This tender yellow cactus flower (original flower is a few inches across) is available as a print for your home or office, one of 15 stunning images from my book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory: Blooming Month by Month. They have no watermark, of course. All are 8″ x 10″ archival quality photo prints and I’ve firmly matted them in white to 11 x 14″ and signed each one. You can check them all out and order here or by clicking on the Prints tab above.

Delicate yellow petals of the cactus flower contrast with its massive spiny posts

Linking to Monday Mellow Yellows, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Floral Friday, Today’s Flowers, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Thursday Challenge (Shadows), NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday and Saturday Show Off. Thank you for your visit here first and do click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above for more pretty pictures.

This photo is by Jacinta Moore and if I could have figured out a way to ask her permission I would have, and I sure hope she doesn’t mind. I love this image! But check out her Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bawkbawk/. And by the way, did you know that Google Images has a reverse search for the author of an image that you have the link to? You go to the Google Images main page, and in the search bar is a little image of a camera. Click on it, then enter the URL of the photo you are trying to search for and most of the time it finds where it came from. Thanks, Lila!

Many small cacti, all in bloom, by Jacinta Moore.

Linking to Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Monday Mellow Yellows, Mandarin Orange Monday, and Orange You Glad It’s Friday.

Taken recently at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory. The amazing irony of a cactus in bloom! The flowers are very small, perhaps a centimeter or so, or less than half an inch.

Magenta pink flowers on a barrel cactus

More themed photos at Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Thursday Floral Love, Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by.

When it gets really sunny in the winter it gets cold. I just stay in and be warm, and enjoy the shadows on the curtains that the low sun makes. You can see the hatiora, or drunkard’s dream, in the photo below. How cheerful on a winter’s day: sunlight and bright yellow flowers.

Plants cast their shadows on my kitchen curtains, on a cold, sunny morning

Hatiora, or drunkard’s dream, flowers in January in a sunny Seattle window

Joining up at My Romantic Home, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Monday Mellow Yellows, Photog Friday and Macro Monday. Please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see about ten more photos here. Thanks for visiting, see you soon again!

This cheerful cactus houseplant blooming on my windowsill is very happy, and making me happy in the process. It’s called hatiora (ha-tee-OR-a) or Drunkard’s Dream because the teensy cactus stems sometimes look like bottles. The flowers are only a quarter inch or a centimeter.  I call it a matchstick plant, but that’s incorrect. I actually have several plants, for one reason or another, and this is the only one blooming, and it’s covered in blossoms. I guess in the northern Seattle lattitude, full southern exposure is the way to go.

Why don’t you check out Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, Mellow Yellow Monday and SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) for some great pictures around the world. Find lots more interesting photos here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos, here or above.

This is a very special cactus to me. A couple of little tiny pieces, the size of the tip of my pinky finger, were taken from a 6-inch plant of my mother’s in Florida after she passed away in 2003, and each eventually rooted and became a plant itself. The great thing about this particular cactus is that the spines are curved so that you can touch it, lightly, and not get stuck. Each plant now has “fingers” the size of my thumb, and this morning I was shocked to see it blooming! And do you see all the little buds on it?

I love this cactus and its surprising flowers and am calling this my Best Post of the Week.

Visit Today’s Flowers, Macro Flowers Saturday, SOOC Sunday and Cactus Monday for more fun blog sites. Check out Free Photos next door to see what’s new, and do click on Sara’s Fave Photos here if there is only one below.

This beauty was taken this summer at the Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle. Such delicacy contrasted with the massive strength and armed protectiveness of the cactus itself.

Visit Cactus Monday, Macro Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday for more neat photos with a theme.

As long as you’re here, try a new tag or category, or a search, for things you like. Returning to the latest post is easy; just click on Sara’s Fave Photos here or above.

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.

I thought I’d show you something unusual. Here is a view of saguaro cactus near Tuscon, Arizona. I love the way they grow sprinkled in the landscape, a real forest! Remember, each of these is huge, maybe 30 feet or ten meters tall, and can be a hundred years old if not older. For more scenic photos everywhere, click HERE.

Thought I’d add a link to some info about these cacti HERE.

When thinking shadows, it’s hard not to think of my visit to Arizona near Sedona early last year. I had just gotten a digital camera and pretty much went crazy, taking jillions of photos. Here are two from that trip, with shadows as key parts of the photos. For more shadow interpretations coordinated by Hey Harriet’s great blog, click HERE.