At a neighborhood event in the park, looked up and saw a boy having fun climbing a tree.

Summer joy is great weather and a tree to climb

Linking to Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Skywatch Friday, Outdoor Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, NF Catching the Light Monday, Our World Tuesday, Scenic Weekends, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and Saturday Show Off. I so appreciate your visiting here first.

Our brief camping trip last week was sadly rained out, but before we left of course I took some photos.

Raindrop on evergreen branch, with the Ohanapecosh River all brown and rushing in the background

Participating in I Heart Macro Saturday, Macro Monday, Outdoor Wednesday, Our World Tuesday, Scenic Weekends, Water World Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, and Saturday Show Off. Please check out the sidebar at right and try a new category. Nature, perhaps?

Scenic view of Burien, Washington this evening.

Flower basket and old lamppost in downtown Burien, WA, as the sun sets.

Joining up at Skywatch Friday, Our World Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, Mandarin Orange Monday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Pink Saturday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Weekends, NF Catching the Light Monday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and Saturday Show Off. Thanks for your visit here first and please come back soon!

My gardener friend Sherry (she of the canning jars below) has some beautiful Collette pears on a tree in her garden. This pear is perhaps 3″ tall (8 cm) or so. A ways to go, still.

Collette pears ripening on the tree

Linking up to Skywatch Friday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Macro Monday, Garden Party Thursday, Outdoor Wednesday, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Scenic Weekends, Our World Tuesday, NF Catching the Light Monday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and Saturday Show Off. Please try a new tag or category, while you are here. Thanks!

Today I went someplace new, the South Seattle College Arboretum, and the weather was perfection. Here is what their heavenly pink dogwood tree looked like, straight out of the camera. I think I’d like to see this as a fabric print, somehow.

Pink dogwood tree blooming against a deep blue sky

As usual, linking to NF Catching the Light Monday, Pink Saturday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Macro Monday, Our World Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Skywatch Friday, Scenic Weekends, Garden Party Thursday, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, and Saturday Show Off. I appreciate your visit here very much.

I went in a friend’s backyard recently and what did I see? What a thrill to see a fig tree, covered in a LOT of figs. Yippee! I might get a fresh fig or two this year.

Unripe green figs in mid-May in Seattle

Joining NF Catching the Light Monday, Reconnect With Nature Wednesday, Our World Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday,  Straight out of the Camera Sunday,  I Heart Macro Saturday, Macro Monday,  Garden Party Thursday, and Saturday Show Off. Be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above if you see only one photo above. Thank you for visiting!

In the break we had from rain a couple of days ago, I went out with my dry paintbrush and pollinated my two little fruit trees. (“Make like a bee!”) I am lucky enough to have a dwarf cherry tree with multiple grafts on it of different varieties. However, even though it is “self-fertile,” all that means is that it doesn’t need another variety to pollinate. It still needs some pollen to move around for the fruit to set. So out I go, on a sunny day, with my soft, dry paintbrush, and gently brush the blossoms. I have found it makes a big difference. Use this technique on tomato plants, too.

Fruiting cherry tree blooms in backyard orchard

Linking to Blue Monday, Skywatch Friday, Seasonal Sundays, Our World Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, NF Catching the Light Monday,  Straight out of the Camera Sunday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Macro Monday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Blooming Friday, My Romantic Home, and Saturday Show Off. If you’re a macro fan, try clicking on the tag “close up” in the tag cloud at right.

Blooming in a park, in wet and green Seattle.

Pale pink cherry blossoms bloom in springtime in Seattle

Participating in Scenic Weekends, Seasonal Sundays, Our World Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Pink Saturday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Blooming Friday, and Saturday Show Off. If you see only one image here, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos above for the rest of them. Thank you.

A few years ago I visited the Conservatory in San Francisco, California, at just this time of year. They had an intensely fragrant orange tree that was blooming and fruiting at the same time.

San Francisco’s Conservatory displays an orange tree in bloom, with fruit

Linking to Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Blooming Friday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, and Saturday Show Off. Thanks for your visit here and please come back soon.

This photo is from exactly one year ago, taken at the overlook right near my house. All the rain going on in Seattle lately doesn’t yield much in the scenic mode. But who doesn’t like snow-covered active volcanoes in the sunset?

Snow looks pink in the sunset light at Mt. Rainier in Washington in the Pacific Northwest

Linking up to Outdoor Wednesday, Water World Wednesday, Scenic Weekends, Skywatch Friday, Ein Stück Himmel, Pink Saturday, Nature Notes Wednesday, Orange You Glad It’s Friday, Our World Tuesday and My Romantic Home. Thank you for visiting here. Try a new tag or category, like sunset, perhaps?