All in a Garden Green

So... I really, really want a macro lens for my camera. But no way no how in the budget right now.

So, poking around on Amazon a bit, I found these. Less than 1/10th the price, even though I knew that the quality would definitely not be the same, I figured it'd be a fun thing to try out.

Oh. So. Fun. It's basically screwing a magnifying glass onto the front of the camera. I've so far only played with the 10X. If I'm gonna get close and look at bee's butts, I'm gonna get close and look at bee's butts, darnit! It's an interesting effect; a little bit of distortion and color shifting approaching the edges of the photo, but the center focal point is nice and sharp! Now I just need to get my camera to behave, and my eyeballs to recognize where the camera is focusing, and I'll be all set... The filters stack, too, so I can, in theory, get up to 17X magnification. Eep. I have no idea... will have to try it!

More of a gallery here. Dear lord, do I have to make sure the lens is clean... look at all those dust spots! (actually... don't look at the dust spots... look at the pretty pretty flowers, please...)

Finally got out of bed early enough (but not too early, it is Saturday, after all) to see my morning glories bloom. Finally got them to grow well in a pot, after 3 years of trying. They need their own trellis to climb; they won't attach themselves to the wide boards between the patios very well on their own. So pretty.

It's a good thing we've got gardens with OMG cucumbers planted at work, which are growing like crazy, because I don't think mine are going to do much of anything. :( I've gotten one little, pathetic looking (but tasty) white pickler, and that's it. Vines aren't doing anything except getting little yellow patches on the leaves. Will try again next year, might have to move the trellis. I think this is the 2nd or 3rd year I've grown peas/cukes at the back of the garden, and in a small space, it is really, really important to rotate the crops... will have to relocate the garlic chives and lemon balm, I think, if I do that.

Now, to clean the apartment before pet_spider and M get here... we will Rock some Band and then go fly kites tomorrow. Should be fun.

Random flowers... the little daffodil at the edge of the woodline just behind the apartment is actually not my fault... at least, I don't think so. I don't ever remember tossing anything that resembled bulbs except the old dead (quite dead...) Easter Lily a few years ago. This li'l guy appears to be a relatively young bulb too, based on the single-ness of the flower stalk and low number of leaves... I dunno. Nice to see when I came home tonight, all sunlit.

I'm working on a week's vacation(ish) from work... haven't left on time since we opened, and that means comp time! Thaaat I won't be able to use till November, maybe. We'll see. The veiled threat of "nope, nobody's getting any time off till October" was muttered when I reminded my boss about the weekend I always take off in July for GNEW, but I will be reminding him again, and I will be attending the full three days of war. So there.

Not getting out on time stressed me out yesterday, as kurlon and I had an appointment to see a house in Saco at 6. I figured an hour and a half between when I was supposed to leave work, allowing for 'nope, not gone yet!' and when I was supposed to be elsewhere was enough. Barely. Agh.

The house... I was in love with the outside from the moment I saw it a week ago... which means, of course, that this venture was doomed from the start. Old farmhouse, built in 1887(ish), with garage, cute little farmer's porch, nice back deck, and about a half acre, in a not-too-bad neighborhood (we think...). "Some work needed, but worth the effort!" said the listing. Price was right... we could low-ball the offer, probably get it, and have a really nice place.

( Here's what we found inside... ) The right place will fall into our laps soon, I hope. I can be patient. I have planted my garden. My forget-me-nots are going to bloom soon. Spring will go on.

Wedding flowers are done and delivered, and by now, the wedding is over. I can have my brain back, for a few days, anyway. Day 6 of heading into work at early o'clock (for me....), and then 2 days off in a row a day where I don't have to think about anything floral or plant-related that I don't want to. Because I inevitably do. There are houseplants that need repotting, and it's going to freeze tonight, so the mandevilla vines really should come in if I want any hope of saving them.

I am overall quite pleased with how all the flowers came out. I realized at 7:30 this morning (too late!) that I screwed up the boutonnieres a bit, but they should have still worked... Jess helped me finish up the corsages yesterday while I did the cake decorations, and I left work only a half hour later than I planned. Not bad at all. A wedding this size, for a friend, if I could get the time off, I would do again. Even with the lack of facilities we have. Not for a while, though. Nobody get excited (I think most of you are married anyway... so nyaah.).

