This is from a neighborhood yard. Such a lovely specimen of a Japanese Maple. I love this photo and hope you don’t mind me counting raindrops as water for Watery Wednesday.

We went to the Normandy Park Cove beach for the fireworks on Saturday. It was a gas, filled with fun and adrenaline as errant fireworks occasionally zoomed by. And it was loud, too, believe me, since so much was set off at once. But I have NEVER seen such a red sky. Maybe it was all the smoke from all the fireworks being detonated everywhere, but there it was.

For more rubiness, visit the inimitable Ruby Tuesday.

My sister drove me past this field on Friday. It is her favorite. She loves the faint magenta color of some of the plants, and the way there are soft drifts of color. When I asked her to stop the car so I could take a picture, she said, “I KNEW you’d want to do that.” She does know me, I guess.

For more scenic photos here and there and everywhere, visit Scenic Sunday.

Driving near Seatac (Seattle-Tacoma, in case you wondered) Airport recently, the weather was changing quite rapidly, and I thought you’d like to see this dramatic sky for Skywatch Friday. Yes, it rained hard not long afterwards! Visit Skywatch Friday for skies seen and posted from everywhere, through the magic of the internet.

I am so happy to see the sweetpeas finally taking off. I planted them from seed myself, and that always adds to the gardening enjoyment, I find. And sweetpeas love to be picked! You can only enhance and prolong the blooming period by picking them as they come into flower. Of course, I always leave a few.

For more flowers around the world, visit Today’s Flower.

This is from a couple of weeks ago when there were some fires burning, not sure where but far away, that for several days made our sunsets smoky but beautiful. Visit Skywatch Friday for more views of skies around the world.

Ah, gray Seattle! I can tell I’ve lived here a while when I start to get excited about different kinds of gray skies. The overlook near my house provides some scenic views, that’s for sure. Visit Scenic Sunday for more scenigasms.

After our anniversary dinner the other day, we took a little stroll along the pier, but it was too windy to stay long. You can see the Puget Sound water surface is not that smooth, but the rays of the sunset was welcome with its brilliant color enlivening the gray skies and dark water. Happy Skywatch Friday, everyone!

A recent sunny day yielded reflections on a pond for us all to enjoy. For other watery delights, visit the Watery Wednesday meme, filled with fascinating water photos from all over.

My recent trip to New York included a truly wonderful trip downtown to Chinatown and Little Italy, which is right there alongside of it, although smaller than it used to be. There are sidewalk cafes everywhere and the best place to go for pastry and sweets is Ferrara’s. Here is a street scene, and the outside of Ferrara’s where they serve yummy gelato (Italian ice cream) and my favorite, the pastry display. This is only a small section of what they have! If you go, try the Baba au Rhum. A plain looking but completely fabulous experience, but not for teetotalers.