Divine pink!

I keep trying to photograph roses, though I can't say I've shot nearly enough. 

We only have 4 rose bushes of our own but my husband seems to think that should cover us. Me, not so much. I want more!

The following images were taken in early June at a friends home. She has the most lovely gardens.

And this is the family dog, Daisy. One of the sweetest, silliest Golden doodles you would ever want to meet. She looks lovely resting in front of the roses.


Like most of the country we're headed for a heat wave in the next few days. After all the rain the northeast has experienced a little sunshine is much appreciated. At this point it's looking like I may end up replanting my window boxes, as all the flowers appear to be in need of some critical care, in an area where they won't be visible to general public. And to think a little more than week ago they were so glorious.


I hope your week-end is a good one : )

Stopping by with a rose

To all those who left comments on my last post, thank you! I hadn't really expected to be gone this long and had hoped to respond to all the lovely comments. After everything with my dad happened life just seemed to be very busy, and I felt caught up in it all, rarely even checking my email. 

For the past several days this one image has been sitting in my Photo Shop program just waiting to be edited. Finally I took a few minutes and did just that. Once it was done I added a sweet border on PicMonkey. They just keep adding new editing options and I love them all! 

I hope you've had a lovely Spring. Tomorrow we jump right into Summer with 90+ degree temperatures! Thank goodness for A/C and ice cream! Both of which I plan on enjoying : )

Please know I am very thankful for everyone who visits my little blog. Hopefully I will be back again very soon!

The pleasures of a simple Rose

Orange, yellow and Pink. Such glorious companions, don't you think?

A touch of transferware always brings a bit of elegance to any image. I wish I had more of it in the color pink. I love pink, and roses. Maybe you noticed . . .

The last image is an Instagram photo with an added texture from Kim Klassen.


Orange you glad you stopped by? I hope so because I sure am! 


Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday!

Pumpkins, Roses, and Postalpix

How was your Sunday? Did you have a good day?

We're having an Indian Summer here in the northeast. Good, but not good at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I would be happy to warm for the next 6 months! The trees, not so much. Usually by now we have had several hard frosts and the tree's are really beginning to change. Instead we've only had a couple of light frosts and many of the leaves are turning brown and falling off the tree's. It isn't pretty

Looking at the forcast this week there doesn't appear to be even one night at or below freezing. Very odd indeed for New Hampshire. However, we're still getting in the Fall spirit!

In honor of Char from Ramblins, who passed away unexpectedly, earlier this year, I've been wanting to photograph small white pumpkins. See the photo on the upper right side of my blog? I've always loved that photo and I told her so when she published it.

There are many of us bloggers out there that really miss Char. She was such a smart woman with an incredible talent for finding the right words to put with her amazing photos. She was a no-holds-barred kind of lady who told it like she saw it. When Char passed away in early June she left a huge hold in the blog world. We miss you dear friend.

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Oh Instagram, you devil you! You're so addicting!

The big thing now is to order your Instagram images on Postalpix and then trade them with your Instagram friends. I swear, there's always something new coming along!

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And now I'm off to bake an Apple pie. It's in my nature to bake at night, just like my mother always did. Does anyone else bake at night?

This is what it usually looks like just before the pie goes in the oven!

Fuller Gardens, continued

Although my days have been quite busy I wanted to share a few more photos from my trip to Fuller Gardens



Meanwhile my own gardens are fading fast. All the beautiful, bright yellow Daisy's I once had have pretty much died. Sunday afternoon I spent a lot of time cutting them back, along with the hosta flowers, hydrangeas, and other slightly misshapen plants. I really try to keep up with everything because I hate looking at dead flowers/leaves.




How about you? How is your garden looking?



Cool air is working it's way into New England during the evening. The flowers feel it. The birds feel it. The tree's feel it. And they are all reacting.




A few days in a row we had large groups of various Swallows swarming over our yard and surrounding fields, all feeding and gathering together to make the trip South. How can it be that time already??? A few orange leaves are popping out on the Maple trees. Early Macs are making their arrival known. Even the smell of the air seems a bit different.




And Monday my younger daughter heads back to school. Provided Irene doesn't give us flooding rains that is.




In the Japanese Garden: Overlooking the roses, and a heron statue in front of the Koi pond





In the Front Garden

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I just wanted to say . . . I have been overwhelmed by the response to my post 'It's a dog life at the beach'. I honestly had no idea it would be so moving to so many of you, however, anyone who has loved an animal, and lost their beloved companion, knows that feeling of devastation.

Thank you to those who shared the post on facebook and through emails. As a blogger you just never know what type of emotion a post will evoke. I'm glad this particular post was accepted with grace instead of disapproval at photographing such a personal moment.

Fuller Gardens, North Hampton, NH

What a beautiful day it was this past Saturday! The sun was shining between high, thin clouds, temps in the low to mid 80's, and the perfect day to make the trip to Fuller Gardens!


