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Portuguese water dog doing 'deep woods agility', colourful frog, macro of dandelion seed, mushrooms after rains, stream in the woods, honey bee
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"H" is for hosta<br />
<br />
I've been having problems finding examples of H, I, J, etc in my garden.  But then I found my hosta plant which is a little the worse for wear after surviving insects and a recent torrential rain.   So here it is, lit by the dappled light from my dogwood tree, warts and all, but it is a realistic, if not beautiful "H".<br />
<br />
But that's not the end of the story, since I looked over at my next door neighbours yard and saw some colourful pink hostas that looked quite perfect, so I went next door and photographed them.  The joke was on me, since, when I looked at an enlarged version of the beautiful photo I took of the pink hosta, it turned out to be a fake hosta, made of some kind of cloth, LOL!  You can see it here: <a href="http://goo.gl/OtRAiA">http://goo.gl/OtRAiA</a>
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"H" is for hosta

I've been having problems finding examples of H, I, J, etc in my garden. But then I found my hosta plant which is a little the worse for wear after surviving insects and a recent torrential rain. So here it is, lit by the dappled light from my dogwood tree, warts and all, but it is a realistic, if not beautiful "H".

But that's not the end of the story, since I looked over at my next door neighbours yard and saw some colourful pink hostas that looked quite perfect, so I went next door and photographed them. The joke was on me, since, when I looked at an enlarged version of the beautiful photo I took of the pink hosta, it turned out to be a fake hosta, made of some kind of cloth, LOL! You can see it here: http://goo.gl/OtRAiA

Greenhostaleaf

  • Baby barn swallows outgrowing their nest.<br />
<br />
I think the babies will be leaving the nest soon now.  It is a tiny nest and they are really crowded in and piled on top of each other.  The mom and dad are still dillgently feeding them, but seem a little tired and sometimes just stand around resting.
  • The quartet taking an intermission.
  • Getting crowded in here!<br />
<br />
Almost grown baby barn swallows.  I think they will be flying off in the next day or two.  The nest is getting very crowded and they don't fit in any more.
  • Getting even MORE crowded in here!
  • We want more food!<br />
<br />
Update on the young barn swallows: These babies are working their parents into an early grave with their constant demands to be feed.  I think they don't want to fly off on their own since they have it so good lazing around the nest while their parents feed them.  Kind of like some human kids, LOL.  I think the smaller one with its mouth shut is the only male, who doesn't seem to compete well with his larger, more demanding big sisters....sound familiar to some of you?<br />
<br />
Re Donna's comment; the males have a slighly darker orange breast, just barely visible in this photo.<br />
<br />
Other new photos of the nestlings can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/TjntJ">http://goo.gl/TjntJ</a>
  • Allium ampeloprasum (best at larger sizes)
  • Alyssum from my garden (best at larger sizes)
  • Allyssum (best at larger sizes)
  • 'A' is for Asparagus.<br />
<br />
When I gave it a bit of thought, I have a lot of 'A's in my garden, including Allium and Alyssum (see here <a href="http://goo.gl/JHvfn">http://goo.gl/JHvfn</a>), Azaleas (which have already stopped blooming), and Artichokes (but I just picked the last one the other day).<br />
<br />
News bulletin:  The baby barn swallows have fledged and are now swooping around the yard with their parents, who are now officially 'empty nesters'.  It is amazing to me how quickly they go from helpless chicks to accomplished aerial acrobats!!! (Ha, 3 'A's in a row, I must have 'A' on the mind LOL)
  • Beautiful Bumble Bee Buzzing Busily By a Blossom<br />
<br />
Before I left for Hawaii, I went into my garden for inspiration for 'B' day.  I was going to post the brocolli shot (see here: <a href="http://goo.gl/HVf6T">http://goo.gl/HVf6T</a> ) but then saw the bumble bees on the allium blossom and knew that this would be a more interesting 'B' image.
  • Another shot of a bumble bee on the allium.
  • Broccoli macro from my garden.  Looks like it should be ready to eat when I return from my current trip.
  • 'C' day. Cool as a cucumber -2<br />
<br />
This is another baby English cucumber that is growing in my organic greenhouse.  It is slightly older, as the flower has started to die.
  • 'C' day. Cauliflower growing in my raised bed organic garden
  • 'C' day. Carrots in the ground in my raised bed organic garden.<br />
<br />
Carrots in the ground are not easy to photograph, as I just discovered!  I looked on-line and only found images of carrots that people had dug up and laid on the ground.  But I wanted a shot of the carrots in the ground, as I was not ready to pick them.  So I had to wing it with my wide angle lens.
  • 'C' Day. Cool as a cucumber -1<br />
<br />
This is a baby English cucumber that is growing up in my organic greenhouse<br />
<br />
See here for another shot of another baby Cucumber, and for a Cauliflower and Carrots in the ground, all growing in the garden: <a href="http://goo.gl/U3m9Dy">http://goo.gl/U3m9Dy</a>.  So far I haven't had to leave the garden for my alphabet posts, but don't know how long I can keep it up LOL.
  • 'D' is for Dill flowers from my garden, Vancouver, BC
  • 'F' is for furled fern frond foto (try repeating that quickly a few times LOL)<br />
<br />
As of supper time today I still hadn't done my F-day foto.  So I grabbed my camera and went out into the garden to look for something, and rejected flowers as being too obvious.  Then I saw this tiny fern sticking up out of the grass and grabbed my macro lens to capture it before the light disappeared.<br />
<br />
My evening shot from Honolulu never did appear yesterday and can still be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/7MSuuU">http://goo.gl/7MSuuU</a>
  • "H" is for hosta<br />
<br />
I've been having problems finding examples of H, I, J, etc in my garden.  But then I found my hosta plant which is a little the worse for wear after surviving insects and a recent torrential rain.   So here it is, lit by the dappled light from my dogwood tree, warts and all, but it is a realistic, if not beautiful "H".<br />
<br />
But that's not the end of the story, since I looked over at my next door neighbours yard and saw some colourful pink hostas that looked quite perfect, so I went next door and photographed them.  The joke was on me, since, when I looked at an enlarged version of the beautiful photo I took of the pink hosta, it turned out to be a fake hosta, made of some kind of cloth, LOL!  You can see it here: <a href="http://goo.gl/OtRAiA">http://goo.gl/OtRAiA</a>
  • Pink 'hosta' hoax<br />
<br />
This one turned out to be a fake, make of some kind of cloth.  Best seen at largest sizes.<br />
<br />
Update:  arctangent is correct, not only is this not a hosta, it's not even a fake hosta, Its a caladium, but not even a real caladium; it's a fake caladium.  But, all in all, a decent photo of a fake caladium LOL! Thanks to KVEdison for suggestion 'hoax'!
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