Janet Brien's photos

(+3 insets!) I'm running late again but I blame the beauty of the hike we went on today! I had to process pictures to share and one was just not enough! :D This morning turned out to be heavily overcast but no rain was forecast so we moved ahead with our plans for the day. We hoped to visit the last day's festival vendors as well as go on a hike. So, after our delicious bacon and eggs late-breakfast, we packed up and headed out. We found some of the vendors near our RV park and enjoyed visiting their stalls. One of them was selling lots of stuff that was useful for the RV crowd and we picked up a bunch of fun things…a pair of telescoping weinie roasting tines, some extra large carabiners to attach stuff, a bbq grill brush and a few other assorted things. All very inexpensive, three cheers! :) Even though almost all of the vendors were gone we didn't mind because we can always find these vendors wherever we go. What we really wanted to do was go on our hike! Off we went to the trailhead for the Thomas Creek Whaleshead hike , just a few minutes north of Brookings. The hike turned out to be yet another spectacular adventure, brimming with gorgeous forest and rugged coast views. Both of us had a great time with our photography and enjoying the lovely scenery all around us. I even got some super pictures of a Stellar Jay who sat in "full fluff" on a branch where I was able to get a wonderful view. (I'll post another day as a main image, what a lovely bird!) We got pictures of cool mushrooms and forest views, lots of flowers and many other pretty subjects. What a day for photography! :) We stopped for a late lunch at the half-way point, which happened to be an incredibly gorgeous view looking north. It featured craggy shoreline, a remote beach and huge boulders rising out of the ocean. What a sight! Sitting there and looking out at the ocean, the fog rolled in and drifted out and it was fun to watch the visibility increase and fade as we nibbled on our tasty fare. This loop hike took us down nearer to the water, though we were still high above the crashing waves. The highlight of this hike took us to a stunning grotto which featured a natural bridge in the rocks under which the waves rolled in and out. It was so beautiful and we felt so delighted that we got to see this awesome rock formation. My main picture today is the natural bridge, and my insets include some of the rugged coastal views we enjoyed, including a view from where I sat eating my late lunch! :) Pam, you are not allowed to NEED to wear the Ruby shoes! :D Glad you enjoyed my pictures of the darling seals! :) I would love to see grey seals too. Actually, I hope to some day have a collection of different seals that I've photographed over the years, I simply adore them! :) Hope your day was good, you were certainly in our thoughts today! :D *BIG HUGS* Explored on 5/28/19; highest placement, #12.

(+4 insets!) We woke up to a beautiful, sunny day in Brookings, Oregon. Oh happy day! :D We read the forecast last night and it said "sunny" and we thought we must be on another planet! :D On top of that, there would be a classic car show to visit and a short but wonderful harbor walk to go on too. Then we found out there is a festival here just for this weekend! There is a garden show, an arts and crafts area with many vendors and artwork to see too. We discussed what we should do and decided to see the car show and go on the walk today and tomorrow we will go to the arts and crafts vendors. Instead of going to the garden show, we'll then go on a beautiful hike that we found just north of town. Wait a second…weren't we supposed to be going home tomorrow? Actually, yes! But we suddenly realized that if we drove home tomorrow, we'd be sharing the road with the countless vacationers all headed back to Medford and beyond…what a bad idea. We pictured traffic jams the whole way home…ugh. So instead we're staying another night! Hooray!! Once we had our late breakfast we headed out to the classic car show. It was a mere 10-minute's walk from our RV and we were actually alerted to the show because we saw it on the way to the RV park yesterday. The car show was really large with lots and lots of amazing oldies. We recognized a bunch of them which show at the Medford Cruise every June and never tire of drooling at these lovely autos, whether or not we've seen them before. They weren't all oldies either…Steve got to sit in a new Tesla, and holy cow is that a cool car! I only had time to process one picture of the cars for today so I chose a gorgeous old Rolls Royce. The details are incredible and I'll try to post some at a later date. After visiting the car show we tucked into a seafood restaurant on the way back to the RV. Steve has been pining for crab since before our trip so he finally got his wish! I chose cod fish tacos and they were amazing. We traded bites of our dishes and had a thoroughly wonderful meal. After stopping in at the RV, we went on the Harbor walk, which was a stroll around the harbor area and out to a jetty but it was lovely and we enjoyed seeing the boats as we walked along. Walking out onto the jetty was where the magic was. The view was super and I noticed some suspicious shapes in the water that I stared at as we got closer. Were they what I thought they were? YES!!! SEALS!!!! YAY!!!! My Sony was able to zoom in close enough so that I could actually get pictures to share!!! YES!!!! Looking at the images on my computer I could see that two of these Harbor Seals were a momma and her fast-growing pup. Can you say DARLING?! :D I was over the moon with joy that I got pictures! While we were there we met a couple of fellows who were out there fishing (without any luck unfortunately) and it turns out that Matthew and Larry were from MEDFORD! Such a small world, and even though it's just a couple of hours away, we were all amused by this fact! We enjoyed chatting with them for quite a while before we finally departed. As we were about to leave I noticed that the seals were gone…and then I laughed…the tide had come in and removed their sunning spot! And then I saw movement in the water and could see one of the seals swimming towards us! To my amazement I got pictures which turned out, what good luck!! So, this evening's main picture is my best seal picture, which shows mama and baby and a friend. I've also included a picture of sleepy mama and baby, and the two pictures of the swimming seal. Finally, one picture from the car show, huzzah!! Pam, I hope that you are doing well…yikes the weather sounds dreadful where you are! I do not want to call you Dorothy so please stay safe! :) *BIG HUGS*!!!! Explored on 5/27/19; highest placement, #1.

