A Photo a Day

A photo a day, the main reason that I started this blog. I've been slipping up on posting very often, but I'm still taking at least a photo a day. Shall we catch up?

Some flowers at the farm. My mom calls them "naked ladies". They might be, but I don't know for sure. I do know that they come from bulbs and just when you think that they haven't survived from the year before they will shoot up all of a sudden and bloom. Some of the bulbs were from a bed that my grandpa had planted, some were from a friend of my mom. I'm not sure which these are, but I like them.

Cosmos...pretty and pink and dancing in the wind. My go to flower to photograph lately when I've realized that I haven't taken a photo on any given day. See the spider?

Billy played softball with his dad a few weeks ago....so I brought the camera to their game. I got a couple of cute pictures of Billy, but liked this one of Eric the best. I think they were both pretty happy to be able to play together.

My petunias are getting pretty leggy....but the bursts of red on the patio are still pretty.

I took a quick trip to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum one day. The long hot summer has been tough on things there too...but some of the roses sure were pretty. This one was my favorite.

When we moved into this house 6 years ago we inherited the base of a birdbath...with out the bowl part. So this spring, when I was getting ready for Brian's graduation party and looking for things for the yard that were red I came across this red glass ball....and decided to re purpose the birdbath stand. Something in the yard that doesn't wilt and I don't have to weed or water it...yeehaw.

One of my leggy petunias against the colorless evening sky. Heat and a forgetful water er haven't been kind to the petunias.

Billy's football season is going full bore. They started with a scrimmage before school started, rotating play between 4 other schools. His team is so big they rotated teams within their offense and defense too. Everyone saw some action, so that was good. Billy is # 89.

We spent an afternoon helping a friend cut and remove some sod from her yard to make room for some perennial beds. It was a cool, drizzly day....but it made it easier to work. I liked the color of some petunias she had growing in a pot.

We had moved our bird feeders away from the house last spring....this little sunflower sprouted from the rocks underneath the feeders. Better than thistles I guess.

This was taken at the end of August when the cone flowers were fading...but still pretty.

Eric and I took a quick trip north to Bayfield, Wi. to see a concert at the Big Top Chautauqua at the end of August. We stopped to stretch our legs and look at the boats that were docked in Washburn. It's so peaceful there.

We scored 2nd row center seats to see Greg Brown perform a concert at the Big Top. Lots of new songs with a getting older theme. Yep, can relate to that!

We golfed in Hayward Wisconsin on our way home the next day. It was unseasonably hot and humid....but we had lots of fun anyway.

We hurried home from golfing so we could watch Billy's first varsity football game. He even got in for a few plays! I volunteered to take pictures for the games from the field, this one doesn't have Billy in it, but I like the sunshine and the action.

The next morning the Junior Varsity played. The kids that don't see much playing time on varsity get their chance in the JV games. I requested to change my volunteer assignment from Varsity to JV....and the gal in charge was fine with that. There are a lot of people that have volunteered so I'm not leaving them short or anything....and I'd rather take pictures at JV...less pressure!

On the Friday night of Labor Day weekend Brian took the train home from college for the first time. He greeted us with a smile and a big box of laundry. Gotta love college kids!

We spent some time at the cabin and on the farm for the long weekend. There were lots of little sunflowers blooming in my mom's yard. So pretty. They look like fall though!

The mums along the wall at the church in our small home town said fall too!

A quick snapshot of my boys after church. Eric and I had some wedding pictures taken by that tree years and years ago. The tree has a bigger girth now too.

Cosmos in the fading light, must have been a busy Monday.

Billy on his first day of his Junior year. It really hit home that morning that we only have one boy at home right now. Sad.

My favorite inkjet printer bit the dust, so Eric and I went shopping for a new one. I loved the sky and tried to capture it with my cell phone. It sort of worked. And I found a new printer on sale...so it was a good day after all.

Cosmos in the fading sun....do you see a trend here?

Let's change it up with a bouquet of roses from the grocery store. Yummy colors.

