Nature is uplifting. Full of grace. Unconditional love. This photo (my favorite this week) is my contribution to Friday's Hunt hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills.  Her weekly meme asks participants to share photos to three prompts.  The prompts this week are:  1) Starts with U  2) Week's Favorite  3) Nature To join in (it's open until Sunday evening) and/or to check out other participants, click here .

The clouds last Saturday were simply amazing. I saw various shapes floating through the sky. This spectacular cloud reminded me of an animal. I just can't figure what kind.  See its little ears sticking up, its eye, and its snout. What do you think? This photo (my favorite this week) is my contribution to Friday's Hunt hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills.  Her weekly meme asks participants to share photos to three prompts.  The prompts this week are:  1) Starts with S  2) Week's Favorite  3) Amazing To check out what others are sharing and/or to join in the fun, please here .   

The cues: 1) Starts with R   2) Week's favorite   3) Black and/or orange Raindrops grace a bare rose plant in the front yard. Leaves turn color on it, too.  Click. That's my favorite shot to share in this week's Friday's Hunt , hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills. Click here to see what other participants have posted. 

Late Friday night, we had our first rain. I don't think it rained too long, but it was enough to give us that shiny wetness the next morning. As I'm writing, I hear the plunkity-plunk of the rain on some part of the roof,  the swissshhhh! of water as cars drive by, and the general gentle fall of the rain.  This is our first rainfall since May. Hurrah! I'm linking up today with All Seasons , a weekly meme hosted by blogger friend Jeanette. Click here to check out her post and the link that leads other participants in the meme. You have until Wednesday, if you'd like to join in.

The cues for this week are: 1) Starts with O  2) Week's Favorite  3) Eyes Don't you think this tree's "eyes" look owlish? Ha-ha! O for owlish. O is also for opposite. On the opposite side of this tree is young growth. Very cool, which is why this photo is my week's favorite. Friday's Hunt is a weekly meme hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills . To check out other participants, please click here .

The cues for this week's Friday's Hunt , hosted by Teresa of Eden Hills , are: 1) Starts with F  2) Week's Favorite  3) Shiny It's been a busy week—high school class reunion stuff (45 years! Tonight is our dinner-dance.)—so I'm doing a stretch with my entry by using a photo I've posted last year. This morning I was looking at the print of it on our kitchen wall and thinking this is one of my favorite photos. Light bulb! I have my week's favorite photo. Some of you are familiar with the Husband, and maybe even this photo. There you go: Familiar . Shiny —the sunlight reflecting on the creek. To check out other entries for Friday's Hunt , click here .  Gotta run. See ya.

Today's topics are 1) Starts with E   2) Week's Favorite  3) Bounce I like coming up with a photo that covers all three topics, because, I admit it, I'm lazy. This afternoon I didn't think I could come up with something even for the letter E. Maybe I'd simply flake out this week.  While getting a photo ready for my other blog, I thought how much I liked the way it turned out, so maybe I'd also use it as my week's favorite for Friday's Hunt. Boom. Pow. Light bulb. Oh, yeah. The photo was of eucalyptus trees. Ha! I bounced back. The photo covers all three topics. Okay, I may have stretched the bounce part. But, I'm sticking with it.  Okey-dokey.  Now, head on over to Teresa's blog, Eden Hills , to check out what other participants have posted for today's Friday's Hunt .

For the past 12 summers, a summer isn't summer without sunflowers growing somewhere in the front, back, or side of the house. I sowed the first sunflower seeds, and until this year, the Mama sowed seeds from the previous year's harvest. I tossed the seeds about the backyard too late, meaning after the last of the rain. And, me watering sporadically and forgetting where I had tossed the seeds, not a sunflower was to be seen. Then. Last week, I saw that spindly sunflower smiling at me as I was watering flowers. I'll do better next year. I'm linking up with Seasons , a weekly meme hosted by jesh stg. Click here to join in and/or to check out other blogs.

Ha! I'm actually doing Teresa's meme, Friday's Hunt , on the actual day. This week the photo hunt was 1) The Letter L, 2) Week's Favorite, and 3) Lace. My interpretation of the letter L is also my favorite photo. A lovely landscape of the Southern Diablo Range in my neck of the woods. I clicked the photo (above) as the Husband drove us homeward on Highway 25. A big fat black wire streaked across the scene which I erased in Photoshop. These tree branches reminded me of lace. What do you think? Okay, now it's time for you to check out the other participants in the Eden Hills Friday's Hunt . See you later.