(+3 insets!) (oops...I accidentally wrote an entire book! Heh...sorry...I needed to tell you about yesterday too! Hmmm...might I suggest an entire pot of coffee?! :D) Here in the United States, the observance of Memorial Day happens on the last Monday of May. The weekend preceding Monday is also the official beginning of summer vacation season and in some places, the end of the school year. This translates to being one of the busiest travel periods of the year. When Steve and I organized this trip we're on, it didn't even occur to us that we'd be sharing some days with the crazy Memorial weekend throngs. We only realized when we couldn't find anywhere to stay on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. It finally dawned on us that there had to be something going on and then it hit us. "OH NO!!! What are we going to do?" We spent hours looking for an affordable place to stay without any luck. Steve kept looking and then, to our total amazement, we found one night available at Bullard's Beach, which just happens to be one of the most popular campgrounds in the area. We were so happy. We were going to just drive home from there because we weren't finding anywhere to stay but with some more persistence, Steve found us two more nights on Saturday and Sunday night at a place that wasn't too expensive and was also just a short walk to the beach. SCORE! Even though it was too bad that we couldn't stay longer at Bullard's Beach, it turned out to be just fine because we got a fabulous adventure while we were there. What a great surprise that was! We are most definitely going to come back and spend at least four days there next time around, what a nice place it was. :) Another bonus to our Bullard's Beach site was that we were able to leave our truck hitched to the trailer and since there was no sewer hookup, we didn't have that time-sink either. That meant that leaving would be really fast the next morning, woot! :) To top things off, check-out time to leave our campsite today was 1pm which was great. Some places are 11am and it can be a bit stressful to get out the door and driving at that time unless we have done some of the work the night before. We loved being able to sleep in along with the luxury of a nice and relaxed morning. It also gave me the chance to fix a situation that happened yesterday. When we pulled into our campsite, I couldn't help seeing the beautiful yellow flowers all over the bushes everywhere. Naturally I wanted to take pictures and once we got set up, I popped out the door with my Canon and macro lens and spent about 15 minutes taking pictures of the flowers which were literally 10 feet from our rig! :) There was also rattlesnake grass which I adore. Last night when I went to copy my pictures over I was horrified to see that I managed to NOT have an SD card in the camera. Apparently we didn't change the settings to alert us when there's no card in the camera. ARGH!!! I was so annoyed. Steve quickly diffused the situation by saying that we'd have tons of time in the morning and I could spend all the time I wanted to retake my pictures. He also reminded me of how wonderful it was that my subjects were literally right outside the rig. I relaxed and looked forward to the morning with a happy smile on my face! So, this morning I popped outside as soon as I was able…mind you, it began pouring when we got up but then…it stopped! There was a constant drizzle when I went out but it was manageable, as were the breezy conditions. Sometimes I wonder if someone/something is making sure that all goes well for us because workable conditions keeps happening for us just when it's really important to us. I went out and there were droplets and dew all over everything…it was so much prettier than when I took pictures last night! :D I retook pictures of the pretty yellow flowers and the red-tinged ones I'd never seen before…and the pea pods…and the rattlesnake grass too. JOY!!! It only took about 15 minutes and while I was outside, Steve was making breakfast for us! I climbed back into the RV just as breakfast was ready, how's that for timing?! :D He was so happy I had a successful shoot and loved the few pictures I showed him on the camera. :) Yay for fabulous husbands! :) I haven't looked at my pictures on the computer yet but I saw a few on the camera and there are certainly some winners so I'm totally overjoyed!! (NOTE: I've peeked at a few...lots of keepers!!) Once breakfast was done, we merely did about 20 minutes of final prep and