• Gardens,  Life In General

    Wednesday Updates

    Sunflower Update The Lemon Queen sunflower seeds are growing like weeds.  While it is difficult to tell from this photo, they are maybe 4 inches tall and doing well.  I haven’t been able to get a decent ground level image.  Sadly, I don’t have a good progress report on the Chocolate sunflower seeds.  There is what appears to be some activity in the area they were planted, but I can’t be sure yet.  Kaniki Kaniki, Guardian of the Garden, was having a difficult time seeing….and he was feeling a bit claustrophobic.  I could hear his heavy sighs each time I walked out in the backyard so I decided to move him to a new home…

  • Life In General

    Chocolate and Rambling Thoughts

    I got a great surprise in the mail today when I got home from work.  One of my oldest and dearest friends in Colorado (Hello Carole!) sent me some chocolate sunflower seeds to grow.  Yes, you read and saw that correctly ~ chocolate sunflower seeds for planting and growing chocolate sunflowers.  I can’t wait to see these flowers!!  I wonder if they will have a chocolate taste?  Will the birds go from eating the regular sunflower seeds to these and feel like they are getting dessert?  If I succeed in growing these, photos will most definitely follow.  Thanks again Carole ~ I’m so happy you thought of me!  🙂 I read an…

  • Gardens,  Life In General

    It’s That Time Again

    If you have been visiting here for a while, you may remember I participated in The Great Sunflower Project last year.  In case you haven’t, the idea behind this project is by San Francisco State University is to gather data on urban, rural and suburban bee populations.  To participate, plant a certain type of sunflower plant and count the bees that visit during a specific amount of time.  I know…..yawn ~ how exciting.  But actually, it isn’t so bad.  Take a cold beverage and sit outside while you view and count ~ I can think of worse way to spend a day.  🙂 Because of increased participation, they have asked that you purchase your seeds…

  • Outside My Window

    Outside My Window ~ 8.16.09

    Outside My Window…is a nice morning……sun is shining….a slight breeze…..81F with 68% humidity.  Yea, I’m wishing the humidity wasn’t that high.  Wow, I just saw on the weather channel we have had almost 4 inches of rain so far this month…and I have noticed the tropics are picking up ~ three now.  We are heading into the real hurricane season now.  It officially starts on June 1st, but things usually won’t get interesting until mid August and they can get even more interesting as we approach mid September.  It is perfect weather for storms to blossom in the ocean. For people who live near the east or gulf coast, the…

  • Gardens,  Life In General

    Red, White, Blue with a little bit of Yellow & Orange

    Yippy Skippy….my largest tomato finally started turning red today!  I was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to turn and at the same time deciding if there was such a thing as a healthy fried green tomato.  We had another round of thunderstorms this afternoon and as I often do when I get home from work after a round of storms, I check to see if “everyone” survived in the garden.  I was thrilled to see this flash of red on an otherwise green bush! I applied CoffeeShop Vivid Action on this photo……yes, I’m still having way too much fun with these actions.  For my white selection, I have a…

  • Gardens,  Life In General,  Miscellaneous

    Sunflowers ~ CoffeeShop Orton Style

    I was trying out some different CoffeeShop Actions today during my lunch hour and came up with this…….. I took this photo this morning as the sun was cresting over the rooftops.  The sunflowers were heavy with the rain from last night, and there were a few more new blooms.  I created this effect using the CoffeeShop Orton action for PhotoShop Elements.   I like the way it softens the image.  The actions are very easy to use, and I like how Rita has designed it so you have the ability to adjust levels if you so desire.   I’m having too much fun with these…. and so much more to explore.

  • Gardens,  Life In General,  Miscellaneous

    One Wedding and Sunflowers

    Happy Saturday to you all!  If you want to see the best wedding march I have seen, check out this link….sorry, I haven’t quite figured out the embedding so you will have to click and leave me for a few minutes….. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0 So you’re back now…..wasn’t that a hoot!  😀 I also have some more sunflowers to show you……..yes, yes, I know you have seen them before ~ but not these!  😉           If you click on the image, you can see a larger size of it….or you can check out all my sunflowers at The Great Sunflower Project set I have set up on Flickr.  Click on the smaller…

  • Outside My Window

    Outside My Window ~ 7.19.09

    Outside My Window…is me.  I’m sitting outside again this morning.  At 8:30, it is 74 degrees, but it is humid.  There is a slight breeze so that makes it better.  Mostly sunny, with some random clouds floating overhead and blocking the sun momentarily.   I have had my run…I can do 2.25 miles in about a half an hour now so I have decided I can run 3 miles on the weekends ~ after today.  The weekly morning runs, well their length depends on what time I roll out of bed. 🙂 I am thinking…about entering my first bee data on The Great Sunflower Project web site later today.  Yup, I…

  • Gardens,  Life In General,  Miscellaneous

    Sunshine and Sunflowers

    When I came home Tuesday afternoon, I discovered my neighbor had removed a tree that had blocked the sun from my garden area for a decent portion of the day.  She had talked about taking it down but said she wasn’t going to do so until next year.  Now my sunflowers are getting pretty much all day sun, and they are loving it……. As with all my photos now, if you click on the photo, it will take you to another page to see a much larger image.  In this particular photo, if you look real close over the middle bloom, you can see the moon…..teeny tiny, but still there. …