#SundayStills: There’s Always Something to #Do


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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #279: Magical


Happy Sunday! Ann-Christine from Leya is hosting this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge with a magical theme.

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Lessons Learned From the 2023 Garden


As temperatures plummet below the freezing point, I thought I would take a moment to reflect on the successes and failures of the 2023 garden.

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WQ#41: Surprise in the Garden


Life is full of surprises. Make the most out of it and always expect the unexpected.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare – 4 Days Before…


Greetings! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for meeting me on this Saturday. Let’s take this chat inside with a steamy cup of latte.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare – Garden Expansion 2023 Continues…


Greetings! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for meeting me on this Saturday. Let’s take this chat inside. According to the weather app on my phone, it looks like it might rain today.

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#SundayStills: Too Soon for #Autumn


Nooooo… it’s too soon for autumn, despite autumn being one of my favorite seasons (aside from spring), where I am – in northern Utah – summer is still very much alive with 90+ degrees temperatures and no sign of autumn is approaching but who knows, these things can come with a snap of a finger. Not my fingers, Mother Nature’s.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare – Garden Expansion 2023


Greetings! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for meeting me on this Saturday. If it’s early and not too hot outside, I would ask if we could work and talk, primarily I would be the one working. You can help if you want but I wouldn’t force that on you.

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WQ#34: Fun is What Comes After, Right?


I had the more fun last week than I have had in a long while when my co-workers and I spent the day riding roller coasters and sliding down the mountain in a luge fashion.

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#SundayStills: Let’s #Celebrate the Garden Harvests


Despite having some failures in the garden this year like the pest infestation and my inability to grow squash, I feel this garden season has been a wonderful and successful one and as August ends and September rolls around, I have a sinking feeling I’ll have to say goodbye to the 2023 garden very soon. I can’t express gratitude enough for all that it’s given me from food to joy to admiration to other wonderful feelings. Therefore, I will dedicate this post to celebrate the garden. I hope you enjoy this photo gallery.

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Nature Photo Challenge #25 – Seedheads


I agree, seedheads aren’t always the prettiest thing in the world to photograph.

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WQ#33: Something New


I finally did it!

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#SundayStills: Monthly Color Challenge: #Yellow in the August 2023 Garden


I’m surprised to say there aren’t much to do in the garden these days.

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Nature Photo Challenge #24 – Edibles


I have no shortage of edibles in my backyard and front yard gardens. After all, I eat mostly out of it during the summer.

There was a rainstorm about a week ago. I love the look of the garden after a storm. The water droplets on the leaves made for a great photo opportunity and I got to play with my macro lens filters because I find the camera focuses better on small subjects (like water droplets) with a sort-of magnifying glass attached. I love how the pictures turned out.

These are kale leaves, by the way. I doubled my kale production this year from 3 plants to 7 plants this year – 2 dinosaur kale and 5 Red Russian kale. Ever since June, I’ve been eating kale once a week – cooking it down in a broth. I didn’t know what it was doing to my gut but it didn’t take long to find out. I believe it was the thing that contributed to my 7-pound weight loss in 2 months.

I also have herbs in my garden this year. I had dill in late spring and early summer before it went to seed, making a corner of my garden smell like dill pickle. That’s one of my favorite smells and often found myself visiting that corner of the garden just to inhale the scent since I’m not going to get to make my pickles this year (thanks a lot, earwigs).

After heavily pruned the Holy Basil back in July, it’s starting to grow back again, producing more of that bubblegum pink blooms. Did I mention it smells like bubblegum? Another one of my favorite corner this year.

Finally, lemon balm. I love the smell, too. It doesn’t smell like lemon. It smells like one of those lemon-flavored super sour hard candy. It was a herb I wish I had last year because it was one of the plants that died on me. This year, however, I have such an abundance of it that I don’t know what to do with.

Last but not least, I can’t forget the most obvious edibles in the garden. I’ve sowed a new round of snow peas for the fall garden, hopefully, those will emerge soon, before I get anxious. I’ve had a few of the Japanese cucumbers and they were, so far, the best variety I’ve grown so far as they don’t get bitter.

The strawberries are getting ready for another flush as the temperatures cool. I’m looking forward to it. I’m loving the sweet banana peppers this year and am considering replacing my usual bells with this pepper in the future. I’ve eaten at least 10 of these already and my bell peppers have not even produced one. So disappointing this year.

#SundayStills: Feeling #Lazy yet Triumphant


Last week’s rain has made me a lazy gardener.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare – Garden after More Rain and Enjoying Rom-Com


Greetings! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for meeting me on this Saturday. It’s a comfortable day, let’s head out into the garden.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare – Last Saturday of July 2023


Greetings! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for meeting me on this Saturday. Please come on in. It’s forecasted to be another scorcher today.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare – 90 Minutes of Rain Later…


Greetings! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for meeting me on this Saturday. Please come in for a nice cool beverage, unless you prefer something hot.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare – Preparing Garden for Hot Days to Come


Greetings! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for meeting me on this Saturday. It’s much too warm to be outside, so please come in and enjoy a nice cool beverage, or warm, your choice. I had an iced matcha latte from Starbucks a few days ago, it wasn’t bad.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare – The July 2023 Garden


Greetings! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for meeting me on this Saturday morning. I am inside this Saturday, so if you will join me at my kitchen counter.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare – Hello July!


Greetings! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for meeting me on this Saturday morning. Depending on when you’re reading this post, I may already be inside, away from the burning sun.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare – Potato Harvest, Cooking for Myself, and Summer Party


Greetings! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for meeting me on this Saturday morning. If you don’t mind, I’d like to sit for a moment and marvel at the lush green growth of the garden.

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#WeekendCoffeeShare – Garden Update: Misfortunates, Flowers, and Garden tour


Greetings! Welcome to #WeekendCoffeeShare, thank you for meeting me on this Saturday morning. Come, have a seat on the bench in the garden, it’s supposed to be a wonderful day today.

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