Sara’s Fave Photos

The tulip display is only getting more so at the Pike Place Market’s North Arcade where all the flower sellers are. These are forced ones, but the weather is warmer than usual here in the Seattle area and the field ones will be a bit earlier than usual. I can’t wait for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival (about two hours away) in April. This year I’m sure some will be blooming at the very beginning of the month.

For more ruby redness, visit Ruby Tuesday, and be sure to check out Color Carnival while you’re at it.

This photo was taken at the NW Flower & Garden show, so it’s forced and blooming under indoor lighting, but still, isn’t it glorious? I think this kind with the frilly edges is a parrot type, but I could be wrong about that.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more ravishing redness. And Color Carnival is where the other bright colors hang out.

I was at the Volunteer Park Conservatory, right near the Asian Art Museum, having a fine old time with my little Canon and the help of a monopod to help brace the shots. I actually hate shlepping and setting up tripods. I want to take too many shots from too many angles for them to work for me, except in special situations, of course.

I am trying to get the Conservatory to feature a wall calendar for 2011 with photos of their incredible plants and flowers, a calendar created by yours truly. When you visit a place like that, are you tempted by a photo calendar? (Assuming it’s wonderful.) What do you think of that idea?

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more photos featuring the color red, and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots.

This urn at the NW Flower & Garden show was almost as tall as I am, and the forsythia stems must have reached almost ten feet. Now that was one impressive bouquet! They keep the lights quite low to keep the plants lasting well, I am told, and the dim lighting was a bit of a photo challenge, but still so pretty.

For more interesting visions of red, visit Ruby Tuesday. And check out Color Carnival for more photos like this. And see SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots.

They do smell heavenly. But be super careful about getting the pollen on your clothes, as it can stain permanently, I’ve found out, unhappily. I grew this and it bloomed in August. They are actually pretty darn easy to grow, but do put in stakes early, because they get tall and delightfully covered with flowers and then maybe a wind comes along and pfffft, it’s a mess. All you gardeners out there, stake early and stake well! You’ll be glad you did.

Visit Macro Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday and Ruby Tuesday for more great photos in blogland. And for sure, Color Carnival, too.

I saw this fine old car in Portland awhile ago. I do not know what kind it is. Do you? Happy Ruby Tuesday!

That amaryllis ‘Red Lion’ has bloomed and I do love it. Very satisfactory. They don’t always do so well, in my experience. The south-facing window with mostly cloudy days helped, I’m sure, plus I’ve learned to put the bulb in a heavy clay pot rather than the flimsy plastic one that comes with the “kit.” Also, they really mean it about good drainage. No wet feet!

For more interesting visions of red, visit Ruby Tuesday.

That amaryllis bulb from a week or so ago is continuing to open. It’s in a south-facing window, but it’s mostly been cloudy and rainy, which is actually great if you are a plant like this one. I’ll keep you posted.

For more rubine redness, visit Ruby Tuesday. Color Carnival is always a thrill. And go check out SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots.

This is the plate I made for New Year’s eve to go with our ritual crab and creamcheese dip and potato chips. I love veggie platters. People only really eat raw vegetables when they are cut up pretty and on a plate in front of them. This assortment is especially fine because the carrots and purple cabbage came FROM MY GARDEN. That is so exciting to me, especially since we had a serious cold spell last month. But the cabbage waited in the fridge and the carrots waited in the ground! Their green tops were ratty from the freezing weather but the carrots are just fine, if not even better than in the summer. I will grow them again, that’s for sure.

For more ruby redness seen in photos around the world, visit Ruby Tuesday. And Color Carnival is back!

I know Christmas is over, but just one more photo of lights, and then I promise I’ll stop. My new camera, the Canon S90, is especially good in low light so I had to see what it could do handheld with holiday lights. This fired at 1/60th of a second, which is great for a night shot, even one with lights.

I truly love this candycane archway and would love to have something like it. It was very tall, and felt so cheerful and welcoming. Where do people get stuff like this?

For more photos with some ruby redness, visit Ruby Tuesday.

It’s almost time for presents! Don’t you just want to open every single one? I do. Have a happy Ruby Tuesday, all. Santa’s coming SOON!

