Our World Tuesday: J C Raulston Arboreum at NCSU

Every time I go to the J. C. Raulston Arboretum at NCSU there is something new to see.

I was surprised when we went there this Sunday to discover that a dragon had moved in.

He seemed to be having fun playing on the grass.

One of the reasons I wanted to go to the arboretum is because we've had so much rain that I knew it would be very lush.

It's a pleasure to see the plants and flowers doing so well.

The garden is very extensive so I'm only showing a sampling of shots for this post.

I like the mix of colors and shapes.

One of the main paths leads to the bathroom house.

I photographed flowers along the way.

I always take pictures of the bathroom house (below) because I think it's such a pretty little building for a utilitarian purpose.

Some parts of the garden are very shady which I like this time of the year.

The wide open space with many beds is part of the University growing program where they experiment with different varieties.

In that section they also have a children's garden.

I love the lath house.

There is something very serene about it.

Outside of the Lath House is a Japanese Garden.

I like that style of garden but I'm far to messy to every have one.

We even had some blue skies before we left.

It has been a while since I've visited this garden in the summer because I tend to go to gardens in the spring and fall.

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The Weekend in Black and White: Heavy Rain and Reflected Feet

I took this shot through my door's windows. After I downloaded it I saw that my feet were reflected and it looked like they were being rained on.

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SkyWatch Friday: Happy U. S. Independence Day

Happy Independence Day (U.S.) to those who celebrate it.

In my neck of the woods July 4 will probably have rain although there is a chance of some clearing.

Over the past 8 days we've only had 2 days with some blue in the sky.

On those two days there was rain for part of the day.

But since the other days were all gray even partial clearing was a treat.

I can't believe how much rain we've been having.

There has been some flooding with all the rain.

I was at the grocery store the other day and the parking lot started looking like a creek.

I managed to avoid the deeper standing water and made it home.

This has been the wettest summer I can recall.

It's good for the plants up to a point but we may reach a point of too much rain if it keeps up like this.

I didn't think I'd ever get tired of rain.

I can recall year's past where I craved rain.

But too much of anything can get old after a while.

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ABC Wednesday: Y is for Yarrow

I thought I'd start with yellow yarrow for two Y words.

Next some white yarrow. I had to go to old photos since my yarrow is currently overrun with weeds.

Last is red yarrow although it looks pink in this shot.

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