Playing with new camera

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX10 

There is so much to learn on this little camera but so far I'm very happy with the quality of the images and impressed with the various features. Was playing around with zoom, focus, contrast and low light capabilities today. The camera is smaller than I'm used to and my fingers covered part of the lens so that will explain the vignetting in the first pictures. Reminder to self, keep your fingers out of the way!

The black irises are opening and look at the velvety black falls and shades of purple in the standards and beards. Just gorgeous.

I'm very excited about the detail in this picture, even after reducing the size from original. 

A cropped zoom of my girl Hattie. 

Veggies for dinner tonight.

More Garden Time

New camera arrived today but battery is charging and I need to bone up on the operation manual. It's a little point and shoot that does tons of things. My current camera is just too big to put in my pocket and I wanted something easy to carry everywhere. Anyway, these pictures are taken with the old camera. 

Top pic shows the fenceline that is being removed. The new fence will take off from the first post to the right of the fence going out to the flags I hope you can see if you enlarge the picture, and will turn to enclose the trees on the right so the ducks and everyone can putz around in there.

This little nest lined with sheep's wool fell out of a tree during a wind storm. The crows' nests must be really cushy because they collected almost all of the wool the sheep shed, and there was a lot.

The greenhouse plants are super charged. We're already harvesting kohlrabi and fennel. The Siletz tomato is forming fruit while the other types are flowering.

Outside in the cold things are growing much more slowly. Here are carrots, beets, onions and a squash.

I've been picking red lettuce for a couple of weeks, and chard, behind it, is starting to grow now that the days are warmer. Garlic is in the bed in the far background and just starting to put up scapes.

I didn't think the artichokes would come back, the way I butchered them last fall, but here they are putting up some nice looking chokes.

Back to irises. This pretty pink one opened today.

And the second variety chosen for Hooper with flashy orange standards and deep purple falls joined the party. 

So these are all bearded iris. The beards are the fuzzy strips (orange in the flower below) reaching out onto the falls, but the iris below has an interesting variation. I've tried focusing on it differently in the three pictures below. It's a flouncy little appendage at the end of the beard and it's appropriately called a flounce.

Focus on the beard...

Focus on the flounce...

Side shot of beard and flounce...

Knee News

Had my three month post-op visit with the surgeon today and knee passed inspection. Doctor says walk, walk, walk. Get lots of exercise. So I came home and did the long walk around the neighborhood concentrating on lifting my left foot to eliminate the limping that has been causing so much back trouble. I did good. Leaned up against things every now and then and made it home in good shape. Hurray!

More Irises

New irises opening every day!

Hooper's iris

Tag's iris

OK, not an iris, but the color on this poppy is amazing.

Spring brings flowers and lots of projects

Wind has been blowing like crazy the last couple days threatening my flowers but most have somehow survived. The Red Charm peony is outstanding with the biggest flowers I've ever seen. It would be nice to get another one or two to place around the garden but sadly, our local peony farm closed last year. I bought other varieties of peonies from a mail order outfit last fall but they aren't performing as well in their first season. The roots had fewer eyes and will probably take a couple extra years to catch up.

The irises are going to be a big job to divide but as they are threatening to overtake the peonies this is the year to do it. This so-called red iris still looks purple to me but I love the orange beards. 

My kitchen window garden.

And a pretty iris planted last fall.

Work in progress and work to be done

We are extending the fenced yard to include the nice evergreen trees on the west side of the house. Bob is pulling out the existing fence to reuse the posts. Then maybe a little gazebo can be built in the clearing for a sitting area. We need to move some of the veggie beds away from the raspberries so I can mow around the patch to keep suckers under control. They aren't as bad as blackberries but close to it, cropping up in the blueberry, strawberry and asparagus beds. I'm liking the results of the experimental strawberry tower we built last year despite it's being awfully tippy. We'll need to use better wire and line it with something to hold in the soil. I'd also like to remove the never-used sliding door in the family room and put it in the master bedroom where the big window is and where it would be far more useful. Haven't proposed that project to Bob yet, but it's churning in the back of my brain. It's kind of like the Winchester House around here!

More of my favorite things

I'm good enough to be doing duck duty again and finding four blue surprises every morning.

Bob spoiled the girls a bit while I was out of commission. They crowd into the shed as I get their dinner pellets, surrounding me and loudly demanding a handful then and there. They do rule the yard.

Really, this is a BIG peony! That's my hand supporting it. 

Wowed by this. Unique Marmalade with brilliant green new growth. 

A new iris blooming.

I've discovered cistus grows fabulously in my dry, sandy soil so I'm planting lots of them. Hot pink, pink with crimson spots, white. They are happy in the far corners of our property and liven up the bleak areas with color in the hottest weather.

Around the yard

I walked a mile and half around the neighborhood today with one stop at a bench about 2/3 the way through. There's no pain in my new knee but it doesn't bend fully yet so there is stress on the right knee and hip each step, and that's what hurts in the end. Recovery after the walk was quick but I think this calls for moderation so I don't injure my real parts. Still, I was happy to get out and Hattie was thrilled enough to walk by my side (off leash) much of the way.

Pictures from the garden today.

First peony to open, and it's magnificent!

Irises are starting to bloom. This year I need to divide them. An amazing number of blooms to come.

Purple allium, purple smoke tree and sequoia.

Moonshine yarrow (flowers will be yellow) and Grace smoke tree, a yellow green version of Cotinus.

Lupine (in shades to match my hair!), allium and columbine.

Beautiful leaves. Hosta and oxalis. 

Tag and Hooper's Memorial Garden growing vigorously with rugosa roses set to bloom. Will be lovely when blue flowers of ceanothus (rear left) open. This is a wonderful time of year, full of color and new things to find every day.

Flower Album

I never know if these things are going to load properly. Here's a go.

In the Garden

Time to tour the yard again.

Porcelain poppies and pods.

 Rhodie Unique Marmalade. One of the three I relocated last fall because they were suffering from mildew. Looks like I found a good spot for them. They are all growing happily.

Rhodie Unique. Opens pretty pink and cream, then turns white. 

Tomatoes, herbs, fennel, kohlrabi and cipollini onions in the greenhouse.

The purple trillium will open soon. I was delighted to find a second growing along side it, hidden by the fern frond in this picture. Beautiful heart shaped epimedium leaves fill the upper left corner. I've been collecting various epimediums with different color flowers and leaf shapes to grow with the hellebores on the shaded north side of the house. I love the combination.

Purple alliums growing with lupine, iris, columbine, etc.

I planted three different mini bearded iris last fall. One was trampled by the ducks. I hope it will have a better chance next year. The one blooming now is just an inch or two wide and very delicate. The third one is pearly pink with purple beards but bloomed earlier and I didn't get a photo.

A new rhodie we just planted, Anna Rose Whitney. This is supposed to grow up to a foot a year with flowers that are huge and showy, eventually reaching seven to eight feet tall.

One last thing of color. This is my new peacock colored hair! 

Two Months After - Total Knee Replacement Surgery

Here is my knee today and it is looking a little puffy but good. Scab is gone. There is still quite a bit of swelling to deal with but I am cycling (indoor) and walking without a cane so things are looking up. Pain is minimal to none. You can see how the kneecap isn't centered on the right knee but the left one is now proper. They were both shifted off to the side with no cartilage under them. I really don't recall a time when they weren't offset, and the right one is going to stay that way a while longer as I'm not going through another surgery any time soon. The last picture was taken at the one month mark, peeling skin, green shin and all, so you can see the improvement in the last four weeks.