS and lights we made up for with shear cuteness.  Jacob added more than his fair share by helping to keep Elias in grins and giggles.  Dashing over at random times to make silly noises for him.

Elias thinks Jacob’s the best thing since sliced bananas.

See.  Cute with a capital ‘C’.

We started with sparklers.  Come to think of it I think we always do.  Is that normal?

At some point Ross told us how they used to put smoke bombs in water and I thought “Hey, we have a bucket of water.  Why not?”  So we did.  And it was cool.  It made little smoke filled bubbles.

Zion doesn’t think to much of anything that makes noise.  Nothing we got was very loud but she still hid behind me for part of it.  Not that I’m complaining.  Sometimes it’s nice to be needed.  And cuddled.

Elias on the other hand didn’t seem bothered at all.  AT.  ALL.  Not even a little.  He even laughed at some of them.

Gideon, to start out with, was simply obsessed with the water bucket we kept on hand.  That should not surprise anyone who knows him.  This is the kid who, when we go to the zoo and wildlife park exclaims loudly “Water!!!” at EVERY habitat that has so much as a puddle, seemingly oblivious to the animals there. 

He did get a bit overwhelmed after a while, as he also has a tendency to do and told me repeatedly that he was sleepy and needed to go to bed.   At least he didn’t tell me this time that our guests needed to go home. 

Gabe was involved with everything.   How fun it is to have kids at such different stages and to have one or two that are getting old enough to enjoy these traditions (even if Gabe and Zion didn’t exactly want to hear my brief lesson on why we celebrate Independence Day). 

Am I a bad mom, though, because one of the funnest parts of the night was laughing at Gabe’s reaction to a firework that took off straight up when he wasn’t expecting it.  It was just so funny.

And since we were outside in the front I couldn’t resist taking a few shots of my roses.  ‘Cause, oooo, the pink one has open blossoms now.

Then we all went inside for doughnuts ‘cause nothing says Independence Day like deep fried dough.  With red and blue icing of course.

Later when we said goodbye to our friends the neighbors really had their fireworks going strong.  Some of them really go all out (which is one of the reasons we don’t) so we lingered and watched and I got some good (or at least I think they’re good) photos.  I strayed from my usual habit of shooting for dark sky with streaks of light and went for a lighter sky and more details in our surroundings.  I love how they turned out.  This one is my favorite.

But these aren’t so bad either.

The End!