Summer has arrived in Minnesota

Sorta. It's been the most cloudy and dreary spring and summer that I can remember. O well, can't complain about what you have zero control over. Seems to be an occupation---complaining about the weather---that humans like to indulge in.

I've been gardening some. This is my main garden. Reduced from days of yore, more manageable for me. Looks probably the best now that it will look, although photos are always disappointing. I struggle with deer, shade and tree roots being so close to the dense woods. My favorite flower---for lots of reasons, is dahlias. Here is one of the first whose tuber was saved from last year. The color is yummy. Upon recommendation from my sister, I bought some SpraynGrow. Haven't used it yet, but hope that does well by my roses (other side of the yard). Hers are out of this world and I don't expect to ever have roses that fine. I'm jealous. I'm thinking the lighter pink one is as close to perfection as is possible. Reminiscent of Georgia O'Keefe.


Have been knitting up a storm too, but can't show pictures yet because the items are going in the MN State Fair.

PS Windows Live Writer crashed my computer, so I'm back to the regular Blogger software. grrrrrrrrrrr is all I'll say. Didn't want to recommend it after all.

Hibiscus Cocktail

And/or, fun with Photoshop. This is the last of my beloved hibiscus blooms. I figured out that, if I placed the bloom in a wine glass with water filled to the top, it would last almost 3 days. Whereas, if the bloom is left on the plant, it typically lasts only one day.
Photography is one of my hobbies. I have a dandy camera (Nikon D80, with a great lens) but I definitely don't use it to its full capacity. I keep reading the manual and falling asleep. Besides, Photoshop does a lot of the things that you can do inside the camera. Here are a few of my "experiments" with Photoshop. (If you click on the smaller picture, you get larger, more clear view.

















Almost as bad as a slideshow of a family vacation. I did spare you about 10 more versions, though.

It's fun to fool around, but a great time waster.

Last flowers of summer

We've had such lovely weather in Minnesota. The leaves are gorgeous this week. I always mourn the demise of my garden, though. Have picked the last of the tomatoes and cucumbers, dug up the few measly potatoes. Yesterday was the average first frost date for my area of Minnesota, but I think we'll have another week or so before the season ends. I used to have a gigantic flower garden. For a few years, I couldn't seem to stop planting both perennials and annuals, borders and pocket gardens, raised beds and pots. Couldn't get enough. What I have now better matches my (diminished) energy level. The bees are still really busy. They haven't seemed to die off around here, thank heavens. They love the dahlias especially. Anyway, it was a good year for gardening.

I practiced my weaving this week in anticipation of my Iris Bishop patterns arriving. Knitweave on the knitting machine can be kind of ho-hum. Iris has elevated it to a much more artistic level....but at least I have the weaving part down pat. I used some dark green wool (undetermined brand) for the main yarn and light Lopi for the weaving yarn.As usual, you can't see the texture from the scan. It's a little better looking in person. Can't wait to get going on an Iris Bishop shawl.