188/365: "Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul." ~ Democritus

2 more pictures in notes above! :)

Today was Steve's Sunday Lunch Ride and it happened to be my favorite bike ride too, which is out in the beautiful Applegate Valley. 30 miles of beautiful farm country and wineries, forests and meadows, and very few cars. Absolute bliss!

At one point the six of us rounded a curve and found ourselves staring at a garden of the most gorgeous coneflowers any of us had ever seen! Although I'd taken a bunch of pictures at our lunch stop, there was no way to resist these incredible flowers and I spent about 20 minutes taking about 200 pictures, and actually, I could have spent hours there, what a TREAT!

I haven't even looked at all the pictures I took, but I'm sharing three that I really loved, and which are basically straight out of the camera! I hope to share bunches of other pictures, I got so lucky with countless winners, HAPPY DAY!!! :D

Democritus (Greek: Dēmokritos, "chosen of the people") (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece. A pupil of Leucippus, he was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher who formulated an atomic theory for the universe. Wkipedia: Democritus

Explored on July 8, 2013. Highest placement, page 2 (#40).