Walking Squares: Belfast Botanic Gardens

Again, much thanks to Life of B for this month’s Squares Challenge: Walking Squares! So much fun to create a gallery of memorable walks!

In April, self finally crossed Belfast off her bucket list. She’d been wanting to go ever since she got into Game of Thrones, the HBO series. She was a huge Gendrya fan, and every time Joe Dempsie showed up in Belfast she would cheer!

She stayed at the Europa Hotel, which was fantastic, and each day she explored a different area of Belfast. One day, she went to Queen’s University and explored the botanic garden, right alongside:

citysonnet Colors and Letters Photo Challenge: 6 November 2022

Today, Nov. 6, is a color: PINK BLUE.

Hmmm. That is quite a lovely color. If self can find an example in her archives. Nevertheless, she’ll give it that old college try.

Cee’s Flower of the Day: Oxford Botanic Garden

For this Flower of the Day Challenge, self decided to go back through her archives.

She took these pictures when she visited the Oxford Botanic Garden, late May.

Flower of the Day: Afternoon, October

Self’s All Dressed Up started blooming again yesterday.

It is a very, very hot day.

Posting for Cee Neuner’s Flower of the Day.

Her roses just don’t quit. Bougainvillea right behind, doesn’t quit either.

Lens Artists Photo Challenge # 220: One Subject, Three Ways

To explain this challenge, P.A. Moed quotes Shivanand Sharma:

Working a shot is the photographers’ way of refining the shot; to make an extraordinary imagery from the ordinary scene. It is just like a writer wandering about for the plot of story or a painter re-working his canvas for a finished outcome. 

Shivanand Sharma

Self had quite a hard time settling on a subject. So many possibilities! Which shows how many pictures she actually takes: for her, framing is all.

But, finally, she settled on her newest rose, Moonlight Romantica, bought just this past spring. It has entertained her with its beauty for months — all summer, in fact. It is not blooming right now, so these are pictures she took in July. (In addition, it has grown to a great height: it’s almost 5 feet right now)

The colors change gradually: from the bright orange of a new bud, to a pale yellow when first unfurled, to almost white when past its prime.

Moonlight Romantica rose, July

Flower of the Day: One More Round for Roses

One of the greatest pleasures of the summer just ended has been the new roses self bought in the spring. All Dressed Up (pink) is just starting to bloom again, and her Chrysler Imperial (deep red) is getting ready for a spectacular show.

Posting for Cee Neuner’s Flower of the Day.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #207: SEEING DOUBLE

The host of this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is Jez Braithwaite:

• Seeing double is all about reflections—probably one of my biggest photographic obsessions. I tend to see them everywhere & actively seek them out when they’re not readily apparent. My reflection hunting started shortly after I got Snappy, my DSLR, 12 years ago with some poolside reflections.

This was such a fun challenge. Thank you for dreaming it up, Jez!

• Lily pond, Oxford University Botanical Garden:

• Ruth Asawa, permanent collection, De Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco:

• Alexander Calder mobile, from Calder/Picasso Exhibit, 2021, de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park:

Flower of the Day: Fourth of July 2022

Anguish and hope today. The first hometown Fourth of July Parade since 2019 was peaceful. Everything went without a hitch. There were children, and dogs, and grandparents, and veterans. Beautiful weather. too.

But now it is time to focus on home. And Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Her regular readers know this rose. More blooms have opened, but lower down. Which means she had to bend low to photograph these new blossoms. Good thing the rose is right in front of her French doors!

Cee’s Flower of the Day: GORSE

There are so many hedges in rural Northern Ireland. Since it is still early in the spring, most look like this:

Before too long, they will all look like this:

Posting for Cee Neuner’s Flower of the Day (FOTD).

Cee’s Flower of the Day: What are These Called? Does Anyone Know?

Flower of the day is a flower I don’t know the name of. It grows in the side yard.

Suddenly, this spring, out pops a similar flower on the opposite side of the yard. How did the seeds gather that far? And what are these plants actually called? Can anyone enlighten me?