Fuller Garden entrance/garden shop

There are actually several parts to Fuller Gardens:
Side Garden (aka the Rose garden which you see in this post)
Lydia Fuller Garden
Japanese Garden
and the
Front Garden
as well as a Conservatory



The view overlooking the side garden, greenhouse conservatory, and carriage house

Commissioned in the 1920's by Alvan T. Fuller for his wife, Viola, the gardens were eventually opened to the public in 1958 per Mr. Fullers request following his death.







The bee's were a buzzin' and plenty of them too! I'm generally not a big fan of bee's but they wanted nothing to do with me, just the flowers.




Most of the statuary in the gardens was brought back from trips overseas by the Fullers, including the one on the left. A work done by one of Michelangelo's understudies, E. Zochie.




There were Dahlias, too!












The Love and Peace rose, and my husband amongst the roses

I look forward to sharing more photos with you from our visit!

If you're in the area and you'd like a nice way to spend an hour, bring your camera stop by
Fuller Gardens

Eden Climber Rose

My mother and father in-law gave me money for my birthday so I thought I'd go buy a rose bush! Years ago there were roses here at the house when I moved in, but I had no idea how to take care of them and wasn't interested in learning.

Since I've been gardening for about 20 years now I figure it's about time to take on some bigger challenges, like roses.

I'd seen the Eden Climber in the Better Homes and Gardens magazine and thought it was the absolute bomb! (Pics of what it should look like when it grows up)

When I purchased the plant there were plenty of flowers and buds. Needless to say all the flowers are all dying and no new buds are appearing. After doing some research online I have found that the Eden Climber is not a big fan of the climate where I live, and doesn't winter well. Now I'm wishing I had bought the English Rose I had in my hands first. Hopefully, with a little bit of love and a lot of nurturing, this lemon will eventually turn into lemonade.

Anyway, here are a few before/after shots from my recent pruning.
















My husband purchased a rose at the same time, a soft yellow Apertif. Wouldn't you know his plant is loaded with new buds. Oh well. At least I'll have one rose in the yard to photograph.


*In case you were wondering .... the pillows were purchased last year from the Christmas Tree Shop for $5 each, on clearance. Don't you just love a bargain?


* Several of you mentioned the frames I used around the photos in my last post, wondering where I found them. They were actually on the Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0 program I have. However, if you don't have PSE, you can find similar frames here. Katie Pertiet is the designer and you'll find pages and pages of them, and at reasonable prices! You can also follow Katie's blog for weekly freebie giveaways, updates on new products, and sales.

Thank you for stopping by!

Fog, it's a beautiful thing

I swear I could photograph the beach every single day of the year.

Sun, rain, fog, snow, and come what may it's forever changing.

Sweet little pond I drive past everyday on my way to work. It sits just across the street from the beach. Check out the little Eastern Pheobe perched on the old Cattails down in front. First one I've seen this year and it made me smile : )

Love this bird house. Love it.

Beach view ~ Gulls in the mist

It wasn't until I was about done working on this photo that I realized I had captured a tender moment on the rocks.

I should be working at the beach for a couple more weeks so it will give me more time to photograph dogs, people, waves, sunshine, gulls, and plenty of ocean side beauty.

I hope you enjoy these images.

Like a red, red rose, continued

It was a long, long winter. How I yearned for warmer weather, free from snow, ice, and All Wheel Drive. I longed to sit on the back deck and drink ice tea, or take evening walks on a daily basis to lose a few pounds I gained in the winter. Sleep with the windows open. Watch the sunset on the longest day of the year. Oh I had hopes and dreams alright but it seems Mother Nature, or something more sinister, had different plans.

Don't get me wrong, there have been days of warmth and glorious sunshine, like the day I took these photos, but on average it seems we've had about 2 days of sunshine per week for the past few weeks.

Emotionally I don't do well in this dreary weather. It's almost a seasonal effect thing. My body craves warmth and sunshine. The past few nights I sleep in long sleeved pj's because I'm cold.

Where is Summer? I NEED Summer! The birds NEED Summer!


I know some of you in other parts of the country are baking with heat, and I'm sorry about that, but at least you have sunshine. All we see, day after day, is drizzle, rain, and cloudy skies. They're saying we might see a bit of sunshine tomorrow. I'm crossing everything in hopes of some natural Vitamin D.

On a positive note (because who wants to listen to me complain about the weather) ... I had seen these Roses in Exeter last Summer and hoped to photograph them but it didn't happen. They never left my mind though and as soon as I noticed them in bloom a few weeks ago I made an early morning drive to capture a moment.

After I was done shooting them I walked along the street just looking around and ran into a lovely 82 year old woman who was born and raised in Exeter. We conversed for a few minutes about photography, Phillips Exeter, her brothers, etch until she said, "There's some pink Roses up the street" I asked if they were on a fence also and she replied, "Yes they are. They're in front of a mansion!"

I don't know that it was a mansion but the pink roses sure were sweet, though the rain had beat them down pretty good, like all my flowers. So it was a 2 for 1 day!

Here's hoping some of your warmth cycles up our way!