we left our site! What a wonderful experience. :) We had a very nice time heading back south as the rain came down periodically. I pointed out the Facerock Creamery in Bandon which we'd hoped to visit on the way back--Steve was delighted that I spotted it! This company makes fabulous cheese and curds which we adore and we hoped that we might find some specialty items only sold there. YES! They DID! Steve and I were the happiest of chubby-cheeked mouses (intentionally misspelled!) as we sampled all of their many offerings and left with way too much cheese and curds for the normal and sane person, but heh…we are all about keto and cheese is one of our yummiest staples! YAY CHEESE! How much cheese do we want? ALL OF IT! :D MORE CHEESE IS MORE! :D Along the two-hour drive we enjoyed the lovely views of the rugged coastline. There was a grocery store stop to get some more dog food for Molly and later we pulled off to take pictures at a place called Meyer's Beach because the views were just too lovely to resist! Stepping out of the truck was almost shocking--the raging wind and freezing temperatures were truly something else! I grabbed my Sony and got a bunch of pictures while the wind literally knocked me off-balance many times. I had to be careful, it was THAT windy! We were happy to get back into the truck, yikes! Worth it to stop though! :) Finally we pulled into our last two-nights stay of our trip, what they call an "RV Park" but what we call an "RV Parking Lot"…lol…we knew it would be like this and honestly it's better than most that we put in this classification but truly it's just a bunch of parking spots that you jam your rig into. Not special or pretty at all. In the case here, the property edges are nice with pretty flower-covered bushes but that's about it. Not what we'd accept normally but it's Memorial Day weekend so we were happy that these were available. :) Plus, the beach is very close! The weather is, let's just say, NOT macro weather. Heh. The wind is enough to rock the trailer and the rain is peppering the trailer sideways, lol. It's not raining constantly but enough. It's very cold out there too. However, Steve and I are very happy to be in our comfy little home and the internet connection here is super. Folks next to us are so nice and actually moved into their spot a month ago as a full-time living arrangement. We had a lovely dinner and I'm all snuggled into my nest, content as can be. :) How nice it's been to have some time to just write and work on my pictures! :) Today's pictures are all from Meyer's Beach, the incredible place we stopped at on the way down here. You just have to see this place, it's amazing! The main image is pointed south. The first inset is directly out to sea. The third is pointed north. And then a fun picture of our rig with the view south. Wow. The whole Oregon coastline is covered with views like this. How fortunate we are to be able to visit this place. And to think, it's actually just a three-hour drive from our house. We will be back and if we can, we'll be able to camp nearby so we can go on a long and wonderful day's walk and photo adventure here. For now, just to see it is a fabulous gift. I hope you guys enjoy the pictures! :D I braved ridiculous wind for all of you and I survived without turning into a Janet Kite! :D Thinking of you, PAM!!! *BIG HUGS*!!! :) Explored on 5/26/19; highest placement, #4.

(+2 insets!) EEK EEK! It's another late post! :D Not my fault! STUFF HAPPENED! :D Can't type much tonight! Today was another driving day! We left our wonderful site at Devil's Lake and drove several hours back down the coast to the Bullard's Beach State Park Campground for one night's stay as we begin to make our way back towards home. We got into camp at about 4:30 and fast forward, we got our bikes out and took a ride around the campground and then out to the beach where we laughed our heads off trying to ride our bikes on the wet sand! FAIL! So funny! It Doesn't Work! You must have really fat tires, which we don't have, heh! Then we road over a short distance to the bay and oh my it was so beautiful! My main picture shows our bikes on the dock with a beautiful local bridge behind! Insets are a couple of views from another spot in two directions. SO LOVELY! Our bike ride was soooooo much fun! We will definitely be back to this pretty place! Pam, I can't write now but you are in my thoughts as well as in Steve's! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 5/25/19; highest placement, #11.

