Weekly Header Challenge -- Gardens

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

I'm joining the group above for this weekly challenge.

Visit the other participants' blogs to see their entries!

Theme ~ Gardens

Chosen by me.

When I chose the theme for this particular week of June, I thought for sure I'd have beautiful images of my flower gardens to share with you.  Then I got a job.

So, here I am this week, sharing images from gardens--whatever ones I've taken pictures of.  Oh, and with a few thrown in from previous years, so I can show off my flowers.  :)

Here is the image I'm using for my header.  I wandered through my raised bed gardens the morning after a nice long rain, and I caught the raindrops in the rays of the morning sun.

Here's another leaf, backlit by the sun.

Where there are spring strawberry leaves, there are bound to be strawberry blossoms!

Those blossoms turn into baby strawberries...

...which turn into red, juicy strawberries!

The sage in my garden bloomed before I could harvest anything, so I took some pictures, then eventually pruned it back.

Below, this Greek columnar basil is a new variety for my garden this year.  It's supposed to be similar to the standard basil we all love turning into pesto!

Earlier this spring, the daffodils bloomed in my front yard flower gardens.

Here's a somewhat embarrassing photo of one of my front yard flower gardens the guys help me build.  It's overgrown with oregano and daisies.

Part-way through Danny and I working on cutting things back, weeding, and generally cleaning up, I snapped a photo of this variegated beard tongue.  It usually proliferates in my garden, but it has died off and only three or four plants remain.

In my front porch garden, Siberian bugloss (brunnera) blooms with tiny bright blue/periwinkle flowers.  I love their color!

In what I term a major accomplishment, two of my gardens are blooming.  This is a June photo from last year, since the yellow flowers (threadleaf coreopsis) aren't in bloom yet.

There you have it--my gardens, such as they are, this week!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Signs of Spring

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

I'm joining the group above for this weekly challenge.

Visit the other participants' blogs to see their entries!

Theme ~ Signs of Spring

Chosen by Lew.

Hot off the press!  I took these SIGNS OF SPRING this afternoon.  I thought there might be some spring-y-ness at the Morton Arboretum, and a young lady friend of mine was up for a walk, so we spent an hour and a half freezing our fingers off together (47 degrees F on the thermometer, but a stiff wind made it feel frigid!), walking and snapping, snapping and walking, oohing and aahing over every little (or huge) sign that spring is on its way.

Brought to you, fresh and lovely and all things spring, first off is the image I used for my header.

Enjoy the rest of these, my featured images from a cold day's walk and a promise of warmth and color and spring!

Ground-growing scilla.

Downy woodpecker.

Red maple buds.

 

Two little pink magnolia trees were in bloom!  I had to shoot up into the sun, so I got creative with the images.

One small field of daffodils was making every effort to burst forth in yellow!

Crocuses peeking up through the leaves.

Red Japanese anemone popping up among some blue scilla.

White forsythia.

Fuzzy buds on the magnolia tree.

Finally, I leave you with these fitting images, of lenten roses, appropriate for this season before Easter Sunday.

It may not feel like it outside, but spring is here!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Spring is Coming

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Spring Is Coming

I needed some color in my life!!  I was happy, to say the least, with this week's theme.  We've had our third worst winter in recorded history here in Chicagoland, and many of us are longing for something other than white, and now, brown.  I was perfectly happy to choose the brightest, most colorful sign of spring that I could find.  Here is my full image, below.

Spring crocuses.

Birds returning to our area are also a welcome sign of spring.

Robin -- the iconic sign of spring.

Swans at a local bird rookery.

Geese at a pond at the end of my street.

For the past several years, the first birds we see as a sign of spring are Mr. and Mrs. Mallard.  They apparently live in our back yard, and our pool is their pond.  I hope they return this year, since our pool was a casualty of the many days of subzero weather.

Other animals emerge in spring, too.

Back to my header--flowers!  Anything green and growing is most welcome by this time of year!

Emerging day lilies.

Buds on a flowering tree.

Daffodils!

Crocus.

Scilla, a spring bulb with little blue/purple flowers.

Strawberry plants.

After the strawberry plants emerge, here is the yummy late spring blessing!

Planted in the autumn, garlic sprouts up in early spring.

Other signs of spring are rain.  The below, from last year, was too much of it.  This street, one of three main north/south arteries through our town, was closed for two or three days.

We found these duck eggs at a local park last spring!

The first day of grilling is an awesome spring day!  The below was our Resurrection Sunday meal; grilling has become a (very short so far) tradition.  If we continue the tradition this year, it's on April 20, so I really hope it won't be our first grilling day of the spring.  :)

Thanks, Lew, for choosing a theme that helps us all remember what we're looking forward to!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Purple

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Feel free to click on the other participants' blogs

to see what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Purple

I didn't think I'd use this picture for my header--it's not all about purple!  But since I just took it, and since purple is a dominant feature in the rainbow (the I-ndigo and V-iolet of the ROYGBIV colors), I figured I'd feature it.  It's a reminder of God's promise to never flood the earth again.  It was especially significant this past Sunday, since these were the very storms that brought tornadoes and devastation to our nearby Illinois towns.  It was a triple rainbow for not-quite-enough-time for me to get a picture, but a double rainbow is pretty special, and I've never captured any rainbow from end to end.

Now, lest I persist with piles of paragraphs and punctuation, I present to you, dear people, my purple pictures!

Chives in bloom.

Honeybee on purple variegated beard tongue.

Jacob graduating from JJC.

Purple clematis.

Wildflower at a local park, hiding deep in the grass.

Crocus at a friend's home.

Scilla in my spring garden (it's more blue than purple).

Convocation at Western Illinois University.

Purple onion growing in my garden.

Purple fireworks (looks kinda blue, huh?).

Grape preserves canned last September--yum!

Thanks for perusing my plentiful pictures!  Perchance you'll pass this way again soon!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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