Sunday Colors... 08-21-2022

Well, today was the first day since I got back from my camping trip that I have even been the least bit motivated to get my camera and head out to the patio. My knee is doing so much better that I expect the physical therapist to just send me home tomorrow. Amazingly, the anti-inflamatory that the doctor prescribed seems to have taken away my other aches and pains, especially in my shoulders. I have gotten some great sleep. Anyway... There wasn't much action in the back yard today. I just practiced shooting things we've all already seen. I really like some of these shots. I hope they bring a smile to your face, as well.

Finally... A female Northern Cardinal with feathers! The molting has been extreme this year. Naked birds are downright ugly!S

Same beauty on the feeder. I am fairly pleased with this shot. It is kind of overcast today. Usually zooming in like this would cause a grainy look. I watched an online class recently and learned to use extra light to prevent the graininess. It seems to work. I can still see a bit of it, but not much.

We had a little bit of rain on the 11th of August. The nitrogen it brought seemed to really make a difference in the landscaping. These blooms on our big crepe myrtle tree are the best of the season. Watering with a hose just doesn't do the same thing.

You parents know how there are days when the kids just seem to get along better than others. Same here! Vinny and Olive were laying out there together for at least ten minutes.

The plumbago has had flowers all summer. Even when the leaves seem a little yellow, it produces.

The mealy sage is blooming again. It always attracts butterflies and bees. This American Bumblebee was the only customer today. What a beautiful insect!

Here it is again. This time, I caught him in flight going between flowers. Notice how light-colored the flowers are this time. Usually, they are darker.

One last shot of the bumble bee.

I can't keep my eyes off of the Pride of Barbados. The flowers are so pretty. They are either this color or a darker orange, like the one on the extreme left. There weren't any pretty dark orange ones today. They seem to alternate.

This is just one of the flowers that shares the box with my volunteer peanut plant on the poor man's patio.

This is the blossom that opened up on that other volunteer plant. I still don't know what it is. iNaturalist says it is either an elegant zinnia, two-spotted longhorn bee, sunflower seed maggot, or a ligated furrow bee, so that's no help.

This is another flower in a pot on the PMP. I know it is in the carnation family, but don't recall the name. Was it Sweet William? I don't know.

Call me the Magic Man. I have successfully gotten purple blossoms on a Lindheimer Senna. Well, actually a wild Tievine (Ipomoea cordatatriloba) decided to wrap around the stalk and bloom.

I don't know why Jared's basil plant fascinates me so much. But, it does!

This is what Jared's herb garden looks like right now. His basil is beautiful. The five smaller basil plants are the result of me scattering the seeds from the stems of the big plant. That's rosemary in the center and oregano spreading out in the corner on the right. The cilantro didn't do well at all. We may have harvested too much. The dill actually disappeared overnight earlier in the Spring. Something must have liked it.

The kids started walking around the yard together. Not something I see often.

This is a male House Finch. I think he is getting his colors back after his molt. Either that, or he is actually starting to molt.

This is a closeup of one of our Salvias.

Rachel has two nice patches of Flame Acanthus this year. They used to be planted in the long boxes of the PMP. When she moved them to the patio landscaping, they thrived. Hummingbirds love them.

Okay... I zoomed in from my seat on the patio to get this. I actually missed my shot of the butterfly on the flowers. This is a swallowtail, but it didn't have any of the pretty blue colors on it. Even the black was more of a dark gray.

This is what I was trying to get the first time.

I wish I could take credit for this shot. I didn't even know I had it until I got to the computer.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the one blossom on the Esperanza. The actual plant is a good eight feet tall. It has flowered most of the summer, but not as much in years past.