This little beauty was on sale at Pike Place Market this afternoon. These succulent plants don’t look like too much (for most of the year) with their flat, sort of leathery “leaves,” but this time of year they are such a blessing. I am now the proud owner of two of them and I see the appeal. Wonderful, showy and complicated flowers, brilliantly colored, just when we need some color in our lives.

Visit Macro Flowers Saturday, Color Carnival, Cactus Monday and Pink Saturday for some more photo fun. This one is straight out of the camera, too.

Try a new tag today. What about pink? As always, if there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos here or above for more.

Visiting some friends, we were delighted that they went to the trouble to bake bread for us. Just amazing how good these tasted. To be truthful, they were better than the hamburgers they enclosed. And they are so cute, too!

Visit the Thursday Challenge to see more photos with the theme of food this week, and Macro Friday for more close ups.

If you see only the rolls photo, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the rest of the blog. Thanks!

Looking through the old files from May of this year, I found this photo taken at the marina (Boat Haven?) in Port Townsend, never before published. What a rainbow that was! I remember that it was unusually long lasting, its arc in the east getting flatter and flatter as the sun sank in the west.

Visit Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Skywatch Friday, Scenic Sunday and Weekend Reflections for more interesting photographs on a theme. This one is also straight out of the camera. And because I like it so much, I’m putting it in the Best Post of the Week category.

Please try a new category or tag while you are here. And if there is only the one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the whole blog experience.

All I want is some sunshine, so this dahlia flower photo will have to do. The stripey petals are called striated, I believe. Isn’t it a cool effect? This was an annual type, so it’s forever gone, but that’s why photos are so great, to me at least.

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday, Macro Monday, Color Carnival and Ruby Tuesday for more interesting and creative photos.

We’re getting very close to the launch of the brand new blog site! I’m very excited. Your browser should just bring you to the new site, so no worries. Soon!

Do click on Sara’s Fave Photos if there is only one photo here. And while you’re at it, try another category or tag, just for fun.

At the potluck brunch this morning for which I prepared the fruit plate mentioned in my last post, our hostess had decorated so beautifully for the holiday. The house had decor including several arrangements with perfect red roses that she had made herself. As a long-time garden club member, no wonder she did such a beautiful job. I loved the idea of red roses for Christmas.

Visit Macro Flowers Saturday, Today’s Flowers, and Color Carnival for more interesting photos with a theme.

And as usual, if there’s only one photo showing below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos, here or above, for the complete blog with the latest posts.

We’re going to a potluck brunch tomorrow so I thought I’d make something healthy. Fruit plates can be challenging at this time of year, but these yummy organic grapes should be a hit.

Visit Macro Friday for more interesting close ups and Color Carnival for more bright colors..

If there’s only the one photo showing here, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for more.

One from the archives, for sure. I was going through the tulip collection because I felt like creating a calendar for 2011 with tulips and I don’t think I ever posted this one on the blog. I will definitely include it in the calendar. It was taken in April of this year at the Skagit Valley Tulip Fest, a couple hours north of Seattle in Washington. Hope you enjoy this blast of springtime as we are entering winter.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more great skies seen around the world. Color Carnival has more brilliant colors. Pink Saturday has more pinkness. Scenic Sunday has more scenery. You get the idea.

I really like the expansive feeling I get when I look at this photo so I’ve categorized and entered it as Best Post of the Week.

If there is only the field of pink tulips below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for all the others.

This photo was taken about a year ago, when I had just gotten my new camera, the Canon Powershot S90. My New Year’s resolution last year was to learn its features, and while I haven’t learned them all by any means, I feel much more comfortable with the manual settings and am far more likely to get the shot I want, closer to what I am seeing right then. Sunsets give me such a great feeling and thought I’d share this one, even though the quality could be better.

Visit Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday and Scenic Sunday for more interesting photos contributed by people around the world. I love photo memes!

The U.S. Pacific Northwest has an interesting climate. Even though it’s quite far north, the ocean currents and the large amount of straits, bays, inlets, rivers and other water features gives us quite temperate weather, although mostly cloudy. The temperatures vary here less than any other place I have ever lived. We are lucky that certain broadleaf evergreens like the holly tree flourish here.

This large tree in my neighborhood, perhaps 5 or even 10 yards/meters tall, has wonderful berries, but I noticed that they begin fairly high up. I am pretty sure that is due to people helping themselves to these very attractive holiday decorations. I was tempted.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more splashes of red, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots. If the berries is the only photo here, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for more.

This is my backyard, taken last week in the first snow of the season. I felt that I needed to post another shadow shot today. I love the roses below, but the shadows just weren’t crisp enough. These blue shadows are good for Blue Monday, and this is another for Scenic Sunday, too. Also, this is a good post for the Sunday Creative, on the theme of Frozen.

As always, if there’s just one photo below, do click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the complete blog experience.

I picked these roses, hydrangeas and cosmos in my garden in late September. Oh, what a couple of months does! I think people love flowers so much because they are so fleeting, but their brief perfection seems to reach our emotions like little else.

Visit Today’s Flowers, Color Carnival and Shadow Shot Sunday for more interesting photos. This one is straight out of the camera, too.

If there is only the bouquet photo showing, do click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the complete blog.

I’m not sure if princess crowns is the right name for these dress up things I saw in the Pike Place Market last week, but I do know that if I were about seven years old, it sure would make me feel like a princess to wear one. Note that they are in the “important colors” of pink, lavender and red. There was a time when my own little girl would wear nothing else.

Visit Pink Saturday for more visions of perfect pinkness. Color Carnival has more great, bright colors. If there’s only one photo here, do click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the complete blog.