Red is a strong, happy, optimistic color, and I like having fun with it, you know? Like, when colors clash – I love that strangeness. ~ Victoria Beckham
This weeks’ Lens Artist Photo Challenge is….wait for it….
find the red.
Lens Artist challenge # 81 from Patti challenges us to a scavenger hunt for red. Not a difficult task. Red awakens us; red doesn’t just catch the eye, it keeps the eye. Here is my take on red, from the most famous red dog to an iconic bridge.
Lounging setters. Golden Gate Kennel Club Dog Show, San Francisco
Being a show dog can be a tiring task. Between struttin’ their stuff and meeting the adoring public a little nap time is a welcome break. 
Changing of the guard, La Citadelle, Quebec City, Canada.
La Citadelle is a working military installation that pays homage to history. For nearly 100 years except for a brief hiatus between 1939 and 1945 soldiers of the Royal 22nd Régiment decked out in their scarlet regimental dress relieves the old guard to serve as the new guard for 24 hours. The ceremony is based on the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. 
Beautiful beets. Farmers’ Market, Embarcadero, San Francisco.
I love, love, love, beets, pickled if you please. Here is a bevy of lovely beets. 
Lookin’ out my backdoor. Bougainvillea.
Photos taken steps from my door. A happy bougainvillea provides a red backdrop to a white and purple stamen.
The Christmas flower. San Francisco Botanical Garden, San Francisco, California
I’ve no idea what this flower is called. Since it looks like Christmas ribbon I’ve dubbed it the Christmas flower. 
THE bridge. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
Two views of the bridge. The first is from Land’s End. At one time, when regular people could afford to live in San Francisco (our rent was only 550.00 per month for a view of the ocean and nighttime serenades from the seals) this view was a mere five minutes from my home. The second image is taken from the Marin Headlands
Nice set, Paulie. The Brits value tradition and their soldiers have dressed the same for over a hundred years, amazing to me. In case it matters to you, your Christmas ribbon flower is a Leucospermum, a native of southern Africa. A curious plant with a long-lasting flower. Boy, for $550/month you can’t even rent a closet these days. Sadly, tech seems to have ruined your neighborhood.
Thanks so much for the comment Eliza. When we visited La Citadelle I noted that there seemed to be quite an emphasis on Canadian participation in World War One that I’m curious about and plan to research.
Yes I do care about the name of the “Christmas plant” and I’ve renamed the photo in my library accordingly. Thank you for that.
That 550.00 included utilities. It was a wonderful flat in a beautiful location. We were within walking distance of the Cliff House Restaurant, Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach and the trails of Land’s End.
Some wonderful images Paulie. Loved your Irish Setters (adorable) and your closing bridge shot especially.
Thank you Tina for visiting and commenting. I’ve gathered from the comments that the Irish Setters are clearly the crowd pleasers. But then that’s the way it is with dogs, right?
Stunning set of photos and I particularly loved the one of the dogs.
Thank you for commenting and visiting Sheree. Yep, everybody loves the dogs and that’s only appropriate.
Nice variety of reds.
Teresa
Thank you Teresa and thank you for visiting. I took a peek at your blog. Very nice work!
Thanks for the appreciation.
Great collection, Paulie. I love the setters (of course!) and your shots of the Golden Gate. Perfect for the challenge.
Thank you Patti for the kind words.
Lovely capture of the setters. The close up flower image is amazingly beautiful.
Thank you for the kind words Amy. And thank you again for introducing me to this photo challenge. I’m having fun with it.
Yay – a set of lovely setters (!) Some beautiful reds, Paulie! That “Christmas flower is amazing, and I will show my two boys (lagottos) the dozing setters – they will love it!
Thank you so much for the kind words. It seems that hands down the setters are the favorite of my reds.
And thanks to another reader’s comment I’ve come to learn that the Christmas flower is a Leucospermum, native to South Africa.
Ah, one positive thing about blogging again – knowledge expands! Thank you for telling me the name of the flower.
Lovely shades of red. 😊
Thank you so much Irene.
Beautiful Setters! Don’t get those tunics dirty! Great reds all around.
Thank you John.
Amazing pictures Paul, and a great cross section of reds. I love the Setters, though I’m not sure why they’re called red. They look deep brown to me. Red is an auspicious and lucky colour in the Asian culture, as you probably know. I like it as an accent colour for many things.
Beets … 😋 I don’t like them pickled as much as boiled, tossed in olive oil with some fennel seeds and a splash of lemon. Great summer salad. I have a story about beets. It was when I was going through chemo and I refused to take my anti-nausea meds. I didn’t have much appetite, but I could eat beets, so for one meal I ate a huge pot of boiled beets and nothing else. It was all going well until I couldn’t keep them down. My boyfriend at the time (my husband now) ran to grab the nearest container for me before I vomited up a dozen beets. Only later did I realize he’d given me a new gigantic gravy boat I’d just purchased.
I bought it specifically for Thanksgiving because the previous year his family complained there wasn’t enough gravy for the turkey.
I’m Asian, we don’t do gravy, so that year, we did gravy– lots of it, in that fucking gravy boat.
To this day, my husband does not touch beets.
I still love them. 😀
Great shots of the Golden Gate Bridge. I really hope to see it some day. 😀
eden
Hi Eden,
The cancer is a small image in your rearview mirror….right?
Cora went through chemo only once, her last time around. She’s a little bulldog so she forced herself to eat. She lost her hair of course and when it came back it came in a thick salt and pepper. I pleaded with her not to color it and she didn’t. I love it.
Your comment on beets had me asking Cora last night, “Where was it that I had that great beet salad?”
Crickets.
I still can’t remember where it was but it was wonderful. It was too damned small though. It was relatively recent but I’m guessing it had to be before COVID.
If you have any spare pickled beets or gravy, send em on down, but keep the boats. We have a small fleet of gravy boats. Even have my mom’s. It’s gotta be around 60 years old.
Have a happy Sunday.
P.
Happy Sunday Paul! I’m finishing some writing today, sorry I’m late to respond. I’ll read more before I go to bed, but yes … cancer is part of my past, and may it stay there.
As for gravy boats … that particular one which held lots of regurgitated beets is now gone… not sure where, but it disappeared one day. 🤣
Hmmm, who sunk the gravy boat 😔