gardening – Welcome to Photograbee!

I’m still awaiting confirmation that this Friday’s Halloween Thrifty Night Market is a go – the organizer has been incommunicado and is not yet advertising as of today, Wednesday 10/29. But… regardless, The Friday night Halloween Thrifty Night Market is now ON too! (She just responded finally right after I first posted this! She had to wait for the venue confirmation.)

So, local Portland beeps (bee-loving peeps) can snag these new cards from me IN PERSON THIS FRIDAY, Halloween, 5-9 pm at 623 SE Washington Street in Portland, Oregon.

A dark goth and punk style flyer from thriftynightmarket_ on Insta sharing the Alt Night Market on Halloween with Y2k, Goth and punk themed vintage items and more Friday 10/31/25 from 5-9 pm at 623 SE Washington Street in Portland, Oregon. (Flyer is a little hard to read.)

The entrance is down the steep ramp at the end of the grey building, (to the east), by the monthly paid parking lot. (Parking for us is on street only sorry, so plan a little time to hunt for a spot as we vendors are going to be using the closest spots to set up.) It’s right off of SE Stark, and Grand. Close to the streetcar, if that helps at all.

Daytime photo from kitty corner across the interestcion of SE 6th and Washington showing the non-descript grey building where the nightmarket will be. A large thumbs up emoji, and arrows point to the entrance highlighted in yellow toward the back (east end) of the building on SE Washington. Text labels show the street names, and N, E, S, W directionals. So it's clear where to go. — Find us here

AND I’m going to start listing the Sleeping Bees duo of cards I just shared in my last post on eBay starting November 1st too! (I was just working out shipping details.)

Their origin story is so hilarious! I dragged myself to my community garden last July 16th (it was around 95F that day – too hot for me and the garden) to water my poor thirsty plot, and slid over to the Gaillardia (red and yellow blanket flower) patch as per usual. But I only had my phone camera on me, as it was so hot. (I live in the same range as butter: when it melts, I melt.)

Anyway, that’s when I encountered the FIRST image below, where no less than six longhorn bees were snoozing sweetly away in a perfect circle around the center of a single Gaillardia flower blossom, swaying peacefully in the breeze. Totally unbothered. Bums up. Shown here:

Photo of a notecard made with a photo of six longhorn bees sleeping neatly and sweetly away around the center of a red and yellow Gaillardia flower. — Sleeping sweetly July 16th

I snapped several shots and took a little video to prove this was NOT Photoshop nor AI! (I rarely use either, honestly.) I’ve shown the video at multiple markets to great effect.

So I swore I’d return the next day with my Nikon Z50 to see if I got as lucky again. Well, the laugh was on me! Because there was not one single bee sleeping sweetly away in any fresh fully open Gaillardia blossoms like the day before – oh no. That would be too easy, Jan. You had your chance yesterday!

No – they were all clustered up on the tattered petals of a bedraggled spent (mature) Gaillardia blossom, also swaying gently in the breeze, looking like a biker gang after a bender! Lol! Ahh… I laughed so hard! That’ll teach me – ALWAYS have your camera on you, silly! But, if you don’t, the best camera (as always) is whatever you have on hand at the time the image presents itself. (Yay for quick reflexes.) Here’s that image I’m calling “The After Party”:

Photo of a large notecard with a photo of a gang of longhorn bees dangling from the tattered petals of a bedraggled Gaillardia flower. Looking like they were on a bender. — The After Party 7/17.

Ahhh… people love both images separately for different reasons I’m finding. As well as the pair together, for the contrast. (I have all three sizes available now.)

I’ll try to get them out to Crystal Heart Boutique ASAP too- 269 E Main street in Hillsboro, Oregon. I’ll do this by next Tuesday Nov 4th latest, maybe sooner. (That’s the next First Tuesday Art Walk in Hillsboro by the way. Just one block off the MAX Blue Line 3rd street station. Super easy!)

Anyway, they are here! And soon they can be there – with you – too!

PS I’m lining up multiple holiday markets, but not all are confirmed yet. Some may get confirmed at the last minute so stay tuned on my socials (see links below) for late-breaking updates. (I try to keep this up to date, but don’t always succeed.) Cheers.

Jan and the Sleepy Bees October 29th, 2025.

So I know you, Jan, and you’ve taken thousands of shots since you picked up your first DSLR (your beloved trusty old Nikon D60) in 2008. I KNOW you have many more cool images up your sleeve. Why the limited catalog here?

Photo showing a green-hued hummingbird feeding from a deep red lucifer crocosmia flower in the sun.

Well, first off, dear follower, you’re absolutely right, I have thousands of other images. But, barely 1% of those are worth sharing. And yes, I constantly take more, every chance I get. However, yes, that leaves at least 100 worth sharing. So why don’t I show them all here yet?

Because, if someone buys a set of my cards, and then gets back in touch and says “Could I get another 4-pack of the one with the flowers and bees?” – uhm, well, I’d need help figuring out exactly WHICH flower, and WHICH bees, as I have so many! (Pro-tip: you can see lots of my most recent shots on my social media accounts, especially X and BlueSky. Links down below.)

So. To make my aging life easier, I’ve established a limited catalog here to start. BUT… I am steadily expanding it as time and energy permit. (I just added a new fourth category – SUNDRY – this weekend!) But again, this way, if anyone wants more of one or another image, they can peek on my website, and say “B1 please“. (This literally just happened the other day.) Boom! Easy! Done!

This keeps things more manageable for both of us. Enjoy! And don’t forget to leave me feedback on eBay – thank you!! xo – Jan

Tag: gardening

The sleeping bees are coming to eBay and more! 11/1/25

Why the limited catalog?