Sara’s Fave Photos

Hubby has a new hobby, geocaching. He tramps around parks and other public places with his trusty GPS unit, and finds hidden geocaches. It’s sort of interesting, but mainly I tag along for the scenic things I might find. Lake Garrett Park was new to me, and even though the day was cool and quite breezy, the ducks seemed quite happy.

Happy Watery and Outdoor Wednesday! And visit Scenic Sunday and Weekend Reflections while you’re at it.

When I see good light and I have a few minutes, I can’t resist racing to the overlook of Puget Sound near my house to see the view. Yesterday there was a break in the clouds to the west and sure enough, it was beautiful.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies seen round the world. Weekend Reflections, Scenic Sunday and Outdoor Wednesday are worth a visit, too.

That overlook (elevation approximately 700 feet)  near my house is a view of Puget Sound and Vashon Island, but if you look sharply to the left, there is Mt. Rainier in the distance, perhaps about 40 miles as the crow flies. I do prefer the water view, but sometimes the snowcapped peak of our favorite volcano looks pretty fine. This was a gray day yesterday, but I think it’s impressive, in a Seattle sort of way, anyway.

Visit Watery Wednesday for more water (or ice or snow) views. And try Scenic Sunday for more fascinating scenery.

I am trying a new meme today: Outdoor Wednesday. It looks great with some neat photos for you to browse.

Today I saw rainbows in three locations as I drove around and did errands. You’ve gotta be quick with rainbows; they just won’t wait for you. So while I was driving down this alley in downtown Burien, I stopped the car, leaned my head out the window, and took the shot. I actually like it, even though this type of urban shot isn’t my usual thing. Gotta love rainbows.

Visit Thursday Challenge for more Sky photos, and/or visit Skywatch Friday for even more skies around the world!

This overlook of Puget Sound near my house has been a photo op blessing whenever the clouds part a bit. I like the look of the late day light. You can just see the ripples on the water surface.

Visit Watery Wednesday for more visions of water in all its forms. And for visual reflections, some subtle and some not, visit Weekend Reflections. Don’t forget to visit Scenic Sunday for more scenery of all kinds.

While it has been quite rainy recently, wetness does not necessarily a photograph make. I thought I’d show this one of a delightfully noisy creek in the Quinault Rain Forest, on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, taken last summer.

Visit Watery Wednesday for more cybermoisture. For fans of scenery, visit Scenic Sunday. And try SOOC, for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots.

This shot from the archives, taken on a sunny April day, just feels so good after the pretty relentless gray and wet we are having here, with more of the same predicted. We didn’t even get the promised sunbreaks this afternoon.

Des Moines is pronounced Duh Moynz by the locals, yes with the final Z sound, and I understand that it actually means The Monks, although why I do not know.

Hope you enjoy the view of blue sky and puffy clouds as much as I do. Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies around the world. Check out Scenic Sunday for more lovely scenery, too. Fans of blue, visit Blue Monday.

There was a break in the clouds late in the afternoon on Sunday so I rushed out to the overlook near my house to see what the water looked like. Scenic!

Visit Scenic Sunday and Watery Wednesday for more intriguing photos. Try Weekend Reflections, too.

This one holds up, after returning a few days later, so I’ve chosen it as Best Post of the Week.

As long as I’m looking at the Burning Man photos, here’s a doozy for Skywatch Friday. May your life have many double rainbows!

Visit Scenic Sunday when you can for more scenic wonders.

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 was taken in the Portland Japanese Garden in May, not now in January, but I thought we could use some spring and sunshine today. Here is Seattle in the real world, all is gray. For more fascinating flowers, visit Today’s Flowers, and be sure to visit Scenic Sunday as well.

Yesterday morning there was a half hour of sunshine, and I got to go out and walk in it. Wonderful! Here is what it looked like from the overlook near my house (elev. 700 feet) as the mist was burning off.

For more skies around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Here’s another saunter into the archives, this from May 12 of last year: my backyard. I planted every single one of those bulbs the previous fall and was so happy to see how they looked. This year they might even look better, but only the barest tips of the crocus leaves are showing now.

For more entrancing flowers, visit Flowers for Today. I also call this pretty darn Scenic, too! And sunshine makes taking a perfect (or at least pretty good) photo so easy, so this is SOOC as well. But do you think it’s colorful enough for Color Carnival?

