Sara’s Fave Photos

I’m going to New York City for a week or so.

But while I’m gone, here’s a link to an absolutely amazing group of travel photos my friend Kurt West took in his recent biking and hiking adventure in the great American Southwest. A photo from it:

You can see all the rest of his fascinating photos HERE.

See you when I get back, with lots of great new photos, I am sure!

This is from last July down at Normandy Park Cove beach. Spring is great but I want it to be warm already. Don’t we all?

For more amazing water manisfestations, click HERE.

Red trees aren’t just a fall thing. The tree across from my new house went from bare branches to pinkish, to red, and for all I know gets to purple, but right now it’s such a lovely ruby color, especially in the late afternoon light. Happy Spring to all!

For more interesting red things, so creatively presented, click HERE.

I know I should save some faves for when there is nothing blooming, but I can’t resist. The first, top one is rhododendron branches I forced from completely closed buds. I was having a party for my birthday (do not ask how many years; a shocking number) and wanted a big bouquet. They took about a week to get from completely closed to this. I put them in very warm water, almost hot, to begin with and it really gets them going.

Then I had to post this checkered lily, Fritillaria meleagris, that came up in my garden. Awfully cute, don’t you think? But it looks more like a tulip than a lily to me.

And finally, this is from my next door neighbor Ele’s garden. The hostas and I think snowdrops (bluebells?) looked so pretty with the sun lighting them up.

And if you still crave more beautiful flowers around the world, click HERE for the greatest photo meme, Flowers for Today.

My daughter brought some Meyer lemons from her friend’s lemon tree in California. We gave lots away and still had plenty. They taste stronger and sweeter than regular lemons. And so beautiful, as well. For more interesting shadows from all points of view, click HERE.

I just heard that the Shadow Shot site’s muse, Tracy AKA Harriet, is having computer trouble. Oh no! Hope it’s solved soon.

I found this new meme called Think Green Thursday and I had just the perfect photo for it. My daughter took this of my seedlings on the windowsill, ready to plant outside, and they are so cute and GREEN that I had to jump in and join the meme. Good luck to the Pagan Sphinx for a great idea.

This is a fresh photo, hot off the memory card. Tonight we were driving into Seattle and the view of Puget Sound from the viaduct (perhaps to be replaced by a tunnel eventually), was just wonderful. I love it when hubby drives and I can take photos! And this is one of the blessings of digital; I know I could never have captured this image on film from a moving car.

Those are the Olympic mountains out there. That speck in the sky is a plane, I believe, not windshield dirt as I first thought.

For more photos of the world’s skies; blue, pink or cloudy, click HERE.

Last week on that sunny day even the water looked good. Puget Sound may be too cold for swimming, but it looked so lovely reflecting the blue sky. For more water interpretations around the world, click HERE.

Spring is so wonderful. Here’s a perfect red camellia for Ruby Tuesday, from the huge old shrub in my backyard. No fragrance, but their almost mandala-like circle of petals is hypnotic to me. And they bloom early!

For more rubiness around the world, click HERE.

I took this the other day from the Des Moines pier you can see in the photo underneath the daffodil below. I call this scenic and I hope you enjoy it. A triple header for me today, posting three photos to three memes.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I’m all excited. The weather is supposed to reach 70 degrees F, quite balmy for this time of year. I am looking forward to a very good year. May we all have a great one!

For more scenic photos to enjoy, click HERE.

This daffodil created flower lust in me. I don’t know why its frilly pale looks appealed to me so much when I saw them last week. I’ll have to find some like this and find a spot in the yard for them for next year. A gardener always looks ahead hopefully. For more flowers around the world, click HERE.

Finally some decent weather, so with an extra ten minutes, I ducked out to Des Moines (WA) pier and found some actual shadows, courtesy of actual sunshine. Felt great to be in the light like that. For more fascinating shadows, click HERE.

Usually it’s quite gray around here (I know I repeat myself) so when we have sunny skies it’s an event. This week we had a couple of days of glorious weather, so here’s a look at a sky from Wednesday for you. For more fascinating skies around the world, click HERE.

It’s great when my husband drives and I can lean out the window or, in this case, across him, and take photos. The view from the viaduct in Seattle is amazing and we hope it doesn’t go away with the proposed tunnel. For more photos of water around the world, click HERE.

Just for fun, below that is a monochrome version. Which do you like better?

We were invited to a pre-wedding party (“Cocktail & Sangeet”) for a young Punjabi Indian couple we know. It was at that big old building at the south end of Lake Union in Seattle. The clothing worn was magnificent, the music was loud, and even though the light was low, I thought I’d share a photo from there for Ruby Tuesday. And I just realized the bride’s name is Ruby! For more photos with red heaven in them, click HERE.

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There is a beautiful old-fashioned glass building in northeast Seattle called the Volunteer Park Conservatory. A remarkable collection of exquisitely cared for plants and flowers, a must see, especially on a rainy day. Do you see the gardenia tree in the top one? The whole place smelled heavenly.

For more flowers around the world, click HERE.

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A sunny day, or a sunny moment, is a wonderful thing, and here in Seattle it’s extra appreciated. Thought you’d like to see the plants on my little greenhouse window in my kitchen, leaving shadows in a rare burst of sunshine. For more shadows artfully photographed, click HERE.

I was in the mood to show a few pix from that Arizona trip we took. There were many photos I really loved but I’ll just show three. These are from the St Xavier Mission outside of Tuscon. The sky was really that blue. For contrast, below are some of the candles lit by the faithful in the church’s exquisite interior.

For more skies around the world, click HERE.

I took this exactly one year ago at the old house. We had a huge mature wisteria and it dropped many leaves each fall, which I would leave on the begonias below it as mulch. Some actually made it through the winter that way. In any case, one wet morning there were these water diamonds sparkling there for me. Now you can see them, too.

For more visions of water from photographers in many countries, click HERE.

Finally the puffy trees are blooming. Last year it happened mid-March, but this year almost 3 weeks later. That’s a lot! Lovely warm weather today, so I was out in the garden planting lettuce seeds instead of at the computer. This lovely tree, perhaps a plum? was bravely blooming by itself last week but now has company everywhere.

For more flowers around the world, click HERE.

Oh, the blessings of a sunny day. Here’s a sweet shadow for you, a gift from a lovely day. For more truly interesting and beautiful shadows of all kinds, or to post your own, click HERE.

I know I”ve lived in Seattle a long time when I begin to get excited about shades of gray in the clouds. This view of Puget Sound is from the overlook pretty close to my house. I believe the land out there to the southwest is Vashon Island, but I’m not certain.

I sure could use some puffy clouds in blue, but that’s what the other Skywatch entries are for. Click HERE to find some!

The weather’s been, well, crappy. I really have to do gardening things, so I’ve started a bunch of seeds. I must say it’s a thrill to watch them come up. I’ve learned that old seeds germinate just fine. What I will do with all the plants I have no idea. A plant sale, perhaps? Anyway, aren’t they cute?

In case you are wondering, the top batch is cosmos on the left, bachelor buttons on the right, and below are four o’clocks just pushing up out of the soil.