Garden and Nature

I have not been feeling my garden this year.  I planted, and pulled a few weeds, but it wasn't bringing me nearly the joy it did last year, so my plants are being choked out by weeds.  I even paid Emily and Grace to weed the garden that you can see from the road while we were gone, because it just looked so awful, and Grace and I had already cleared it once this summer!  We do have a pumpkin vine, but no pumpkins, or even female flowers, so probably no pumpkins this year. = (

That said, the girls did go out and collect tomatoes from one of the struggling plants, and they were so tasty! Our first heartvest of tomatoes this year.

A beautiful 'grocery store parking lot sunset' picture.

Our dead apple trees finally fell down, so we hired our lawn guy to take them out as well as the storm damaged tree. It was still alive, but he said it was going to damage the fence further if it fell any more.  So, it's gone now too, and our backyard looks so empty!  I think we might need to buy some baby trees and see if we can get some new ones growing!

The carrot plants went to seed last year, and seem to be growing really well!  I didn't cull them at all though, so they are small little things.

One of our landscaped plants, that we inherited with the house, makes these beautiful blooms every year, and every year I forget and find them beautiful!

I didn't include all of my nature pictures here this time, so there are still some mixed into our travel posts.

It's been a warm summer, which has been lovely for me, but I don't think that all of our plants have enjoyed it quite as much as I have!  Heading into a new season soon, which is sad, but I am looking forward to all the new colors!

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Outside in the Garden and the World!

The twins finished school before Memorial Day, but Alice didn't get out until mid-June.  Seriously, it felt like she was in school for.ev.er.  So, even at 645am, the sun was fully up, and we got to see bunnies and deer and birds!

Before the yard sale, Grace helped me clear out the ground garden bed.

My Sweet William bloomed beautifully!

The onions look so tall!

Something ate the top of my bean pod plant again!

On the way to Willam's first week of summer camp, which overlapped with Alice's regular school schedule, we saw a little bumble bee!

One of the trees on our walk has giant flowers that look like used tissues from afar.  William forgot his glasses one morning, so I crafted him a note while he ran back to get them. = )

I saw this cool plant at Grace and Juliet's summer camp!

This cool mushroom was growing in our yard when we returned from camping. = )

Things are so green and beautiful right now, and we got up to 90F again today, so I'm feeling all the happy feelings right now!  Doing my best to soak in the summer before our ninth winter arrives in an attempt to best us.

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Views of Spring

The twins have a week and a day until their school is out for summer!  The mornings have still been chilly and rainy, and with so few days left, I've tried to enjoy every single walk!

The new leaf pierced through the old leaf as it grew!

After reading the cookbook* that offered me new perspective, I look forward to this bush flowering each spring now!  And will probably forever associate it with the twins' fourth grade publishing party!

One of the trees at the twins' school looked so pretty, I had to try to get a picture!  It was so much better in person though.

When we got back from Emily and William's band concert, the tops of the trees looked like they were on fire!

And we spotted a rainbow!  If you look closely, you can see it in the other picture too!

The dew clinging to the grass seeds looked too cool.

Nicole gave me some sweet William last year, and it thrived!  It's so pretty, and green and healthy looking!  She said it might even flower this year! = )

New growth on this evergreen is a bright green color!

The moon was big and bright, long before the sunset.

I usually hear the woodpecker, but rarely see it.  These holes might be the work of a woodpecker?

I think all springs in Michigan are chilly, but knowing how short lived the morning walks will be this spring, has me thankful for each and every morning we do get to walk!

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 *The title is Big Heart, Little Stove by Erin French and while it seems strange that a cookbook could inspire me this much, it has been over a year, and I'm still benefiting from the read, so no regrets!

Spring!

The temperatures are finally improving, and all the plants are waking up, and we are seeing our neighbors again!  

I started cutting milk cartons in February, and while they were stacked up in my mudroom, I felt like there were so many of them, and they might just be junk, but once I used them to plant, I realized that I had nowhere near enough!

