The Flower Hour – First Camellia

The first camellia of the season bloomed a few days after Christmas. There are several camellia bushes in my garden that are covered with buds that will soon be opening.

Many thanks to Terri for this week’s Flower Hour challenge The Flower Hour: Yellow Trumpet Flower

Terri posts a new Flower Hour Weekly challenge every Tuesday. You can find out more about this challenge here.

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #379 – Favorite Images of 2025

Happy New Year!

Once again the Lens-Artists team is starting the new year by asking our followers to share their favorite images of 2025. Your images can be from a previous post or ones you’ve never shared before but they must have been taken in 2025. There is no single host for this challenge. The entire team is sharing the challenge.

In 2025 we went on a Mississippi River cruise, took a few short road trips, and had fun in New Mexico at my nephew’s wedding. When we weren’t wandering we enjoyed being at home in Coastal Georgia. Here are a few of my favorite images from the year.

January

The year began with a rare coastal Georgia snow storm. The featured image of a cardinal in the snow is one my favorites from the year. Later in the month we made a short trip to Jekyll Island.

Sidney Lanier Bridge, Brunswick, Georgia
Sidney Lanier Bridge, Brunswick, Georgia

February

We flew to New Orleans to begin a Mississippi River cruise.

Twin bridges over the Mississippi River lit up for Mardi Gras

March, April and May at home

Spring Azaleas

Morning Marsh

May Magnolia blossoms

June

We celebrated my birthday with a boat trip to Daufuskie Island, South Carolina.

Bloody Point, Daufuskie Island, South Carolina

July

We celebrated our 55th anniversary in Darien, Georgia.

Shrimp boats in Darien, Georgia

August and September in the Garden

Gulf Fritillary

Green Anole

October

We had a fun trip to New Mexico for my nephew’s wedding and enjoyed seeing the beautiful Sandia Mountains.

Sandia Mountains, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Sandia Mountains, Albuquerque, New Mexico

November

The November morning skies were amazing.

November Morning

December

The holiday decorations always add to the fun of the season.

Festive Holiday lights

I hope you will join us in the challenge by sharing your favorite photos of 2025. I’m looking forward to seeing your responses. Be sure to use the Lens-Artists tag in your post and include a link to this post or any member of the Lens-Artists team.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, January 10 at noon eastern time when Anne will be hosting our next challenge.

You can learn more about how to join the Lens-Artists challenges here.

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #378 – Last Chance 2025

All of the members of the Lens-Artists team have joined together to host this final.challenge of the year. The challenge is to feature any of our favorite images that never made it into of the Lens-Artists challenge. The images can be of any subject but they must have been created in 2025. Here are a few of my favorites from this year.

One of my favorite images of the year never fit into any of the Lens-Artists challenges. In early May I discovered a female Diamond Back Terrapin laying her eggs in my garden. I kept a close watch on the nest but sadly none of the eggs ever hatched.

Diamond Back Terrapin
Diamond Back Terrapin laying her eggs

Butterflies, flowers and bees

Birds

I rushed out to the beach when I heard there was a marker buoy weighing around 13,900 pounds that had washed up on the beach at Tybee Island, Georgia. When I got there I found a mermaid, too!

Thanks for sharing lots of Holiday Fun last week for Ann-Christine’s challenge. I enjoyed all of the festive holiday images.

We hope you will join us in posting images from this year that never made it to a Lens-Artists challenge. Please remember to use the Lens-Artists tag and to include a link to this post or any of the Lens-Artists team member’s post.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in our Lens-Artists challenge this year. The Lens-Artists team will be taking a break until the end of the year so we can enjoy celebrating the holidays. We will return on January 3 with our annual end of the year Favorite Photos of 2025 challenge.

Wishing you a joyous holiday season and a very happy new year!