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.

It was sunny for a little bit yesterday so I went out for a walk while it lasted. Here is our active volcano (could blow any time), Mt. Rainier, showing its winter snows. The theme for  Thursday Challenge is “Winter,” so take a look there at some other wintery ideas.

This is a good one for Scenic Sunday as well. And hello, Skywatch Friday folks!

It’s been pretty darn cloudy and wet, and dark, but there is still scenic delight if you hunt for it. OK, it’s subtle, but still lovely. Here’s a recent view of Puget Sound from the Normandy Park cove beach.

For more watery wonders, visit Watery Wednesday. I like the reflections in this one, and if you’d like more of those, visit Weekend Reflections. And find more scenic interest over at Scenic Sunday.

I guess I wasn’t the only one entranced by the scenery a week or two ago near Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. The sunset over Puget Sound was pretty darn nice, don’t you think?

For more skies and sunsets, visit Skywatch Friday. And you might like to visit the folks at Scenic Sunday, too, even though we are early for that one.

Even though winter just got here, officially, I’m already thinking towards the bulbs of spring. These tulips were at the New York Bronx Botanical Garden last May. For more cheery splashes of yellow, visit Mellow Yellow Monday. Let’s have a dream of spring tulips, shall we? And hie on over to Scenic Sunday while there’s still a bit of Sunday left.

Yes, this is with the new camera, but unfortunately I did not have the right settings in place, and the quality of this image, which is straight out of the camera, is pretty poor. But isn’t it a lovely scene? There I was down near the water, with such a sunset and the ferry right there, as scenic as it gets, and fumbling around in the almost dark I just failed to get it right. Darn. Well, try to imagine it with sharp, brilliant edges, and all the water ripples showing.

Visit Thursday Challenge for other special images. This week is free choice as to theme.

We went to a new (to us) park nearby in Burien, WA. Hubby has discovered geocaching and of course I wanted to try scenic shots with my new Canon s90 Powershot camera. What do you think? This it totally straight out of the camera (SOOC). I am trying to master the manual controls, a very difficult endeavor. This had the ISO set to 80. I thought I understood cameras and settings from my old SLR film camera days, but these have so very many settings that there seems to be no logic to it.

In any case, check out Watery Wednesday for more cyberwetness. And you can always stop by Scenic Sunday (I’m early, I know) for more scenigasms.

Santa came a bit early and I got a Canon Powershot S90! Here’s a very appropriate photo of the dawn, taken yesterday morning in my backyard, as my first post with the new camera. The only benefit of the days starting so late is I get to see the actual dawn sometimes. Have you guessed I am not naturally an early riser?

It’s going to take me awhile to get comfortable with the manual control features (which were part of the reason I got it) of the new toy. And it’s very small, no bigger than the 3-yr. old Canon point-and-shoot it replaced. Another plus is it does REALLY great in low light indoor situations without a flash, which I prefer in most cases. But so much to learn! I prefer things simple but I am pledged to master this.

Can’t wait to see what it does in the garden with flowers. For that I must wait.

For more skies of happiness and inspiration around the world, visit Skywatch Friday. And have a great holiday.

This was taken at my old front yard in the Des Moines house. Glads closest, yellow and orange day lilies behind, and some Asiatic (Oriental? I always get those confused) pink lilies behind that. The glads were such a thrill, and easy, too.

Visit Flowers For Today for more floriferousness. And Scenic Sunday is a great photo browse as well.

Just a few days ago, this view of Seattle (see the Space Needle over on the left?) was taken from the Viaduct going into the city, late in the afternoon. They’re going to tear it down due to earthquake concerns and build a tunnel, they say. Safety is good, but I’ll sure miss the incredible views.

Visit Scenic Sunday for more sunny wonderfulness.

And just a few more days of Photoblog Awards stuff: 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.

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

So many cheerful photos in the archives; a gray day like today is perfect to find one for us all to enjoy. This was taken at my old house, towards the end of March that year. Glorious, isn’t it?

For more flowers seen across the planet, visit Flowers for Today. And this one’s also SOOC, or straight out of the camera. And check out Scenic Sunday while you’re at it.