Tag Archives: flowers

Flower of the Day Challenge: Advent Flowers

We bought a bunch of mixed flowers several weeks ago, choosing purple and white because we were still in the season of Advent. Just a few of the blooms remain.

While drying dishes last evening I noticed the stigma of the alstromeria (commonly called Peruvian Lily or Lily of the Incas or Parrot Lily). Though the flower is nearing the end of its vase life, the stigma was still standing straight up.

Though the flower is nearing the end of its vase life, the stigma was still standing straight up. Wondering if I could capture it in a photo, I left my husband to finish the dishes while I played with the camera. I’m pleased with the result – the automatic flash highlighted the flowers and completely darkened the background. The only editing of the photos was cropping.

Posted in response to Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge.

Flower of the Day (FOTD): Yellow Daises

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The last of the yellow daisies in a bouquet of flowers purchased ten days ago.

A contribution to Cee’s Flower-of-the-Day photo challenge!

Photo Challenge: Groceries

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Groceries. Who takes pictures when grocery shopping?!! I did today! Just because Frank issued a groceries photo challenge on Tuesday. My husband John agreed to be photographed as we did the weekly shopping. Come along to the store with us.

First, a list!

John adding to the grocery list. Photo: TLClark, 10/3/19.

Next, decide on a grocery store. John had a prescription ready for pick-up at the Hy-Vee Pharmacy so the decision was easy. Our other choice is Fareway – it’s closer to where we live. Fareway stores are smaller than Hy-Vee stores. If you want lots of choices and don’t mind adding a lot of steps to your pedometer, go to Hy-Vee. If you just want to get the basics and prefer to be done sooner rather than later, go to Fareway. (There are other choices, but it’s Fareway or Hy-Vee for us.)

*Hy-Vee, North Ankeny Blvd, Ankeny, Iowa. Photo: TLClark, 10/3/19.*

We almost always start on the end with the produce section. I was going to take a picture of the Honey Crisp apples but as I pulled out my camera three other shoppers appeared. What you can’t see is the Starbucks stand behind me and a salad bar and a Hy-Vee Market Grill to my left (less restaurant than it used to be but still a place to sit down to eat).

*Pears and Apples. Photo: TLClark, 10/3/19.*

The bakery – or, more precisely, the bread – is one reason I like shopping in this store.

*Bread in the Bakery. Photo: TLClark, 10/3/19.*

Since having all of his teeth extracted this summer, we’ve been supplementing John’s diet. Here he is trying to decide on which flavor of protein shakes to buy.

Supplemental Nutrition Aisle. *Photo: TLClark, 10/3/19.*

It’s the cereal aisle! Did you know you can know get peanut butter and honey flavored instant oatmeal?

Cereal Aisle. *Photo: TLClark, 10/3/19.*

Ah, yogurt. So many choices.

*Yogurt Choices. Photo: TLClark, 10/3/19.*

Always glad to walk by the in-store florist shop. Flowers make me smile. Just because.

Flowers…Just Because. *Photo: TLClark, 10/3/19.*

John picked-up his prescription while I paid for the groceries before we headed out the door.

Grocerie Bagged. Photo: TLClark, 10/3/19.

FOTD: Zinnias at the Iowa State Fair

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Zinnias, Discovery Garden, Iowa State Fair. Photo: TLClark, 8/13/19.

One of our customs when attending the Iowa State Fair is to stop and enjoy the flowers in the Discovery Garden. Click here for information about the garden.

Zinnias, a Marigold and a Fly, Discovery Garden, Iowa State Fair. Photo: TLClark, 8/13/19.

The zinnia with a fly isn’t a dahlia and a bumble bee as shared by Cee in her Flower of the Day photo challenge (click here) but her rules are simply to post a picture with a flower. It’s a great challenge to follow for a little color, a little happiness no matter what your day holds.

Zinnia, Discovery Garden, Iowa State Fair. Photo: TLClark, 8/13/19.

The red zinnia caught my attention when at the garden but it wasn’t until looking at the pictures at home that I realized it was the rolled-up edges of the petals that made it look red and white.

Photo Challenge: Wall

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“Wall” is the word for the weekly Tuesday photo challenge. This wall is next door to the coffee shop where I gather with quilting friends once a month.

