The Lovely Garden

Summer is officially here and I thought I'd share some of my favorite photos of the garden. We've had some rain but most of the time I'm out watering every few days. I feel like we have a Xeriscape garden for the most part, but I still feel guilty sometimes using all of that water. It does allow me to have fresh herbs and beautiful plants and flowers, though, and it helps beautify the neighborhood, so I guess it's not such a bad thing. The first tiny green tomatoes have just appeared; I'm so excited for those! This brick planter is a project we did earlier this year; everything in it is green and flowering now. (The bricks we used are some that I found on Craigslist also; anybody noticing a pattern here?)
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The columbine is Colorado's state flower and it grows wild everywhere up in the mountains. I love how many color varieties there are. Supposedly if you plant various colors in your garden, eventually they'll be cross-pollinated by the bees and new unique colors will appear. That hasn't happened for me yet, but I keep hoping. Currently we have two yellow ones, this really pretty burgundy and white one and a purple one.
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This blue/purple one is called a Bachelor's Button. The "petals" look like little trumpets to me, and there's also a part that I think looks like a bee's antenna. It flowers really early so you don't get to enjoy it for long, but it's very pretty while it's around.
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I'm not actually sure what this one is, I think maybe an onion of some kind. I don't remember planting any onions, but there are two different bunches of these so somehow it made it into the garden. Maybe it came in from the compost bin. Anyway, this green and purple together is so pretty and I love the look of all the little buds with stripes on each one.

Our New Wheels

It's official--we are now a motorcycle family! Our "new" addition is a 1974 Honda 550 Four that we bought from a gentleman in Boulder. He himself never really rode it, he just kept it around as a project bike and was starting a new project so he decided to get rid of this one. As you can see in the picture, it's in really great shape. We might look for the rear back rest/rack accessory because I want to be able to carry things on the motorcycle. I'd prefer just the rear rack, but it's sold as one piece with the back rest. Apparently adding accessories takes away from its value, so if we ever sell it we'll take the rack back off. I love that it's small enough for me to stand over and feel confident that I'm able to handle it.

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Steven already knows how to drive a motorcycle so he's been out on several errands, some with me on the back and some by himself. We've ordered new helmets so until they come in, our trips consist of going to the Blockbuster 2 miles away or short drives around the neighborhood. I'm going to take a beginner's class so I can get some practice before hitting the open road. The main thing I'm nervous about is remembering all the things to do (pull in the clutch, twist the throttle, make sure it's in neutral when you stop, make sure the choke is on (or is it supposed to be off?), be sure to use both hand and foot brakes at the same time, etc., etc.). The clutch is a little hard to pull but maybe that will just help me develop some serious hand and forearm strength in my left arm. I'm excited to learn, and we're both excited to have something small and gas-efficient for short errands, as well as fun trips to the mountains on days off. Steven may get more of a dirt bike style motorcycle for himself in the future, but for now we'll be sharing this one.
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I did get a used helmet yesterday that Steven found on Craigslist (actually, he found the motorcycle on Craigslist, too; I love Craigslist!). This is the original color I wanted to get, but I went with white and silver for my new helmet instead. Now I have both! So depending on my mood (or my outfit), I'll switch between the two. This style is called Modular because the front portion is hinged to make it easier to open and get on and off. Plus I'm a little claustrophobic and really hate having my nose blocked in any way, so this style helps a lot. Steven's is a really cool matte black one with a shiny black star on the side.

Beautiful, bike-friendly Boulder, CO

(Side note: It's obviously been a while since my first post. I had gotten really frustrated with the next post I tried to create and finally enlisted the help of a friend who has had a blog for a while. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You to my friend Amanda for helping me figure out why I was having so many problems. She is a lifesaver! You can see her blog at Lamb's Lines in the list at right.)


Steven spent almost a week recently in Boulder at a big off-site bike sale for Bicycle Village and since he was there over the weekend, I got to come up to spend some time with him and do some browsing on my own during the days. Boulder is incredibly bike-friendly and has a rack to lock up your bike outside every place in town. This one was my favorite, for being both functional and decorative. There are miles and miles of bike paths and there are even signs on the paths to tell you where in town you are so you know if you've reached your destination. Plus drivers are mostly courteous to bike riders, instead of being annoyed that you're taking up "their" space.

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This is exactly the way I would want my house to look if I couldn't have a front yard. I love how clean and simple it looks and all the angular lines and all the windows in the front of the house and the fact that there is a lot of vegetation in such a small area. And inside this house I would have this kitchen...

Every store I went into in Boulder had "No Photography" signs posted everywhere, who knows why. So I snuck this photo while the owner was outside talking on the phone. The color of the cabinets against the dark countertops looks just right. The countertop is Paperstone, made entirely of recycled paper. How cool is that?

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There were these amazing art pieces everywhere you go, but especially on Pearl Street, a pedestrian-only area about 1/2 mile long with all kinds of shops, street performers, restaurants, you name it. I would love to have this fountain in my yard.

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Even the door of the courthouse is artistic...

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We drove to the top of a super difficult road that Steven rode his bike on the day before, so he could show me the beautiful scenery. I'm glad I wasn't the one riding! Very faintly in the background you can see what we think is one of Colorado's 14ers, a peak that is above 14,000 feet. There are over 50 in the state, and some people make it a goal to hike/climb all of them. I've traversed about 5 or 6 of them so far, but I'd love to get a few more under my belt. Pike's Peak is probably the most famous 14er, and we're lucky enough to see it every day! We've only driven up that one, so I don't count it as being conquered just yet.