A beam of sunshine, a couple of blooming houseplants, and a close up lens. Ah!

Visit Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Floral Friday, Color Carnival, Ruby Tuesday, Weekend Reflections, and Cactus Monday for great memes. Check them out! And the banner above with Sara’s Fave Photos will get you the complete blog here.

My daughter Lila is travelling in S.E. Asia for a few months (lucky!!) and has been sending updates and photos to friends and family, courtesy of the internet, of course. The days of a postcard arriving months later are over, or at least are supplemented by more timely stories and images. This view of a river and the sky was taken in a small Cambodian village where she got to stay with a local family overnight.

Visit Skywatch Friday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Weekend Reflections, Watery Wednesday and Pink Saturday. And if you’d like to see the rest of the collection here, you can search by your interest in the upper right search field, or just click on the Sara’s Fave Photos banner for the entire blog.

It’s finally raining, although softly, so I went outside for the pretty raindrop display on the coral bark Japanese maple tree. We have gotten almost no rain for the past two months and usually get 5 or 6 inches in both November and December. The garden (and I’m sure the ski resorts) really need the water. Not to mention it’s put a crimp in my scenic shots for Watery Wednesday!

Other fine photoblog memes are Macro Friday, Macro Monday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Ruby Tuesday and Weekend Reflections. See my neighbor’s house in that middle raindrop? I think that is so cool. And you can find lots more photos here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos any time you like.

Peruvian lilies (alstroemeria) look so good, and I thought you might like to revisit some summer flowers from my garden. Aren’t the little red lines cool? They are very easy to grow but can take over. Right now I don’t care and just want color and sun!

Check out Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Floral Friday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Color Carnival, Ruby Tuesday,  and Mellow Yellow Monday for endless photo fun. Browse around here by clicking on the banner Sara’s Fave Photos to see the whole collection.

There’s a family not too far from me that really goes all out in holiday decor. The years that this address makes it into the newspaper holiday light guides the cars are double-parked outside, but this year no one called it in, so we were able to enjoy it in peace, you might say. See Santa waving? This is only a small part of the display. I love  over-the-top shows like this, don’t you?

A very merry Christmas and holiday celebrations of all kinds to you.

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Here’s one of Seattle’s hidden gems, the Volunteer Park Conservatory, all decked out in its bright new LED lights. They were installed not only for the winter holidays but also to kick off its 2012 Centennial celebration. I read that there are only three remaining Victorian glass conservatories in the U.S.A.— this one, the smaller one in Tacoma, WA, and the one in San Francisco. What an architectural and historical treasure we have here!

Visit Thursday Challenge (Light), Skywatch Friday, Outdoor Wednesday, and Scenic Sunday, for fascinating photo frolics. Click around the blog here first, if you have a minute. The banner Sara’s Fave Photos will get you the complete collection.

In honor of tonight’s Solstice, I am featuring a photo taken on the other Solstice, the first day of summer in June. Please enjoy these pink peonies from my garden. In just a few hours, the sun dips to its lowest point in the northern hemisphere, and then begins its stately progress towards more light. We are ready.

You might like Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Pink Saturday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and Floral Friday for some fun in the world of photoblogs. Click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the complete blog here, and thanks for visiting!

Driving across the 520 bridge towards Seattle the other day, I was wowed by this sunset setting up. I so wished I could pull over and wait for the pink clouds that I knew were to follow. This slice of sunlight is pretty cool, though, even though the photo quality is low. A fitting post for the Solstice, almost here. The sun will return!

Visit Pink Saturday, Mellow Yellow Monday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Thursday Challenge (Light), Skywatch Friday, Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday and Weekend Reflections for tons of photo fun. Guaranteed! And be sure to click around here and there onSara’s Fave Photos first, hear?

The other night at the lighting ceremony at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory, there was magical harp music. In that mysterious and romantic environment, it only sounded more beautiful, if that is possible, than harp music usually does. Wish I had a video of it, but I’m a still camera kind of gal, at least so far.

I like the special mood of this photo and I’m calling this my Best Post of the Week.

Take a peek at Thursday Challenge (Light), Color Carnival, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Ruby Tuesday, Pink Saturday, Mellow Yellow Monday, all tons of fun photoblog memes. Before you go, be sure to try a new tag or category here at Sara’s Fave Photos, just for a lark.

I don’t know much at all about orchids other than that the flowers last so long it makes their high prices almost sensible. Here’s one in a florist shop that really excites me. Green and pink is one of my fave color combos, especially in flowers. If only they had fragrance, but I guess with looks like this, who needs perfume?

Visit the NEW Shadow Shot Sunday 2 for more creative shadows from around the world. Also Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Pink Saturday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Ruby Tuesday and Floral Friday are worth a visit. Check out something new at Sara’s Fave Photos before you go, why not?

When a sunset gets going in the pink mode, it can really get going, but you have to be quick to get it at the peak. This view to the southwest in my backyard was perfect for yesterday’s display of the year, sunset-wise. The photos taken seconds right before and right after this one were great, but this one was oh-my-goodness—to me, at least. I sure love the digital camera thing that lets you take so many, because in the film days, I might have taken only one or two and not gotten this show. And I surely wouldn’t be sharing it with the entire world!

Check out Pink Saturday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday and Skywatch Friday for more fine finds in blogland. Before you do, please visit a new tag or category here, if you have a minute, and find the complete blog by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos. Thanks!

The other day at the Normandy Park Cove, near Seattle, I looked outside and there was that pretty effect when the clouds in the distance look almost like cut paper. Then it went back to just plain old dull gray. We take what we can get when it comes to scenic in this part of the world. Did you know that the Seattle area gets only about 36″ or a little over a meter of rain a year, which is about what New York City or Santa Rosa, California gets? BUT it has far, far more cloudy days. Don’t tell me how many; I don’t want to know. So we get to be conoisseurs of gray skies!

Visit Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Skywatch Friday and Watery Wednesday if you have a minute or two. If only one photo below, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos to view the complete blog here.

Happy note: Only 8 days ’til the solstice means just 16 days until days are lengthening and longer than today!