You could lose yourself in the fragrance and softness of the petals. I’ve grown them for years. They grow high enough to stand and bury your nose in the beautiful bloom. They are definitely one of the joys of summertime.
Thank you to Becky for hosting the Simply Red Challenge.
My grandson, about fifteen years ago, sitting in a red striped shirt beside a red angel wing begonia. Thank you to Becky, of the Life of B blog, for hosting the Simply Red square challenge.
I have a happy combo post combining two blogs that offer a challenge. It is day seven for participating in Becky’s Life of B square challenge of Simply Red. I’m using the Christmas in July Santa Mug floral arrangement as part of Cathy’s IAVOM challenge on the Rambling in the Garden blog. A thank you to both of these ladies for the energy and time it takes to host challenges. I enjoy them very much!
Inside my Santa Mug are Simply Red flowers from my garden and a bit of foliage. A Mr. Lincoln rose, red geranium, and Lady in Red salvia. I like the curve of the mug that extends through the drape of the flowers. Happy Monday to all.
Simply Red, thank you to Becky from Life of B for the challenge. Manco and Manco Pizza lives up to its claim, it is the Best of the Best at the Jersey Shore. Ocean City, New Jersey.
I love the American Flag. I’m delighted to use a photo of the flag as my July 4th response to Life of B’s photo challenge, Simply Red. To gaze at a flag snapping and fluttering in the wind against a blue sky fills me with joy, not only for the flag itself but for the nation it stands for…God bless the USA.
Becky, writing from the Life of B WordPress blog, has named July 2025’s Square Photo Challenge “Simply Red.”
I am lucky to live near both the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware Bay. Each has their advantage over the other. The bay is easier to fish and crab, and the ocean can’t be bettered for jumping and riding waves and walking the boardwalk.
The square photograph today is a shack along the Delaware Bay. At first glance, it might appear that it is a place for selling crabs, but it seems to be more of a refueling destination for those who are crabbing in the waters of the bay. The bay has many trails for riding bikes, and this photo was taken while riding bicycles.
Becky, writing from the Life of B WordPress blog, has named July 2025’s Square Photo Challenge “Simply Red.” I plan to participate every day throughout the month and will post a square photo, as per the challenge’s requirements, along with a brief paragraph on any memories or thoughts the photo may evoke in me.
Today’s photo seems a perfect way to start July. I often left my bicycle lying on the ground as a child. The bike would be abandoned as I played with friends or explored something interesting.
Today’s bicycle was photographed in a park called Betty Park in Pitman, New Jersey. When I was seven, I played on the playground there for the first time. Many pieces of playground equipment have since been removed over the six decades since I first played at the park, deemed too dangerous for today’s children. The Witch’s Hat was both scary and thrilling, and children did at times get banged up arms and legs on the metal bars. I would love to find one, though, and have just one more spinning ride.
I haven’t participated in Judy Dykstra Brown’s Numbers Game for quite a while. I came upon the challenge today, and happily, I had three photos that were either 187, this week’s number, or had a sequential run that included 187.
The first is a photo of a beach on Block Island, Rhode Island. We spent many happy vacations there, and I am so glad I took dozens of photographs on each trip.
The two tulip photos were sequential, having 187 in their number. They are a perfect addition to the challenge for this time of year.
I love tulips. The outdoor varieties are just now beginning to open up. They aren’t as long-lived as the daffodils and never seem to spread, but they are beloved when they appear. Tulips are also a favorite of mine to purchase as vased-cut flowers. They always are a cure for the winter blues in the middle of February.
I call my photograph Snow Shadows with Prints. I like how the table casts a highly cut shadow onto the snow. You can also see that the squirrels have ventured out of their nests in the pines to search for the birdseed and peanuts I put out for them. I chose this photo for Xingfu Mama’s One-to-Three Photo Processing Challenge/January. It is a good depiction of the weather we are having, and since we are also in the deep freeze here in southern New Jersey, playing with photo filters is a fun way to pass the time.
