ABC Wednesday: "G" is for...

Today's theme is "Go Green," which is great because that happens to be my favorite color. And "G" is for garden too, and I do love gardens -- even though I'm not much of a gardener myself, I love to spend time in all those wonderful gardens created by other talented, generous people.

One of my favorite public gardens is Green Spring Gardens, near where we used to live in Alexandria VA. It's a beautiful place to visit any season of the year. Here are a few shots I took a couple of summers ago:



But we live in Texas now, and the gardens around here are not quite so lush. Here's a shot of a more typical garden from our area:

And, finally, here's a shot taken in a friend's vegetable garden, complete with cactus, garden hose and garden cat:

(Click on images to enlarge.)

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Wordless Wednesday: Memories of Summer, Part I

Fireworks over Lake Travis TX
July 4, 2012

(Click on images to enlarge.)

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SkyWatch Friday: Storm Watch

Lately, we've been having a bunch of afternoon thunderstorms here in the Texas Hill Country. Which is good -- the drought seems to be lifting a bit. And it's made for some pretty dramatic skies. These are a few shots I took from our front porch. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Here we have the approaching storm:



And this was the aftermath:

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Outdoor Wednesday: The Finches and the Fans

We have ceiling fans on our front porch. We've never really turned them on because the wind up here on the mountain (OK -- on the hilltop) blows most of the time and cools things down without the use of electricity. We also have some House Finches who keep trying to build their nests in/on those fans, even though all the surfaces are completely flat, with no cubbies or crevices to hold a nest. The birdies keep taking their twigs and bits of fluff up there, and the twigs and bits of fluff promptly fall right off onto the porch below. But the stupid persistent birds go right on trying.


Sometimes, though, when the wind is really blowing and making the fans whirl, the Finches do take a break; they hop out onto the blades of the fan and just ride around and around and around....



I guess it's like a carnival ride for birds.

Outdoor Wednesday is hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.
To see many, many more outdoor photos or to post some of your own, please visit her blog.