Happy Sunday! Amy from the blog – The World is a Book… – is the lovely hostess for this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge and this week’s theme is all about Framing.
Continue reading “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #262: Framing Your Photos”
Tag: Photos
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.
CMMC: August Color: Old Brick
CFFC: Contrast #WordlessWednesday
#SundayStills: Feeling #Lazy yet Triumphant
Last week’s rain has made me a lazy gardener.
Continue reading “#SundayStills: Feeling #Lazy yet Triumphant”
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #261: Work in Progress
Happy Sunday! Hosting this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Ann-Christine has presented an intriguing theme of Work in Progress. I hope you like my offering.
Continue reading “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #261: Work in Progress”
#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.
Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare – Garden after More Rain and Enjoying Rom-Com”
CMMC: August Close Up
I’m opening this week’s post with a close up of a sunflower in my front yard. I absolutely love them and all the pollinators they attract. I took the first photo before the rain came in and the second after. It’s been raining on and off for the last 2 days and when it’s raining, the pollinators are usually nowhere to be seen but it also gives me an opportunity to get closers without having to worried about getting stung by Mr. Bee.
My favorite photo this week has to be this photo – Mr. Grasshopper doing yoga under my shade cloth. Since last year, I have been noticing quite a few of these guys in my garden. I haven’t determine whether they are good or evil, yet as I haven’t seen much damage done by them. I guess I’ll let it be for now.
CFFC: Cars #WordlessWednesday
Hello August 2023!
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #260: Overlooked
Happy Sunday! Concluding the month of guest hosts, Janet from the blog – This, That, and the Other Thing – is hosting this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge with the theme of Overlooked.
Continue reading “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #260: Overlooked”
#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.
Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare – Last Saturday of July 2023”Nature Photo Challenge #22 – Tree Bark
I guess I do have a few “tree bark” pictures to share though I doubt whether the first picture even can consider “bark”.
Continue reading “Nature Photo Challenge #22 – Tree Bark”
CMMC: July Alphabet: Any Word with 2 M’s
Description: Garden Mums, Mushrooms, and Dinosaur bones at the Dinosaur National Monument
CFFC: Street Lamps or Outdoor Lighting #WordlessWednesday
#SundayStills: Two of a Kind #Double
This week, it’s time to look closer because you will be seeing double on this week’s #SundayStills.
Continue reading “#SundayStills: Two of a Kind #Double”
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #259: Unbound
Happy Sunday! This week, continuing with the month of guest hosts, Dan from the blog, Departing in 5 Mins is challenging us with the topic of Unbound.
Continue reading “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #259: Unbound”
#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.
Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare – 90 Minutes of Rain Later…”
Nature Photo Challenge #21 – Waterplants
I decided to join in this week’s Nature Photo Challenge, hosted by Denzil of Denzil’s Nature.
Continue reading “Nature Photo Challenge #21 – Waterplants”
WQ#29: Tiny Miracles
When I think of the word “Tiny“, I think of all the small things that makes my day more bearable.
Mom has been delivering insults lately, not that she wasn’t before but I’m finding the ones she had delivered in the last week just downright…angering (if that’s a word). Usually, I can take it like my usual backache or joint-pain but this week, it felt extra painful.
She told me I’m a failed investment, that she’s better off buying stocks than invest in me. There was no precedent. I was working, reconciling payments and answering emails when she just came into my room and said that to me.
She basically told me that because I haven’t paid her back the money she lent me to pay off my car and student loans. Guess what, those were forced loans. I never asked for help to pay off any of that stuff. She made me take the money and now expects me to pay back the x-dollar amount, which I don’t even recall.
She said it’s the reason she wanted to adopt a child – she wanted to start over and train him/her to be a better version of me. Why not raise a robot, not a human? A thought came to my mind. One of my professors used to say, “How great is it to put a robot to work? They don’t complain. They don’t ask for raises. They don’t ask for day-offs. They just do what you tell them to do.”
I can never be the person she wants me to be because I’m human, not a robot. It’ll be a miracle if there’s a day when I don’t get criticism or insult from her but for now, I’ll settle for a few hours every Thursday when she’s at the office and I’m at home.
I agree, life is a series of tiny miracles and I love every one of them because, well, they bring joy.
It’s why I love gardening, I think. When I head out into the garden every morning, I notice the tiny little things that I didn’t notice the night before, like how the tiny watermelons are just a tad bigger, how the female cucumber flowers have opened at last to allow either me or the bees to pollinate, and seeing the tiny leaves poke out of the soil from newly germinated seeds.
Seeing these things energize me – like a shot of caffeine without the jitters. These teeny tiny overnight changes excite my optimistic self, it allows my imagination go wild imagining the harvest and the beauty of the plant.
CMMC: July Pick a Topic
CFFC: Parks and Playgrounds #WordlessWednesday
#SundayStills: #Small, Beautiful, and Powerful
This week, it’s time to get #small with #SundayStills.
Continue reading “#SundayStills: #Small, Beautiful, and Powerful”
