On a recent morning, this woman was calmly paddling her board across the shallow waters out towards the deeper waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, or all the way to Canada for all I know. I love the look of still water, and reflections are a bonus.

Visit Watery Wednesday, Blue Monday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday and Weekend Reflections for more interesting photos with a theme.

While you are here, you might as well explore a bit. Click on a new tag. Blue, perhaps? And if you’ve arrived via a link, be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos to see the entire blog. And check out my new book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory, if you have a moment, for more beautiful photography.

There might be a special name for this kind of marking on flower petals, but I don’t know it. If you do, please clue me in. [later: Striated! Thank you!] They aren’t really stripes; more of spots and stripes mixed together. Anyway, I just love the way it looks. I took this in Seattle’s Volunteer Park dahlia garden that I just discovered this week, maintained by the Puget Sound Dahlia Association. Enjoy!

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more ravishing photo redness and SOOC for more straight-out-of-camera shots.

If you got here by clicking on a link, it might not be the latest post—Sara’s Fave Photos above will take you there. Be sure to try a tag or search for “dahlia” and see what you get!

Here’s a misty sunset from that bluff trail in the Dungeness Recreation Area near Sequim, WA. I haven’t seen the sun set over the water in a long, long time—not since I was in Venice, California many years ago. I love the opalescent look the water gets reflecting the late day sky. I’ve posted this entry my Best Post of the Week.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies seen round the world. Also, Scenic Sunday is well worth a visit.

While you’re here, you might try a category like Waterscape, just for grins. And if you’ve arrived via the permalink, the way to the latest post is right here, Sara’s Fave Photos.

The Olympic Peninsula in the Pacific Northwest has some magnificent scenery. On our way to check out Sol Duc (pronounced Sole Duck) hot springs (we weren’t impressed; just big outdoor regular swimming pools and $12 per person to swim; maybe they might have more appeal in cold weather) we stopped at a roadside rest near the river. Now this was worth a visit! I tried to upload a video but wasn’t able to compress it enough. Any recommendations on how to do that? They are MOV files. I did download a program called MPEG Streamclip but have no idea of what settings to use. Any help appreciated.

Anyway, here are a couple of stills. You’ll just have to imagine the loud burbling and plashing noise and the silence all around it.

Visit Watery Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday for more interesting photos on the theme. These are both SOOC, and make the grade for Scenic Sunday also.

While you are here, check out a tag like “scenic.” Arriving via permalink, the latest posts are always at Sara’s Fave Photos above.

We went to Sequim (pronounced “skwim”) WA and had a great few days of vacation, camping and doing the relaxation thing in the very warm weather. Notice the cloudless blue sky reflected in the window? Meeting some friends for lunch, the restaurant had a particularly fine windowbox. I envy people who can combine flowers so well. Well done, Oak Table Cafe! And the food was good, too.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more reds of all kinds. And this shot is straight out of the camera, or SOOC, where you can see more like that. Color Carnival has more bright, vibrant colors. Weekend Reflections has more visual reflections, too.

Browse around here for something new today. Perhaps a tag called “rain” might refresh on a warm day? And if you’ve arrived via the permalink, do click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the latest posts.

Puget Sound near Seattle has many moods. This one was bright and exuberant, or at least the camera angle makes me feel that way when I look at it. Hope it doesn’t make you dizzy!

Visit Watery Wednesday for interesting water shots of all kinds and Outdoor Wednesday, too.

I’ll be away from my computer for a few days and hope to visit you when I return. Please leave a comment so I’ll know you visited! Thanks!

Woodland Park Rose Garden in Seattle is a delightful place. I’ve got to go back there for another visit soon. So many roses, such charming vistas. A delightful way to spend a couple of hours, and it’s free!

Visit Watery Wednesday for more water photos of all kinds, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera shots) and Weekend Reflections for the most intriguing reflections. Try clicking on one of those tags here for more of the same, if you have time. Return to the latest post by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

This photo holds up very well for me. I’ve tagged it Best Post of the Week.

Here is Mt. Rainier and the moon at dusk, a longer shot than the one I posted of this scene a few weeks ago. That’s quite an overlook of Puget Sound, but it’s just a neat view from a road near my house.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies of all sorts seen everywhere, and Scenic Sunday, too. The Internet is an amazing thing for a world-wide perspective, isn’t it?

While you’re here, you might as well check out something new. Try “Mt. Rainier” in the search field, perhaps. And you can always find your way back to the latest post by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos, above.

My ‘Oklahoma’ rosebush has the deepest red roses, which try as I might, I cannot photograph, or even Photoshop, into a closer approximation of reality. The actual color of the flowers is the deepest, darkest, richest, burgundy red, and almost black in the shadows. You’ll just have to imagine.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more ruby redness around the world. And this is also a post for Macro Monday and Blue Monday. Is that sky blue enough? And I like this photo so much I’ve called it my Best Post of the Week.

If you’ve found this post from the permalink, getting to the latest photo post is easy. Just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

The sun is finally here. This cosmos flower is just basking in it! Another perfect day tomorrow is predicted, and then showers again. Actually, it’s amazing how quickly the flower beds dry out. Our water bill will be way higher in July than up til now, that’s for sure.

Visit Thursday Challenge and view the entries for the theme Weather. Mine is sunny!

You might want to check out a tag or category here first, easily returning to the main page here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

I like this photo very much and am putting it in the Best Post of the Week category.