Another varsity football game, taken from the stands just before the National Anthem. Another unseasonably warm evening. Billy is one of the tallest boys on the team. The sunlight makes his hair look really red. He got in for 7 plays in this game!

The JV game for Saturday was cancelled, so we had a rare day off....we decided to go golfing with a friend....and then enjoyed a sunset at her house after our round. I love the view from her backyard....so serene. I will always be a country girl at heart.

In addition to High School football, Billy is playing baseball this fall too. Um yes, we are sort of busy right now. It might explain my lack of blogging. And house cleaning. And anything else I need an excuse for. He got a couple of hits off of some fast pitchers...it was fun to see.

Sunday baseball double header, Monday after school JV football game. They won, but the coaches weren't happy with how some of the kids were playing. I guess Mondays are rough for football and most everything else. It was 90 degrees again that day...maybe that was the problem.

Monday night the winds picked up, Tuesday the temps were barely 70 degrees, and after editing football pictures all day all I had time for was a fading light Cosmos.

Tuesday temps were cool, Wednesday and today have been darned cold...not even 60 degrees either day. 90's to upper 50's in a matter of days. Goodbye summer, hello November. I took this picture of the cosmos thinking that it might be the last one I could get...there were freeze warnings for the Twin Cities last night.

The forecasters were wrong...surprise...but fall is coming sooner than later. It's in the air. I can feel it....and I can't feel my toes! Brrr.

Happy fall.....thanks for stopping by!

Growing Things

This will be a flowery post. Not flowery with words, mostly just with flowers. I love taking pictures of flowers.

I should develop a love of weeding flower gardens. It hasn't happened yet. There's something about maintenance that I have trouble with.

New projects no problem. Maintaining completed projects...not so much. Why is that? Next subject.

One of our friends grows pumpkins. Really big pumpkins. This one was around 750 pounds when I took this picture last week. I think they estimated that they grow 20 pounds or so every day when the conditions are right....so it's probably 850 pounds now. Crazy. They have two big pumpkins in their patch. Giant vines....even the leaves are enormous. They've won big pumpkin contests with them....maybe this one will be a winner too.

Summer feels like it's winding down. Billy is having two or three football practices a day. The full moon came up big and orange like a pumpkin....

...the sun is setting earlier....

....the petunias are getting straggly....

....and we took our boy Brian to college last week. Sniff. Freshman orientation week. Moving into the dorm, meeting the room mates, figuring the ins and outs of the school and the town, adjusting to campus food, signing up for clubs....all that fun college living stuff. I'm grateful for texting and phone calls home.

Brian was worried about Penny missing him...and she does. She's been carrying her stuffed animal around with her where ever she goes. It's pretty cute. She'll be a happy dog when he comes home for Labor Day weekend. So will I. :-)

The cosmos are blooming like it's fall. The pink hints of flowers in the background of this picture are mums. You know that summer is fading when the mums start blooming.

Eric and I took advantage of a nice evening last night and went golfing. It looked like it might rain but it held off. We were paired up with a couple that we didn't know...Brian and Penny. I told Brian that his name would be easy to remember since we had a son named Brian.

I wanted to say that Penny's name would be easy to remember too....but I stopped myself from telling her that she shared a name with our dog. Woof. Crazy.

Have a happy Saturday.

Butterflies, Flowers and My Boy

Molly, in the open window, dreaming of birds and butterflies and other things to chase. Careful Molly, it's a jungle out there!
The butterflies have been busy this summer. I don't think I've ever seen so many. They flit, they flutter, they glide from flower to flower. Butterflies and flowers, they go together so prettily.
We went to the farm this weekend. There were some chores to be done. There were some flowers to be admired. A purple bell flower by the rusty fence after the rain.
There are a lot of butterflies at the farm too. Butterflies on cone flowers at my house, butterflies on thistles at the farm. So pretty.
The cosmos are blooming here right now. They dance in the breeze. Sturdy and delicate all rolled into one. One of my favorite flowers.
My boy, Brian. Playing guitar. Getting ready to head off to college. We work for 18 years to prepare them, to help them be ready to spread their wings. And he is ready.
I just wish that I was a little bit ready to let him go. I think I'll go water the flowers and think about that later. I hope your day is full of flowers, butterflies and handsome boys. Thanks for stopping by.