Filter one, gritty, accentuates the silhouette appearance of the snow shadows even more. (Filter available through Ribbet.com)
Filter two, heat map, accentuates the snow’s glow and the table’s hardness.
Filter three, neon, highlights the lines and curves of the objects and shadows.
Thanks to Xingfu Mama for hosting this blog challenge.
Sometimes, old photographs inspire me to revisit crafts from the past. These sweet fairy chairs, created from pussy willows, moss, lichens, and other dried finds from the forest, would be fun to create again.
The small chairs are also a perfect answer to Xingfu Mama’s Pull up a Seat Photo Challenge for this week.
Colder months are the best time to search out dried materials to use. There are no ticks and other biting insects in the woods. Dried materials are also easier to see when the disappearance of tree foliage and undergrowth is gone. I only take surface materials; disturbing the leaf cover can cause harm to the nests and burrows of hibernating animals.
Another way to use small chairs like these would be in a terrarium.
I find many posts on WordPress that inspire me through challenges, how-tos, and devotionals. Today, I rediscovered Xingfu Mama’s One-to-Three Photo Processing Challenge for December. I used a recent photograph taken after the summer season ended in Wildwood, New Jersey, an ocean town about an hour from my home.
I used Ribbet to tweak the photographs for the challenge. The first photo is the original cropped down to focus on the Ferris Wheel and Roller Coaster. Top right, I used the True Vintage filter. The bottom left is an example of the Sketch filter. The bottom right shows how the inverted filter changes everything around. My favorite filter for this photograph is the True Vintage.
The collage presentation of the photographs was also created in the Ribbet app.
Now and then, I am quick enough to prepare a post for the Lens-Artists Challenge. This week, the challenge is to use photographs that portray five elements that make up the world around us. The elements are fire, water, wood, earth, and metal.
My first photo portrays fire. The fire of the sun is an element in all of my photos. The view is what I see as I stand in my front yard and attempt to watch the setting sun through the trees.
Dandelions conquer whatever earth their seeds land upon. I love the way the clocks of the plant let loose their seeds in puffs of wind or are blown into the breezes by a wish-filled child. If I look closely at a dandelion in the fire of the sun’s rays, each small piece of fluff seems to mirror the sun’s light.
The sun’s rays seemed to deepen the shadows of the heart carved into the tree’s wood.
The last photograph combines the elements of water and metal. It is a bit blurry, but it was taken with my phone through a plate glass window as we finished Thanksgiving dinner in a favorite restaurant. The ship is sailing down the Delaware River near Philadelphia, and we are on the other side of the river in New Jersey. The light illuminated the metal ship with fire and reflected in the water.
Thanks to the hosts of the Lens-Artist Challenge.
Are these fairy wishes as much a part of your childhood remembrances as mine? Some of my earliest memories of being outdoors involved chasing after these wishes.
I captured only a portion of this wish as it floated against the blue sky, but I am entranced by the way the feathery tendrils become a prism and reflect a bit of rainbow color.
Many of the wishes floating in my yard are now emerging from these Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) pods, a type of milkweed. I also have common milkweed pods opening and letting their seeds fly free on an aerial bit of fluff.
Pollinators love Butterfly Weed.
Butterflies, such as this Black Swallowtail, also sip the nectar from the blossoms.
I couldn’t resist cropping out a close-up of this beautiful butterfly face.
This post is part of Friday Skywatch. Thank you to the Host of this challenge.
I’m not good at sitting still. These flowers were created with shell and coral on the beach of the Cornwall Hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Yes, you are correct if you think this blog becomes inundated with butterflies at this time of year.
Today’s photographs are part of the Cosmic Photo Challenge, Contrast. The markings on the butterfly are an excellent example of contrasting colors. The butterfly contrasts nicely with the garden plants he rests upon as he finishes drying off his wings.
Another good contrast is the natural support of the butterfly chrysalis on the left compared to the one on the right. I save so many caterpillars; they sometimes bump finished chrysalises right off their mooring of spun web. I found the chrysalis in the papoose-like sling of string lying on the floor of the butterfly house. I am hoping it will develop properly and emerge perfectly.
