The brilliant colors of these anemones make me happy! Sadly, I forgot what the “greens” looked like in early spring and pulled up many new shoots. Oops! I will remember for next year though. Despite ME, they grew brilliantly. So joyful!
Photo by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
where did you come from?
you pretty pinks and purples,
garden beauty reigns
beauty reigns by Angie Quantrell
photo by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
I have no memory of planting these gorgeous garden queens. In fact, the colors are so brilliant the flowers seem artificial. But they are real, bugs and all. And apparently, prolific seeds and all, because these returned from last summer, and the summer before that. My best guess is there must have been some seeds in the packets of wildflowers I once spread hither and yon. They grow crazy all summer, and then by late summer, bam, crowds of beauty.
Joy. My word of the year. I’ve been finding joy, conversations about joy, unexpected joy, memes and verses about joy, joyful thoughts, actual joy, songs about joy, poems, faces that express joy! What a joy!
I took this photo at night with my phone camera. The stars were so brilliant, but it was quite breezy and the sunflowers danced to the rhythm of the wind gusts. Still. The stars were gorgeous pinpricks of light, and the movement of the sunflowers so graceful. I love this photo.
Photo by Angie Quantrell, Yakima Valley, summer night
It is so true. The meme where one day, the zucchini is tiny but the next it is ginormous. I searched my garden 2-3 days before this day. Nothing. Maybe a tiny fingerling. One at the most. Then comes this day. BAM. Eight fully ready to eat zucchinis.
Also tomatoes, wax beans, and green beans. I wasn’t even planning on harvesting. But once I saw the zucchini, I knew I was overdue.
Lunch was this. So delicious. I would eat this every day if the tomatoes and rustic bread always tasted so good. A little butter, spicy brown mustard, tomato slices. Done.
And for dinner, we had a two-bean, fresh corn off the cob, red onion, cherry tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and balsamic salad. Yummy! Don’t you just love summer garden meals?
But I need some more recipe ideas for the beans. I can’t keep up with them. I give them away, eat a ton, freeze a few (not a great option since we live in the RV-storage space is at a premium). We’ve had stir fry, meat packets including beans, and potato bean onion ground turkey soup.
Ideas please! What is your favorite fresh green bean recipe?
Photo by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley, WA
I grew up reading those cartoons and comics that featured characters shining a magnifying glass on something on the ground with the sun shining through the glass. A fire always occurred! 🔥At the least, SOMETHING felt the heat.
Well. The grand and I left this tripod magnifying glass in the shade on my wooden potting bench. Wouldn’t you know, I walked by later with the laundry basket and smelled smoke. What??!!! Sure enough, the shade was gone and the sunshine glared brightly through the glass, burning my bench!!! Eek! Note to self: Keep magnifying glass shut up in the shady TARDIS (my tool hut).
And just look what showed up a few days later in my honey’s The Far Side Gary Larson Desk Calendar! Hahahahaha
Be careful out there people!
the beans are going
crazy-climb, bloom, grow, dangle
veg for every meal
crazy beans by Angie Quantrell
photo by Angie Quantrell, Yakima Valley
sunflower world dwarfs
ghostly guest, wrinkled yet strong
eerie paper bug
paper bug by Angie Quantrell
photo by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley, WA
P.S. Does anyone know what this paper bug is actually called? Because of the massive forelegs (for its size), I wondered if it was a relative of a praying mantis. But the rest of the body doesn’t seem to fit that category.
summer hunger buzz
seek, discover, pollinate
satiating feast
summer hunger buzz by Angie Quantrell
photo by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
Photo taken in my summer 2023 garden. Freebie sunflowers from last year!
Love, Laughter, and Life 