Sara’s Fave Photos

We saw the sun for a few minutes this morning, but now all is gray again. In honor of the brief view of the happiness-giving orb, here are two studies in yellow, complete with shadows. Visit Shadow Shot Sunday for more interesting shadows. Go to Color Carnival for more brilliant color, and of course, Mellow Yellow Monday for you know what. Check out Today’s Flowers, too.

The lemons are SOOC, or straight out of the camera. As for the daffs, I couldn’t resist Auto Tone in Photoshop when I saw the neat purple-ish background it produced.

Remember: Now you can always get back to the latest entry here by clicking on the “Sara’s Fave Photos” title in the header, no matter where you’ve wandered in the blog. I invite you to click around, and hope you enjoy your visit.

On a recent visit to Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory, I was impressed at the orchids, but really fell in love with the simple begonias. This kind of thing makes me want my own greenhouse.

Visit Pink Saturday for more visions in pink.

I really like this one, so I’m tagging it Best Post of the Week. Hope you agree.

This quick bit of sunshine we saw last week was the last time I did see the sun, so I’m happy to post the brief reminder here. It’s been gray and rainy, typical for this time of year, but it does get a bit gloomy sometimes. Especially when I want to go out in the garden and get things done. Sigh.

This is a SOOC, or straight-out-of-the-camera shot, like most of mine. Visit Shadow Shot Sunday for more interesting shadows. See more windows (and doors) in Window Views. Visit Blue Monday for more things of all kinds in blue.

Navigation Note: Now you can always get back to the latest entry here by clicking on the “Sara’s Fave Photos” title at the top, no matter where you’ve wandered in the blog. I invite you to look at the archives of Flowers, Cloudscapes, or Water tags on the lower left, or whatever appeals to you today. Hope you enjoy your visit. Thank you, Marsha Perry of Perry Internet Consulting!

Here’s another archive shot taken at the Des Moines (Washington) Marina in August a couple of years ago. I love the way the water shows the tender pink sky.

For more interesting water photos, visit Watery Wednesday. And if you like reflections, check out Weekend Reflections. And you might enjoy Scenic Sunday also.

This post really holds up for me, so I’ve tagged it best post of the week. Hope you agree.

This is one of my top faves, from the archives, from when I used to live in Sonoma County, CA, which is about an hour or so north of San Francisco. I came across it and thought I might have taken it at about this time of year, or maybe March. Those huge live oaks are so dramatic when they are bare. Sure gives you that changing weather feeling of early spring.

Visit Scenic Sunday for some lovely views of the world. And this sure is a great shadow shot for Shadow Shot Sunday.

Since this is one of my all-time favorites, I’m tagging it Best Post of the Week.

Also, I’ve fixed the little problem with comments not being available when you click on a category to the left. Now comments are available whenever you click on a page (or should be). Thank you, Marsha Perry of Perry Internet Consulting! She made this blog on a Wordpress template for me, and I am so grateful. What a great addition to my life.

That bouquet my sister brought last week yielded another photo I really like. Here is an alstroemeria blossom with its floral friends. I do like daylight best, but sometimes even incandescent light can be lovely for flowers.

Visit Today’s Flowers to see other flowers, and Shadow Shot Sunday for more shadow creativity. Macro Monday has close ups, and Mellow Yellow Monday showcases golden yellow. Have fun!

I really like this one a lot, so I’ve tagged it Best Post of the Week. Check out some other self-selected posts. Fascinating.

My sister brought me some flowers the other day and these gerbera daisies are still going strong. So cheerful in the Seattle “sunbreak” we had for a while this morning.

See more interesting shadows at Shadow Shot Sunday. And more brilliant colors at Color Carnival. More straight-out-of-the-camera shots at SOOC. More yellow at Mellow Yellow Monday. More macros at Macro Monday. And more flowers at Flowers for Today!

I’ve discovered that I’ve left incorrect links to some recent meme entries, and I apologize. I thought that by leaving the link to the category it would help people find things, but I didn’t realize that sorting by category disables the comment feature. No wonder it seemed so quiet out there! Sorry, everyone. I’ll go back to leaving the general blog url for most memes and let visitors find their way by category if they wish, or just by scrolling down a little bit. Please DO leave a comment if you feel so inspired; I love them. I’ll do my best to return the visit as soon as I am able.

Since everyone likes this photo so much, and since I like it a ton also, I’m calling this my Best Post of the Week. Check out the cream of the blog week there.

This is my first flower photo of the new year, and my first with the new camera. How appropriately a bud! It is an amaryllis, and should open to a big showy blossom with a bright red color (‘Red Lion’), very soon. I’ll keep you posted.

For more flowers from around the world, visit Flowers For Today.

I’ve tagged this image as Best Post of the Week.

A sunny patch in the weather made some lovely shadows the other day. Visit Shadow Shot Sunday for more interesting and entertaining shadows.

It’s also straight out of the camera, or SOOC.

And even a week later this photo still makes me pause, so I’ve tagged it Best Post of the Week.

This is from the archives, taken on a fine April day from the famous and beautiful Astoria bridge over the Columbia River.

So many photos, in just three years of digital. I think I’ll never run out of things to post. Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies around the world. Weekend Reflections always features a highly creative set of photos, and visit Scenic Sunday for more scenegasms.