(+2 insets!) Hooray for a day without rain!!! *dances around the RV* This morning Steve and I checked the forecast and the weather didn't include rain until tonight! We were so happy! No matter how positive we tried to be, it's a bummer to have bad weather ruining all of your plans for most of the trip. :P We were ready for action and after our brunch we packed up and headed out to a trailhead about 15 minutes away, just north of Lincoln City. Once a well-kept secret hike in the area, the God's Thumb hike was recommended to us by a camp host as something we must not miss. The only way to get to the trail is by following breadcrumb-like directions to traverse the steeply inclining but lovely streets and then finally to the trailhead which was at the end of a beautifully forested residential road. (One of my insets shows the gate and fence where the trail begins.) The trail was absolutely INCREDIBLE! Gorgeous ferns and glowing green plants everywhere, mottled birch and ash-like trees crowded close to the trail and flowers were everywhere! We walked silently on the pine-needle and moss-covered path that led up and up and up, eventually coming out onto a breathtaking knoll that showed Devil's Lake off in the distance and a view of the ocean and beach as well. What a lovely view! We continued on, descending down, down, down into a verdant valley that felt as if we must be in Jurassic Park! Horsetail ferns intermingled with many other types of unfurling ferns, lovely mosses climbed all the trees and were so soft to touch. Steve and I were in absolute awe of this place. Eventually the trail led down and out onto a bluff which overlooked the ocean and there it was! "God's Thumb" is a basalt rock formation at the edge of the sea and the sight of it and the rough and rocky coast included a gorgeous beach far below for those bold and adventurous enough to make the trek town and back up again. Far in the distance on one side was a lovely bay, and the other side showed the seemingly endless beach which began around a long stretch of impassable rocky coastline. Before we climbed up to the top of the "thumb", we found a spot out of the wind and ate our afternoon snacks, enjoying the lovely views and the splendor of the area. How lucky we were. I remarked, "This is why we have an RV!" Steve couldn't agree more…we were so happy. This hike was every bit as wondrous as our Coo's Bay hike. What fun. And so much more hiking like this will be in our future now, how awesome. :) Climbing up onto the knoll which made up the "God's Thumb" afforded amazing, breathtaking views in all directions…we were overjoyed that the weather allowed us to do this incredible hike. It was absolutely spectacular! As for heading back, we initially wondered if we could make our way down to the beach and walk back the several direct miles back to the truck. But that idea was out of the question. The impassible craggy, steep and greenery-covered coast would never allow a way to the beach which started probably a mile away. We'd be returning the way we came but we certainly didn't mind that we'd have to return the way we came. On the way back, Steve discovered that he could do "wide-angle macros" with our Mark III and 24-40 lens and he had a great time capturing some of the lovely subjects we found. I was delighted for him, and hope that his pictures turn out well! By the time we got back to the car we were both totally spent from the hours of hiking we'd done, but at the same time we felt fantastic. There's just nothing like the feeling of exercising yourself to the point of exhaustion. We returned to the RV and had our espresso and dinner, and I'm now finished up the evening with this post before we watch part of a show with Pumpkin and fall asleep, so happy with our day! OH YEAH, it's my day to post my Happy Fence Friday picture! I have THREE that I took today! On the way back to our car, we saw deer on a property behind a rustic fence! And at the truck I saw an opportunity for a fence and ocean panorama! And finally, there's a picture of the trail's beginning at the end of the residential road! I hope you like them all! :) Pam, I enjoyed your info about tornadoes and the like--oh boy…I know all about fracking and it's so incredibly bad, where do you even begin. Seriously people, if what you're doing is making EARTHQUAKES happen when they never had them before…maybe you ought not be doing that? *sigh* Big money doesn't care. It's horrible. Anyway, here's hoping you had an ok day my dear! You're in our thoughts!! :D *BIG HUGS* from Devil's Lake! :) Explored on 5/24/19; highest placement #4.

(+2 insets!) (please view large!) :) I'd like to say THANK YOU to everyone of you who's visited, left comments and stars, even though you know that I am so short on time/or don't have a connection for commenting and yet, you still give me attention. It means more than I can say. You really are the best. *BIG HUGS* Ok, there is a point when the weather becomes a burden to our festive plans! And so I say with great gusto: RAIN, RAIN, PLEASE GO AWAY! Although the forecast called for mixed overcast and sunny conditions, today has turned out to be grey and cold with a constant wind and drizzle. This has translated to no fun outside. :( Can't take pictures and walking on the beach is out, it's really very miserable out there right now. MEH! It's a shame because our campground is awesome, as is the area where we're situated just north of Lincoln City, Oregon. We are staying at another state park and like Joseph Stewart State Park, Devil's Lake has lots of tent sites set far apart with plenty of trees and grass between each spot. The whole campground sits in a beautiful, lush forest setting. Cement trails weave in and out around the park. They lead out to the lake on one side and a boardwalk trail makes its way out very close to the ocean on the other side. That's right. We are within walking distance of both an enormous lake AND the ocean! Top that! :D Well…it WOULD be awesome but the weather is not cooperating with us unfortunately. I haven't seen much of our campground because of the weather. Boo. :P We've made the best of our situation though. Writing, working on photography, reading, cruising on the net (only on our phones though, there's no wi-fi here); Steve has actually been able to play his favorite game (World of Tanks) to pass the time, which has made him happy. And of course our meals are always a delicious highlight. I have to tell you about our lunch! We finally had pancakes in our RV! The quintessential camping breakfast, heh, we decided to have them for lunch just to be