So happy together

Why I do this to myself, I just don't know, but occasionally when I'm looking at pictures, a song comes into my head and it absolutely refuses to leave. When I'm working on a picture, the song will begin and it'll just keep rattling around in my brain. And speaking of working on a picture: I didn't do anything to these other than opening them up and thinking they looked fine to me so I gave them an ever so slight sharpen, and called it a day.

It's maddening, I tellya. I'm out in the garden looking at the corn and the corn is looking at the rows of tomatoes, and I know that someday soon they'll both ripen and somehow they'll get together, and all would be wonderful. Yes, I am crazy. Crazy for corn and tomatoes because I love them. I could eat a tomato like an apple. And corn? Don't even get me started. When I'm old and have no teeth, it's not sex I plan on missing. It's the corn on the cob. So here's what I heard in the garden today. Once again, apologies to all of you who have my affliction. You know, the song in the head thing? And it's two days in a row now. So I'm truly sorry. Really I am.

Imagine me and you, I do

I think about you day and night, it's only right

To think about the girl you love and hold her tight

So happy together

If I should call you up, invest a dime

And you say you belong to me and ease my mind

Imagine how the world could be, so very fine

So happy together

I can't see me lovin' nobody but you

For all my life

When you're with me, baby the skies'll be blue

For all my life

Me and you and you and me

No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be

The only one for me is you, and you for me

So happy together

I love this old Turtles song. And where else can you go and get vegetable love like this? It's why you keep coming back, isn't it? Maybe it's the weather that's making me crazy.

Cosmos and Marigolds

After our bike ride last night, George and I went outside to visit my husband in his garden. I took my camera with me and put the macro lens on it to see what I could see. I had planted marigolds all around the front of the garden this year and we have morning glories that reseeded themselves that are beginning to climb up the garden arch my husband built several years ago.

I was lying down in the grass and I kept humming a tune and I wondered why I was thinking of inchworms, but then I realized why.

Inchworm, inchworm

Measuring the marigolds

You and your arithmetic

You'll probably go far.

Inchworm, inchworm

Measuring the marigolds

Seems to me you'd stop and see

How beautiful they are.

Apologies to those who get songs stuck in their heads as I do. I've been singing it every time I opened up a marigold picture in Photoshop. They really didn't need much done to them but a little cropping and a slight action I used called Boutwell's Magic Glasses. It's a very understated action that incorporates brightening, a slight sharpening and just a little pop. I downloaded it as a free sample from Totally Rad Actions. I used it on the last picture in this post.

Have a wonderful Monday, everyone!

George keeps his cool

Hot day in Maryland on Saturday, but it's been much worse than this. Today was a good day to stay inside in the air conditioning and we got a so much done. We went through the whole basement today and got rid of a lot of things that were old and useless, and just generally cleaned up down there. It was nice and cool and it went pretty smoothly.

Headed outside for a walk afterwards and came back dripping wet. The humidity was through the roof! But luckily there were no deer flies. Those things are awful, the way they dive bomb and buzz around your head and when they land . . . they leave a big welt. The only thing good about them is that they're a little slower than my nemises, the fly (see a few posts down) and therefore easier to kill. A flyswatter isn't needed. Don't you love all these fly facts?

George didn't seem to mind the heat all that much. He loves a nice walk and enjoyed getting hosed off with cool water when we got home.

I took these pictures of him this evening and then we went for a bike ride afterwards. George's favorite new thing is running parallel to a bike and it's quite nice, actually. We go down the paved back road and follow it up through another horse farm that's located nearby. It's a Standardbred place that emcompasses a lot of acreage both in this area and across the main county road.

Ah, George. I love ya.

A different perspective

I'm trying out a different look for my blog just for shits and giggles, as my mother used to say. I took this picture when I went to Jim Thorpe, PA a couple of weeks ago because I found the architecture interesting. I know some of you won't like this new look, but I was tiring of the old. Let me know what you think, if you like. I can take it!

Rain O'er Me

Finally, it rained here in Maryland this evening. The sky darkened and a gentle rain began to fall. It lasted a good hour and when I went outside just now, the grass didn't crunch beneath my feet. It was soft and verdant and the daylilies by the edge of the garden were dripping.

I didn't know until now that The Who's song, from the Quadrophenia rock opera is actually saying Rain O'er Me. I always thought it was Rain On Me. Silly me.

I smell wet doggie fur. George has been out in the rain chasing cats. I was going to say wet puppy fur, but somebody has a birthday coming up. Yup. The black & white, as my husband calls him, is going to be the Big One Oh on the 11th.

I see you, little bug, on the edge of the daylily.

Only love

can bring the rain

that makes you yearn

to the sky,

Only love can bring the rain

that falls like tears

from all high.

I can't sleep and I lay and I think

The night is hot and black as ink

Woo Oh God I need a drink

Of cool cool rain.

Skywatch Friday first attempt

I don't know why I haven't done a Skywatch post until now. Annie, over at The Tombstone Chronicler, suggested several weeks ago that I do a Skywatch post link at Tom Wiggley's site. He has a huge following and it's interesting to go to his blog on a Friday and see all the links to people's sky posts.

So give him a visit, if you have a few minutes. Last Friday was a record response for him. 248 people posted their Skywatch picture!

I took this picture last week and was going to use it for last Friday's Skywatch, but something else came up. I took it standing at my sliding glass door one evening last week. You can see the door on the right and I left it there because I wanted to emphasize the view I have from my back door. Plus that's as far as I could go without my camera getting wet.

It was raining that evening, very gently, but the sun was bursting through that big cloud there. I took several pictures, but none of them showed any trace of the rain.

Have a wonderful Friday, everyone!

My new favorite

When I first saw this camera strap on this post on Donna Boucher's blog, "The Quiet Life", it caught my eye. And I wanted one, I really did. But just because I want something, it doesn't mean that I should whip out the credit card and buy it. That's not very responsible. I have to ponder it for awhile, weigh my options, ask myself if I'm doing the right thing, and then usually just forget about it.

Unless I've had several drinks and end up doing this. But let's not digress here, shall we?

Well, last week my husband went online to the rei.com site, and after over a year of searching for a new screen house, finally found what he wanted and bought it. Just like that. I mean, he showed it to me first, and we talked about it for a few minutes. And that's when I figured I'd get this jazzy little number for my camera. Not that I mind, terribly, the strap I used to have that screamed NIKON in big yellow letters. I just wanted something unique, and Emily Falconbridge's camera straps were just the ticket.

She's got several different colors and styles available and she's been rated 282 times on Etsy and 100% have been positive.

You can check them out here on Etsy.

Anyway, I love my new find. After all, I'm just a girl who loves cilantro and hates houseflies. Or maybe I'm just a girl who's standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her. Quick! Name that movie and who said it. C'mon, you should know this one . . .