I’ve tagged this Best Post of the Week. It’s a keeper.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for this photoblog before Dec. 15 and leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much! Photoblog Awards 2009

Here’s another photo from that letterpress workshop I took. Visit Ruby Tuesday for more photos with red in them. And of course, Color Carnival for more brilliant colors. Have fun in blogland!

And because this just floated my boat, so to speak, I’ve tagged this Best Post of the Week.

Blessed sunshine! This is a rare sunny view of Seattle as you drive north on the Viaduct. Such a wonderful confabulation of building styles and eras. The tall one in the middle is called by some the Jukebox building, and the one below it the Deoderant building. Not very respectful, but descriptive.

Perhaps you’d like to visit Window Views for more interesting doors and window photos. This shot is also SOOC, or straight out of the camera. (But I sure deleted a lot from that group!)

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for this photoblog before Dec. 15 and leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much! Photoblog Awards 2009

Only two months ago, but such a difference. Outside the rain continues, but I can marvel at the perfection of a dahlia that was. Didn’t my garden look good? This was a great gardening year in Seattle, and I salute it.

For more flowers around the world, visit Flowers for Today. And visit Color Carnival for more brilliant colors. Try Macro Monday for more intriguing close ups, and Mellow Yellow Monday for more, well, yellow.

And I’ve chosen this post for my Best Post of the Week (BPOTW). If you’d like to see more self-selected posts of an incredible variety, check it out.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for this photoblog and leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much! Photoblog Awards 2009

A couple of weeks or so ago there was a big windstorm after a rainy spell, and the first leaves blew off the trees. Still fresh and perfect, the colors were more like delicious candy corn than the crunchy brown I remember from long-ago New York autumns.

See Mellow Yellow Monday and Macro Monday for more yellow and close-ups, and check out Color Carnival for more brilliant colors. Do you think they are worthy of Scenic Sunday as well? They are all SOOC, or straight out of the camera, and while we’re at it, visit Ruby Tuesday for more ruby redness.

Which one do YOU like best of the photos? Top, middle, or bottom?

Visit BPOTW for more blog posts chosen by their authors as the Best of the Week.

Wandering through some old photos, I found this one from ten years ago, taken in Santa Rosa, California in a bagel shop. Looks like shadows intrigued me even then. For more fascinating shadows, visit Shadow Shot Sunday.

Again, I’m going to be away for a few days, so I’ll try to visit when I return.

I do still have a few dahlias that got a late start this year and are now at their peak. They are just so exuberant!

Visit Flowers for Today for the most amazing flower photos. And check out Color Carnival for more bright colors to amaze and amuse. Macro Monday has more close ups, and Mellow Yellow Monday (of course!) more yellow.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE: Readers arrive on different days, so I’m repeating about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for me and/or leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much!

Photoblog Awards 2009

This was a potted specimen on a porch is Seattle, and I swear this was the color. I have NEVER seen such brilliant red foliage on a plant.

For more ravishing reds, visit Ruby Tuesday. For more brilliant color of all kinds, visit Color Carnival.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE: Readers arrive on different days, so I’m repeating about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for me and/or leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much!

http://vote.photoblogawards.com/photoblog.php?name=saras-fave-photos

This photo has a simple subject, but the complication is that I don’t know what the plant is. First I thought comfrey, but I looked it up, and no. Then I thought Lambs’ Ears, but I looked THAT up, and it doesn’t grow in rosettes like this one. So, I don’t know. If anyone can enlighten me, I’d be grateful. It’s growing in a neighbor’s yard near my home in Seattle, Washington. [It appears to be Mullein. Thank you, Ms. Toastburner!]

For more ruminations on the theme of Simplicity, visit Thursday Challenge. And because I’m pretty sure it’s an herb, and that qualifies for Thinking Green, visit them for more ideas about being green.

The sunny weather finally ended, and we’re looking at at least a week or two of rain and showers. Today I was out after a meeting in Wallingford and saw this rose still showing the rain from a few minutes before. I just can’t seem to get enough roses lately, but I think the rain coming up will put an end to them for this year.

For more water of all kinds, visit Watery Wednesday.

I’ve decided that this is my Best Post of the Week. Check out what other bloggers think is the week’s best.

These grew on roadsides where I lived in Northern California, although there they seemed to be a bit paler pink. They are also called Naked Ladies, not just from their blushing tones, but because they grow a rosette of strappy leaves in the winter which die back, and then in late summer the blade-topped stalks push up through the dry dirt all by themselves; naked, as it were. They are wonderfully fragrant and related to the amaryllis. If you grow them, plant in a sunny, very well drained area, and then leave them alone.

For more pink wonderfulness, visit Pink Saturday.

I’ve chosen this post as Best Post of the Week. For more truly interesting self-selected BPOTW, check them out.

And for more brilliant colors of all hues, visit Color Carnival.

I have read that swimming koi (goldfish?) must be pictured from above, or else it is not good luck. Okay, I’m hazy on this, but these beautiful specimens appears lucky to me. The many fish in this large indoor pond were large and healthy looking, and so thrilling, the way they move so quickly and gracefully.

For more water photos of all kinds, visit Watery Wednesday. You’ll like it a lot.

I really love this photo and have tagged it a Best Post of the Week. For a fascinating selection of the blogosphere, check out their site.