Yesterday was sunny.  Isn’t it ironic?  Don’t you think?  A little too ironic…

After throwing the ribs on the Traeger I considered going out to Nisqually, but then I looked around the yard and realized I really needed to do some work in it.  Hold on…did I say ribs on the Traeger?!

Why, yes, I did.  Remember how I was talking about my envy of the summer birthday bbq?  I also mentioned that my birthday celebrations tend to span multiple days.  Sunday was my birthday bbq.  Yup.  The husband bought a rack of baby back pork ribs from the local meat store.  I smoked them on the Traeger for three hours, sauced them and cooked them wrapped in foil for another hour, removed the foil, sauced again and cooked a final hour.  They were amazing.  Tender, juicy, meaty, yummy. We enjoyed the ribs with homemade potato salad and a caesar salad.  Cupcakes for dessert.  Happy bbq birthday to me!

While the ribs were smoking I spent time in the yard.  I cleaned out my flower pots, pulled some weeds and trimmed back the lavender and the hydrangea.  Though the lavender had long faded I was still rewarded with it’s sweet smell as I cut the faded stems.

I admired the fall color on the azalea bushes and the kwanzan cherry tree. And cut the ghosts off the hydrangea.  That’s what I call the faded hydrangea blossoms.  There’s something about the lacy dried out husks that make me think…ghost.

It wasn’t real warm out, but it was sunny and not altogether unpleasant. Though I do prefer planting to weeding and cleaning out.  I sometimes think how much easier it would be if I just did perennials all the way.  But, would I happy without begonia, impatien, flox, marigold, petunia, verbena, snap dragon, dianthus, salvia, and lobelia? Just to name a few. Probably not.

I had my camera strapped on my back the entire time I was out.  Lost a lens cap.  It could truly be about anywhere, particularly since I was out stomping around in the “great beyond” taking pictures of ferns and trying not to fall into newly-formed ponds. But, what came to mind as I was taking pictures was what the plants that I was admiring in their faded state or fall glory looked like in their spring or summer glory.  And, so, I bring you now and then: