Bees and Lavender

One of the benefits of digital photography is how it frees me to take as many pictures as I want to, without concern for spending money to get prints of many mediocre photos in the quest for the really good one.

A couple years ago, I was taking picture of the wild sunflowers that I had grown from seeds my sister had sent me from Nebraska, where they grow along the roads and highways. There were bees flying around — large, round, black ones that are pretty mild-tempered. I was working from a low angle, trying to use the bright blue sky as a backdrop.

It wasn't until I was reviewing the photos on my computer that I saw this.

I loved the fortuitous capture of the bee staring straight at the camera.

Yesterday, I took a number of photos of the bees in the lavender. None of them are quite as fun an quirky as the sunflower photo, but with the Close-up setting on the camera, I got a decent picture of a bee and some interesting effects with the focus.

This one is a little different in that the flowers in the foreground are out of focus. Usually, it's the background that's fuzzy.

I like the way the flower in the foreground here is backlit. It gives the flower a bit of a posterized effect.

Mystery Flower

Yesterday evening, Tim and I were taking a post-prandial stroll through the neighborhood.

As we were heading back home, we passed a tree a couple of blocks from our house. The flowers on it caught my attention. I had never seen anything like them before.

Tim snapped a few pictures with his phone.

Can anyone tell me what kind of tree this is?

Iris

Some of the prettiest flowers in the yard are on the south side of the house, where they are easy to overlook.

There is a planter box next to the deck outside our bedroom with these iris.

Floral Bouquet

Last night, while my husband and I were talking an evening walk through the neighborhood, we passed by several lilac trees with their lovely, delicate scent.

Thus, this morning, I was prompted to go into our backyard to take a look at our lilac tree, which in turn sent me back inside for my camera.

One thing led to another, and I ended up snapping many more picture of what is currently in bloom.

Some late tulips.

Bluebells in profusion.

 

Pansies, which are almost weedlike, in that they are popping up in the cracks in the driveway as well.

The little blue flowers I think may be lithodora, but I'm not 100% sure.

Even the rosemary is in bloom,

as well as the raspberries.

A Very Nice Day

There have been a few unusually warm days so far this year — once or twice even into the 70s — but today has verged on summery.

Tim and I ventured out to Green Lake Park this afternoon. If it had been a weekend day, the path around the lake would have been packed with people. But on a "school day," it wasn't nearly so congested.

The turtles had already come out of hibernation on previous warm days, but they were out in force today.

  

I had an eye out for the early brood of ducklings I had seen a week or so ago. I did not see them, but there were two broods of Canada geese paddling around, closely monitored by two sets of parents.

And I want to know why only dandelions grow in our lawn, but not cute little daisies.

Weekend Miscellany

A little about a lot of different things.

SOCKS

Today, I finished the "first" sock of the pair I was knitting for Tim. Now there are two.

I finished the knitting part last night. That just left stitching up the toes and weaving in the ends.

He reports that they are very warm. Well, they should be. Have you ever seen a cold alpaca? (I stole that. He said it first.)

I'd like to start another pair, because I really like knitting socks. But I should get back to my sweater instead.

GARDENING

Today, we planted the seeds for what we hope will be our summer garden. Two kinds of lettuce (red and green), zucchini, pumpkin, and leftover California poppy seeds.

I could have posted a photo, but there's nothing to see yet. Just potting soil in little planter cups.

I also have a bunch of sunflower seeds that I harvested last year, that I will just plant in the ground. And the raspberry canes are leafing out nicely. I hope their output is better than it was last year.

GREEN LAKE

After a week of mostly rain, it cleared up this afternoon. That prompted me to suggest that we head down to Green Lake for a walk.

The turtles have been out of hibernation for a few weeks now. I thought there would be more of them out sunning themselves, but only a few made an appearance.

However, on the other side of the lake, we did see something a little out of the ordinary.

 QUILTING

I managed to get out to the studio for an hour or two. The project I am currently planning involves using leftover strips of fabric that I have collected over the past several months. I am sewing them into longer strips and trimming them to various widths.

I have drafted a larger version of this block, as well as a diagonal version, and will sew the strips together to make a quilt of a size yet to be determined. It will be unplanned, spontaneous and random. Very different from what I usually do.

FLOWERS

This has been a good spring for flowers. It seems like there have been more crocuses and daffodils in our front yard than in years past.

The dark purple crocuses showed up first, followed by lighter purple and white crocuses.

Then came the daffodils.

  

Soon, there will be tulips.

Last weekend, we enjoyed the warmest day so far this year. It was a beautiful spring day — the warmest day so far this year with a high of about 65 degrees. We were out and about around Capitol Hill and took a stroll through Volunteer Park. Many flowers there to see.

Lastly, inspired by our visit to Vashon Island a couple weeks ago and the Seattle Distillery where we purchased a bottle of their coffee liqueur (scroll down), I found a recipe for homemade coffee liqueur which I will try out, with some adjustments.

Today, I prepared the cold brew coffee and purchased two vanilla beans and a bottle of vodka. Stay tuned . . .

Early Signs of Spring

Yesterday was a rather pleasant day, weatherwise, for the last day of February.

The high was in the mid 50s, but it was bright and sunny. In the afternoon, the breeze picked up as a colder front started moving in from the north. But if you were able to get out of the wind, it was pretty darn warm in the sun.

Warm enough that Tim and I were able to have a late lunch on the outside balcony at a Bolivian restaurant called the Copacabana that we like to go to sometimes near the Market.

It's nice being up above all the activity, and the planter boxes along the balcony always have flowers in them. Right now, the daffodils are in full bloom.

Blooming Lettuce

After our week away from home, we went out back to check on the garden.

Before we left, I had noticed that the lettuce was starting to put out skinny little flower stalks. I remember being told once to keep these trimmed off to prevent the lettuce from going to seed, but since it was getting late in the year and it was looking unlikely that there would be any lettuce worth harvesting, I let them go.

Yesterday, I saw that there were some little yellow flowers. It was late in the day, though, and they seemed kind of closed up. So I waited until this afternoon to check on them again.

One in particular seemed more open.

Flutterbyes and Flowers and Fruit, Oh My!

 This morning when I was out watering the garden, a butterfly was flew by and landed to sun itself in the laurel hedge.

It seemed content to hang out there, so I took went inside for my camera. When I returned, it had obligingly stayed put. It took a few minutes before it opened up its wings. Not the most spectacular colors, but a nice pattern on the wings. If you look close on the right wing, you can see a ragged edge.

As long as I already had my camera, I thought I'd take some pictures of what's blooming in the yard.

The raspberries are coming along nicely. I've picked a couple, and they were quite tasty. In a week or so, there will be good picking.

Elsewhere in the backyard, there are two varieties of lavender.
This kind . . . 

And this kind . . .

Over by the fence, some poppies and pansies appeared on their own. I don't know where the pansies came from, but the some poppy seeds may have made their way over there from some I had in a pot last year.

I had never notice before, that the bloom pushes the green bud casing off the end.

Also, peonies . . .

And roses . . .

There is also this flowering shrub, but I don't know what it is.