I’m starting Six on Saturday, with a view from my bike on the Glassboro-Williamstown Bike Trail.
The trail has several swampy areas. They are lovely and fairylike, with their carpet of duckweed. This photograph is my entry in the Cosmic Challenge—Waterways. Wild Roses border the swamp and trail.
Cinnamon Ferns grow lushly in the woods, and some are beginning to send up their center spike.
Wild asters are delicate in appearance but durable wildflowers.
Beautiful Mountain Laurel in full bloom.
The best photo of the day and the best scent was the honeysuckle. A bumbling bee was drinking the nectar as we passed by.
The beautiful honeysuckle and the bumblebee are my choices for Xingfu Mama’s Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge. I just noticed while looking closer that I also photographed two small ants on the honeysuckle leaves, unbeknownst to me at the time.
The beautiful moss spores are my choice for The Cosmic Photo Challenge/What’s Flowering Where You Are? Before the recent snowstorm, I grabbed my camera and took a woodland walk. I was amazed at the vivid green of the mosses and lichens. In places where the sun shone through the branches, I noticed some of the mosses had already sent up spore capsules. I’m going to stretch and say these are a type of bloom.
If I had to rate these moss spores for beauty between 1-10, they would receive a 10+ from me.
Skunk cabbage has also emerged in the dead of winter. Here are some of the ‘knobs’ before the snow covered them. I read an amazing fact on the PFEIFFER NATURE CENTER site: some skunk cabbage plants can be over 100 years old. Wow, I will feel a bit more awe over them when I take my next woods walk.
Next time when I become a bit winter-worn and weary over the cold weather, I’ll remind myself of those skunk cabbages never giving up.
As always, lichen on fallen branches are a welcome touch of green.
Whatsoever is Lovely? Definitely the small and delicate bits of green I found in the woods. I wish I could have a large garden plot filled with mosses and lichens in the winter.
Judy Dykstra Brown’s Blog offers a unique new challenge. The basis of the challenge is to search your photos with a number and create a blog post with them. This week the number is 126. Post a selection of photos on your blog and link back to her blog. Fun! I thought I would have more, but these are the three photos that had 126/26.
This is my first time taking part in this challenge. I will definitely try again. Why not take part too? What a good moment it was when a photo of my grandparents showed up in my search.
The two beachy scenes are Block Island, Rhode Island. I love the way visitors and islanders alike build rock cairns on the slopes and sand.
I was surprised I didn’t have more photos in the search, but then again, sometimes I relabel the numbers. If you do this also, Judy Dykstra Brown has a way for you to take part, choose a word instead.
Like the Steinbeck quote below, my photos seem to multiply while I sleep. Most of mine are on CD discs for storage.
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
XingfuMama offers a Photo Challenge for September: “The challenge is simple: take one photo and get creative with it by processing it three different ways.”
I am using Lunapic.com. This is one of my favorite photo editing sites. When you want to save your photo after tweaking/filtering in LunaPic, go to file, click and a save box will drop down. Choose the format you want to save your photo in. The photograph is automatically saved in your download file. The file ending up in the download file tripped me up for awhile, but I finally figured it all out. It is so much fun to tweak your photos in LunaPic. You can also add text. You can save file, then you can go on tweaking without uploading the original again if that is how you are inclined to work. Have fun. Thanks to XingfuMama for the challenge.
The first filter I used was the ‘Homer’ Art Filter – One of the Famous Artists Filters.
The second filter I used was in the filter column and was called Thermal Iridescence. It is rather bright, but I love the way the filter accentuates the negative space in the photo, especially in the foliage of the tree. This is a good filter to use to help compose a painting or other artwork using the lighthouse photo as a reference.
The third filter is the Warhol Effect. I think all three tweaks of the photograph turned out well. Give Lunapic a try when you have some time to play around with photo editing.
The beautiful skies depicted in these photographs are part of Skywatch.
