6/21/2010

Peony in Bloom



This year again, my peony is in bloom. The bush is still small but very healthy and strong.

6/20/2010

Lookout Mountain Natural Trails Colorado




Lookout Mountain in Jefferson County (JEFFCO), Colorado is my current favorite place to go for a hiking. My husband and I have tried only one trail so far. We drive up to a parking lot (oh, no, we don’t start from the base of the mountain but many bikers are so tough to ride up to the top of the mountain), start to hike on a trail which can give us nice shade along side of pine trees with moderate ups and downs. It takes about 1 and half hours for us to make a round trip on the trail. We enjoy seeing deer, tiny wild flowers and wild animals. The fragrance from the pine trees is wonderful, too. It’s nice and cool up there so it’s a nice place to do hiking on a hot day and refresh bodies with fresh green air.

Information: jeffco.us/openspace

6/17/2010

Red Robin’s Nest

There are a red robin’s nest and a wild dove’s nest in my back yard.
I assume they are regular couples who have been nesting in my back yard every spring.
They are like my extended family members.
I feel so happy to see them come back to my garden every spring and pray for their babies grow safely.
This morning, I found a red robin was getting earthworms from the compost pile. I am happy she/he found the compost pile has many earthworms for their babies.

6/16/2010

Growing Potato in Compost Pile



I found a potato has been growing from my compost pile.
Should I harvest some potatoes this summer?
My compost pile has been maturing with rich dark soil and many earthworms.
It’s so relaxing to smell very earthy soil from the compost pile.
No bad odder at all.
When I keep kitchen garbage in the kitchen or garage for a while, they start to smell bad. But once I mix them with soil in the compose pile, they don’t smell bad at all. No flies flying around, either.
Is this because I live in a very dry climate?
My simple big hole compost pile has been a success.

6/15/2010

Fresh Green Shoots




While staying in Japan, I enjoyed hiking almost every day.
It was amazingly green everywhere in Japan, many trees and many flowers. Green and green.
I just sat on a rock or somewhere available and enjoyed inhaling and exhaling fresh green air. It was wonderful!

Today, I was looking for fresh green shoots in my garden here in Colorado, U.S.A. and found a pine tree attached above.
It's a wonderful feeling to see fresh life energy.

6/09/2010

New Tulips in My Garden




Here are some tulips bloomed in my garden this spring.
These were the new tulips added to my garden last fall.
I was on vacation in Japan for 6 weeks and my husband took these photos for me.


They survived snow.


My favorite classic pink and red tulips.


These were interesting pointy shaped tulips.


Ducks loved the tulips.


This was a surprise. My husband found a duck's egg near to the tulips. Ducks' mother had abandoned the egg and never came back to the egg. After 3 days, the egg was gone. Probably, a fox or raccoon took it.