Friends have the most beautiful garden you can imagine, with a view that just won’t quit. Here is a small visitor checking out the pool on a warm evening recently.

Child peers at floats in a pool, in a garden near Puget Sound in Washington

Joining Skywatch Friday, Pink Saturday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Ruby Tuesday 2, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Tuesday Garden Party, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Outdoor Wednesday, Our World Tuesday, Scenic Weekends, Water World Wednesday, Weekend Reflections, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, NF Catching the Light Monday, and Saturday Show Off. Thanks for your visit here and please come back soon!

Hosta flowers can be quite dramatic.

I really love this image and I am calling it my weekly Top Shot.

Hosta flowers with yellow and black anthers

Linking to I Heart Macro Saturday, Macro Monday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Our World Tuesday, My Romantic Home, and Saturday Show Off. If there is only one photo here, to see some others, click on the curly letters of Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above. Thanks!

I let some leeks in my garden flower. Why some are white and some are purple, I do not know, as all the leeks seem to be the same earlier, at harvest time. Don’t you love the round balls? Bees sure do.

Leek flowers in the garden, in lavender and white

Linking up to Garden Party Thursday, Outdoor Wednesday, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Scenic Weekends, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Our World Tuesday, NF Catching the Light Monday,  My Romantic Home, and Saturday Show Off. Thanks for your visit here!

Visited my favorite Seattle haunt, the Volunteer Park Conservatory last week. You can see that restoration work is progressing on the Seasonal House on the right. Full project is due to be done in December. Aren’t the outdoor plantings lovely?

Restoration of the Volunteer Park Conservatory is progressing nicely

Joining Skywatch Friday, Our World Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Garden Party Thursday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, Mandarin Orange Monday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Weekends, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, and Saturday Show Off. Thanks for your visit here first.

Drove to a scenic stretch of beach a few minutes from my house because it was shaping up as a great sunset. What do you think of it?

Puget Sound from Three Tree Point beach, south of Seattle, at sunset

Linking to Skywatch Friday, Our World Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Weekends, NF Catching the Light Monday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Weekend Reflections, Water World Wednesday, and Saturday Show Off. Please try a new tag or category to see something new here. Water, perhaps?

The other evening in my back yard, right before the current heat wave in Seattle.

Cirrus clouds or mare’s tails at sunset with the moon almost full

Joining Pink Saturday, Skywatch Friday, Our World Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Weekends, My Romantic Home, and Saturday Show Off. Please try a new tag or category to see something new here. Cloudscape, perhaps?

You might know that I’ve been making jewelry from the pages of my book (we had one with a scuffed cover and my daughter saw the idea on Pinterest!) and I thought I’d post a few pairs of earrings made this week. These are all of the throatwort flower. For more about the jewelry and upcoming shows click on tabs at top. Thanks!

Images of purple throatwort behind glass make very pretty earrings

Linking up with NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Macro Monday, My Romantic Home, and Saturday Show Off. Thank you for your visit here and please come back soon.

I love lavender (see photo of it in bloom below). Here is some I harvested that is decorating my carport while it dries. I picked the pink ones just today, the others last week.

Pink and lavender lavender (!!) drying in twine-wrapped bunches

Linking with Pink Saturday, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Our World Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Garden Party Thursday, My Romantic Home, and Saturday Show Off. If you have a minute, click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see more pretty pictures here.

Went to a neighbor’s party yesterday and she had the most beautiful bouquets of her garden flowers on the tables.

Colorful flowers decorate a backyard picnic table, ready for a party

Linking up to Pink Saturday, Monday Mellow Yellows, I Heart Macro Saturday, Macro Monday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Our World Tuesday, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Garden Party Thursday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, and Saturday Show Off. Be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog if only one photo is above. Thank you for your visit and please come back soon.

For some reason, lavender does VERY well in my garden, even bestowing little volunteer plants. I have the munstead type and a pink one, which is even more vigorous. Garden tip: For drying, pick the flowers when they are still closed up, like the ones below. Just a loose bunch of stems wrapped with twine and hung upside down on a nail will do it.

Fragrant lavender blooms in late June in Seattle

Linking to Our World Tuesday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Macro Monday, Outdoor Wednesday, Garden Party Thursday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, My Romantic Home, and Saturday Show Off. If you see only one photo here, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above. Thanks!