unpredictable! :D Now, you may think pancakes are no big deal, but Steve and I live a ketogenic lifestyle, which means we don't eat regular flour or sugar. However, it took the keto way of eating to find a pancake recipe that's better than any we've ever had in our lives! We use almond flour in our pancakes and the results we get are BETTER than a "normal" pancake…they are light, fluffy and incredibly tasty. The syrup that Steve came up with is absolutely to die for…the sugar version we use is 60% erythritol/40% monk fruit and it's the same sweetness and flavor as sugar, only it has zero carbohydrates! The flavoring can be one or a combination of the many extracts we have but our favorite lately is caramel…it's just so yummy! Oh, and the base is…BUTTER! Because our syrup uses non-standard sugar, when it cools, the butter separates from the sugar part and the syrup will harden into a more delicious version of the maple glaze on a donut! In other words, these pancakes are a slice of the most decadent heaven! The best pancakes either of us has ever had!And there are only a few carbs instead of literally DOZENS. (The average person should really only have 50 or less per day total) Anyway, we had a MOST DELICIOUS meal! :) After lunch we went on a walk down to the beach via a raised boardwalk trail that led over a wetlands area complete with marker signs. Really pretty. The trail was short but sweet and ended at a lovely little pond. I was excited to see some lily pads with pretty yellow flowers which I was able to photograph. These would be my only pictures of the day, captured with the help of Steve holding my umbrella. A short road took us up to the main highway that hugs the coast. On the other side was the ocean with its enormous beach, complete with angry, pounding surf and high waves. Not a day to be out there. We walked over to the barrier and looked out to the sea with its white caps and misty horizon, topped with storm clouds. Maybe tomorrow will be nicer. Instead we crossed back over the highway and tucked into a cute little kite shop nearby, enjoying the lovely designs and pretty colors of the countless kites on display. We wondered what else could we do on this rather yucky day. We could make more fauxtato salad, that's what! We drove to a grocery store, got supplies and returned to our RV. We had a really nice time working on the recipe together and it turned out perfectly. Can't run out of that staple, it's just too good! Today I'm posting the sunset from Devil's Lake when we walked out to look at the lovely view last night. I strolled out to the end of the little dock and turned around to show the dock and the trail leading from the campground to the lake. The insets are a pretty shot of little Maple leaves that I saw in Florence when we were driving here. The other picture shows Steve at our Devil's Camp site! :) Pam, I'm glad that your property escaped damage from the storms and tornadoes. That's so scary. You know, people who have never lived in "earthquake country" (I'm talking about San Francisco, specifically) are totally terrified and seem sure that earthquakes will hit at any moment and all of the buildings will immediately crumble. Since I've never lived in tornado country, the concept feels pretty frightening to me. However, I am going to guess it's a lot like earthquakes. Yes, they happen. No, they don't destroy everything in the entire state. You just don't want to live in a "tornado alley" if you can help it, and in any event, you'd likely be safe enough for the most part anyway. Am I close? Anyway, I hope all is well with you my dear! *BIG HUGS FROM DEVIL'S LAKE!* Explored on 5/23/19; highest placement #2.

(+2 insets!) Today was another travel day! After we had a delicious breakfast, we each did our parts to pack up the trailer. Both of us have lots of little things to do but it adds up to a lot of stuff if only one person was doing them. As a team, we are getting faster and more efficient at the break-down of the RV and the hookup of the trailer to the truck. It's fun to see how we're improving as time passes. The weather was perfectly dreadful with rain coming down in a constant torrent and wind gusting against our rig. Big deal! We didn't care...no amount of bad weather could ruin the gorgeous scenery that we enjoyed as we drove along. The rugged coast was accented by incredible waves crashing against the rocks. The rain made the green of the pastures and forest positively glow with vibrance and lushness. The droplets pattered on the road, making beautiful reflections and interesting textures to appreciate. Water peppered the truck, the windshield wipers were such fun to watch as they wiped away the constant splatters of water... We had no worries as we drove along. Pumpkin was in her travel cage on my lap and she was as happy as could be, munching on her fruits and veggies and twittering at us. What a doll! Molly was content to sack out in the back seat. Our family loved this travelling thing...bring on the rain, it didn't bother us at all! :) We headed up the coast from Coos Bay with an eventual destination of Devil's Lake State Park. On the way we stopped at the charming town of Florence where we shared a jalapeno and bacon burger (without the bun!) and a little salad at a popular local restaurant. We had time to stroll down their main shopping street and enjoyed our visits to a fantastic gallery and a specialty bead shop. What a delight. We pulled into our campsite at about 5:30 and got everything set up in about an hour. Soon we had our yummy espressos-with-cream and then steaks with veggies along with an unbelievably delicious "fauxtato salad" made with cauliflower instead of potatoes. Better than any "real" potato salad we'd ever had. NOM!! After dinner, Steve had to do some other stuff but afterwards we had just enough time to walk to the lake...what an incredible campsite and what a stunning lake! My goodness, it's going to be an amazing place here!! Today's main picture is from our hike a couple of days ago, along with insets that show the forest and the view out to the water from the beginning of our hike, which was over the top of our campsite at Coos Bay...totally amazing views!! The ocean view in my main picture was just one of the dozens upon dozens of jaw-dropping sights we had the good fortune to see on our hike. Best Hike of the Trip! Pam, I hope that you enjoy the pictures...you're certainly in our thoughts on our adventures! Hope it was an ok day for you...maybe a bit of improvement? Wouldn't that be grand? *BIG HUGS from DEVIL'S LAKE*! Explored on 5/22/19; highest placement #2.

