Sometimes the archives from the opposite time of the year are what I want to post. I guess I must be in tune with “down under.” These hydrangeas in the Volunteer Park Conservatory from May speak to me, somehow. Hope you enjoy them.

Pink, blue and purple hydrangea macro

Linking up with Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Blooming Friday, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, and Saturday Show Off. Click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see all the latest photos.

A visit to Pike Place Market in Seattle can yield flowers even in mid-November.

Bouquets of dried lavender and wheat in Pike Place Market

Visit Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Floral Love (Brown), Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Saturday Show Off and My Romantic Home. Thanks for stopping by here first.

When I was in the Seattle Asian Art Museum recently, I saw this detail of antique Chinese embroidery of ocean waves that I thought you might enjoy.

Detail of silk embroidery on antique Chinese robe

Linking to Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Water World Wednesday (ocean waves!), Saturday Show Off and Ruby Tuesday 2. Please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above for more pretty photos, if you see only the one image here.

What with all the wind we had, the leaf season is leaving. This beloved poem comes to mind.

Spring & Fall: to a young child

Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow’s springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

© Gerard Manley Hopkins. All rights reserved.

Here is another leaf scene beauty.

Jewel colors of autumn leaves not yet fallen

Posting in Ruby Tuesday 2, Monday Mellow Yellows, Outdoor Wednesday, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Scenic Weekends, Pink Saturday, Mandarin Orange Monday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, and Saturday Show Off. Thank you for visiting and please, come back soon!

 

One of the late-blooming flowers in my garden is the hardy fuchsia. These small flowers, only an inch or so big (3 cm), just keep on going. Last winter wasn’t too cold so this year the branches didn’t have to start from scratch, and the plant is about tall as my waist. In all the fog Seattle has been having, the color sure looks good to me.

Magenta and purple hardy fuchsia in the fall garden

This post is linking to Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday, Scenic Weekends, Outdoor Wednesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Macro Monday, Homemaking Party, I Heart Macro Saturday, Saturday Show Off and My Romantic Home. Browse around here if you have a minute. Thanks for visiting!

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.

This ferry-in-the-sunset photo is very similar to one I posted about three years ago, but I think it deserves a re-run. I had just gotten my new camera and hadn’t mastered all the settings (not that I’ve done so by now) and it needed a tad of adjustment, but hardly any. Those are the Olympic Mountains in the distance.

Ferryboat plies the Puget Sound waters off Seattle

This post is participating in Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Outdoor Wednesday, Mandarin Orange Monday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, Scenic Weekends, Saturday Show Off, Weekend Reflections, Nature Notes Wednesday, Monday Mellow Yellows and Water World Wednesday. You can get tips on easy ways to improve your photos without fancy equipment on the sidebar at the right. It’s free!

The harvest this year is great. The amazing green pole beans could have climbed to the heavens had I let them and all are bearing so well. If you haven’t tried the purple ones, they do taste great but when you cook them they become green like regular stringbeans. The yellow ones, or wax beans, are very slightly different in taste from the green ones. All are delicious!

Remember, when storing string beans in the fridge, do not put extra water in the plastic bag, as they will get a yucky brown rust on them. Keep them fairly dry and they will keep a lot better. If you can keep them that long. I love them raw as well as steamed with butter, lemon juice and a dash of Spike seasoning. Yum!

Purple, yellow (wax) and green stringbeans just picked

Joining Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Monday Mellow Yellows, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Fishtail Cottage Thursday, Garden Tuesday, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Saturday Show Off and My Romantic Home. So glad you could drop by here and do come back soon!

While strolling along the lovely shops of Cannon Beach, Oregon, we passed this mass of sweetpea flowers amazingly in full bloom. Mine at home, not so far away in Seattle, are completely over. Aren’t they lovely in the soft seashore light?

Lavender sweetpeas bloom on Labor Day at Cannon Beach, Oregon

Linking up with Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Fishtail Cottage Thursday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Garden Tuesday, Saturday Show Off and My Romantic Home. I appreciate your visit here and please drop by again soon.

Here we go with another marina photo, this one blazing in lavender and pink at sunset. This was taken at the Des Moines, WA marina a few days ago.

Colorful sunset at Des Moines WA marina with boats and still water reflections

Participating in Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Weekends, Water World Wednesday,  Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Weekend Reflections, Saturday Show Off, Monday Mellow Yellows, Unique Weekend Photo Challenge (yellow) and Pink Saturday. I appreciate your visit here and be sure to browse around for new pretty pictures while you are here.