184 - B&B's Pinks & Reds

And, for the last installment of my parents' lovely summer garden, here are the pinks and reds...

 

183 - B&B's Yellow

A little glimpse of yellow from my parents' garden...

This last photo is just an example of the crazy things you can do with editing today. While the two previous photos are straight out of the camera (no editing at all), the one below is actually the photo above, just with sepia-tones and some vignetting:

I love the look of sepia/black-and-white/aged photos... though I'm such a sucker for color that I always keep the originals as well. =)

182 - B&B's Orange

My parents have had beautiful gardens and yards for... well, probably for as long as I've been alive (and then some). I don't think I really realized the time, effort, and love that goes into maintaining such beauty until just a few years ago when I tried planting one for the first time. Even now, Josh and I have had vegetable gardens, but not beautiful gardens (and they really only survive because of Josh, at that).

Over the next couple posts I want to share just a few of the incredible plants and flowers my parents tend to... starting with my favorite color -- orange!

Also, all of these shots are straight out of the camera -- no color adjustment whatsoever. They really are just that amazing.

174 - Vintage Fuchsia

Even though my middle name is Rose, I have yet to show signs of having a green thumb (remember, Josh is our main gardener). However, many members of my family, including my parents, have beautiful gardens and flowers, and I definitely make up for my own lack of growing with appreciation for their beauty.

When I was in Seattle in August, I found this fuchsia plant happily growing in a hanging basket on my parents' back porch. Now, I had to actually ask my parents what its name was... because I don't know anyone else who's ever had them! As it turns out, the fuchsia is a "vintage" flower breed, and my Gramma's favorite flower. When she was younger, she and her grandfather (my great-great-grandfather) would go to the nursery around Memorial Day to pick one out. I'm thinking it might be a good tradition to continue.

It was all I could do to not take photos of them everyday. I just couldn't take my eyes off of them. There is NO color enhancement whatsoever in these photos -- they are just that brilliant, that beautiful, and that intricately amazing all on their own. Pretty incredible, huh? 

168 - Mexican Tomatoes

Well, they aren't actually from Mexico... but the bowl is (from our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta). And the tomatoes are just super happy, super cute, super delicious ones from our backyard. Did I mention we ate tons of tomatoes this year? Almost every meal? And that we still have some? And that I already made multiple batches of spaghetti sauce? Mmm, it was a bountiful tomato crop for us this year! All grown in our teeny tiny urban backyard garden. Hooray!

P.S. This photo is from when Josh was "harvesting" one afternoon. We were picking tomatoes about every other day -- this bowl was only about half of what he brought in that day. For more of our harvest, check out these posts.

166 - Sunset Silhouettes

Collegeville, PA

155 - The Secret Garden

Ok, our garden may not itself be a secret, but we do actually have a secret in our garden...

Yup, we inherited a grape vine. A very old, very established grape vine. And we had so many grapes this year, that even giving them away to friends and neighbors, there were still far more than we could eat. This is the first time in my life I've really had fresh, homegrown grapes on a consistent basis, and they definitely taste different -- more sweet and more sour all at once (but a sweet kind of sour). They're much smaller than the ones in the grocery store, but, um, also much better.

154 - Tomatoes Galore

Remember a long time ago, how I was telling you Josh and I have a garden in our teeny, tiny, Philly rowhouse backyard? Well. I figured it was time to give you the update. 

But I have a disclaimer: these photos are from before we left for Seattle. Meaning, in July. You still get to take a peak because, let's be honest, they look delicious, right?! Even if it is just the tomatoes, and they're not all totally ripe yet. Don't worry, there will be more -- photos, produce, and ripeness. In the meantime, just enjoy. =)

138 - Lone Tree

Sometimes lonely can be a beautiful thing.

136 - And Other Camping Stories...

When I go camping, I use a lot of this:

I inherited my mother's attracting-insects gene, meaning that my blood sends out radar to every bug within about, oh, 3.2 square miles. And they come. To me. To feast. 

So, even when I use bug spray (and the one indicated above had 25% DEET), they still find me and I will end up with at least 5-10 bites, even when there are other people around me who the bugs don't even bat an eyelash at. 

However, this little guy was interesting, didn't bite me, and so I decided it was ok if he rested on my shoe for a little while:

However, I did have to boot him off eventually so we could head out to the orienteering course at French Creek State Park. But, before we could get started, we found another awesome-looking friend. Seriously, I think this may be the most incredible moth I've ever seen... and in addition to his great colors, he was big -- about 5" across...

Finally, we hit the orienteering course. None of us had ever done an orienteering course before and we definitely had a good time. The point is to make your way to a bunch of different check-in points using a special map. It doesn't have too many clues -- largely you're looking for various geographical features.

At the end of the path we returned back to our starting point... we managed to do what's usually a 2-hour, almost 6-mile course, in about an hour and 10 minutes! Not bad, huh?

And, what better way to end the post, than by letting the sign do the talking? =)  If you haven't gotten some camping action in lately, I highly suggest you do. You never quite know what you'll find. =)

135 - Campfire!

The campfire is pretty much the most important part of camping. Why? Well, in a word: s'mores. (Ok, the other food is important, too... but let's be honest - it really is all about the s'mores.)

 

And while wood looks pretty darn cool in the daylight (especially with my little brother Jacob's sweet setup), it's hard to beat the warm glow of it at night:

And, let's not forget -- some of the best conversations happen during those late nights... especially when an unnoticed observer peeks out from the tent to capture the happenings.

What are some of your campfire memories?