A sunny day and I’m in love with the Pacific Northwest again. A combination of red leaves, sunshine and backlighting, and I’m in photo heaven. Like flowers, leaves in their brief and brilliant fall display just enchant me. That’s why taking a photo is so very satisfying, giving endless life to the most ephemeral things. Such a feeling of power and abundance!

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and Scenic Sunday for lots of fabulous photoblog fun around the planet. But browse around here first, why don’t you, especially if you see only one photo below. Always click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the complete blog here, and thanks for visiting!

You have to love nice weather after a rain. Nothing makes a walk better than to come across a scene like this one, wandering around the neighborhood. This was over a week ago and by now those leaves are history, I am sure, but, like a flower in bloom, they were good while they lasted.

Visit Watery Wednesday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Scenic Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) and Weekend Reflections for some fascinating photographic fun. If you have a moment to poke around here, I think you’ll enjoy it. Click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the complete blog. Thanks for visiting!

Before the pretty leaf season is well and truly over, I wanted to post this image I took in a parking lot a few weeks ago. I’ve never done a nighttime shot of the outdoor, natural world that I’ve liked so much. Hope you like it also.

Mellow Yellow Monday, Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, Ruby Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, and Shadow Shot Sunday are all good photo meme sites where you can compare different approaches to a visual theme. And as always, browse around here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos to view the complete blog if you see only one photo below.

We had some big wind, and that means the pretty leaves are leaving. Sigh. They were so very lovely this year. Let’s give thanks for their show for us, shall we? An attitude of gratitude is the way to live life, all year round.

Take a peek at Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, Wordless Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Skywatch Friday and Blue Monday, if you can. Do browse here first, and hope you enjoy what you find. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

This was taken earlier this week in Seattle’s Volunteer Park at the Asian Art Museum, close by the Volunteer Park Conservatory, which loyal readers of this blog know that I love so much that I did a book on it. And by the way, since the holidays are upon us, the Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory: Blooming Month by Month book is on special holiday pricing! It’s a perfect gift for gardeners or anyone who loves flowers, and it’s so relaxing and soothing that health care professionals adore it for their waiting rooms. Read a full description and see sample pages on the home page here. And get a few copies today!

Please visit Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, Wordless Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, and Outdoor Wednesday for some excellent photos around this beautiful planet of ours. Perhaps you’d like to visit a new tag or category here, first? Just click on Sara’s Fave Photos to see the complete blog (so many choices!) here.

This Japanese maple leaf is from my front yard, photo taken last week. The dark leaf color is already gone, with only red ones now, but I thought I’d show you the combination of the purple it was all summer and the autumn red just beginning.

Take a look at Ruby Tuesday, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, and SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera). And do click on the Sara’s Fave Photo banner to see the complete blog here before you go.

What can you say except wow? I think this neighbor’s Japanese laceleaf maple tree has green leaves in the summer, but I don’t really know for sure. Some late afternoon sun lighting up its glory now is just the ultimate in autumn leaves, for me. Hope you enjoy it.

This one is SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera). Also visit Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday and Outdoor Wednesday for more photo frolics. If there’s only one photo below, it means there are tons more for you if you click on Sara’s Fave Photos here or above.

Oh, I love the Volunteer Park Conservatory. Is it any wonder I made a book about it? A recent visit to their unendingly beautiful and changing displays yielded this photo of orchids in a stray beam of sunlight. And just for fun, there’s a bonus photo below showing one of the unusual and creative plant combinations that delight me so. That one is SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), but I have tweaked the orchids slightly.

Visit Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Shadow Shot Sunday when you get a chance. And if you’ve arrived via a link, be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos to see the entire blog.

We have two columnar apple trees, about six feet (two meters) tall and two feet wide at most. They bear full-size apples! With apples, you must have another tree for pollination, so you need two trees, or a neighbor with an apple tree. The trees never get much bigger, so you can have them in pots. We used to have them in big pots on our deck, but when we moved to this house we put them in the ground, and they are happy. This year my hand-pollination efforts, and the plastic sandwich bags against pests, paid off well, and we have a bumper crop. Time for apple sauce!

Take a look at Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, and Shadow Shot Sunday if you have a minute or two. Browse around here with a new category or tag (“My Garden”?) and click on the banner above, Sara’s Fave Photos, to see all the posts here.

Finally I got to be outside in some good, sunny weather the other day. Went for a walk in the afternoon and it wasn’t hard to find some beauty for the camera. I wonder if the trees enjoy being admired, the way I sincerely believe that flowers do. At least in the fall, wearing their very best, they must. What a red!

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, Friday Fences (a new meme, to me) and Outdoor Wednesday, why don’t you? If there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others. Thank you for visiting!

Last year I planted several different lilac shrubs in front by the street. I had a few flowers this spring (they are young plants, and lilacs are very long lived and so take their time about flowering) but this season I am surprised to find that some of the leaves are yellow, some purplish, and some have these pretty red and yellow leaves, with pink tones. All right!

Try some new sites: Mellow Yellow Monday, Ruby Tuesday, Pink Saturday, Macro Friday, Macro Monday and Outdoor Wednesday. Quite interesting, you’ll see. But first, be sure you have the complete blog on view here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

I took this photo from my bedroom window exactly a year ago. This year I found out that the horse in our neighbor’s pasture absolutely loves to eat those cosmos flowers which I planted much too near the fence. Next year I’ll plant enough for both of us.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Pink Saturday and Weekend Flowers, if you have a minute. And if there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos to see a nice assortment here.