Red-Leaf Lettuce

So I have a confession.  I have been wanting to post photos this week but I couldn’t.  I ran out of pictures I’d already processed and couldn’t do any more, because my desktop, which housed my copy of Photoshop (from college!) died.

After 7 years of working perfectly, it just wouldn’t turn on one day.  I thought it was the power supply, but I tried replacing that at the beginning of this week and no dice.  I blame my college best friend, who literally the day before the computer died told me that he’d been through more components than he could count on his desktop (a twin to mine, built with almost identical parts during the same 12-hour late-night computer-building binge).  I’d never had a problem with it before, so it’s all his fault! 🙂

Anyway, he and his wife are coming over this weekend for Fourth of July so I’m hoping he can take a quick look and tell me whether it’s good and truly dead or if (just maybe) I mis-wired the power supply.  Regardless, the laptop doesn’t have enough computing power to load Photoshop (despite the fact that it’s a version almost 12 years old).  So I had a decision: wait until I can process and “properly” label each photo, or ditch the label and just put up photos.

Honestly, I think my photos are good.  And the reason I’d put a label on them in the first place is because I know how darn easy it is for someone to take photos from one website and put them on another, whether or not they take credit for them.  But I haven’t been a fan of the label for a little while, and I’ve been considering just placing a watermark on the photo, so now seems like a good time to start.

Aaaaand, with that (probably the longest post in the history of this blog), I give you my photo for the day.  Red leaf lettuce.

This is actually one of three plants growing right now in my backyard.  One of several veggies I grew that we’re going to get to eat during our 4th of July BBQ!

Enjoy the holiday weekend and be safe!

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Sweet Pea

Add Sweet Peas to my list of favorite flowers (oops, it keeps growing!).  They smell incredible, take almost no care, and are so pretty!

I love how this one is sort of “looking” at me, expectantly.  And how many flowers are bold enough to combine purple and red?

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Tea Tree

There are dozens of these spiky bushes throughout my neighborhood, boasting little rose-shaped flowers in shades from white to pink and even to a deep red.  Some are single, with a brown center, and others are double, like a particularly full rose.  So for weeks I tried to identify them as part of the rose family.

But it turns out that they have absolutely nothing to do with roses.  They’re tea tree plants, related to the ones from which we get tea tree oil.  These aren’t supposed to be very good for oil production, but they’ve got awfully pretty blossoms.

First, a pink one:

And a red:

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Red Poppy

I took this photo in the middle of El Prado in Balboa Park.  They have the most incredible collection of multicolored poppies there!  Of course, it’s a fairly busy street, running right in front of the Art Museum and the Prado restaurant, and I’m sure everyone thought I was a complete nutcase.  My sister was patient with me for the first five minutes or so, but even she was encouraging me to get going!

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Beefsteak Tomato

During the first two summers I lived in this house, I turned the tiny (10×20) backyard into my garden sanctuary.  I was going through some tough times at work, and being in the garden really helped me relax, focus, and breathe.  I also loved reaping the benefits of my hard work – in the delicious organic produce that came out!  I’ve let my garden slide during the last two years; other matters have been more pressing and I just couldn’t do it all.  I’m hoping, though, that I can plant a small garden (just a few tomatoes, some cucumbers, and a couple of squash!) in a week or two.  If only it would stop raining long enough to get my husbands’ uncles to roto-tiller!

This was one of my prize beefsteak tomatoes.  I believe it was the San Diego variety.  Mmmm…  I’m drooling just looking at it.

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