Texture Tuesday/ 8-9-2011

it's all about the small stuff over at Kim Klassen's Cafe today. i used her  free 'Not too Shabby' texture with one of my photos (square crop). Thank you Kim~!~

today's gifts included:

• playing tug and fetch with River (she's not 'lost' anymore)
• watching the hummingbirds chase each other around the feeder
• participating in the texture tuesday challenge this week

this morning brought an unexpected visitor to my garden. i don't think i've ever had a pigeon here before . . .
he(?) stayed quite a while, hanging out by the bird feeders but never partaking, and then went on his way.

the sky was mostly blue this morning and the sun shone brightly for a while.

this is the first year that i've had any success with artichokes. they require a long growing season and so this year i started them in the cold frame and hope to erect it back around them this fall while they finish up. i actually really like the look of dried artichoke flowers so i'm not sure yet if i'm going to eat them or just dry the flowers and keep them around to look at . . . maybe i'll get enough of a harvest that i can do both.

i am beginning to wonder if they are going to grow too large to get back inside the frame . . . the plants are huge~! it might be a good thing that i only planted two of them.

the Japanese eggplants are beginning to show some fruits and are full of promising buds. these are one of my favorite summer time treats: grilled with a little olive oil and salt & pepper.

there's something about a pear shape that is just gorgeous ~ even when it's actually a tomato~! these will turn golden as they ripen. it's the first year that i've tried them so i'm quite interested in how well they do and how tasty they might be.

shortly after getting these morning shots it got quite dark and the thunder and lightening commenced and we had a downpour of a shower. very nice. since i was rained out of the garden i went into my studio.

i'm working on a postcard for my daughter. her birthday is in august and i thought i would "bake" up a celebratory cupcake for the front of the card.

still working on it but it's coming along nicely.

i've managed to get these broken dishes blocks all sewn into rows. tomorrow i will sew all of the rows together and the body of my next charity quilt will be done. then it's on to deciding on a fabric for a four inch border to go all the way around.
the blocks were made from scraps that i've both accumulated myself and traded with others over a 20 year period of time . . . some of them seem quite dated and as i look at them i realize that i really have to do more to get rid of all the scraps as they make me feel old. i have made a dent but only a small one. sometimes i wonder what it would be like if i just gave them all away and started over . . . would i suddenly feel like a spring chicken again~!?!~

after the thunderstorms were past i went back out into the garden and shot some more photo's. the light was much better and everything was all moist from the rain.

this very tiny tan grasshopper was enjoying the newly freshened and cooled garden too.

i think it thought that it was well hidden under that small leaf . . .

Bugs and an Adventure Story from Honduras

the garden is currently plentiful of more than just flowers, fruits and vegetables. when i was out with my camera it seemed like there were beautiful bugs everywhere that i looked~!~ this butterfly was about the size of my thumbnail and the inside of the wings were an electric blue similar to the brightest blue areas on the outside of it's wings. the wind was blowing pretty hard but it was very patient with me and i did manage to get a couple of decent shots although none with the wings opened up. i'm not sure what kind of a butterfly it is. i do know that i used to see many more of them a few years ago than i see now.

not only are the (yukon gold) potatoes in abundance but so are the garden worms~!~ which is supposed to be a very good sign of soil health. are you able to find the worms sticking out from the dirt in this shot?

this mantid was basking in the last of the evening sunshine. i'm pretty sure it was a female judging by her super extended abdomen . . . and i think she's giving the camera the stink eye~!~

this little grasshopper thought it was all about camouflage and so didn't hop away when i was taking it's photograph.
i loved looking at all of the amazing details in this shot (both of the grasshopper and the tree bark it was sitting on)~!~

there are quite a few of these spiders in our garden. i know them to be an orb spider and generally beneficial. i managed to get a photo of both her (i think this one is female) topside (above) and her underside (below). she was accidentally disturbed when weeds were pulled from beneath one of the pine trees and so she is perched here on a tiny pine bough. she was roughly an inch and a half long (including leg span). usually they like to sit smack in the middle of their web and almost always have a zig zag bit of creativity woven into it. i will try to get some shots of one of the better looking webs before the summer is completely over.

apparently the bugs are plentiful in Honduras too, as last evening brought a call from my daughter with tales of a very large (5 to 6 inch) tarantula that came visiting one evening right before bedtime. the one thing that this courageous girl of mine seems to be truly afraid of is spiders. i don't have to tell you that in a tropical environment they thrive (meaning they grow quite large) in many variations and this has been a difficult thing for her to deal with. for the most part she manages to keep herself calm and does her best to ignore them, but apparently this particular specimen was just "too much" and she was forced to run for help. she describes a lot of arm waving and heart palpitations at this part in her story. the family that she is staying with was quick to jump into action with "dad" bearing a broomstick and "mom" at the ready to squash it. in the end, the reportedly large mess of the squashed spider (and all of it's remaining parts) was swept up and deposited outdoors. so other than a restless night of sleep and her host family's gentle teasing, all was once again well. poor kid.

the cactus garden is humming with activity and ablaze with color this afternoon~!~

there are two shades of pink and a bright yellow and even peach colored cactus growing here. they are a native to our area and i enjoy their dynamic show of color every year~!~

the bees and other pollinators enjoy them too~!!~

this little guy was about one quarter of an inch long and was perched contentedly on the top of this partially open peach colored blossom just surveying the whole area as if contemplating someday becoming the King.

. . . if the mantids or spiders don't catch him before he grows big enough~!~

in the center of my cactus garden i have a vintage red wheelbarrow planted with "softer" plants. this is a shot i took across the top of the lobelia that grows in there.

i know that it's not a good photo but i just love the colors and light bokeh that i captured and decided to include it anyway.

i enjoyed my short wander through the cactus garden today and am grateful for the beauty that it lends to my life.

After The Rain

This early evening we got a quick littl rain shower. then the sun came out and the wind stopped blowing for the first time in days. i ran out into the garden to see what i could find to shoot. it was delightful out there and i feel much better after having walked around barefoot in the rain soaked grass, finding signs of early summer and listening to the birds sing their evening songs.

a flowering wild onion that was accidentally transplanted with some native cactus plants years ago. the onion grows strategically enough within the cactus plant that it has earned a permanent place in the garden. it's actually quite pretty. the blossoms aren't completely opened up yet but their getting there . . .

i have some wooly thyme growing in a rock garden area and it is also blossoming. this is a very close macro and these flowers are uber tiny . . . roughly the size of a ball headed pin.

i discovered a tiny green grasshopper sitting on top of one of the snow on the mountain blossoms. it seemed to be enjoying the sudden change in the weather also. i love the color green that it is~!~

the iris are just beginning to unfurl their buds . . . another day or two and i will have a few flowers~!!~

the peonies are also just starting to open up. i seem to only have a few of these flowers this year which is too bad because they are beautiful, quite fragrant and make very nice cutting flowers for the house.

i hope that you enjoyed my evening post rain trip through the garden as much as i did~!~