Pacific Coast Highway (3)

Here are some final shots from the Pacific Coast Highway near Monterey - it's an area that was simply shown as "Dune Park".

I loved the wildflowers in this area (probably flowering bushes rather than actual flowers, but I'm not an expert).

I'll never tire of that rugged coastline.

Our World Tuesday

Merced National Wildlife Refuge

While in California last year we drove by the Merced National Wildlife Refuge, a 10,262 acre refuge. While the birds weren't in the area, I thought the wide-open expanses would be worth a couple of photos for the blog.

I captured this for Floral Friday.

White Flowers

I took these photos Thursday morning.

Yes, it's been snowing again! (This last photo was taken with my brand-new lens, a 6.5 mm fisheye, providing an incredibly wide angle of view.)

Floral Friday

Seasons

From The Sky

This week's Skywatch Friday post has no sky, just some stuff that fell from it last night. We get huge changes in weather from day to day this time of year - it's usually beautiful but once in a while a change moves through. So on the way to work this morning I took this photo in a neighbor's yard.

Lisse Flowers

Here is the last of my 1977 flower photos from Holland. This time it's a tulip field near Lisse, scanned from an old slide.

I'm linking this to Floral Friday and Vintage Weekly.

Keukenhof 1977 (2)

I'm trying to put up at least one post a week, despite my move preparations. This week's effort is another 1977 photo from the Keukenhof - what a glorious spring day that must have been!

Floral Friday

Vintage Weekly

Keukenhof 1977 (1)

The Keukenhof is a huge flower garden in Holland, with the most impressive display of flowers that I've ever seen. Here's the first of a couple of slides from 1977 that I've scanned.

If you're in the area this time of year it's a must-see. And it's my entry for Vintage Weekly and Floral Friday.

My life continues to be extremely busy as we're packing up for a possibly move, so my blogging will continue to be very inconsistent for a while.

Fullerton Arboretum Flowers

Going back to May of last year, here are some flower photos from the Fullerton Arboretum, taken on a mostly cloudy day.

Don't ask me what they are, I have no idea!

But I liked the variety, and they seem appropriate for Valentines Day.

Floral Friday

SLO Flowers

San Luis Obispo, sometimes shortened to SLO, is a very pretty town. When we were there last summer, I photographed some flowers near the mission, so to warm me up on a cold week here's one of those shots.

I'm entering this to Floral Friday, a new meme to me.

For Those Lost

For all those lost on that terrible day 12 years ago.

Los Angeles

From our vacation to California last month, here are a couple of photos from Koreatown, near downtown Los Angeles. First up some flowers from near where my wife's mother lives; they're climbing up a wall.

And a skyward shot of a nearby church.

Although they're technically from May I'm linking to Tina's PicStory for the theme of June flowers, and of course to Our World Tuesday.

California Flowers

It's Memorial Day here in the United States, and here are some flowers for it. Thanks to all the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

These were taken at the Fuller Arboretum near Los Angeles last week. There's lots more photos to come from this vacation. I'm linking this to Our World Tuesday, and to Tina's PicStory whose theme this week is May Flowers.

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.

Guess Where I've Been

I just got back from visiting relatives. If you don't know where this is, just look at the labels below the post. But it's a pretty distinctive landmark so you can probably guess!

Both photos were taken on Saturday, but I'm back in Colorado again. I'm linking this post to Our World Tuesday, as well as to Tina's PicStory as this week's theme is March Flowers. We had a little of every type of weather while we were there - sun, rain, and snow, so there are lots of varied photos to come.

San Luis Obispo Flowers

For the Scenic Sunday and Weekend Flowers memes, here is one of many beautiful blooms I noticed in San Luis Obispo this summer.

Flower & Ladybug

From a late-spring hike in Sesame Canyon, here's a wildflower...

And a wild ladybug, slightly dented.

This is for the Weekend Flowers and Scenic Sunday memes.

Summer Flowers

Here are some summer flowers at America the Beautiful Park, near downtown Colorado Springs.

This post is serving double-duty, as I'm linking to both Scenic Sunday and to Weekend Flowers.

Portland Riverfront

Here are some photos I captured during a walk along the Portland (Oregon) riverfront when we visited for one day early last summer. First, for Sunday Bridges, here's the Steel Bridge, complete with a train crossing it (just to the right of the towers).

For Watery Wednesday, here's a water-skier.

And just for fun, this is the Salmon Street Springs fountain.

And of course, it is the City of Roses - this was about the only rose we saw when we were there.

And of course, it's all part of Our World Tuesday.

Stanley Park Flowers

As we head into March, our snowiest month of the year here in Colorado Springs (April is our second-snowiest), I'm going to look back at some beautiful flowers I found in Vancouver's Stanley Park late last spring.

Well, as they say, March and April snows make May flowers (or something like that). Anyway, this is my entry for the Scenic Sunday meme, and my last photos from the lovely Stanley Park.

Bellevue Botanic Gardens Flowers

While staying in Bellevue earlier this year, I took the opportunity to visit the Bellevue Botanical Garden, which was close to our hotel. I was impressed, and I've decided to start posting some of the photos from my visit. Here are some of the flowers which I enjoyed. It was a cloudy day, raining by the time that I left, but I was still happy with some of the photographic results.

Every photo I took in this garden was taken with my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens - there wasn't much light, and I really wanted to experiment with using a single non-zoom lens in the field as well as trying a narrow depth of field, forcing me to actively compose the photos. There are several more posts to come from this area. But until then, visit Scenic Sunday for more scenic shots around the world.