I’ve been saving these photos since I took them in September at a local garden because I knew I wanted to show them at Christmastime. The common name is Doll’s Eyes, and the real name is Actaea pachypoda plant. I just think they are so cool. Of course, any white berry is probably poisonous, so don’t plant them around kids, but I just love them, and especially their highly descriptive name. Happy Holiday to you, and happy Ruby Tuesday also.

Tomorrow is the last day: 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.

I just can’t get over the brilliance of autumn leaves I sometimes see around here. This is a straight-out-of-the camera (SOOC) shot, no Photoshop at all, thank you very much. Sometimes I do tweak just a tiny bit, but rainy skies can be your friend in photography. The even lighting helps get a perfect exposure, even on the Auto setting. I also rarely crop. Compose on the fly, take lots, and hit delete if you don’t like it. Digital rocks!

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more red loveliness, and Color Carnival for more scintillating colors of all kinds.

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

I do not know what this tree is. [Now I've learned it's sorrel tree or Oxydendrum arboreum.] The fall leaves are brilliant red (taken a month ago) but it almost looks like it’s flowering. I also like that the white sky gives it an almost Christmassy look. A rainy walk in the neighborhood can yield wonderful things, if you’re a photo junkie like me. Visit Ruby Tuesday for more visions of red around the planet, Color Carnival for more brilliant colors, and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots.

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.

I know it’s a little late, but had to share our neighbors’ Halloween display for Ruby Tuesday (go there for more ruby redness). There actually were even more spiders spread around their front yard. It was a truly creepy effect. I loved it! And visit Window and Door Wednesday for more interesting window views.

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

Took this yesterday in a break from the heavy rain we’ve been having. Roses don’t really like a lot of rain and if you know more is coming, you might as well pick the ones you have and enjoy the bouquet before they get too battered. Isn’t this a pretty one?

For more flowers, common and new to you, visit Today’s Flowers. And for more fascinating macros of all kinds, visit Macro Monday. And Ruby Tuesday folks, you know what to do for more ruby redness!

These coleus plants used to be quite popular as houseplants in the ’50s. Of course today there are many more types and varieties, but they still are the same flashy foliage, pretty if minor flowers. In Seattle they are grown outdoors as annuals, but you can root cuttings easily and have houseplants during the winter. I am particularly proud of these because I grew them from seed, and it was way easy.

For more ruby redness of all kinds, visit Ruby Tuesday and check out this week’s participants.

You’ve gotta love backyard tomatoes. It’s just remarkable how different they are from store-bought, even those “on the vine” ones with the green tops they sell these days. The complexity and magnificence of the flavor of a homegrown tomato is just . . . well, words fail me. Hope the photo helps a little.

For more fascinating macros, visit Macro Monday. For more photos with at least a splash of yellow, visit Mellow Yellow Monday. And heck, let’s get Ruby Tuesday in on this as well! Anyone for more bright colors at Color Carnival?

The weather has begun a rainy cycle and the roses may not recover. Here is a shot from a few weeks ago. I love roses.

For more visions of ruby redness, visit Ruby Tuesday. And this one is bright enough to qualify for Color Carnival, too. Go see how colorful the world really is.

Begonias bloom and bloom, with no removal of spent flowers (deadheading) needed, and they are happy to bloom in the shade for you. I try to overwinter them in my garden by adding a lot of mulch, which sometimes actually works, or take them indoors if I can. The colors of the flowers and the leaves are so varied. This one is just red, but what a red!

For more ruby visions, visit Ruby Tuesday. And for those fans of super bright colors, visit Color Carnival.

Well, the tomatoes aren’t too big, but in Seattle any ripe tomato is a wonder some years. The little yellow ones were from a volunteer plant in a flowerbed, unlike the started plants I bought and planted in black containers back in May, and sure enough, the volunteer is far bigger and happier in every way. It’s a puzzlement, because the plants in the ground last year refused to ripen, even cherry tomatoes. Sigh.

There’s also broccoli rabe in the basket. I planted seeds pretty early, and they were so spindly, went to seed right away, but THOSE seeds grew and now I have these huge, healthy plants, yielding like crazy. I like it steamed with olive oil, soy sauce and lots of garlic.

Happy Ruby Tuesday!

This is another horticultural specimen from the Chinook District flower show last week. I do not know the name, sorry. But it was something to see; a deep, dark red that just pulled you into itself. For more ideas of red, visit Ruby Tuesday. And post your own; it’s too much fun.