Local and fresh: the yard this evening - updated with dessert

I usually tweak my photos slightly. If I don't they tend to appear washed out on the blog. So I confess that most yard photos especially have the contrast increased and exposure decreased, though usually not by much. They look not only better but also closer to what my eye sees when I am snapping pics.

Confession out of the way, here are some from this evening after I got home and watered the yard.

Pole beans and petunias

Eggplant seedlings and newly sprouted cosmos

Tournament of Roses rosebush

French lavender

Singing in the Rain rose - unretouched

Piñata rosebush

Tomatoes and basil
(and I suspect the Serrano chile may survive)

If you had seen my Elberta peach tree the last two seasons
you would not guess that this is the same tree.

Enjoy!

Speaking of enjoyment, I plucked some basil and Italian parsley from the yard tonight (yes, I also have rosemary, sage, and thyme). These went into a sauce of heavy cream, sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, thyme, dill, red pepper flakes, thin asparagus, and sea salt. All this was tossed with rotelli pasta. Very nice - and lunch for the next couple of days.

UPDATE:
Oh, dessert was organic tapioca pudding topped with very fresh home-made strawberry jam from my friend Bill's home-grown strawberries. I feel sooooo decadent.

--the BB