Edit: sigh... two days off in a row next week... this is another 6-day stint for me... hullo comptime... g'bye sleep. That changes my plans a bit.

A good day, overall... vacuumed, cleaned dishes, got dishes dirty, cleaned more dishes, did laundry, cut/sewed garb, got stuff done! Yay! The Hoya plant in my sewing room is still blooming, 2 1/2 months after it started, with no signs of slowing down. All the flower spurs are on at least round 3 of blossoms, and there are more buds on the way on the ones that aren't blooming at the moment. I am impressed and happy.

Made lemon-balm sun tea (with a leaky sun tea-maker... that's what you get for $3.88 at Wal-Mart in the off season, though... I'll find some caulking...), which is really about like water with lemon slice, though not quite so tangy. It is, however, absolutely wonderful with a few tsp of the lavender syrup I made last week. Finally figuring out what to do with these herbs I keep growing is incredibly satisfying. Tasty, too.

Despite all efforts to the contrary, I have also successfully created Lemon-Mint Sekanjabin. What a comedy of errors. Nearly dropped the pot lid on my foot to begin with, the sugar/water syrup boiled over, making a mess of the stovetop and pot, the lemon balm had slugs and bugs (which were swiftly removed in the initial rinse BEFORE putting into the syrup mix. Fear not, those that will be potentially consuming said beverage), and I came very close to slicing my hand whilst cutting open the lemons. That would have been exceedingly pleasant. Everything perked and steeped and filtered out just like it was supposed to when it was done, though. I then took that opportunity to slip and pour fully a third of the finished syrup all over my hand and the bottle, and subsequently down the drain. nrrggghhhh... I really, really need to find a bigger funnel. At least it was over the sink, so I didn't have to clean up sticky, sugary mess over everything...

Spent a glorious weekend. Two days off in a row! What a rarity...

As this was computer delivery weekend for a friend of mine, my brother came up on Thursday night. There was much co-op Guitar Hero. Joy! Friday morning after some serious slow waking up and a lazy morning, we piled us and our stuff into his awesomely cute li'l turquoise MINI, and headed north. Met E at her apartment, dropped off the computer, and headed to Olive Garden for our usual lunch. Much socialness and silliness happened, and we all ate way too much wonderful, wonderful food.

E had the presence of mind to realize that the Bangor City Forest would be an excellent post-stuff-ourselves-lunch walk. Bangor City Forest? What Bangor City Forest? Why, this one! So beautiful... Spring flowers were blooming everywhere, plants I'd never seen in the wild before, plants that I'd never seen before, period! Painted Trillium, Blue Bead Lilies, Rhodora, and cute, cute, cute little Fringed Polygala. There were literally dozens, possibly hundreds, of Lady Slippers blooming... I'd never seen so many in one place before White and Pink, and one slightly off-pink/yellow one, that I think may have just been a newly-bloomed pink, and not a true (extremely rare) yellow.

Four years I was in Orono, in a horticulture program, even, and nobody thought to mention the 640+ acres of beautiful Maine woods and peat bog, stuffed with all manner of plant (and animal) life. Four years. I could have spent so many happy hours wandering around getting lost in the woods... We spent a good three hours wandering around, not quite getting lost in the woods, but attracting more and more mosquitoes every time I stopped to take a photograph...

Saturday brought blessed, blessed rain... it's been far too long without. Now lawns will be green again, and gardens won't be quite so stressed... Hung out at E's apartment for a while, had lunch at Tim Horton's, headed south again around 3:30, stopped at her parents' house to visit and see her mom's gardens... a lovely time. Her parents have two English Mastiffs, Jack and Stella, who are lovely, very sweet, fortunately very well behaved, but oh my goodness what huge doggies...

The evening saw some marathon Rock Band. We got the band back together, with a special guest lead guitarist. He's now acquired the nickname of Spider (for an explanation of why, please see here). So amusing, and so true...

Flowers are blooming all over the nursery, it's a beautiful time of year. And now, there are chocolate chip eggo waffles and insta-bacon for dinner. Life is good.