Weekly Header Challenge -- Water

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 ~ Water

Chosen by Mac.

I took all of these photos in the last few months.  Here's the one I chose to use for my header.

Water droplets on sage leaves.

Here are the rest of my water photos...

I threw this one in for fun--because there's no more water in our pool--and no more pool.

At a stoplight on the way home from work--torrential downpours!

I hope to be more timely in the future; it's hard to post when I'm away from my computer for the bulk of the week.  Thanks for visiting!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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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 -- My Favorite Place to Visit

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

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 ~ My Favorite Place to Visit

Chosen by Mac.

What a great theme!  I thought about my trip to Paris, but no--that was just one time, and even though it could have been my favorite place to visit, I don't know that I would want to go back again and again.  So I thought--where do I go, again and again, with anticipation and eagerness?  Besides Lake Bonaparte, I think hands down it's my vegetable gardens.  So those are featured today--and a good thing, too, as the snow melts and I hope for spring!

Here's a picture of my back yard raised garden beds, taken from the deck of our pool.  This is my header image, uncropped.

One reason it's my favorite place to go is that I never know what I'm going to find.  Take this giant heirloom tomato:

One pound, taking up both of Jacob's hands!

In the spring, I keep going out to check on the strawberries--are they red yet?  Can I pick them?  The first batch usually ends up in my mouth, and I make strawberry shortcakes with the second batch.

The Giant Marconi sweet peppers are prolific, as are the spicy jalapeños:

I love to watch the garlic scapes ripen and burst with little garlic seeds, to plant for next year's harvest:

There's always a bright, yellow squash blossom to be on the watch for:

And, in my front yard flower garden, I check on the herbs; here is the oregano growing like a weed!

The French sorrel is a delight, as a new addition last year:

Below, the English thyme was also a new addition; I love running my hand through its stems and sniffing the aroma!

The sage plant, below, was a garden staple until it mysteriously died last summer.  I did get one harvest out of it, and I sauteed the leaves to top my ravioli.  It was heavenly!  I think I'll plant some sage again this year.

My veggie gardens are a treasure, and of all my favorite places, it's the one place I "travel" to most frequently.  I can't wait to sit down and plan this year's garden now!!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Herbs, Weeds, Chives and Leaves

Sometimes a spring garden is a little messy.  Plants are starting to pop up, but the weeds also make their appearance.  I've brought Ellie out to the garden on many an occasion, simply to document the progress in each year's garden, but also to capture the beauty that only a macro lens can see.  Here is one of those occasions in my mid-May garden.

Budding chives.

Rhubarb!!

Garlic growing strong.

Don't worry--we've taken care of the weeds.  And the garden looks a lot different, now that it's July.  :)


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Signs of Spring

The calendar may say that technically, legally, it's here.  And although the weather refuses to cooperate, the signs are beginning to, literally, pop up.  Right out of the ground.

At my friend's home the other day, I spotted crocuses!

Back at my own home, and with my repaired macro lens (very, very happy girl here!!!), I wandered my yard to see what I could see.  I accidentally wore my slippers, too.

 Daffodils.

The sage is still dormant, but it made for pretty pictures.

The coral bells are still curly and brown, but there are a few hints of colorful leaves.

Coral bells heuchera "Marmalade"

I wondered if I would find anything in my veggie garden.  Sure enough, steady as she goes, garlic was sprouting up everywhere, right where we planted it last autumn.

I had to really look for the rhubarb plants; I hope this continues to grow!

Finally, after removing the protective straw, I found--strawberry leaves!

Just seeing the pretty green leaves makes my mouth water.  :)


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Project 2012 -- Week 44

Project 2012 -- Week 44

October 28 - November 3

Welcome to my Project 2012 weekly post!  This is my time to look back over the past week, 
choose seven favorite images I've taken, and share them here with you.  
If you have a project you're working on, please leave a comment 
so I can visit your blog and see what you're up to!

Ellie took a nice, long rest this week.  I've been pretty busy with homeschooling, creating photo books, streamlining my business, planning for next year's state homeschool convention (the special needs portion), and general day-to-day stuff.  So, that's my personal life, and now here are my images.  :)

These are pretty random, just images I took when I felt like picking Ellie up and capturing something.  I wasn't too inspired by anything in particular, but I did enjoy shooting anyway.

[302] Bananas

[303] Dried oregano

I purchased these letters, and plan on staining them for an upcoming photo shoot with four-month-old twin girls.  I'm very excited about that!

[304] M and J

I've been pondering the upcoming election, and the first verse below kept coming to mind.  It's good to know the Lord is in control.

[305] Wise words

I still have tomatoes from my garden!  These tomatoes below are completing their ripening in a bowl in front of my living room window.

[306] Autumn tomatoes

Here are a couple of books I want to read through someday, when I have time.  (Yeah, right, but I'm still hoping!)

[307] Good reading

This past weekend, I decided to turn my bread dough into garlic rolls.  I rolled it out on the counter, then spread butter and fresh minced garlic over it.  I cut it up into 24 squares (this is two loaves' worth of dough), and formed haphazard balls.  They turned out excellent, and my house smelled wonderful all afternoon!

[308] Garlic rolls

Next week will be more inspiring, especially with a Littles Session!  These twin girls are guaranteed to be adorable and I can't wait to work with them.  I hope you've had a great week!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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