Category: photo challenges

Photo Challenge – Simply Red Squares/The Coleus

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Gardening can be very rewarding at times, but it can also feel like you’re just slogging through an endless onslaught of weeds. In the high heat we’ve been having in New Jersey, even weeding in the early morning has been oppressively hot. Recently, I was near the end of my task and about to move my knee pad further along the border when, out of the blue, I spied a colorful volunteer coleus growing in the grass outside of the garden bed. Oh my goodness! Joy immediately flooded me. I once had hundreds of coleus seeds, but somehow, over the years, I now have only one specimen left from all the many different colors I once grew. Even sadder, I have none of the seeds I saved so faithfully for over a decade.

I felt like God had shown me the small coleus before I squashed it beyond repair with a knee pad. In fact, I was sure he caused that volunteer to grow for me. Finding it will allow me to grow it over the next year or two to a point where it might produce seeds. All the colors of my previous coleus plants might be in the DNA of this small plant, and I might get many of my old varieties back.

The Joy was so great in me over the gift God gave me that I began to sing. I Think He Loves Me, I Think He Loves Me, I Think He Loves Me, to the tune of the old Partridge Family song, I Think I Love You. That joyful singing has lodged within me since I found the coleus, and I will find myself singing the phrase again. I think he loves me, and that’s a good thing because, more than I think, I know God loves me. My personal burning bush could be the burning reds, pinks, and greens of the small coleus plant.

As you can see from the photo, I wasn’t taking any chances, and I transplanted it into a terracotta pot where it will be nurtured through the winter. I hope to propagate it into a whole new series of coleus seeds. This rather long explanation is part of Becky’s Life of B, Simply Red challenge.

Photo Challenge – Simply Red Squares/SWAK

On By TimelessladyIn photo challenges4 Comments

SWAK

How many remember what SWAK means? Sealed with a Kiss! This signage was photographed this week on the Wildwood, NJ boardwalk. It’s been a HOT summer so far in Jersey. Stay cool my blogging friends.

Thanks to Becky of Life of B blog for hosting this Simply Red Square challenge.

Photo Challenge & Phavorite – Mr. Lincoln Rose

On By TimelessladyIn Phavorites, photo challenges7 Comments

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.

Photo Challenge – Simply Red/Garden Bench

On By TimelessladyIn photo challenges4 Comments

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.

Photo Challenge & Phloral Arrangement – Christmas in July

On By TimelessladyIn Phloral Arrangements, photo challenges12 Comments

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.

Photo Challenge – Simply Red/Pizza

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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.

Photo Challenge – Simply Red/The American Flag

On By TimelessladyIn photo challenges4 Comments

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.

Photo Challenge – Simply Red/Crab Shack

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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.

Photo Challenge – Simply Red Squares in July

On By TimelessladyIn photo challenges6 Comments

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.

Photo Challenges – The #’s Game 66

On By TimelessladyIn photo challenges9 Comments

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.

Photo Challenges – One-to-Three Photo Processing/January

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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.

Photo Challenges – Pull Up a Seat – Forest Chairs

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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.

Photo Challenges – One-to-Three Photo Processing Challenge

On By TimelessladyIn photo challenges10 Comments

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.

Photo Challenges – Lens-Artists Challenge – Five Elements

On By TimelessladyIn photo challenges8 Comments

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.

Phlowers & Photo Challenges – Skywatch Friday/Fairy Wishes

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers, photo challenges15 Comments

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.

Photo Challenge – Whatsoever is Lovely/Bits & Pieces

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Whatsoever is Lovely Week 30

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.

Phlutters & Photo Challenges – Cosmic Photo Challenge/Contrasts

On By TimelessladyIn Phlutters, photo challenges10 Comments

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.

  • When I use string to repair a chrysalis resting place, I separate garden twine into single pieces. This is as close as I can come to mimicking the web they spin. It doesn’t harm the developing butterfly. I’ve had two emerge and fly off into the wide world after being put back into place with garden string.

Photo Challenges – Cosmic Photo Challenges – Waterways

On By TimelessladyIn photo challenges18 Comments

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.