Washington Flowers

From our Washington trip last month, here are some of the flowers we saw. First, two photos from the downtown Bellevue park:

And finally some flowers from Seattle itself.

Tina's PicStory theme this week is April flowers; we don't have any where I live yet but these from our March vacation will have to do. And of course, they're an entry for Our World Tuesday.

Pretty Sunset

For your viewing pleasure, I present these sunset photos that have been patiently waiting to be posted since November.

Taken from our deck, they're my Skywatch Friday entry.

Today's Hike (Sondermann Park)

Socks and I did a little hike today in Sondermann Park, not far from downtown Colorado Springs.

The skies were blue and Pikes Peak had snow from last week's storms.

I still can't get used to cacti next to the trails, even after living in this dry climate for over 20 years.

I liked the shadows of this large tree, which should show signs of life in the next few weeks.

And finally, these fallen branches lying across the river made for an interesting pattern.

These freshly made photos are for Our World Tuesday.

Hiking Socks

My favorite little hiking companion, our 6-pound (2.7 kg) dog Socks will hike for miles with me. Here he is looking a little tired at the top of Mount Herman on a summer day.

When he sees me getting my hiking stuff ready he gets very excited. If I get out my backpack the night before, the next morning he won't leave my side until he's in the car! Here he is on the Thomas Trail, a steep one where he has to scramble up rocks.

He's a great little companion, and a perfect subject for the Pets Forever meme, as well as the Camera Critters meme.

Amsterdam, 1976

For the Vintage Weekly meme this week, here's an old, faded print of a tower in Amsterdam in 1976. I don't know anything more than that about it.

Springtime in the Rockies

We've had quite the change in weather this week. On Monday afternoon it was 60.7° F (15.9° C) at my house. This morning when I took this snowy photo in the front yard it was -1.5° F (-18.6° C) here. That's a drop of  over 62° F (34° C) in just over a day!

Luckily it's going to warm up quickly again. But it makes for a fun Skywatch Friday weather story!

Sunny Bike Rack

Tina's PicStory theme this week is Sun, so I'm lucky I live in an area that gets 300 sunny days each year. Here's a sunny photo of a bike rack taken north of Denver.

It's also a post for Our World Tuesday.

Summer in Red Rock Canyon

It's time for a Scenic Weekends and Orange Friday blog post, so here are some photos from last August in Red Rock Canyon open space. My shadow, complete with hat and camera bag, is in this first photo, and that's Pikes Peak in the distance.

Now you can see some of the red and orange rocks for which the park is named. And my shadow again!

The park is a geologist's dream.

And in the distance are the main spires in Garden of the Gods, another place about which I've blogged many times.

I hope all my readers have a great weekend!