On a walk with a friend, I visited the Highline Seatac Botanical Garden this past week. So beautiful. If you are in the area, it’s a must. Not too huge, a perfect strolling size, flat, and wonderful. I really like it, can you tell? I’ve got to go back and really take some photos before the fall weather gets serious here.

The weather is quite changed, much colder, and summer is truly over, I’m afraid. We had rain and wind and brief sun, and luckily I was at the overlook near my house today and saw Puget Sound in its glory. Happy Watery Wednesday!

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.

Since I planted my rose garden only this summer, I am reluctant to cut too much off the new plants, as it can weaken them. So I take a few short stems and put them in a bowl instead of a vase. This photo is one of my top faves.

For more flowers, a regular flower shop of photos from around the world, visit Today’s Flowers.

And for more close ups, visit Macro Monday.

I just can’t get over the weather we’re having lately. Since May it has been unusually sunny and warm. I am enjoying it so very much, but you can see the season is changing. This overlook is quite near my house, looking at Vashon Island, across Puget Sound. For more scenic photos, visit Scenic Sunday.

This is one of the simple, old fashioned roses, still so perfect in its way. Visit Pink Saturday for more visions of pinkness.

And Shadow Shot Sunday has great shadows, too!

Here’s a recent sky, one of those ones full of great shapes that force you to free-associate. I see a dragon. You?

For more skies of all kinds, all over the world, visit Skywatch Friday. Post your own!

I am sorry I had the wrong link to Thursday Challenge last week. That post has been updated with the correct link.

For this week’s theme of containers, I went to the archives and found these photos from St. Xavier Mission south of Tuscon, Arizona. The interior of the mission was truly gorgeous, in a sweet and handpainted style, and in back and around there were gardens and a museum. I was charmed and intrigued by this holy water dispenser.

It’s officially autumn but amazingly enough, our Seattle weather has been warm and magnificent. A local nursery has all the right plants and accessories for the cool days that definitely await. If I take photos, I manage to avoid taking home all the plants I want but have no room for, even if I could afford them. Don’t you want the whole display, too?

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.

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.

This plant is poisonous, but so very beautiful. I had seen white ones, but never this peach shade or the pale yellow. For more close ups, visit Macro Monday. And for those who adore yellow, try Mellow Yellow Monday for more flashy color.