The Great Outdoors

It's the beautiful time again in our yards. The back is lush and overgrown. You can still smell new leaves and damp soil -- the promises of things to come. The air is soft and inviting. The kids love to wander and explore.

Finally.

It took until they were both in school for me to be able to spend time outside again. My daughter could not stand the feel of grass and they both freaked out if flies or bees buzzed too close to them.

The yard awaits. Our daughter climbs trees now, making her own bows and arrows. James follows her about, swinging on the swing set or making pictures on the chalkboard or pads of paper. They have super soakers that are just waiting to be used.

Golden Hour

James has less than two weeks left of First Grade. His sister's last day of Third Grade is this Friday. I am sad to see another school year / grade level / established set of routines come to an end ...

... but there is also freedom from homework. Oh. Yeah.

After cooling down in the house with ice water, yogurt squeeze-ups, and a movie, I moved us all to our back yard. Oh the moaning and "I don't wanna"s -- they lasted all of five minutes. There was so much to explore and distract. James mixed up colours from the basic red, yellow, and blue acrylics. His sister painted rather dainty masterpieces. I actually did a little lavender sketch in paints.

The golden afternoon sun filtered through the leaves of the cherry tree that is squarely in the middle of the yard. Some of the cherries are actually turning red. Yes! Soon we shall have cherries in the morning, fresh off the tree ... but I digress.

James gave the swing set a workout. His sister started raking leaves and watering, in between petting the cat. I actually got quite a bit of gardening done. Man, we have like a zillion little root saplings sprouting up in what used to be the lawn! The blackberries are already plotting to take over the back fence perimeter, and the rose trees need a whole lotta dead-heading. It's nice to be needed.

I enjoyed that time outside together. It was very satisfying.

SOOC: Out Back

Our cherry tree out back suddenly turned its leaves gold. As the lawn started to collect the windfalls, I seized my camera to record the last bit of Fall colour out back. I'm glad I did, because we've have huge winds sweep through and blast almost all the leaves off the trees this week. It was literally snowing leaves when I drop the kids off in the mornings.

I liked this last photo so much that I tweaked it a bit. Says a lot about a moment in time last week, for me:

SOOC

Minor colour balance and contrast tweaks.

Extreme contrast tweaking.

Okay, it's not Saturday but it's still the weekend!
There's still time to check out the SOOC action at Marvelous Mommy's blog.
Come on over to see more or join in!

SOOC: Spider Morning

It's definitely Fall. We've had three rainstorms pass through, knocking down the heat and dust of the previous weeks. The leaves are wet and make that spicy smell that happens when the first big batch get blown and beaten to the ground. The sun comes up later. There's more chill in the air. Halloween is right around the corner.

I came out to feed the cat this morning and went right back in for the camera. It was a spider morning in the sparkling sunrise:

Yikes! I am torn between admiration and mortification. It looks like the Addams Family's backyard.

Here's a shot of one of the bigger arachnid artists -- about 2 inches and smack in front of the playhouse, which has become more like a chair storage unit:

Even our cat matches the Halloween theme:

"Spiders are not yummy. Bring me Real Fud!"

What a difference to come inside and check in on my early riser:

All photos are SOOC and low rez (thanks to my son, who changed my camera's settings on me once again). To see some more awesome SOOC action, or share some of yours, visit SOOC action at Marvelous Mommy's blog:

Tackle It Tuesday: Environment

Finally, after rain, clouds, grey, snow, and more cold rain, we are getting bursts of warm Spring weather. Back in January I invested in a beautiful pair of loppers are went to work pruning trees, bushes, and vines. These things combined resulted in our going bonzo with new growth. The windstorms mean that leaves and debris are everywhere.

I have been working to clean the yards (front and back) for the kids' playing area, and for our own enjoyment. Yesterday, James came out and "helped" me rake. He gave it a good 5 minutes before heading off to swing in the newly uncovered play area out back.

The "before" pics were unremarkable, so I'll show you some of the our yard as it is now, after several hours, days, and minutes of work. Enjoy!

Part of our outback:


My son, raking for the good of the environment!


Our plum tree was about 3 weeks ahead of it and got blasted by rain, sleet, hail, and overnight freezes; all the blossoms were stripped off PDQ and now only a few branches have leaves ... The cherry tree is blooming at just the right time, and full of snow white blooms. I am dreaming of early summer cherries:


James thinks the few falling petals are snowflakes!


The grape vines are leafing out, which makes it easy for me to spot the ones I missed clipping out of the nearby trees ...


"Say 'cheese,' Mommy!"


Look at how full this bin is! I even smooshed it down a couple of times so more could fit inside:


Thank you, helper James!


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