At a friend’s birthday party in the park yesterday, I brought flowers and there was a purple tablecloth. I like this photo because such a tiny slice is in focus, and that isn’t even much of the big rose and its petals, but mostly the sepal of the bud. Do you like it? Be honest, now.

Double Delight rose blossom with rosebud

Linking to Pink Saturday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Ruby Tuesday 2, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love, My Romantic Home, Garden Tuesday, Fishtail Cottage Thursday, Outdoor Wednesday, Saturday Show Off, Shadow Shot Sunday 2 and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. Please click on Sara’s Fave Photos at the top to see all the photos if only one image is shown.

From last year at this time, some begonias in front of my house:

Rieger begonia flower basket on a foggy August Seattle day

Visit Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love, My Romantic Home, Garden Tuesday, Fishtail Cottage Thursday and Outdoor Wednesday. Let’s try a new one, Saturday Show Off. Don’t forget that you can download free tips for taking better photos without fancy equipment or confusing settings, in the sidebar at right.

If you haven’t been to the Dahlia Garden in the big lawn across from the Conservatory in Volunteer Park in Seattle, it’s time right now for a visit. Put “dahlia” in the search field to the right to pull up more posts showing this stunning garden, free to stroll and photograph.

Glorious yellow dahlia with red tips

More themed photos at Outdoor Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. Stop back soon, or sign up for email notification so you don’t miss a post.

I don’t know why I always want to take photos of boats in a marina. Maybe it’s the reflections, maybe it’s the neat picket of the masts, maybe it’s just the possibilities waiting for adventure. The Des Moines, WA marina looks good at sunset, doesn’t it?

Sailboats at rest in the Des Moines, WA marina

Linking to Ruby Tuesday 2, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Water World Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Weekend Reflections, Pink Saturday, and Scenic Weekends. Thank you for your visit here and please come back soon.

At that artwalk event the other day in downtown Burien (sometimes called B-tpwn), Washington, we were pleased to meet the grafitti artist “Sneke” who posed in front of the mural he helped create. So cool! Please scroll down a few posts if you’d like to see the eyelashes on the VW headlamps we saw that evening.

The artist “Sneke” front of the figure he created, in Burien, WA

You might pay a visit to Outdoor Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Scenic Weekends and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. And here’s a new one: Mural Monday, out of Oakland, CA. I thank you for being here and hope you enjoyed yourself.

I’m on a lily kick. These are in a close neighbor’s garden. I heard that all lilies used to point down and be droopy, so when a grower managed to get it facing up, he or she called it Stargazer. Great name.

Stargazer lily in dappled sunlight against a wooden fence

Check out Monday Mellow Yellows, Ruby Tuesday 2, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Pink Saturday, Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Weekend Challenge (Pink), NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Garden Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love and Fishtail Cottage Thursday. If only one photo appears here, click on Sara’s Fave Photos above for the latest photoblog posts. Scenic and flower photos are almost guaranteed.

Peach and red nasturtiums with variegated leaves from my patio garden. Don’t you love those round leaves?

Peachy orange nasturtiums with red throat and variegated leaves

Participating this week in Ruby Tuesday 2, Monday Mellow Yellows, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Outdoor Wednesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Garden Tuesday, My Romantic Home, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday and Fishtail Cottage Thursday. Have a great day and thanks for visiting here.

A recent rainbow over my local Trader Joe store in Burien, Washington:

Late afternoon rainbow arches in the cloudy sky

Please visit Monday Mellow Yellows, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Outdoor Wednesday and Scenic Weekends. If there is only one photo on view here, click on the Sara’s Fave Photos letters on top for more pretty pictures. Thanks!

I’m excited about being in the Alki Art Fair tomorrow, West Seattle’s great music and crafts event on the beach. It runs all weekend, but I will be there in Booth 19 just on Saturday, 10 to 6pm. The music goes to 9pm. It’s going to be warm and beautiful, so be sure to wear a hat and come on by. I’ll have lots of new designs of the sparkling Glass Tile Jewelry (sorry, jewelry not available online yet) that my daughter Lila and I make from the pages of my book, “Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory.”

The story of the jewelry: We were at a craft fair selling my books as a holiday gift item. Daughter Lila noticed all the traffic at jewelry booths nearby and said we could make jewelry from one of my books we had with a damaged cover. Me: “Excuse me???” Lila: “I saw it on Pinterest.” Next thing I know, we are in the jewelry business.

Glass Tile Jewelry pansy necklace with heavily plated silver finding on silky black cord

Linking to Monday Mellow Yellows, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, My Romantic Home, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday and Fishtail Cottage Thursday. Hope to see you at Alki Beach on Saturday, July 20th!

Our friends with the gorgeous deck (see post just below) got married on Sunday, and I got to make some bouquets for their backyard ceremony. They have lovely flowers there but it would have been a shame to pick them, and I have so many. Our friends are also neighbors so they strolled over and chose what they wanted, brought the “vases,” and I had fun creating six matching bouquets in a rainbow of bright colors.

Garden flowers getting ready for wedding centerpieces using blue mason jars

See Pink Saturday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Monday Mellow Yellows, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, My Romantic Home, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, Thursday Challenge (Abundance), Water World Wednesday, and Garden Tuesday. Thanks for your visit here!