There are spots of our little yard that are totally overgrown.  I have a forsythia and a blackberry bush ready to take over one side of my house and a grapevine that blows my mind whenever I pull in my driveway.  How can one vine coming up out of the ground take up 15-20 feet of fence?   I love looking at it!  There are also spots that are loaded with weeds that I just can’t get to right now and I’ve found peace with it for now.  That said, I’m pretty proud of what we do have growing and that things are in relatively decent shape.  I’ll never know how Chris and I fit so much into one little yard.

I had the opportunity to borrow a lens (Nikon 50mm f/1.8 prime) and play with it a bit.  It isn’t a macro lens, but I couldn’t resist running around my yard to capture botanical details and the beautiful bokeh (blurred background) that happens with an aperture of 1.8.  All photos in this post were taken with this lens.

dill

a happy bee on a garlic chive flower

basil nestled in with a potted tomato plant (supposedly basil improves the flavor of tomatoes when grown together)

Speaking of tomatoes, I discovered one that is turning red! This happens to be an indeterminate variety called “Mountain Magic.”

Amish Paste tomato

carrot tops (I have carrots in every color of the rainbow growing)

pink lily

sunflower

crocosmia “lucifer”

purple balloon flower

marigold grown from seed (seeds were started in April indoors)

We were supposed to go camping this past weekend, but instead we stayed the whole time at Grammy and Papa’s in New Hampshire.  Grammy just had her first chemotherapy treatment this past week and wild horses couldn’t have kept us away.  She is one heck of a trooper.  Anderson had such a good time with his grandparents.

ocean or lake, this child is in love with water

we marvel at the obsession with rocks (future geologist?)

garden baby with Papa

Grammy wrapped us up to keep us warm.

Someone was super chill on Grammy’s lap after swimming…for about two minutes before he was up running laps again.

As much as I’d like to hurry my tomatoes, peppers, carrots, etc. along, I don’t want to rush things.  Summer goes so quickly and soon the smell of fresh cut grass will be replaced by decaying leaves (another smell and season that I love).  Savor ever moment while you can.

A very special thank you to Photo.net Nikon guru, Shun Cheung, for kindly loaning me this lens from his own collection.