Fountains Abbey  was founded by 13 expelled Benedictine monks in 1132. They became part of the more reformation minded Cistercian order in 1133. The Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved Cistercian monasteries in England. Its history as a monastery lasted until 1539 when Henry VIII ordered all monasteries dissolved.

In 1983 the  National Trust purchased the 674 acre property. It was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. The property is managed and maintained by English Heritage.

I hope these pictures give you a sense of the mystery, reverence, and majesty of Fountains Abbey.

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.

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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.