A Glorious Growing Green Garden Gives me Grins!

This was my garden a year ago during the worst drought Kansas has ever seen. 

But check it out this year!!! 

Wow, amazing how plants will actually GROW when they have WATER! 

Just take a look at the grass around the sides of my garden! Last year there was no grass. I think we mowed our yard maybe twice all last year and I've already mowed three times this spring! Hey, I don't mind the extra work as long as we keeping getting the rain and Kansas stays green. Ah, how refreshing it's been! 

I've picked Swiss Chard twice already and it could probably be picked again today. That stuff grows great! 

And look at how thick and luscious my peas look! We didn't have any peas grow last year, I'm soooo excited!! 

I'm not sure how many inches of water we've received this spring, maybe 5-6 if I had to guess off the top of my head. I know that sure doesn't sound like a whole lot, especially to everyone back home in Indiana, but after last summer's drought and hardly any rain for a whole year 5 or 6 inches is practically a flood! I just keep praying that the rain keeps coming even if it's only a little bit at a time. A little is sure better than nothing. My photos prove a little rain is FAR better than no rain at all! 

What a difference a year (or 11 months) can make!

What a difference a year can make, well 11 months anyway. Last summer Kansas experienced the worst drought ever but I didn't know any better considering it was my first full summer in Kansas. 

These photos were taken the first week of June last summer and I thought all that brown on the hillside was normal! 

(I posted about the drought last summer here, one of many places.) 

I took a photo of the same hill, different viewpoint of course, just yesterday. 

Look how green it is! I can't believe how different the two views are. 

We've had a beautiful wet spring and it's so welcome to see so much green...

....and puddles too! 

Although the rain clouds can look kind of menacing coming in across the prairie...I'm not going to complain if it brings rain! 

Week 13 - Green

It's really been greening up this spring, much more than last year. That's what happens though when it FINALLY rains! I was sure happy that there was actually something alive to shoot for this week's green theme because there probably wouldn't have been anything like this here at the same time last year. 

f11, 1/80, ISO 1600

This is a field of wheat at the edge of our town.
I love wheat. 

f7.1, 1/125, ISO 1600

Same field different direction.
I suppose some people wouldn't like these photos since they are tilted but a straight on picture, to me, suggests stillness and tranquility. Even though this scene could easily have been portrayed that way those weren't the emotions I was feeling. We haven't had rain in so long and it was nice and wet when I took these photos, I was just so ecstatic about the moisture I wanted to suggest more dynamic feelings than stillness. So, I tilted em'.

And then, just because, I edited them the teeniest bit. 

edited with some HDR 

edited with some HDR and some cross process

Week 14 - Music