One way to take a break after a long car trip is to lie flat on your back on the carpet in the sunshine, like a cat. Naturally, the shadows really sing to me in this one. And the toenails. I’m calling it my Best Post of the Week.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday, if you like shadows, and SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) for well seen shots around the blogosphere. Don’t forget that if there’s only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the rest of them.

It rebloomed! I’ve read all kinds of complicated instructions, but they sound like way too much work to me. All I did was keep it in a sunny (south) windowsill and keep watering it with the weak liquid fertilizer in the water that I always use for houseplants (so I don’t have to remember when to do it). Like all bulbs, amaryllis must have great drainage. After the leaves died back I still kept watering it when it was very dry. And lo and behold, a serious flower stalk emerged two weeks ago and now is in full bloom! The only other thing is that they must be inside a heavy pot because they are so top heavy and can easily fall over.

Visit Scenic Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Ruby Tuesday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, and Macro Flowers Saturday if you have a few minutes for some photo fabulousness. Be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos to view the complete blog if you see only one photo below.

We were in Kennewick, WA, at the edge of the Columbia River, not too long ago. There was a smoky fire in the area which I must admit made the sunset even more beautiful.

Visit Scenic Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, Skywatch Friday, Watery Wednesday, Weekend Reflections, Pink Saturday, and Shadow Shot Sunday for adventures in blogland, the entire planet participating. But first, see the complete and up-to-date blog here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos, here or on the banner above.

What can you say except wow? I think this neighbor’s Japanese laceleaf maple tree has green leaves in the summer, but I don’t really know for sure. Some late afternoon sun lighting up its glory now is just the ultimate in autumn leaves, for me. Hope you enjoy it.

This one is SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera). Also visit Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday and Outdoor Wednesday for more photo frolics. If there’s only one photo below, it means there are tons more for you if you click on Sara’s Fave Photos here or above.

Oh, I love the Volunteer Park Conservatory. Is it any wonder I made a book about it? A recent visit to their unendingly beautiful and changing displays yielded this photo of orchids in a stray beam of sunlight. And just for fun, there’s a bonus photo below showing one of the unusual and creative plant combinations that delight me so. That one is SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), but I have tweaked the orchids slightly.

Visit Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Shadow Shot Sunday when you get a chance. And if you’ve arrived via a link, be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos to see the entire blog.

We have two columnar apple trees, about six feet (two meters) tall and two feet wide at most. They bear full-size apples! With apples, you must have another tree for pollination, so you need two trees, or a neighbor with an apple tree. The trees never get much bigger, so you can have them in pots. We used to have them in big pots on our deck, but when we moved to this house we put them in the ground, and they are happy. This year my hand-pollination efforts, and the plastic sandwich bags against pests, paid off well, and we have a bumper crop. Time for apple sauce!

Take a look at Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, and Shadow Shot Sunday if you have a minute or two. Browse around here with a new category or tag (“My Garden”?) and click on the banner above, Sara’s Fave Photos, to see all the posts here.

Some of you may remember a similar image from last year. Up at Anacortes, WA, our friends took us out on their boat in September, crabbing among the San Juan islands. The weather was changing, but here was a spot of calm weather, and how scenic can you get?

Visit Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Shadow Shot Sunday, Scenic Sunday, Skywatch Friday, Watery Wednesday, Weekend Reflections and Wordless Wednesday and Blue Monday. Fun! Remember, you can always click on Sara’s Fave Photos above to return to the full blog with my latest post on top.

Hope you don’t mind a visit to my rose garden in July. This lovely is called Front Page, and it’s very fragrant. As a rose should be! After all, with so many flowers to grow, why deal with thorns and black spot if not for the fragrance?

Try checking out these cool meme sites when you have a chance: SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Shadow Shot Sunday, Scenic Sunday, Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Ruby Tuesday and Outdoor Wednesday. Whew! Don’t forget that if there’s only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the rest of them.

I took this photo from my bedroom window exactly a year ago. This year I found out that the horse in our neighbor’s pasture absolutely loves to eat those cosmos flowers which I planted much too near the fence. Next year I’ll plant enough for both of us.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Pink Saturday and Weekend Flowers, if you have a minute. And if there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos to see a nice assortment here.

Spathiphyllum is a very common houseplant and does well with a bit of neglect and in dark spaces. I’m pretty sure that the white part is a bract, or a differently colored special leaf, and the true flower is the pebbly, spiky part. It was one of the very first houseplants I ever got to bloom. This particular one is in the Volunteer Park Conservatory, which is my favorite flower haunt in Seattle.

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Macro Monday, Macro Friday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Today’s Flowers, and Weekend Flowers, if you get a chance. But first, see the complete and up-to-date blog here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos, here or on the banner above.