Blue Bottles and Ladybugs

 

Bottles in the window

Summer weather has arrived. We at last had a marvelous fourth with just right temperatures. The kids came over and Miss Madee brought a little friend with her...

 

We had a fine picnic of hotdogs, potato salad, baked beans doctored up with dijon mustard, and a fruity yogurt salad. 

The juncos have finally left their geranium nest so I now have my bistro table back. Here is one of the little guys just before vacating. Doesn't even resemble a junco yet.

Baby Junco

Tomorrow is Friday and that's a good thing. It was nice having the fourth off but it threw me off a bit today with my "inner calendar. It felt like it should've been Sunday. I am certainly glad that my working hours are fairly early so that I get off before it really gets warm although tomorrow might  test that theory. 

I have several sweet pea blossoms so far and am looking forward to having their sweet scent waft through the dining room window and maybe even reach the upstairs bedroom. So far growing them in a large pot with a tomato cage seems to be a success.

Lena came by the other day bringing gifts and treasures and among them was this little "English Toby"jug.

Toby Jugs have been around since the early 18th century.
They were brought back by Doulton in the 19th century, who developed the idea into a range of character jugs.
Today, their popularity shows no signs of declining and they have held their value at auction sales.
Their appeal is wide reaching because Doulton jugs are quite different both in their craftsmanship and their subject matter.

He's a little bit like an english gnome and I am planning to feature him from time to time in a shot or two. Thanks Lena!

The toby amongst the geraniums

This post has been a little disjointed but it is a post none the less… :-)

An update on our wolberts lawn

The "Bearded One" sprinkling the lawn.

What a difference  having our company treating our yard has made! Thanks boss.

Summer is here… sort of

The "Bearded One" Smelling the Sweet Peas

The Life of a "Townie"

It's been a long time since I've posted and Jerri has been wanting an update. Life has been going well albeit a little busy. Living in town has a lot more to offer as far as distractions go, the main one being an unlimited fast internet connection which means that I am now watching every available photoshop tutorial that I can find. Work has been keeping me busy and the grandkids are growing up way too fast. We have two weddings coming up in July and August. Congrats to my oldest grandson Tucker and his fiancé  Nicole, and to my nephew Jon and his "wife to be", Danielle. 

Notice that I'm using a more casual font in this post. I'm not taking myself too seriously at this stage of the game so I thought that it might be an appropriate means of conveying the notion, and besides I like to change things up a bit.

We went to the zoo the other night with the kids. The weather was perfect for me. A little drizzly with a nice little breeze. I hadn't been to the zoo since I'd gone to see the christmas lights a few years back. I had my camera with me of course and had decided to use my 100mm 2.8 lens which is a great sharp lens but there is no zooming with it. My feet are my zoom so my shots were a little limited in the very crowded "members only" night. I was able to get a few shots though, including this elephant. I, of course am playing with some new software so I will give you two versions. the first a regular take the second done with an application called perfect photo.

This is the original with some very large cables removed (thank you photo shop!)

using perfect photo for a quick frame and saturation adjustment 

 

 

Still playing...

The mother of the babies now living in my ivy geranium

I am patiently waiting for the junco family to vacate my geranium pot which is sitting on top of our bistro table. they have chosen well. The umbrella keeps most of the weather out of their nest and their nest keeps me from using the table. It is right off the back porch so we do get to enjoy the whole process up close, still I am longing to sit at the table with my lemonade and enjoy the shade.

Here is an update photo of our backyard. the grass is filling in nicely and the strawberries along the fence are beginning to ripen. We are continuing to battle the weeds in the lawn. They die off when we treat them but are then replaced by "new ones"….

Hmmm… I wonder why

Of course it could be the yard next door providing us with an endless supply of seeds. :-)

Well The "bearded one" has toddled off to bed and I'm fix-in' to follow shortly.

Until next time...

Take time to stop and smell the flowers.