Great Britain, in many parts of the country, is one gorgeous landscape after another. I don’t take many landscape pictures because I have a difficult time capturing the fullness of the beauty I see. I hope these images give you at least a bit of the beauty of England’s northern landscapes and the heather on the hills.

The “golfball” buildings are from a nearby military base. You can learn about them here.

Facebook followers can see all the images at juliemariepics.com .

The British take their flowers very seriously; whether cultured or wild. I’ve chosen a dozen flower shots from our recent trip to Great Britain. We were there to see our youngest and his family, my youngest brother and his wife, and one of my nieces.

The weather was often overcast, but we visited area sites and very rarely got caught in the rain. Hope these images give you some idea of the beauty of England’s flowers. Facebook users, click on the link to see all the images. As always, I appreciate your thoughts.

I set out on my own yesterday, as my usual photo safari companion was away. Concord, Michigan is a short trip from my home. I was on my way a bit before sunrise to catch as much of my preferred early morning light as possible. The sunflowers were near Spring Arbor. The animal shots were on my rather circuitous route back. The rest are from Concord. I hope you can sense some of my pleasure in this morning ramble.

Sunflowers

Concord Sunrise

Summers Past

Cool Bike

Mom & Pop Sandhill Crane

Ripples & Reflections

Fawn

Due to busier than usual daytime schedules, Pat and I took an evening drive. It was a different light than we were used to, but we adjusted and captured some Pure Michigan beauty. Pat was the navigator and entirely by well-planned accident we ended up at the ice cream place to have green apple and caramel ice creams in a small twist. It was a peace-educing evening drive.

Our Favorite Type of Road

Busy Bee

Beautiful Backlit Queen

Golden Hour Glow

Shining Through

Reflections

Memories

Lat week’s photo outing took us out among the wild, er wildflowers. We both agreed that this was one of the most prolific wildflower summers we had seen. Queen Anne’s Lace has been especially plentiful. Here is some of what I witnessed in my adventure among the wild (wildflower, that is).

CAUTION: If you are an arachnophobe, there are spider webs in three of the images.

No, not the ones with the roar. The wild orange ones. Tiger Lilies. Tiger Lilies are my favorite flower, except perhaps for a rose that smells as good as it looks. Here are three captured tiger shots from last Wednesday’s photo safari.

While I do take other pictures, my favorite photography is nature photography; the flora and fauna of our world. These ten images are mostly flora images, but there are two fauna interested in the flora. Pat and I went looking for a field of wildflowers we had seen in a previous photo safari, but couldn’t find it so we meandered on gravel roads to find other wild flowers. The hibiscus and butterfly images are from Pat’s very beautiful garden. I hope you enjoy them all at the link below.

Hibiscus

End of Season

Weed Seeds

I was a woman on a mission; more specifically on Old Mission Peninsula north of Traverse City, Michigan. I joined my spouse for a trip to Traverse City — she for a conference and me to roam Old  Mission and Leelanau Peninsulas. The two peninsulas form Grand Traverse Bay.

At 45 degrees north, the hills and protection from harsh winters (by being so close to water), make this great wine vines territory. The area also has both nature and man-made beauty. I hope you catch the spirit of this beauty from these  photos.

Vineyard

Grape Expectations

Cherry Orchard

Cherries

Mission Point Lighthouse

Grand Traverse Lighthouse (Leelanau Peninsula)

Morning View

Boats

At Ease

As we left the bird sanctuary on Thursday, we headed in the general direction of Chelsea; with side excursions down some gravel roads infested with biting flies. We didn’t get out.

Along the way we came across a couple of personal ponds. They both appeared to be spring fed. I enjoy the abstract, almost impressionistic, quality of water reflections. Here are some of the images plus proof that we made it to Chelsea.

Boat, Pond, & Sky

Boat & Bush

Shoreline

Bubbles and Waves

Diving Board & Bridge

Yes, we made it to Chelsea. No, we weren’t riding bikes!