Oh, I love the Volunteer Park Conservatory. Is it any wonder I made a book about it? A recent visit to their unendingly beautiful and changing displays yielded this photo of orchids in a stray beam of sunlight. And just for fun, there’s a bonus photo below showing one of the unusual and creative plant combinations that delight me so. That one is SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), but I have tweaked the orchids slightly.

Visit Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Shadow Shot Sunday when you get a chance. And if you’ve arrived via a link, be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos to see the entire blog.

I like the early parts of autumn, where the leaves are just starting to show their true colors and tease us with the color to come. The Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle has some lovely old buildings, including this one—so scenic I wish I lived here!

Browse around SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, and Ruby Tuesday, why don’t you? and be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos to view the complete blog if you see only one photo below.

On that visit to Trudy’s Floral Design a couple of days ago, I spotted a perfect pink rose in a little vase. Let us all admire the perfection of a rose. Why does it continue to fascinate us so much?

Visit Macro Monday, Macro Friday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, and Weekend Flowers, if you have a minute for photo fun. You might click on a new tag or category while you are here first. And if you like what you see here, do click on Sara’s Fave Photos for more pretty pictures.

I’m not even sure if this shop downstairs at the Pike Place Market in Seattle is still there. I was thinking of a photo for the theme of Pattern and found this image from last year. I love the combinations of the patterns! Wish I could have every single one of these squat and charming objects. They have a very toy-like appeal to me. Let’s play!

Visit Blue Monday, and Unique Exposures Weekend Challenge (Pattern) for more interesting variations on a theme. Remember, if there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others. Thank you for visiting!

The Burien WA Farmers Market was a perfect place to visit on Thursday. Fruit and vegetables were plentiful, beautiful and cheap, and look at these flowers! The grower said he cuts back his mums not once, but twice, to get them flowering so compactly and timing them to bloom for this fall display. I wish I could have bought them all!

Visit Ruby Tuesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Color Carnival, Outdoor Wednesday,  Scenic Sunday, Mellow Yellow Monday, and Weekend Flowers for more fascinating photo fun, and be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos to view the complete blog if you see only one photo below.

I can’t believe I’ve lived in the Seattle area for eight years now and have never visited Snoqualmie Falls until now. It’s much closer than I had any idea of, and even though you can’t walk right up to the falls for another year or so until they finish the improvements, it’s still a fabulous view and well worth the trip.

Visit Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, and SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) for more photo fun. Browse around here first, why don’t you? Remember, if there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others. Thank you for visiting!

We’ve been having meetings at the Volunteer Park Conservatory (check out their brand-new website!) to help get the much-needed completion of the restoration funded. An extra benefit is going there after hours and catching the late afternoon light. There’s a wonderful video they’ve produced and you might notice that the plantings in it show it was taken just recently. Don’t you just love sunflowers?

Sorry for the late notice, but I will be at the Conservatory’s Plant Sale on Saturday, September 17, 10-3pm, signing copies of my new book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory: Blooming Month by Month. Directions on the Conservatory’s new website above. The plant sales there are always fabulous and the book is pretty neat, too! And the special launch pricing for my new book on this website will end Thursday, September 15, so if you were thinking about getting one for yourself and maybe one for a gift, now’s the time.

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Skywatch Friday, Today’s Flowers, Color Carnival, and Mellow Yellow Monday. See the complete and up-to-date blog here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos, here or on the banner above.

This being the Pacific Northwest, it’s not so totally surprising to find a big totem pole at someone’s house, overlooking Puget Sound. But still pretty darn unusual. I like it very much, especially on a day like this one.

Visit Skywatch Friday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Weekend Reflections, Watery Wednesday, and SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), for fascinating photo frolics. Browse around here first, why don’t you? Clicking on the Sara’s Fave Photos banner will always bring you to the latest post here.

Just this afternoon we went to our neighbors’ house to deliver a book they’d ordered and see their lovely garden and of course I couldn’t help taking a few photos. That’s what happens when you use a camera truly pocket sized; you HAVE it with you. Here are some really fascinating pineapple lilies in their backyard and below that, their incredible deck with the Picasso petunias and the tall yellow brugmansia, or Angels Trumpet. We are enjoying the fabulous weather while the east coast suffers with Hurricane Irene. At least someone’s having it good.

Visit  Scenic Sunday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday, if you have a moment. If you’ve arrived via a link, getting to the latest posts here is easy: just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

Oriental lilies are the latest in the summer and the most fragrant, I am told. Worth waiting for! And they will bloom in part shade, another plus. A lily grower in N. California told me that they like having low plants at their feet, like oxalis, perhaps, or some other low forest plant. All I know is I adore their smell.

Visit Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Scenic Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday.

Bonus photo: Here I am at my book launch at the Volunteer Park Conservatory in the Bromeliad House yesterday. It was so much fun and such a great experience! Thank you to all who helped make it a success.