(+2 insets!) Boy did I wake up tired this morning! It was well-past 8am when I finally got out of bed to get the day started, heh. Both of us slept like rocks but I am still trying to wake up to my normal self, even after a cup of coffee and doing my normal morning routine. I guess a long day of hiking is a good thing! We had plans to ride our bikes along the edge of the shore but unfortunately the day's reprieve left this morning and as the day progressed, the wind picked up and clouds began to form. We walked out to the beach and were staggered by the powerful gusts of wind that hit us, closing our eyes against the stinging sand that peppered our faces. Yikes...not a day to be out on the beach at all! Hanging out in the RV was relaxing though and later we popped into the truck and drove to the nearby town of Coos Bay where we stopped at the grocery store and an auto parts store for a few necessities. It was so windy that we didn't really feel like any sight-seeing so we returned to our RV. I remembered that today's macro project was "Corners" so I went out to get some pictures...just as it started to rain. UGH! Luck was not with me, as I'd hoped to visit some nearby construction equipment for some fun images. Not in the cards, sadly. I did what I could though, wandering around the RV for a few pictures before I got soaked. The wooden stand Steve made to brace the stabilizing jacks under the RV worked well. I liked the corner of the bumper behind the RV with its reflective tape and metal grating. And finally, the corner of the barbeque grill supplied by the campground was a wonder of rust and an interesting shape too. All in all, not the most exciting pictures but they fill the bill! Pam, I did a search for "box" because I thought I might find an image with a corner and I sure did! Your "Sqwirl hanging off the Box" picture is perfect! There's a corner and there's a very silly squirrel too! HUZZAH!! I hope that you had an ok day today my dear, our thoughts are with you! *BIG HUGS from COOS BAY*!

Oh my, it's so late!! Not my fault! The sun made me stay out until it set!! :D What a day, what an incredible, amazing day!! Steve and I woke to a SUNNY MORNING here in Coos Bay! HOORAY! Our plans for a hike was set, we just needed to decide which way to go...along the beach or up along the cliffs and into the forest? I thought the cliff-forest hike might give us prettier views and Steve agreed. We grabbed our stuff and headed out on a hike that turned out to be absolutely amazing! Views of boulder-strewn shorelines, verdant forest filled with glowing greenery and lots of flowers. It was exactly what we hoped for. We couldn't be happier, it was such a perfect day! At about 4pm we sat down at a gorgeous spot overlooking the ocean and enjoyed watching the waves crashing over the rocks. Mesmerizing. I knew we'd be hungry so I packed a late afternoon snacky-lunch of lots of yummy things like cheese and sausage, nuts and potato salad, carrots and chips! It was perfect! We got back at about 6:30pm with about 8 miles of hiking behind us for the day, totally satisfied and happy. After making early evening creamy espressos, we soon had ribs cooking on our barbecue for dinner along with veggies. YUM!! Steve and I talked about doing a sunset shoot but I figured we'd wait until tomorrow evening because we were BEAT from our day's adventures. However, Steve suggested we go out to the beach just to see where the sun had set. Before we left, he also found out that it was supposed to rain tomorrow afternoon and into the evening. Noooo!!! We headed out to the beach and to our surprise, the sun hadn't set yet. Even better, we had at least 20 minutes before it went down--plenty of time to get back to the RV and return with our cameras! As you can see, we got our sunset pictures!! It was such fun. Steve had the 5D Mark III on a tripod and took lots of different types of pictures. As for me, I had my Sony and had a great time with silhouette images and pictures of Steve taking pictures too. :) Unfortunately I don't have time for extra pictures tonight, heh...it's 9:30, eek! :D Pam, Steve and I were sure thinking about you a lot on our hike today. The views were something out of this world. We wished you could have been here. We have a video of the waves crashing on the rocks that I hope to post when I can, I think you'll enjoy it! I sure do hope your day was an ok one, you are very much cared about by us and in our warmest thoughts! :) *BIG HUGS* Explored on 5/19/19; highest placement #4.