This is a close-up of the petals of the first California poppy that I saw this year, back in February. Dear friend Jennifer said the lines of the poppy reminded her of a Georgia O'Keefe painting, and suggested that I zoom in on the petals, crop, and play with what I saw. Most definitely! Georgia O'Keefe is one of my favorite artists. I love all of her phases, from her early years in New York to her later, and more familiar, years in New Mexico. Many years ago, I dropped everything to trek down to Los Angeles to see an exhibit of Ms. O'Keefe's works. Wowza! Here's the photo that I took of the poppy. Isn't the poppy gorgeous? Maybe one day, I'll try painting a close-up of its petals with actual brush and paints. I'm linking up with Seasons , hosted by Jeanette of St Germain's Blog, and the Creative Every Day Challenge , hosted by Leah of Creative Every Day.  I hope you'll go visit both memes.

Heartily, I say. Rain. We have been getting lots of heavenly rain since March began and it ought to continue through the whole month. It surely is helping the lessening (such a word?) of our drought. Blue skies. The kind that comes after a rain. Delightful. Fruit trees in bloom. Beautiful! Totally.  That's the Asian pear tree in the Mama's backyard.  If all goes well, we many have another good crop this year.   And, green! It's emerald green all over. We truly are blessed. Today, I'm sharing with Our World Tuesday and a new meme called Seasons , hosted by Jeanette at St. Germain's Blog.  Take a look at both, why don't you?

Hello Singular Live Oak Tree, So huge, so healthy, and so handsome! Thank you for helping make sweet oxygen for us as we walked through the Elkhorn Slough Reserve National Estuarine Research Reserve . It's the letter H at ABC Wednesday . Thank you, ABCW team!

Coooo. Coooo. The sound took me away from the computer. I walked down the hall and glanced out the window. Coooo. Coooo.   Two of 'em. See how the dove on the left looks at the other one. Someone is in love. Coooo. Coooo. I'm hooking up with Warm Heart Wednesday , hosted by the wonderful Jenny Matlock.

Simply wonderful and marvelous. See you tomorrow.

The items for this week's Friday Hunt, hosted by Teresa of Eden Hills are: 1) Starts with D. 2) Week's favorite. 3) Beautiful. For me, they all came together in this reflection of tree branches in a puddle of water near our public library. I didn't find anything I wanted to read in the New section. Any disappointment I had was quickly wiped out when I saw this reflection. To check out other Friday Hunt participants, click here . If you'd like to join the hunt, you have until Sunday evening to link up.

Rain warms my heart. Big time! After four years of drought, the rain we've been having nearly every week, and sometimes several days in a row, is wonderful. We won't know until April (perhaps) if this El Niño weather pattern will break the drought. Knock on wood. As you can see, the rain has brought our lawn back. The Mama is happy about that. I'm heading over to link up with Warm Heart Wednesday , the meme hosted by the lovely Jenny Matlock. Want to join in and/or read what other participants have written? Click here .

One of the things Molly the Cat likes to check out when she goes out to the backyard is a bucket full of water that sits next to the patio. I wonder if she sees what I see in the bucket. Today I'm participating in Our World Tuesday . Click here to join in and/or to see what's going in other parts of the world.

Today I'm participating in the Friday's Hunt , a new weekly meme hosted by Teresa of Eden Hills . You have until Sunday to hook up. Click here to join and/or to check out the participants. It's trés fun! Now, on with my finds. Starting with B That's the Mama's tiny banana grove in August. It didn't get as full as usual last year because of the drought. The grove usually yields two to five banana blossoms, which the Mama sometimes harvest for us to eat. Sometimes tiny bananas grow, but the cool weather sets in before they can ripen. Here's what the banana grove looks like today. I pruned the dried tops of the banana stalks (Are they called trunks?) last week. They'll grow back by Spring. Hopefully. This is the first year I pruned the grove without the Mama's instructions. Week's Favorite Molly the Cat yawned just as I snapped the camera. I think she did it on purpose. She doesn't care for me taking photos of her. I wonder

To celebrate the last Tuesday of the year, I'm hooking up with Our World Tuesday , a weekly meme hosted by Lady Fi, Gattina, Sylvia, Arija, Sandy, and Jennifer. To check out other participants, as well as to join in, click here .

I took this photo of a nearly full moon on Christmas Eve, then cropped and added art filters in Photoshop.