Tomatoes

The tomatoes are coming! I checked the plants a little closer while watering and I found a few tiny green tomatoes. Before long, I hope to be overrun with beautiful ripe red and tasty tomatoes for salads, sandwiches, and salsa!

The beginning of a Goliath.

Here is a Big Beef.
This one is a first for me. It's a Cupid Grape Tomato. We'll see how it is.
And this is a Heatwave. It did really well last year.

So far so good. I also have a Brandywine, Roma, and another that I seem to have lost the tag to. They are just a little behind the others as far as production goes, but I'm sure they'll be catching up soon.

I'm just sitting here waiting...

The Bees Are Back

Last week as I was driving with Gus to our Therapy Dog appointment I noticed a large swarm of what I at first thought were gnats. I remember thinking it was the biggest bunch I had seen and it seemed early in the year for that. But I'm not a biologist, so what do I know?

As I got closer and eventually drove underneath the swarm I realized it was not a gnat swarm, rather it was a swarm of bees. I was glad they were flying higher than my car so I didn't drive through them.

I didn't think much more about the bee swarm until this weekend. It seems another swarm has taken residence in one of the pine trees by the sheep pen.

I was reminded of two other incidences when we had bee swarms. The most recent was last year in June. You can click here for the beginning of that story. The first time we had an encounter with a bee swarm was a few years ago. A swarm had decided to overnight in the olive tree by our driveway and garage. At that time we tried to find someone to take the bees, but no bee farmers were interested and the pest control wanted too much money. We were advised that the bees were probably resting for a day or two and they would most likely be gone on their own. And that is what happened.
I'm hoping these will follow suit. The bees from last year had found a spot to make their hive in. It was an enclosed area, and not open like the tree branches.

Imagine my surprise as I was reading another blog yesterday that showed a picture of a swarm of bees that had taken to a branch in one of their trees. It was Roberta's blog. (It's on her April 13, 2008 entry. You may have to keep hitting the "refresh" button. Yahoo seems to have a problem with that...)

It must be that time of year.

Baby Pictures

Here are some of the latest pictures of my grandbaby. Just because I can, and also because I have nothing else for today. And of course, I know her great aunts and great grandmother want to see her latest photos. Right? Right?????

So if you're not into baby photos, feel free to log out. It won't hurt my feelings. Really! (I was once like you, so I understand.)

Here she is in her Easter outfit she got from Great Gramma GaGa.
This is her new Bumbo chair. She likes sitting in it...
...especially when Gus waves his tail over her head.

Well, most of the time she's happy. Honestly, though, I think she was working on something here.

Now she's attempting to put both of her hands in her mouth. I think she's working on a party trick for when she's older.
Now she's just chillin'.
Here she is in an "official" Easter photo taken at the Sears Portrait Studio. I just love it when she's smiling.

The next two are from the same photo session. There's just something about a naked baby. They are Oh So Cute!

And last, but not least, here she is with her handsome Grampa.
Did I say "last"? Oh, don't you worry! It's the last for today but you can rest assured there will be more in the future!

Close-Ups

I like playing with my camera, and when I have a little extra time I like to do close-ups. When I view the pictures on the computer I often see things I never would have otherwise noticed. Sometimes it makes me think about The Incredible Shrinking Man and how his viewpoint literally changed from day to day.

Here is a beautiful violet-blue bearded iris. Up close you can see the subtle shade differences and the little hairs of the beard.

This is a flower cluster from a Lantana. What's interesting about this plant are the wide range of colors on one cluster, let alone the entire plant. This one is more yellow to orange, whereas some of the others are pink to red, or even in the violet shades.

This is our first ripe strawberry of the year. Isn't it beautiful?

Can you figure out what this is? This is a picture I took last year of a sunflower. I like how you can see a subtle pattern. In a college speech class I did a talk on patterns in nature. My visual aid was a pinecone. If you look at a pinecone from the top down you can see how it swirls around. There were only about 20 students but I don't do well talking in front of a bunch of people. I got a "C" in that class.

This is the inside of a white California type poppy.

And this is the inner sanctum of a rose.

And this means I need to get the aphid control going!