(+1 inset) (please view large for the pretty details/!) (By the way, I'm away on my trip, posting a picture every day but I don't have much time to comment...thank you so much for your visits, comments and stars, and also for understanding that I don't have the time I usually do to give you the attention you deserve in return!) Boy, it's been a busy couple of days! We've really been enjoying ourselves but it's kept me off the computer and away from working on my writing and photo processing. I will need to figure out how to balance that too, but for now I'm doing my best! Yesterday after lunch, Steve and I grabbed our rain gear along with our cameras and headed over to Stout Grove in our truck, leaving the RV at the campsite This remarkable and famous redwood forest sits inside the protective borders of Jedediah Smith State Park. We couldn't wait to see it! The rain was coming down but we hoped for the best. The short drive was accented by unbelievable masses of glowing ferns which were seemingly growing everywhere. As stunning as they were, have you ever seen wild azaleas and rhododendrons in full bloom? I haven't. It was incredible! We couldn't miss the flashes of magenta and purple of these leggy bushes and small trees which peeked out from behind the towering and majestic redwood trees which ruled this place. What a show. Stout Grove sits at the end of a pothole-filled dirt road and we made our way carefully to the trail head and found plenty of parking. We were happy to learn that there weren't many other people brave enough to deal with the inclement weather. Those we met were warm and wonderful people with joyful smiles and glowing spirits. It was nice to share this place with other nature lovers like us. As we took off down the trail we protected our cameras as best we could from the droplets coming down, but as we walked, the rain slacked off and within 15 minutes, it stopped altogether, almost as if it were planned that way! HUZZAH! I went crazy with fern photography. Steve was using the Sony and having fun with that, and after a while we traded cameras and I got some nice pictures of the trees. Heh, a 100mm macro lens really can't take a picture of a towering redwood...unless it's just a tiny bit of it! :D I know I could have brought some other lenses but that's why I had the Sony. At a few points I was carrying BOTH cameras, *shakes head*...I think I may be certifiable! :D Our visit was just fantastic and after we felt we'd seen enough, we headed back to the car. Once we were tucked in, it began to pour again! What are the odds?! :) (I apologize for not including pictures of the redwoods and the ferns but I just don't have time right now, *cry*...I'll be posting plenty of pictures once I'm home and have time to go through them!) After we got back and had dinner, we pulled out a game that Steve's sister sent to us, "Qwirkle". What a fun game! Easy and yet full of strategy, we had a really good time and look forward to playing more games in the future. --------------------- This morning we got everything tucked away and headed out by 10:30, heading out to the coast and then north for a couple of hours to our next campsite on Coos Bay! It rained the entire time we were driving but it was such a lovely drive! Views of the ocean and enormous boulders with waves crashing against them...it was very amazing to see. The lush green of the forests and farmland was a beautiful contrast as we rode along. Once we pulled into our campsite both of us assumed our various roles. It wasn't long before we got everything in proper order, we're really getting used to how to most efficiently get our RV set up. Steve took Molly out to use the bathroom and soon came back to tell me that I just had to come out to see the beach! It was a mere TWO MINUTES WALK from our RV!! The rain, once again, STOPPED when we left to go to the beach! Our luck is incredible...it keeps happening!! The beach. Holy cow. It's just lovely here. Either direction is marvelous. Tide pools one way, miles of beach the other. Tomorrow we'll ride our bikes along the water's edge. I hope to creep around the tide pools and get some cool shots of anemones, crabs, barnacles and other wonderful subjects. Won't it be nice to just relax and enjoy this place that we don't have to drive out to?! We are so happy...this is our favorite campsite this trip, and exactly what we hoped for! Ok, I really have to stop my blabbing! :D It's SATURDAY SELF CHALLENGE! Today's theme is Selective Color, so I picked one of the gorgeous little flowers I found at Stout Grove, kept the flower in color and removed the color in the background. I've also included one view of the jaw-dropping beach that's just a short walk from our RV! Pam, I loved your note about Cannon Beach. Unfortunately it's too far north for this trip but it's on our Bucket List so we'll definitely be visiting at some point down the road. No worries though, there is beauty-galore here that we will show you! :) Steve and I are sending hugs your way! Explored on 5/18/19; highest placement #1.