Just Some Photos

I think I'll be getting away from the notes of gratitude in my posts, it added just enough extra work for me to not get around to posting as often as I liked. I might start again someday, but for now it's just going to be my daily photos.

A sunset, after a full day of rain, at my friend Kris' house. We were there for a BBQ to celebrate her birthday and because BBQ's are fun. It was.

The hot and humid days have brought the day lilies out in full force. Unfortunately it's been so hot and humid that I don't really want to go outside to enjoy them. I've been grateful for air conditioning! But when I step outside with the camera, everything fogs up and by the time the steam is gone I'm sweating like crazy. What an odd summer.

Eric and I toughed out the heat and humidity to go and watch the Twins play. Even though it was super hot, I still say that baseball is meant to be played outdoors. What a beautiful stadium....even with just a cell phone photo. And we won. Woot!

Everyone should have a couple of cherubs in their back yard, don't you think?

The bee balm is fading fast, but I sure loved the pink blossoms surrounding my bird bath.

A late in the day picture of some day lilies. I liked the dappled light.

Purple cone flowers every where...love it!

Billy played in his last summer baseball tournament on July 22nd and 23rd. He was supposed to be in a van on his way to Lame Deer, Montana for a mission trip on the 22nd...but they were staying an extra day in Rapid City, SD so I suggested that he play on Friday and Saturday and that we meet up with the mission trip kids on Sunday morning before they left for their final leg of the trip. I'm glad that he had a chance to play, he played well and even hit his 2nd home run of the season!

We didn't know how the tournament would turn out, but thought that they would probably be finished playing on Saturday morning. Well, they won Friday, lost Saturday afternoon, and then played again at 7:00 pm Saturday night. Yikes.

That meant that we left for Rapid City at 11:00 p.m. Saturday night...and had to travel the almost 600 miles in 11 hours. We drove all night, slept for an hour at a rest stop, ate breakfast at Wall Drug and arrived at the meeting spot on time at 10:00 a.m. It was a long night. Hearing the kids squeal at Billy's arrival made it worth it though.

Eric needed to be back at work on Monday morning, so after a quick loop through the badlands, we headed back home. 1200 miles in 24 hours and 15 minutes. Brutal. Talk about going the extra mile for your kids.

Sleeping at home in our own bed sure felt nice though!

Cone flowers and day lilies, easy perennials are the best. Thistles must be an easy perennial, because I'm good at growing those too. Errrr.

There are a lot of butterflies this summer, they must like the hot humid days.

Cone flowers in the evening light, because it was too hot during the day to wander out there.

Purple cone flower with white cone flowers, and a little bee.

When Billy got home from his mission trip we loaded up the van and headed to Wisconsin Dells. Some family time before Brian heads off to college.

We did the typical Wisconsin Dells stuff....water parks, roller coasters, go carts, ducks, Tommy
Bartlet water skiing show and mini golf. I didn't want to bring the camera to the water park, but I did bring it when we went mini golfing.....and took a picture of the flowers. Well, I took some of mini golfing too, but this one was my favorite of the day. So that's what I'm posting.

The cliffs in the Dells are beautiful. I took this from our ride in the amphibious Duck boat.

We got to the Dells late Saturday evening, spent Sunday and part of Monday at Mt. Olympus amusement park (water park and roller coasters and go carts) since it was a part of the motel where we stayed. On Tuesday we took a tour up the lost canyon in a horse pulled wagon. A beautiful spot but with the changing light it was hard to photograph!

After the lost canyon ride we stopped at the Goodie Goodie Gum drops store for some candy and then headed for home. It's good to be home. It's not good to have so much laundry to do though. I think I'll go and spend some time outside with my cone flowers instead. Look, an orangy one in amongst the purple. Somehow it all works.

Speaking of work, I had better get back to it. I hope you are enjoying a warm and busy summer! Thanks for stopping by.