Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Wednesday in Pictures

My day started with outdoor chores and a decision to pot up individual Aloe Vera plants from a large overflowing pot. It took quite a while to gather the small pots, fill them with soil and do the transplant. I ended up with 39 pots. Oh my, what was I thinking? What in the world am I going to do with all these plants?


Following all this activity, I was hungry and decided to concoct something for lunch. I ended up making a salad of sorts, composed of black beans, corn, black olives, onion, mango, pickled red peppers, tomato, avocado, vinegar, and a bit of sugar, salt, black pepper, chili pepper and Italian seasoning. Oh, it was wonderful. Fortunately, it made into a large bowl so I look forward to leftovers!


Bon Appetit!


Here are just a few flower pictures during these waning days of summer:
Garlic chives. I have tons of these and use all summer long as a garnish for baked potatoes. Better than regular chives if you like the taste of garlic.  I also chop and freeze for winter use.

 Night-blooming cereus -- another white, fragrant and night-blooming flower. The foliage is cactus-like in nature -- very unruly -- and you wonder why you endure the ugliness of the plant, that is, until it blooms! It is magnificant! My original and much larger plant had seven blooms one year, but I lost it when there was an early and unexpected frost. My current plant is still relatively small and produced only one bloom this year.


This bloom was about 10 inches across.

The bud unfolds after dark and remains open until midday (similar in nature to the Moon Flower I posted about a few days ago). 
And here's the bloom at mid-day after all its magnificence has past.


Because of its errant nature, I planted the Night Blooming Cereus in a hanging basket and bring it into the sun room for the winter.  The plant does best in filtered shade, which is why I have it on a tree limb. It's neat that in this photo the shadow of the foliage and bloom are on the tree!

Peacock Lily, another fragrant plant.

White petunia

Hydrangea. This photo reminds me of a cluster of violets. Love the colors!

Lantana. Butterflies love this one.

Plume plant. This is not the correct name (I once knew it but have now forgotten. It was grown by my grandmother in a pot on her front porch (this is not a cutting passed down from her plant, however).

As you know, I have developed a recent interest in the mushrooms that spring up on the damp soil in our woods, and have been photographing as many different varieties as I can find. Below are some recent shots:

Growing in a flower pot



It really is a mushroom, not a golf ball!

And finally, I give you Valerie, a most difficult dog to photograph! (Kris, on the other hand, is easy to photograph, as he's always underfoot and posing for the camera).  Shown here with a leaf in her mouth (she likes to bring one inside as a present to her "Mommy." So sweet! Of course, she drops it immediately at my feet AFTER we come inside.



6 comments:

  1. Although I am not keen on pictures of flowers after flowers, your photos were someway " different ". I took a look at everyone of them.
    And the best picture came last, worth waiting for : Valerie! So sweet.
    Thank you!

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  2. Love it all! In fact as I told your earlier today, the lunch looked so delicious to me as I was sitting in the hair salon, starving, I came home and made it! It was very spicy and tasty.
    Love all the flower pix but love Val most of all.

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  3. Have just eaten a similar salad minus sugar/salt.I could live on this sort of food.

    Oh how sweet Valerie bringing you a leaf,the best friend in life is a dog.Ida

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  4. Valerie looks adorable :-)
    and your post are always so full of colour! Love it. The last two mushrooms are very much edable and delicious too. We call them umbrellas.

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  5. Mette, thanks for hanging in there and looking at all the pictures. Since I've been using the Instagram App on iPhone I think my pictures have improved. I DID save the best for last.

    Sissy, and Val loves you very much too. She sends hugs and kisses your way! Glad I "inspired" you to make the bean and corn salad. I enjoyed mine again today!

    Ida, so could I! But not my husband. He wants his meat and potatoes fairly often so I find myself cooking. I have always thought it incredibly sweet that Valerie brings me the leaf. Now that the season for falling leaves is upon us, she will be bringing me a mouthful.

    Anna, she truly is an adorable dog. Glad you like the pictures. Interesting what you report on the mushrooms, but I'm afraid I can never bring myself to eat one I find in the wild. Don't trust my judgement on discerning the nonpoisonous from the poisonous.

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  6. Valerie is adorable. Much cuter than when my cat used to do the same thing with a small rodent. Nice salad - do you use fresh corn? And I just love pictures of flowers, plus those mushrooms are so interesting.

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