Guess who with July's Scavenger Hunt Photos!

Please do not faint from shock at my reappearance!  Let's just say I've travelled far and wide in search of the elusive July choices.  Without further ado, here is the summary grouping:

Number one was "Red, white and blue" ~ throughout the month of July I shot various red, white and blue combinations, but the one I chose was a line up seadoos ready for any takers. Were these close to home? Oh, no they weren't!

It all began one rainy day in the middle of July when I was tired of the unseasonable weather. My son was off work for a 4 day weekend and the conversation went something like this:

Me: How adventurous are you feeling?
Son: Why?
Me: I wondered if you'd like to take off somewhere to find the sun.
Son: Where?
Me: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Son: HaHa
Me: Actually, I'm serious ...
Son: That's miles away...
Me: I know... :)

So we packed up the car and left a few hours later, catching a ferry at 8:15 p.m., driving over the Canada/US border about 11 p.m and stopped for the night (1 a.m.) in Marysville, Washington close to Hwy US 2. The next day we drove all across Washington State, stopping for a couple of hours in Leavenworth,  and then carrying on until crossing the border into Idaho!

The next day in Coeur d'Alene, the sun was indeed shining and hence, this lovely photo of the Seadoos, taken as we walked along the floating boardwalk.

Number 2 - Flip-flops

These flip-flops were a large 'wall hanging' in a local restaurant, and seemed to fit the bill!

Number 3 - Ice cream

I chose this photo of an ice cream cone I was eating while lounging on the back deck ~ the cone is on the left...cherry tree on the right.

Number 4 - Strawberries

This is one of the strawberries that was growing in my garden:

Number 5 - A flag

Since July 1 was Canada Day, I chose a Canadian flag that someone had attached to a stick on the beach.

Number 6 - Fields
So many fields, but I liked the look of this lush farm field ~

Number 7 - Celebration
Today, August 1, is BC Day but this photo was taken yesterday, July 31 when I was in Victoria ~ there was much celebration as cadets from various provinces paraded on the Parliament Building lawn, accompanied by marching bands and much joyous holiday spirit was abounding as we all shared in a beautiful summer evening. (Also out for dinner for my brother's retirement which was the main reason we were celebrating ;))

Number 8 - Sea shells
Of the myriad photos of sea shells I have taken, I chose this one. Each summer some of my relatives come to a seaside resort close by and when I was visiting them during the first week of July, the children showed me this 'butterfly tree' which was painstakingly made by placing seashells in a log that had been 'planted' in the sand. It was quite beautiful :)

Number 9 - Stars

I searched for a starfish for this category and found a gorgeous purple one while I was on a beach walk ~

Number 10 - Stripes

Well, our spontaneous trip to the States gave me ample opportunity to take a photo of the Stars and Stripes!

Number 11 - Kite

Oh my, not one kite found in my July collection, so off to the beach today to see what was up in the air! What a glorious day ~ a sunny seabreezy day - perfect kite flying weather. It was hard to choose from the many...

Number 12 - Happiness

I must say that the natural beauty of my surroundings brings me much happiness, especially a day like today, when the sky is blue, there is still a splash of snow on the mountains, and people are enjoying themselves at the beach. A wonderful feeling of freedom - can you see the kite?

As you can imagine, I have taken so many photos throughout July (would you believe over 1200!)  I have spotted three raccoons in the cherry tree at once.  The cherries this year, by the way, have been 'the pits'!  The cool wet spring and even many wet early summer days have confused the poor cherry tree.  The green hard cherries eventually turned red ... and split!  The animals and birds didn't seem to mind and continue to enjoy dropping exploding cherry bombs onto the deck.  Splat!

A deer has frequented the back yard, and has a little rest there some afternoons.

As I said, I have many summer photos and hopefully I'll feel like doing some blog entries ~ at least before August has run away with the rest of the summer!

Here is the August Scavenger Hunt list hosted by Kathy at Postcards from the P.P. 

a fountain
a boat
mountains
street food
a picnic
market day
a festival or funfair
bread
something bizarre
fabric
a sport
something ancient

I do apologize for not leaving comments on blogs during this last month, however I have been reading them and taking note of all goings on!