Camping! Can you just smell the woodsmoke? We love to get out in the woods for a few days and smell actual fresh air, day and night. Even a trek through the campground to the facilities can be a lovely experience. A warm day in August in the Pacific Northwest is like no other. I love the range of light to darks, with the blue sky peeping through, and I’m calling this my Best Post of the Week.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, and this week the theme of Unique Exposures Weekend Challenge is 100 Years Old (or more). It’s pretty close to qualifying for SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) but I did adjust the curves just a tad, so it doesn’t. But take a look there anyway. Remember, if there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others. Thank you for visiting!

I know this is not my usual kind of subject, but heck, gotta go with these things sometimes. This was a bouquet of roses given to a friend (my roses!) and I just loved how the water and stems looked on her desk. I hope you enjoy the photo. [Note: see the August 22 post, three above this one, for the roses!]

Watery Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) and Macro Monday are all neat blogs and memes, well worth a visit. If there is only one photo below, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others.

This is the only rose in my garden whose name I do not know. It had no tag when I bought it, but its lovely soft pink with the faintest red edges, and its lovely fragrance, won me over. Anyone know its name?

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Color Carnival, Pink Saturday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday. Today is the Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day meme, where people around the world take photos of what’s blooming in their garden on the 15th of each month, post and visit each other. Fun! Getting to the latest post here (if you’ve arrived from a link) is easy: just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

Highline Botanical Garden had an event today with Ciscoe Morris giving a talk, so I had to go and check it out. They had the place all decorated, including these roses in the big fountain. Cloudy weather can be great for certain types of flower photos, can’t it? I like the moody quality of this photo and am calling it my Best Post of the Week.

Mellow Yellow Monday, Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Color Carnival, Pink Saturday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) Scenic Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday are all neat blogs and memes worth a visit. If there is only one photo below, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others.

Highline Botanical Garden is so worth a visit. Just north of SeaTac Airport, south of Seattle, this small but lovely garden only becomes more beautiful with time. Those gardeners and volunteers must work very hard!

Visit Skywatch Friday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and Today’s Flowers. Returning to the latest post (if you’ve arrived from a link) is easy: just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above or here.

Time for a scenic photo. This is at little Lake Burien, south of Seattle WA, a few weeks ago. Don’t you just love, love, love those pink skies? I also thought it was nice of the person to wear that pretty red top for me to photograph.

Visit Skywatch Friday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Wordless Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday, Pink Saturday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and Weekend Reflections. And my Best Post of the Week! If there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others. Thank you for visiting!

An old-fashioned flower, for sure. My mom used to grow this one. It’s very, very tough, can bloom in sun or shade, reseeds very vigorously. Also it’s on the tall side, which I like. But the color of its small flowers (one inch or 3 cm) is extraordinary: an electric magenta that seems to move to red—just the most shimmering, intense color, and combined with its silvery stems and leaves, a real showy plant.

Visit Wordless Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday, Color Carnival, Pink Saturday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday. And remember, when there’s just one photo showing here, click on the Sara’s Fave Photos (that curly lettering on top will do fine) and see the rest.

I went outside and picked a few roses. I hate to cut them but I love bouquets, so I compromise by cutting only the full-blown ones, leaving as many as possible out there. But oh, my goodness, the perfume in the room from garden roses. No florist roses ever come close.

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday, Ruby Tuesday, Color Carnival, Pink Saturday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday. Be sure to browse around here first. Try a new tag or category at right, perhaps?

After a tough winter, most of the roses have come back well. Lots of compost, regular food and water, and frequent tidying up (so I can take photos! and also helps prevent blackspot) make a very satisfying rosebed in front of the house. The neighbors walking by sometimes admire it. It’s a pretty good walking neighborhood, for which I am very grateful. This ‘Oklahoma’ rose isn’t loaded with blooms, but the ones it has are big and fat. And that’s a lavender plant I grew from seed behind it!

Visit  Ruby Tuesday, Color Carnival, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday. If there is only one photo below, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others.

Oriental lilies are the latest in the summer and the most fragrant, I am told. Worth waiting for! And they will bloom in part shade, another plus. A lily grower in N. California told me that they like having low plants at their feet, like oxalis, perhaps, or some other low forest plant. All I know is I adore their smell.

Visit Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Scenic Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday.

Bonus photo: Here I am at my book launch at the Volunteer Park Conservatory in the Bromeliad House yesterday. It was so much fun and such a great experience! Thank you to all who helped make it a success.