A couple of weeks or so ago there was a big windstorm after a rainy spell, and the first leaves blew off the trees. Still fresh and perfect, the colors were more like delicious candy corn than the crunchy brown I remember from long-ago New York autumns.

See Mellow Yellow Monday and Macro Monday for more yellow and close-ups, and check out Color Carnival for more brilliant colors. Do you think they are worthy of Scenic Sunday as well? They are all SOOC, or straight out of the camera, and while we’re at it, visit Ruby Tuesday for more ruby redness.

Which one do YOU like best of the photos? Top, middle, or bottom?

Visit BPOTW for more blog posts chosen by their authors as the Best of the Week.

Today I am posting two flowers in honor of being Guest Friend on Flowers for Today, where you can see lovely flowers of all kinds posted on blogs around the world.

Here are some snapdragons from my garden, “snapped” mid-October in a sunbreak after a rain, with my house in the background. I grew these from seed so I’m extra happy with them. If we get a mild winter they might even live over to next year.

Below the snaps is a red, red rose, taken in a Wallingford garden on the same day as the snapdragons.

This is also a post for Color Carnival, site of brilliant colors in photos.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE: I’m repeating this info 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

These Meyer lemons fell off a tree in Sonoma County, California and made their way to Seattle, courtesy of a visitor. Lemon trees have thorns but do an unusual thing: they can flower and fruit at the same time. Those flowers smell so sweet!

Thursday Challenge this week is “Food.” And Think Green Thursday is always about living lightly, to my mind, so eating extra lemons from a friend’s tree is pretty “green” to me.

I do still have a few dahlias that got a late start this year and are now at their peak. They are just so exuberant!

Visit Flowers for Today for the most amazing flower photos. And check out Color Carnival for more bright colors to amaze and amuse. Macro Monday has more close ups, and Mellow Yellow Monday (of course!) more yellow.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE: Readers arrive on different days, so I’m repeating about the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for me and/or 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

My daughter bought a new camera and took this photo of herself in the mirror. I love the way the fabric in the background seems to make a halo around her.

“Cloth” is the theme of Thursday Challenge this week.

The yellow of these leaves is really a very mellow shade, don’t you think? Took this photo a couple of weeks ago, but it’s so perfect for today’s meme. We’ve since had a windstorm, so maybe those branches are bare now. Autumn is glorious, but brief.

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday for more ochre of all kinds.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE: Many readers arrive on different days, so I”m repeating this about entering the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for me and/or 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!

http://vote.photoblogawards.com/photoblog.php?name=saras-fave-photos

There was a chance of a light frost last night but thank goodness, false alarm. Most plants are fine with a brush with 32 degrees, but not nasturtiums. They totally melt. Glad we have some more time with these lovelies.

Visit Macro Monday for more close ups and Mellow Yellow Monday for more . . . yellow (you guessed it!). And this one’s for the Color Carnival folks, too!

I do love this Broadway rosebush. The flowers have lovely long buds, and open to fragrant perfection. It’s one we planted just this summer, and it’s very happy. Next year I’ll be cutting more, but this year I’m holding back so they get well established. But you can always take a photo!

Visit Today’s Flower for more floral happiness.

And visit Color Carnival for the brightest and most creatively seen colors on the web!

You’ve gotta love backyard tomatoes. It’s just remarkable how different they are from store-bought, even those “on the vine” ones with the green tops they sell these days. The complexity and magnificence of the flavor of a homegrown tomato is just . . . well, words fail me. Hope the photo helps a little.

For more fascinating macros, visit Macro Monday. For more photos with at least a splash of yellow, visit Mellow Yellow Monday. And heck, let’s get Ruby Tuesday in on this as well! Anyone for more bright colors at Color Carnival?

It’s officially autumn but amazingly enough, our Seattle weather has been warm and magnificent. A local nursery has all the right plants and accessories for the cool days that definitely await. If I take photos, I manage to avoid taking home all the plants I want but have no room for, even if I could afford them. Don’t you want the whole display, too?