Wordless Wednesday: Dark Beauty

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Summer

washed through with bright hope

looking up at Summer skies

drinking in the rays

Cee’s Flower of the Day

Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge, prompt words: HOPE and UP

Our Weekly Photo Challenge: SUMMER

I was wondering which photo to choose to represent Summer and walked out of my front door to be greeted by the first Stargazer Lily to open this year – mmmmm that scent – mmmm those colours – says Summer to me.

What would your SUMMER photo be – to join in, leave a link in the comments.

Click here to see the prompts for the coming weeks

Next week’s Photo Challenge Prompt

STREET

Photo Challenge Round Up: Heat

The season for Open Gardens is here in the UK, so good to be able to go into so many beautiful and quirky private gardens. I think this is a geum in hot colours, but could it be a potentilla?

Love that dark star at the centre. Joining Cee’s ‘Flower of the Day’.

Also getting hot this week:

Jane at Rainbow Junkie……. …………… ……  cook

Cathy at Nanacathy…….. ……. ……….. …….desert

 me at Wild Daffodil……… ……… ……….  card

💜 Melissa at The Aran Artisan …………………. fire

 Denis at Haiku Hound…….. ……….. ……sunset

Christina A Look at the Little Things ……. …90s

⭐️ Srivi at Piscean Me……………. ………… ….Mumbai

The  denotes a post that is also joining in with Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge – it’s fun to combine the two.

The  denotes a post with a poem or haiku written to go with the photo, but not using  Ronovan’s prompt words.

Please let me know if I have missed anyone

Thank you everyone for your steamy entries.

Four fab photo fiends created the 52 Week Photo Challenge, we are:

• Cathy from Nanacathydotcom
• Jane from Rainbowjunkiecorner
• Melissa from The Aran Artisan
• Sandra from Wild Daffodil

Thanks to Rainbow Jane’s bit of coaching I have created the links slightly differently so that they open in a new window – I hope this is helpful. Thank you Jane! 😀

Update:

An entry from my sister of her dog Bentley cooling off in the heat of the day by having a swim, he looks a bit knackered! Poor old Bentley!

Update 2 from Dig with Dorris, using glorious hot summer colours in a vase and joining Cathy’s In a Vase on Monday.

 

Join in any time

Next up is the Photo Prompt

PLAY

 Photo Challenge – click on the link to find out how to join in and see all the subjects set out for the weeks ahead.

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Photo Challenge Round-Up: Reflection

Echo calls from the mountain,

Narcissus only sees himself,

a doomed reflection

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I am combining the Round-Up with ‘In a Vase on Monday’, scroll to the end of the post to read more about the ‘Vase’.

Here are this week’s REFLECTIONS:

Jane at Rainbow Junkie……. …………… ………ad infinitum

Cathy at Nanacathy…….. ……. ……….. …….         sentinels

 me at Wild Daffodil……… ……… ……….water sculpture

 Cathy at Rambling in the Garden ……8 pane abstraction

⭐️ Denis at Haiku Hound…….. ……….. ………….water colour

💜 Roz at Umpteen Things ……………………………..barmy?

Roz at Umpteen Things……………… …………………..canal

 Becky at BeckyG ………… …….. ………..  ……..spooky?

Christina A Look at the Little Things ……. …………..pink

Dorris at Dig with Dorris ………… …… ……….soft sunset

Ali at Thimberlina.………… …………….. ….pink and grey

Del from Curls and Skirls……….. ………………..thinking

Srivi at Piscean Me……………. …………gold, grey, breeze

Jen at Let the Sewing Begin ……………… ……….take off

The 💜 denotes a post that is also joining in with Ronovan’s Haiku Challenge – it’s fun to combine the two.

The ⭐️ denotes a post with a poem or haiku written to go with the photo, but not using  Ronovan’s prompt words.

Please let me know if I have missed anyone

Thank you everyone for your fabulous Reflections.

Next up is the Photo Prompt

WORK

You can join in the Photo Challenge any time, click on the link to find out how to and see all the subjects for the weeks ahead.

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In this post I am also joining in with Cee’s Flower of the Day, Macro Monday,

Today’s Flowers

and

Cathy’s  wonderful ‘In a Vase on Monday ‘ where she invites us to find things in our gardens to pop in a vase each week. The great thing about this meme is that Cathy also adds a few props and each ‘Vase’ tells a story.

The mirror in the photo above is an appropriate prop for a ‘Vase’ referencing a myth about unrequited love. It was given to me many years ago by a boyfriend. Before I opened the present he told me that when I opened the wrapping I would see the most beautiful thing in the world – and of course, as it was a mirror, I saw myself!

Sadly the relationship ended before I wanted it too, but it is always nice to remember the good things and I still love that little mirror.

Bloom

baby gabbling

locks love in deep as nectar

inside a flower

*

Phew, it was touch and go whether I could combine the two challenges this week:

Photo Challenge: BLOOM

Haiku Challenge: GAB and LOCK

I have three A4 sides of paper covered with scribblings and scrubbing out, I went down some dark allies with those two words and could not seem to find my way back into the light and to linking them with BLOOM. I considered abandoning the Haiku challenge – but determination kicked in, it is a challenge after all, and at last I made it. Haiku traditionally take inspiration from nature so I think it works.

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I hope it feels as if the Haiku is ‘locked‘ between the photos

This is the first year I have succulents flowering outside. They look like aliens from another planet, but the colours are gorgeous, with a soft ‘bloom‘ on them.

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This week’s entries in the Photo Challenge: Erika, smell those lilies; Garry’s rose; Jamie‘s hot colours, beautiful light; Cathy’s Plan A and Plan B, which would you choose?; Melissa’s blue bells, but not bluebells.

It’s not too late to join in!

This photo was standing by as understudy, and rather than discard it I thought I would give it its moment and let it take a bow.

Gosh how I love that colour!

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Next week it is time to get HOT for the Photo Challenge!

Smooth

Smoothest pink petals                                                                                                  Erotic design to lure                                                                                                             In to the centre

 

Bluedaisyz  52weekchallenge

Smooth by Jamie, Roz, Garry (great minds … Garry!), Erika

GARDEN DIARY                                                                                                       Pruned the apple tree. I cut up the prunings for kindling.                                      The second day in a row that I have gardened til the sun went down – in February!!!! Fab-u-lussssss!

OMG! this is just the best thing!

I can’t write too much as it’s late and I really need to wind down or I will never get to sleep, but I just had to share this Kaleidoscope programme from iHanna’s blog

click here to see her post.

Follow her instructions and it is so easy!

It should come with a potential addiction warning though

After some mandalas, I was playing around and this little

creature appeared:

it came from this photo of mine of a lily

I’m in danger of staying up all night creating a whole Lily family – NOoooooooo  I must resist!!!!!!!

(You can see more experiments here and here)