Walnut Street Gallery Outside Wall (looking west on 3rd Street). Photo: TLClark, 7/13/19.

Walnut Street Gallery, a framing shop and art gallery in uptown Ankeny, uses parts of painted picture frames to create seasonal scenes on their outside walls. I remember a Christmas tree in December and a large heart in February. July (or is it all summer?) is flowers and a flag.

Flowers, Walnut Street Gallery. Photo: TLClark, 7/13/19.

Closer look at the red flower. Photo: TLClark, 7/13/19.

American Flag on outside of Walnut Street Gallery. Photo: TLClark, 7/13/19.

Flag and Bench. Photo: TLClark, 7/13/19.

For more “wall” pictures, visit Dutch Goes the Photo!

Photo Challenges: Outdoors & Flower of the Day

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Outdoors is the Jansen Photo Challenge this week and I couldn’t resist a second post. And since it’s three flowers, it also works for Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD) Challenge.

Photo: TLClark, July 3, 2015, Pilgrim Heights Camp & Retreat Center, Iowa.

Photo: TLClark, July 3, 2015, Pilgrim Heights Camp & Retreat Center, Iowa.

Photo: TLClark, June 9, 2012, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Iowa.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Flower

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The skies are still gray but the rain has stopped. Grateful for color!

Geranium. Photo: TLCLark, 6/22//19.

Daylily. Photo: TLCLark, 6/22/19.

Photo: TLClark, 6/22/19.

Thank-you, Nancy, for the photo a week challenge!

Photo Challenge: All Lined Up

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Iowa Fields in Spring. Photo: TLClark. 5/30/19.

It just makes me smile to see rows and rows of corn in the field. Looking one direction, the rows are clear. Move around the field 90 degrees and the rows disappear. This photo is proof that at least a few farmers in Iowa have been able to plant this spring – before or between rain storms.

Branch of Honeysuckle. Photo: TLClark. 5/30/19.

The honeysuckle blossoms were the brightest things on my walk Thursday morning. Only when I stopped to take Another LQQK did I realize they grow in a row on a branch.

Honeysuckle Blooms. Photo: TLClark. 5/30/19.

Saw a post for an “All Lined Up” photo challenge, I couldn’t resist joining the fun with pictures that had yet to make it into a blog post!

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Crawl

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My imagination must have been napping when I read Frank’s photo challenge earlier this week. Nothing came to mind for the prompt “crawl.” He had a photo of a snake. Since I’m not a fan of snakes, I knew I wouldn’t go that direction!

An idea crept up on me earlier today. Crawling through photo file folders, I found a few not-so-creepy-crawlies on flowers. Bugs don’t creep me out like snakes do. And most of the bugs that have appeared in my pictures fly as well as crawl.

Here are three photos of Japanese beetles on flowers and one image of damage done. All were taken in early July 2011 when the beetles invaded our flower beds, voraciously eating their way through foliage.

One Japanese beetle crawling on a single zinnia doesn’t look too destructive.

One cosmos with seven – or more – Japanese beetles doing their thing.

Japanese beetles are certainly crawling all over the marigolds, but are they feasting?

Zinnia foliage Shredded leaves tell the tale of the beetles’ visit.

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Rose

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I can’t decide which is more fun when it comes to a photo challenge: grabbing a camera to take a new picture OR browsing through digital photo files.

Frank Jansen Photography’s photo challenge this week is rose. I’m sharing three pictures from my files and one from trying to come up with something new.

First, a yellow rose in our yard from a few houses ago. I think that may have been the only place we lived with roses in flower beds. That is only because the prior owners had planted them!

Photo: TLClark, 5/30/08.

Next up, a rose with an interesting center. I can’t tell from the series of pictures I took if the rose is in a bouquet or was a single stem. Nor can I tell you what the occasion was – although it was part way between Christmas and my birthday.

Photo: TLClark, 1/15/12.

Finally, a rose of another color. It’s clearly from a bouquet on the dining room table. The bouquet may have been on the altar at church – but that’s a guess since other photos taken that day are all at the church.

Photo: TLClark, 1/22/17.

I wanted to do a new picture for the challenge but there are no roses in the house. So I started thinking of the word “rose” as the past tense of the verb “rise.” While baking frozen rolls for supper I couldn’t resist this last picture. The dough rose before I put it in the oven, then rose more while baking.