Summer medley

Ready for a soup of everything? With surprise at the end? Let us begin.

First of all of course supermoon - full Moon at the time when it's the closest to the Earth, so it's unusually large. We will have two more in August and September, so here is my first, umm, shot at it.

Romance under the full moon. Aww.

One shot from Sidney

 and one from Beacon Hill Park. I call it "Supervisor."

Ogden Point and breakwater, favorite sights in the night

... and in the day. 

Teeming life at the Fisherman's Wharf

Some downtown fun

Blue Monster invasion

Butchart Gardens, roses in full bloom

(something else is blooming - who know their botany, determine what it is).

 Willows Beach

Spooky tree at the sunset at the Island View Beach

Same tree, more birds. Hitchcock.

  Beautiful views at the East Sooke

 And now, the promised surprise. Whale watching trip with Eagle Wing Whale Watching, done at the sunset time yielded much more than your usual back-dorsal fin orca images. Full breach lit by golden light of the sunset, whales cruising in the sun reflection... judge for yourself:

Summer Cleaning

Weird name for a post, right? The thing is, as I go through the themes or months, there are some images that get post-processed later, or get forgotten somehow. They collect in the folder "to be posted yet" instead of being moved into their theme folders. To clean up this clutter, now and then I have to go over that folder and do a sweeping and mopping job. So, here goes my summer cleaning.

Brave look, ain't it?

 Some say flamingo has a wise look here, some - ominous. You decide.  

The name's Rose.

Something ancient-Greek looking. Or Rome.

This tulip has a  bad hair day. Looking gorgeous anyway.

Beacon Hill Park.

Rose Garden at the Butchart

UVIC grounds.

Sidney marina

Something.

The tackiest shot I've made this year. And possibly last two years. Or ever. Sorry. No, come to think of it, I had a rose on a guitar shot 5 years ago, probably beats this.

Summer bliss

The title says it all actually. Not much is needed in comments department, aside of indication of a place. Let's start with Sidney where cormorants love to pose with Mt. Baker in the background:

Moving to Butchart for a min:

This waterfall in Japanese Garden I photographed countless times but these shots are probably first that I am happy with:

Art! (right?)

These are flamingos (just so you don't confuse them for tulips):

Some are so lucky to be born this brightly colored...

  

Breakwater

Been a while since we did night time theme, plus full Moon as a bonus

Back downtown, Darth Vader the Fiddler!

Meanwhile, Butchart is not decorated with roses

And there are some irises elsewhere:

... and calla lilies

...and ducks in the bog:

Quiet evening with amazing soft light at the Central Saanich shore:

Several shots from the Governor's House: 

And, to finish, in honor of Canada Day, Queen Victoria strolling the Legislative grounds