Delicate Purple

taken:
day fifty six
08.14.12

I believe this is Russian Sage? I love the delicate purple flowers, and the bees were going crazy over it too. My boys and I found it growing at the Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park near the Visitors Center on a summer morning adventure there.

Mid Season Harvest

taken:
day fifty five
08.13.12

I was an unlucky veggie gardener this summer. Between the rabbits and deer {and probably a few other critters too}, I was left with a very small crop. Here's a few tomatoes I was able to harvest mid season. I'm vowing to do better next year...and it's all beginning with a fence!

Golden Center

taken:
day fifty four
08.12.12

This is the soft and sunken, golden center of a 'Pretty Pink Mandevilla' blossom. A tropical plant that is in a pot on our front porch, it's loaded with bright blooms. I'll overwinter it inside the house along with my Hibiscus that I wrote about the other day. 

Delicate And White

taken:
day fifty three
08.11.12

Just another delicate Comso, this one, white.

Whisper Of An Image

taken:
day fifty two
08.10.12

On another nature walk with my boys the wind was blowing gently. 

This is an abstract shot of some native grasses flowing in the hot summer breeze. 

I love photos that are almost ambiguous. 

Where colors blend and only tiny bits are in focus. 

The kind of photo that leaves you using your imagination, 

leaves you with a whisper of an image and 

leaves your eyes dancing from lights to shadows. 

Here's a less ambiguous shot from that day. Both are interesting. 

Can you feel the movement of the breeze? 

Which photo style captures your interest more?

Tiny Bug

taken:
day fifty one
08.09.12

Just a tiny bug on a Marigold blossom.

Strawberry Vanilla Twist

taken:
day fifty
08.08.12

The swirl of a Morning Glory bud just before it's ready to burst open. 

Reminds me of a delicious little strawberry and vanilla twist ice cream cone.

Tropics In My Own Back Yard

taken:
day forty nine
08.07.12

I scored big time when I noticed that these gorgeous Tropic Escape Hibiscus were 50% off earlier this the summer at our neighborhood Lowe's. I brought home 3 Hibiscus and 1 Mandevilla. How fun to have a bit of the tropics right in my own back yard {especially at those prices!}. 

I put the 3 Hibiscus on the back deck and the Mandevilla on the front porch. They all make me smile every day! Their big beautiful blooms gleam with bright color and I swear radiate a warm tropical feeling too. 

I plan to overwinter them in the house, hope they survive and bring them outside again next spring so they can flourish in the sun. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll brighten up the house with some of their brilliant blossoms this winter too???

Spring Up

taken:
day forty eight
08.06.12

Wild Cucumber Vines were busy making curly-q's midsummer. They seemed to {spring} up everywhere. 

I admit, a nerdy little play on words, but I couldn't resist...hee hee. :)

Precisely

taken:
day forty seven
08.05.12

A simple and sweet Zinnia blossom with precisely layered petals.

From Behind The Sunflower

taken:
day forty six
08.04.12

It was about 7:50 in the evening. I was in my garden taking some photos for the day when, literally, just as I snapped this photo I felt something dash by. When I looked up from my camera this is what I saw. 

A beautiful buck standing right in the middle of the yard. Good thing I had my camera with me so I could snap some quick photos of him before he trotted off into the grove. It was exciting to see him, he was healthy and perfect. His antlers, still fuzzy and soft.

I don't think he saw me but I'm pretty sure he had a feeling I was there since he didn't stick around for long. 

He looked well fed. I wondered, could he possibly be the culprit in devouring my veggie garden this summer and leaving us with nothing? 

Nothing, I say. Ok, maybe a few tomatoes were still around, but the rest...

Our green beans, gone.

Our lettuce, gone.

Our corn, gone.

Our mammoth sunflowers, gone.

Everything munched to bits. I'm sure rabbits had a part in it too, but I know rabbits aren't tall enough to reach corn stalks and mammoth sunflowers. Seeing deer in the yard is a thrill but when I know they ruin what I work so hard to create, grrrrr, it makes me a bit irritated. Aside from that though, I relish in this rare summer evening sighting!

Emerging

taken:
day forty five
08.03.12

Just a tiny leaf emerging from a wild vine in the wooded area behind our house.

Sunlit

taken:
day forty four
08.02.12

Beaming from behind, this Monarch fluttered from one bloom to the next in the hot evening sun. 

I love how the shadow of it's antennas subtly shines through the sunlit flower petals.

Striking From Every Angle

taken:
day forty three
08.01.12

It seems Cosmos are always ready to shine and pose for photos, they're striking from every angle. I love to plant these from seed every spring and watch them thrive through early fall. This is the 'Picotee' variety. The petals are so beautiful, variegated from rich pinks to pure white with some of these blooms towering on stems as tall as me.