It’s been raining for three weeks straight, but the archives have lots of sunshine, thank goodness. Sometimes I just don’t want to go outside with the camera when it’s really dripping wet. Enjoy this autumn bliss!

Participating in various photo memes this week: Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2 and Ruby Tuesday 2. If you only see one photo below, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see the others. Thanks for stopping by!

Less than three weeks gone by and it seems like another era. The sun is done and the rains have come. Here’s what Seattle’s iconic Volunteer Park Conservatory looked like in our amazing summer which lasted until the middle of October. I think this image is great photo journalism and I’m calling it my Best Post of the Week.

Linking in at Skywatch Friday,  A Piece of Heaven, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Pink Saturday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2 and Ruby Tuesday 2. If you only see the Conservatory photo below, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see the rest. Thanks!

If you’ve ever gone to Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market in the fall, you know to visit the pepper sellers. Every year they create these little works  of art, some with their primary colors even brighter against blue tarps. They are so pretty! Each year I buy one and use the peppers all year in soups and stews. You can make a LOT of spicy stew with one of these babies.

Participating at Mellow Yellow Monday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Ruby Tuesday 2, Outdoor Wednesday and Macro Monday. If you see only the peppers photo below, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above for all the others. Thanks for visiting, and come back soon!

Late summer flowers are much appreciated. I went to Swanson’s Nursery in Seattle (love that place) and had some photo fun with the flowers on stunning display. I wanted to show these pretty coneflowers (echinacea) before the fall gets too far along, even though they are from all of two weeks ago. In your garden, when the petals fall off, you might leave the seed head centers for the birds.

Joining up this week at Mellow Yellow Monday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Ruby Tuesday 2, Outdoor Wednesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Pink Saturday, Macro Monday, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. If there is only the coneflowers photo below, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to show the rest of the blog. Thanks for visiting, and come back soon!

In a break after the rain began the other day, I went out front and cut all the roses that were opened. They just get yucky if they stay wet for any length of time, so they might as well come inside and dry off. I usually don’t do such a big cutting of  roses, preferring to keep them in the garden for everyone’s enjoyment, but since much rain was predicted, what else could I do?

Participating in My Romantic Home, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Pink Saturday, and Ruby Tuesday 2. As always, if there is only the one, lonely photo below, clicking on the curly letters of Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above will bring up the other recent photos for your enjoyment.

After weeks and weeks of sunshine in Seattle (I heard that we had over 72 days with blue skies!) it finally began to rain. I guess it had to happen. My garden is so relieved, I can tell you that. Hose watering just doesn’t do the job that rain does. We had quite a bit of water, and more is predicted, but this morning there was a sunshiny period so I went outside for a walk. Here are some wet and colorful autumn leaves with peeks of blue sky, for your enjoyment.

Participating this week at Mellow Yellow Monday, My Romantic Home, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Ruby Tuesday 2, Outdoor Wednesday, Water World Wednesday and Nature’s Footsteps Waters. If only the leaves photo is below, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see recent posts. Thank you so much for visiting! Be sure to leave a comment if you like what you see.

At Seattle’s Arboretum not too long ago, I spotted this large, unusually shaped, terra cotta hanging “basket” with fuchsia blooms. They do hanging plants so well—see my post with red petunias from the same visit.

You might also visit Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Flower Art Friday, Weekend Flowers, SOOC Sunday, Pink Saturday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Scenic Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2 and Outdoor Wednesday. As always, if there is only the one, lonely photo below, clicking on the curly letters of Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above will bring up the other recent photos for your enjoyment.

I went to the Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle today. Be sure and see the Angels Trumpets (brugmansia) before they are finished blooming! I like brugmansia so much that I put them on the cover of my book. Look for a post about the ones I saw today soon.

As usual at the VPC, there is much beauty to see. This flame-colored orange hibiscus really caught my eye. It felt like I was in Hawaii!

You might visit Mellow Yellow Monday, Macro Monday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Flower Art Friday, Weekend Flowers, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and Ruby Tuesday 2 for more interesting photos around the planet. As always, if there is only one single photo below, clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above will reveal the latest images. Try it!

This pretty Camelot rose in my front garden is such a sweet and fragrant flower. It does have a little habit of dropping its petals almost as soon as it becomes fully open, but you just can’t have everything. I do like to keep the beds picked up (leaves and petals) to try to minimize black spot, but aside from looking neater, I don’t know that it really makes a difference. But such is gardening life.

Linking up at Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Pink Saturday, Scenic Sunday, Macro Monday, My Romantic Home, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Flower Art Friday, Weekend Flowers, Outdoor Wednesday, and Ruby Tuesday 2, plus a brand new meme, Simple Things. Please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog if you see only the one, lonely rose photo. Thanks!

A quick visit to the Visitor Center at the Arboretum in Seattle (they are now carrying my book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory, and might carry our new glass tile jewelry as well), and of course I need to see what’s pretty to photograph. Here’s one of a group of lovely hanging baskets outside the Visitor Center.

I’m participating at Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Flower Art Friday, Weekend Flowers, Outdoor Wednesday, and Ruby Tuesday 2. Please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog if you see only this one photo below. There are so many others to see here! The photo post directly below is particularly wonderful, if I do say so myself. Thanks for stopping by.