The moon setting and sunrise on an early spring day.

New growth!

A very still river.  It was so pleasant after a particularly windy, cloudy day, just 24 hours earlier!

Naked tree branches.  They were swaying the wind, and it made me want to take a picture.

Further into spring, the flowers are blooming!

The birds are out in force, and I've been seeing lots of squirrels and even the occasional bunny!

The shining sun and warmer temperatures have me wanting to go out and do fun things and visit new places (just like everyone else who managed to survive another brutal winter!)

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Spring is in the Air

The time change is making me angrier and angrier with each passing year, being out in the cold and dark, and the snow seemed to stick around forever this year, so this beautiful cotton candy sunrise was a most welcomed reminder that it would not last forever!

Tiny green leaves poking out!

The blood moon was pretty splendorous this year!  The clouds gave it a lovely halo, but it was very clear, and very large, when we spied it before school one day.

There have been a few precious days this year, so far, that I could comfortably walk to drop off and collect the twins.   On the first of these days, the river looked as still as a lake!

Another of these days was sunnier, and the tiny flowers peeking out added color and glee to my walk!

Looking forward to warmer days, more walks, and plenty of natural wonders to enjoy.

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A Very Short Nature Post

It's been getting a little chilly, so I've been walking less, but had a few fun things to share.

The first was a picture that Alice took of the harvest moon.  It was HUGE!  I was not able to get a picture on my way to get her from band, but it was impressive.

I think I may have actually taken this picture at Horrocks, but they flowers were so pretty, I couldn't help myself.

This leaf in our yard was giving me Land Before Time vibes. = )

 See, short and sweet!

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Spring Nature Pictures

So, these are more pictures from outside, that are not my garden. ; )

Grace collected some blossoms from our yard, and her friend's yard, since they were playing together that afternoon.  Her display was really pretty.  She says her favorite was the small pink one or maybe the cluster of white ones..

Dandelion seed spheres were prevalent for our first few warm walks to school in the morning.

Full tree & closeup.

Colorful seed pods!

Grace gave me a pretty blossom that she found loose on the sidewalk (probably from some of the beautiful hanging baskets around town.)

Dew!

Slug!

On another day, Grace gave me a heart shaped leaf!

The bunny was standing still, until I stopped, then it bolted.  So, it looks like a bunny blur!

This story is kind of sad, so if you don't want to be sad, just skip to the next paragraph.  So, there was a bush that we would walk by near the twins' school, and each day a very nervous bird would bolt from the bush.  I told the girls that I bet there's a nest in there.  Sure enough, Emily, during one of her afternoon walks with us, found a nest with eggs!  The next morning, Grace, Juliet, and I looked to see if the eggs were hatching, and they were gone. = (  I feel like maybe our sent on the bush may have alerted a cat or bigger bird to the nest? or maybe it was the nervous nature of the skittish bird that did it, but we were all saddened by the missing eggs.

Watching a slugs' reaction to a stick put in it's path.

One day I was at the Goodwill in Mason, and saw this weird yellow wall. Turns out, it was this field of vibrant yellow something!  This picture doesn't do justice to how bright it was!

Our fallen tree, from last autumn's storm, has some fresh growth!!!

I spotted a family of geese swimming upriver along the shore on one of my walks home from taking Grace and Juliet.

When I was walking with the big kids to the bus stop, we saw this cool flower that looked like it had tiny hedgehog shaped bugs on it.  

Turns out they were just the pod pieces of the flower!

An hour later, when I was walking with Grace and Juliet, the pods were completely off!  It's crazy how fast the transition took place.

I saw some bigger, stronger geese a few weeks later, practicing their food gathering skills.

Grace and Juliet found a bug somewhere and wanted a picture.

We've been enjoying our warm, leisurely walks in the morning.  The afternoon has become far less consistent, depending on weather, whether or not I'm working, and other chores that need to happen after school.

I'm sure I'll post more pictures as we progress from spring into summer!

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