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.