Playing in the Garden

This morning was absolutely beautiful.  The sun was rising slowly and it wasn't too hot.  There was still dew drops on some of the flowers.  Every flower looks so different through my macro lens!  All of these flowers are around our house in the front, back and side yards.  I LOVE them!

Look at not only the spots, but the little hairs INSIDE these flowers!

Dew on a bud

I LOVE my echinacea/cone flowers in the front.  They bloom for several weeks. 

But it wasn't until I took these pics and was able to crop down in size for a close zoom that I saw the pollen on all the little, um, thingies.

See the pollen now?  They almost look like something from deep in the sea or space missiles.  Such a cool view.

And even closer still.

Another little bud.

Here is my sweet Henry boy.  Meowing away at the crack in the gate for me to let him come out of the backyard.  Not a chance, my boy!

My sweet, sweet boy.

New blueberries!  Now we can pick a handful every day as they ripen.  The kids absolutely LOVE eating our fresh blueberries!

Dew on a leaf.

Weeds with cobwebs or spider strings.

Weed bud.

Love the sunlight shining through the leaf.

Here we can see the ladybug a little better. :) Such dainty little legs she has.

I'm still perplexed by the gooey-ness at the center of these little yellow flowers that were not even as big as a grape.  Please don't ask me what they are.  I'm a poor gardener with no memory and no tags in the soil to display a name.  I just know they're pretty.

Dog Walk

I tried to walk with Papa Wenzel every morning when he took Jude out for a walk.  I grabbed my camera several times and this is what I saw.

Love the clay tile roofs in Arizona!

Cool lamp posts throughout the whole neighborhood.

So many palm trees.

The texture of the trunks is the best!

It's alive!  Look at all the arms on this cactus.

So many golden flowers.  All over.

Cute little metal flowers.

Purple!!!

This cactus was almost as tall as me!

Flowers from the Farm

They had so many beautiful flowers growing all over their property.  I had a hard time putting the camera down.

Look at those three points at the end of each petal!

One of the largest prickly pears I saw the whole week!

This Was My Weekend!

I worked in the yard. Got the grass cut. Trimmed the top of the willow tree with Todd holding the ladder after giving it a major hair cut last week as high up as I could reach or climb. These pink flowers are some the kids picked out & I planted last weekend.


This is our bush outside the kitchen patio that has grown big enough to take over Texas. I'll trim it back after it loses all the blooms. They're so pretty, I couldn't stand the thought of cutting them all off right now.
My girl child contemplating the pros/cons of running through the sprinkler with big bumble bees in the backyard. In the end, the fear of the bees kept her rooted on my lap or by my side. I told her they didn't sting and they didn't have teeth to bite, they just lick (they're just big ole pollinators) which made her laugh. Maybe next weekend.

A glimpse of my new haircut through the sun speckles. I got close to 6 inches chopped off in the front. Chloe is still pensive about the bees.


Still looking out for the bees, but at least I caught her beautiful smile :)


And the temps got above 90. I LOVED it!

And a little time on the torch. Not as much as I'd like, but my time will come in another month and Todd will owe me big. Right now, he is playing tennis like a fiend. Seems like every team he's on is either in the playoffs or going to the State Championships. So he's playing tennis ALL THE TIME, which is great for him. And I'm enjoying more of the one-on-one time with the kids. They have helped me pick out a TON of flowers these last two weekends and helped get some of the plants in the ground.

Hoping to get some new beads listed in Etsy this week. We'll see. Depends on how hectic work is & what kind of free time I find in the evenings or if I take lunch hours.