While recently in San Rafael in Northern California, I had a chance to visit the big hispanic supermarket Mi Pueblo, one of a chain of ten stores around California. It was so great! Very entertaining. Everywhere I looked were perfect displays of all kinds of delicious-looking foods, a perfect photo op for a photo junkie like me. Here’s a peek at the ceiling decor over the fruits and vegetables.

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On New Year’s Eve we like to have a crab and cream cheese dip, and to make sure there are enough calories, only with ridged potato chips. Only once a year, but still. So in recent years, I”ve been adding a vegetable plate, also very good to stick in crab dip. This year we got to use the crab we actually caught ourselves in September, which was super wonderful. I hope your New Year’s Eve was as delicious.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more intriguing images with red. And look around this blog or Free Photos while you’re here, why don’t you?

We’re going to a potluck brunch tomorrow so I thought I’d make something healthy. Fruit plates can be challenging at this time of year, but these yummy organic grapes should be a hit.

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The U.S. Pacific Northwest has an interesting climate. Even though it’s quite far north, the ocean currents and the large amount of straits, bays, inlets, rivers and other water features gives us quite temperate weather, although mostly cloudy. The temperatures vary here less than any other place I have ever lived. We are lucky that certain broadleaf evergreens like the holly tree flourish here.

This large tree in my neighborhood, perhaps 5 or even 10 yards/meters tall, has wonderful berries, but I noticed that they begin fairly high up. I am pretty sure that is due to people helping themselves to these very attractive holiday decorations. I was tempted.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more splashes of red, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots. If the berries is the only photo here, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for more.

Kale can be quite delicious if you cook it right, but this kind is just for pretty, as my mom used to say. A local nursery had such a nice collection. It’s practically a flower, don’t you think?

Visit Macro Friday for more macros of all kinds. This one is SOOC, or straight out of the camera. And as usual, if there’s just one photo here, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the full blog.

I like the lighting on this post a lot so I’ve put it in the Best Post of the Week category. I hope you agree.

Last week that visit to Furney’s Nursery, south of Seattle, was such a fun browse. They had so many kinds of gourds and pumpkins, including little ones with swoopy stems, and this big pumpkin with a big stem to match.

Visit Thursday Challenge for more photos with a theme of Autumn, and Macro Friday for more macros. Color Carnival has more bright colors for you, too! And these are straight out of the camera, or SOOC.

These strings of hot chili peppers on display outside the Pike Place Market are just the coolest thing. Their colorful brilliance and abundance thrills me. This time I had to buy a string, ready for soups and stews this winter.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more perfect reds, Color Carnival for bright colors, Outdoor Wednesday for outdoor things, and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots. And do visit Best Post of the Week, for other people’s fave posts.

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These potted blueberry bushes in a friend’s healthy garden are just the cat’s meow when it comes to fall color. Aren’t they incredibly brilliant? Hard to believe that a plant with so fabulous a fruit pleases the eye so much, too.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more red and Color Carnival for more color of all kinds. And check out SOOC (straight out of the camera) shots for more unedited photos.

While you are here already, you might try a new tag or search term, just to see what’s around. And if you’d like to get to the latest post, just click Sara’s Fave Photos, here or above.

If you love peppers you’ve got to get down to the Pike Place market and see the peppers. What a display! Is there anything prettier than a pack of perfect peppers? Last year I bought a string of them and they dried nicely to use in soups and stews all winter long.

I love this photo and am tagging it Best Post of the Week.

Visit Ruby Tuesday and Color Carnival for more great photos on a color theme. And this one is straight out of the camera, or SOOC. While you’re here you might as well try a new category. Vegetables/Fruits, perhaps? And to get to the latest post here, you can click on Sara’s Fave Photos, here or above.

I can hardly believe that I got any tomatoes at all, but here is proof. September is a bit late for first tomatoes, though, don’t you think? I threw a couple of handfuls of dolomitic lime on the soil at planting and it made a huge difference. No more yucky blossom-end rot, and the vines look GREAT. Here in the Pacific Northwest the soil tends to be pretty acidic, thus easy success with rhodies, blueberries and evergreens. But tomatoes seem to prefer a more alkaline soil.

Gardening note: I was always hesitant to use dolomitic lime because I was sure it must make the soil more acidic—because it was “lime” and that had to be acid, right? WRONG. Silly me. It makes the soil more alkaline just like it says on the box and is great for plants like lilacs, peonies (mine flowered for the first time!) and hellebores, all of which really hate an acid soil.

How about browsing the “Vegetables/Fruits” category here—then visit Ruby Tuesday for more things red and ruby, Color Carnival for more brilliant color, and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots. And if you’ve arrived here from a link, do click on Sara’s Fave Photos to see the full blog with the latest and the greatest photos.