An investment

Long, long ago, in a kingdom far, far away, someone packed up a small box. And on a day that would not otherwise have been nearly as exciting, it arrived on my doorstep.

Okay, so it was only two months ago, and really not so far away.

It smelled, ummm... funny. Sort of earthy and damp and not moldy, but kind of alive in the same way dishes that have been left by the kitchen sink for half a week smell, well, different. Does that make any sense at all?

They smelled weird.

By the way, I would never leave my dishes unwashed and my kitchen in a state of disarray because I have better things to do like gardening or blogging. Nope. Not me!

I stuck my face in the box. Yes, I did! Mmmmmm... it was wonderful!



Asparagus crowns!

Yes they're roots, but they're called crowns. Don't ask me why.

But I was also worried, because my garden was still very much a swamp, and we needed to get a nice raised garden bed built in a hurry. These lovely things needed to get into the ground, and they would not be happy to wait for long.

We needed to do this right, because asparagus takes a few years to become well established. But the time and attention it requires will pay off handsomely for at least a decade to follow.

My husband bought some cedar planks, I did not nearly have a heart attack when I found out how much they cost, and we did not argue about how the bed should be built because my way is always better. Then somehow he got the dumb thing built to my satisfaction, in the rain, with a three-year-old helping (which as you know is always a time saver if nothing else).

You see, people, this is why I married a super-hero!

And they grew!



Want to learn something new? Don't you just love when I ask that!

Way back in the day, The Church banned asparagus from nunneries because, well, look at that picture again and use your imagination. You can read about that and be entertained to no end by local-food fanatic Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which I highly, highly recommend.

And, my photography friends, did you notice the problem with that photo? Look closely at the bokeh (blurry background). Something annoying is going on that should never, ever be happening with Canon L series glass.

Here, I'll zoom in a bit for you. GAH! It bothered me like a mosquito bite for weeks until I figured it out!



There are parallel diagonal lines in the background bokeh. You see it? Completely unacceptable!

It was, in fact, not caused by my fancy lens. The Promaster UV filter my lens wears causes this to happen, but only when the lens is zoomed to full length.

Knowledge is half the battle. You're welcome.

(And I'll have you know... I did not finally just sit down on my butt one evening, in complete and utter frustration, and search google for the answer to all of my life's problems this crappy bokeh.)


Linking up with Macro Monday at Lisa's Chaos, and Not Me! Monday at MckMama.