I recently gave away some extra garden plants I had, and a neighbor who picked some up brought a bouquet of dahlias from her garden as a thank you. I have heard of dahlias called dinner-plate size, but thought that was poetic license. This is for real. Here is her bouquet on my kitchen table, with a regular box of tissues there for scale.

Bouquet of lemon yellow dahlias, each flower about ten inches across

Joining up with Our World Tuesday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Wednesday Around the World (WATW), Thursday Challenge (Plants), Floral Friday, Photo Friday, Today’s Flowers, Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and Saturday Show Off. Thanks for visiting and hope to see you here again soon.

I think this is a dogwood, but not sure. In any case, this was taken before today’s big wind. Ah, the fleeting beauty of autumn leaves.

Red leaves on a tree in autumn

Linking to Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Outdoor Wednesday, Wednesday Around the World (WATW), Thursday Challenge (Plants), Skywatch Friday, Photo Friday, Scenic Weekends, Pink Saturday,  and Saturday Show Off. Thanks for visiting and hope to see you here again soon.

The warm fall has created some interesting garden anomalies. Here’s a rain-soaked October forsythia blossom!

A single fall bloom of forsythia, in the rain

Joining up with Our World Tuesday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Macro Monday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Outdoor Wednesday, Wednesday Around the World (WATW), Water World Wednesday, Wednesday Waters, Thursday Challenge (Plants), Floral Friday, Photo Friday, Today’s Flowers, Pink Saturday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, and Saturday Show Off. Thanks for visiting and hope to see you here again soon.

The other night the sky was on fire.

Birds on a wire at flaming sunset

Joining Our World Tuesday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Outdoor Wednesday, Wednesday Around the World (WATW), Skywatch Friday, Photo Friday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, Scenic Weekends, Pink Saturday, Camera Critters, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, and Saturday Show Off. If only one photo is showing here, please click on the curly letters of Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see a few more.

When the sun comes out, even the simplest leaves are beautiful in their autumn glory.

Blueberry bush with red autumn leaves, and green fern in the background

Joining up with Our World Tuesday, Macro Monday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Ruby Tuesday 2, Outdoor Wednesday, Wednesday Around the World (WATW), Photo Friday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and Saturday Show Off. If only one photo is showing here, please click on the curly letters of Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see a few more.

Hydrangeas are so beautiful, all summer long and maybe even more so in the fall as their colors change and intensify.

Purple hydrangeas in the fall garden

Connecting up with Our World Tuesday, Macro Monday, Outdoor Wednesday, Wednesday Around the World (WATW), Floral Friday, Photo Friday, Today’s Flowers, Pink Saturday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and Saturday Show Off. Thank you for visiting and please come back soon.

This was my first try of a recipe for Apple Tart in the wonderful book The Apprentice, or at least the filling is. I used a Fred Meyer frozen pie crust, and yellow apples from my tree. It was GREAT even if I baked it a bit too long. Filling recipe: Core and cut about 4 golden delicious apples (2 lbs.) into 1.5″ pieces. Arrange like spokes in a wheel on pie dough. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of cold unsalted butter, in pieces. Bake at 425 for one hour or until golden. (This was too long or too hot, but that’s an easy fix.) The flavor and texture was superb. It was so quick and easy, too!

Freshly baked apple tart, French recipe.

Connecting with Our World Tuesday, Macro Monday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Wednesday Around the World (WATW), Thursday Challenge (Orange), Photo Friday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, Pink Saturday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, and Saturday Show Off. If only one photo is showing here, please click on the curly letters of Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see a few more.

Went outside a couple of days ago and picked tomatoes and chard. Love this warm fall we are having.

Garden vegetables in a basket

Linking with Our World Tuesday, Macro Monday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Wordless Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Wednesday Around the World (WATW), Thursday Challenge (Orange), Photo Friday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, Pink Saturday, and Saturday Show Off. While you are here, please look around a bit. Try a new tag or category?

These are Korean dogwood leaves, in my front yard.

Curvy Korean dogwood leaves starting to turn color, up close

Joining in Our World Tuesday, Macro Monday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Ruby Tuesday 2, Outdoor Wednesday, Wednesday Around the World (WATW), Thursday Challenge (Orange), Photo Friday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and Saturday Show Off. If only one photo is showing here, please click on the curly letters of Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see a few more.

Flowers fascinate me.

Very dark burgundy dahlia and pale one in a small bouquet

Joining Our World Tuesday, Macro Monday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Ruby Tuesday 2, Wednesday Around the World (WATW), Floral Friday, Photo Friday, Today’s Flowers, Pink Saturday, and Saturday Show Off. Thanks so much for your visit here first, and please come back soon!