This is a kind of oakleaf hydrangea, I think, with very double flowers. This was blooming in mid-September in the Seattle area. I’ve not seen another one like it.

For more flowers photographed all over the world, visit Flowers For Today. And for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots, visit SOOC.

The weather has been so cold that it’s discouraging to be out of doors too much, but the sunny weather is so appreciated for us sunlight-starved Seattlites. Here’s a recent photo of my early morning window view of cacti, right where I have my coffee. The rocks (mostly heart-shaped, although you can’t see that here) including the agate one, were found digging in my garden.

For more truly fascinating view of shadows around the world, visit Hey Harriet on Shadow Shot Sunday.

Visit Weekend Reflections and Window Wednesday, too. And SOOC, while you’re at it.

And just a few more days of Photoblog Awards stuff: PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for this photoblog before Dec. 15 and leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much! Photoblog Awards 2009.

As we approach the Winter solstice, I found this photo taken on a Summer solstice at the Woodland Park Rose Garden in Seattle, right near the zoo. It has been clear but very cold out, and this vision of the warm days of summer does seem almost impossible, but so sweet.

For more blissful pinkness, visit Pink Saturday. And this one (sunshine makes it so easy) is SOOC, or straight out of the camera.

This is from the archives, taken on a fine April day from the famous and beautiful Astoria bridge over the Columbia River.

So many photos, in just three years of digital. I think I’ll never run out of things to post. Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies around the world. Weekend Reflections always features a highly creative set of photos, and visit Scenic Sunday for more scenegasms.

I’ve tagged this Best Post of the Week. It’s a keeper.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for this photoblog before Dec. 15 and leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much! Photoblog Awards 2009

Today’s Thursday Challenge is WRITING (Pens, Paper, Words, Signs, Graffiti, Books, Magazines,…) and I’ve got to go back to the two printing-related workshops I took for more cool photos to show you.

Here are two from the snowflake block print class. We each made a little paper snowflake by folding and cutting a square of paper, then tracing it onto linoleum, cutting away the snowflake or the background, then inking the blocks.

And voila, giftwrap! Later sheets got better.

And then the letterpress class had (besides the colorful inks I showed a couple of posts back) this fabulous array of letters you could arrange on a tray. It was fun figuring out how to spell things backwards, sort of.

One more photo, I can’t resist, of one of the the truly magnificent presses:

A few weeks ago we were in Portland and I took the shot from the window as we drove across the Willamette river on the Morrison bridge. I once met someone from Willamette University and he told me it’s pronounced to rhyme with “damn it” as in, “It’s Willamette, damn it!” So now you know, and the river is pronounced the same way.

For more photos featuring water in all its wetness, visit Watery Wednesday.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for this photoblog before Dec. 15 and leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much! Photoblog Awards 2009

Here’s another photo from that letterpress workshop I took. Visit Ruby Tuesday for more photos with red in them. And of course, Color Carnival for more brilliant colors. Have fun in blogland!

And because this just floated my boat, so to speak, I’ve tagged this Best Post of the Week.

On Friday evening I took two craft workshops. One was making handmade snowflake blockprint giftwrap, way fun, and the other was a mini Letterpress workshop. They were both so cool. Here is a photo from the letterpress class of some of the ink ready for us students to roll over the letters we had arranged (backwards, of course) in a tray, ready to image.

For more visions of cheerful yellow, visit Mellow Yellow Monday. And for more thought-provoking close ups, check out Macro Monday. If you like brilliant color, toddle over to Color Carnival, too. And aren’t the Reflections cool?

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for this photoblog before Dec. 15 and leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much! Photoblog Awards 2009

So many cheerful photos in the archives; a gray day like today is perfect to find one for us all to enjoy. This was taken at my old house, towards the end of March that year. Glorious, isn’t it?

For more flowers seen across the planet, visit Flowers for Today. And this one’s also SOOC, or straight out of the camera. And check out Scenic Sunday while you’re at it.

Here I am in front of the Sahara Hotel. I like that the door handles are my initial. I know this is a goofy picture, but I like it.

For more (and probably better) reflections, visit Weekend Reflections. And SOOC will have more straight-out-of-the-camera shots. Check out Window Views for more windows and doors.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for this photoblog before Dec. 15 and leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much! Photoblog Awards 2009