Even though winter just got here, officially, I’m already thinking towards the bulbs of spring. These tulips were at the New York Bronx Botanical Garden last May. For more cheery splashes of yellow, visit Mellow Yellow Monday. Let’s have a dream of spring tulips, shall we? And hie on over to Scenic Sunday while there’s still a bit of Sunday left.

I know Christmas is over, but just one more photo of lights, and then I promise I’ll stop. My new camera, the Canon S90, is especially good in low light so I had to see what it could do handheld with holiday lights. This fired at 1/60th of a second, which is great for a night shot, even one with lights.

I truly love this candycane archway and would love to have something like it. It was very tall, and felt so cheerful and welcoming. Where do people get stuff like this?

For more photos with some ruby redness, visit Ruby Tuesday.

This is my friend Lyle’s dahlia garden. You can see the telltale shadow of me trying to photograph with one hand while holding the bouquet I had just picked in the other. Oh, the warm and sunny days of summer!

For more lovely flowers, visit Flowers For Today.

I know a dahlia grower over in Des Moines, Washington. He grows about 250 different kinds of dahlias. I wish he would use a computer and see this photo (mong many) I took of his flowers on a fine September day. It looks a bit Christmassy, doesn’t it?

I like the neat shadows on the petals. Visit Hey Harriet for more cool shadows.

This was taken at my old front yard in the Des Moines house. Glads closest, yellow and orange day lilies behind, and some Asiatic (Oriental? I always get those confused) pink lilies behind that. The glads were such a thrill, and easy, too.

Visit Flowers For Today for more floriferousness. And Scenic Sunday is a great photo browse as well.

I’ve been saving these photos since I took them in September at a local garden because I knew I wanted to show them at Christmastime. The common name is Doll’s Eyes, and the real name is Actaea pachypoda plant. I just think they are so cool. Of course, any white berry is probably poisonous, so don’t plant them around kids, but I just love them, and especially their highly descriptive name. Happy Holiday to you, and happy Ruby Tuesday also.

Tomorrow is the last day: 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.

This is a kind of oakleaf hydrangea, I think, with very double flowers. This was blooming in mid-September in the Seattle area. I’ve not seen another one like it.

For more flowers photographed all over the world, visit Flowers For Today. And for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots, visit SOOC.

Here’s another photo from that letterpress workshop I took. Visit Ruby Tuesday for more photos with red in them. And of course, Color Carnival for more brilliant colors. Have fun in blogland!

And because this just floated my boat, so to speak, I’ve tagged this Best Post of the Week.

On Friday evening I took two craft workshops. One was making handmade snowflake blockprint giftwrap, way fun, and the other was a mini Letterpress workshop. They were both so cool. Here is a photo from the letterpress class of some of the ink ready for us students to roll over the letters we had arranged (backwards, of course) in a tray, ready to image.

For more visions of cheerful yellow, visit Mellow Yellow Monday. And for more thought-provoking close ups, check out Macro Monday. If you like brilliant color, toddle over to Color Carnival, too. And aren’t the Reflections cool?

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 do not know what this tree is. [Now I’ve learned it’s sorrel tree or Oxydendrum arboreum.] The fall leaves are brilliant red (taken a month ago) but it almost looks like it’s flowering. I also like that the white sky gives it an almost Christmassy look. A rainy walk in the neighborhood can yield wonderful things, if you’re a photo junkie like me. Visit Ruby Tuesday for more visions of red around the planet, Color Carnival for more brilliant colors, and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for this photoblog 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