(+3 insets) I began my Pictures for Pam project allllllll the way back on November 8, 2018. It seems like a million years ago. At the time I was in a very low place. Unhappy, confused about my life and my direction. I'd stopped taking pictures a long time before and had absolutely no creative energy whatsoever. One day I was stumbling around on the web and thought I'd glance at ipernity. Even that place depressed me deeply because it was failing badly and plans seemed eminent that it would be shut down, leaving me with no place at all for my photos online. Not that it mattered. I really didn't care about much of anything at that point. Noticing I had mail, I found a message from Peggy C, letting me know that my dear friend, Pam Johnson, had an stroke in September and was on a very slow mend. I just about fell over...WHAT?!!! NOOO!!! PAM???!!! It couldn't be! But alas, as I read and visited different pages, these terrible fears were confirmed. I was in total shock. Last time I was on ipernity, all was well with Pam's world. How instantly things can change. That day was a mess of emotions and sadness as I tried to make sense of it all. What could I do to share my compassion and express my sorrow for what had happened to my friend? The next morning I was doing my usual hourly trek up and down my driveway and all I could do was think about Pam and how to express my feelings adequately. I thought, "What if I send her a picture and a note?" That sounded good but the problem was that I didn't WANT to take pictures. I didn't want to do ANYTHING. My creative pool wasn't even ZERO. It was NEGATIVE. I walked up and down, grumbling. The fact of the matter was that it would do me good to pick up my camera. The best thing to do in a deep depression is ANYTHING POSITIVE to get the gears grinding forward, if even just a bit. What better reason could there be than to take a picture for a friend who was ailing? It would be good for both of us. If only I could kick my *** into gear. Just thinking about photography got my hibernating creative eye slowly opening. I couldn't help but notice the light shining through the grass and empty seed pods here and there. By the end of my walk, I'd managed to convince myself to try. I went into the house, dusted off my camera, put in a fresh battery, checked for a memory card and stepped outside. I went over to the dead plants I'd seen earlier and stared at the way the light shone through the remains of the seed cases...gee that was pretty, wasn't it? I took pictures. It was so weird to be doing this again. For the first time in a while, something felt right. Maybe this WAS a good idea after all. Posting my picture that day, I added a message to say that I would be working on a new project, "Pictures for Pam", where I would post a picture every day to give Pam some love and support. It was so nice to learn that Pam was touched by my gesture and at the same time, the ipernity community welcomed me back with open arms. I had forgotten how much I loved ipernity and all of the wonderful people who I knew there. It was wonderful to feel so cared-about, even though my intent was to express my affection and support for my friend Pam. Soon it was suggested that I create a public group so that everyone could contribute their support for Pam through pictures. Within a week of beginning my project, the ipernity group, "Pictures for Pam" was born. As I type today, there are 77 members and just under 3700 pictures there now, all aimed at making our dear friend know that she is loved, cared about, and in our thoughts. It's amazing. I really didn't think about this project seriously at the time, but the fact is that I'd begun another 365 Project, and it's been a really cool experience. Sometimes I post pictures taken that day, sometimes they are from my archives. It's all good. And every one has something just for Pam to read and enjoy. Additionally, it's so wonderful to visit contacts and find that they've dedicated that day's picture to Pam. How awesome to be part of a group of people who are so warm and caring. Over the days, weeks and months of working on this project, I have totally changed, thanks to Pam. From an extremely depressed person, I quickly turned around and woke up again. Everything in my life got better and better. Today I am an improved version of myself when I was at my best. Full of excitement and creativity bubbling over from every pore. Life is good...no...GREAT! As I sit typing, Steve and I are realizing a dream we've had for many years...travelling in a RV trailer! It's been amazing and we've only just begun our adventures. The bummer is that Pam is still ailing. However, our support means the world to her. Our daily contributions to the group that's dedicated to her means so much to her. And of course she and I exchange notes every day, mostly in our photo comments, but sometimes in letters too. After returning from our last trip, Pam asked where we would be headed next and when I told her we'd be at the Oregon coast, she asked me to do something for her. She asked me to write in the sand with a stick, "PAM WILL BE BACK". I told her we would make that happen for her the moment we found ourselves on a beach. Yesterday we walked out onto the beach in Crescent City and the first thing I thought of was the promise I made to Pam. Steve grabbed a stick and carefully scrawled out her message in the sand and we took pictures with the Battery Point Lighthouse in the background. Perfect. Pam, I hope that you get to visit the ocean again sometime soon...we sure do hope this message gets to the right entities out there and it helps speed things along because we know how much you love the sea. For now, we're sending our virtual hugs too and you are in our thoughts of course! (I am also including two flowers picture I captured in the meadow next to our RV yesterday morning and also a picture of our truck and trailer at our campsite!) :) Explored on 5/18/19; highest placement #4.

(+2 insets) Please note: Steve and I are away for a while in our RV and during this time I will have very little time, if any, to spend commenting. I will do my best to make up for my commenting when I get home! *BIG HUGS to all of you!* We are snug as a pair of bugs in a rug here at our campsite with rain coming down around us. The pitter-patter of droplets on the roof of our rig ebbs and flows as the showers come down. It's delightful! We both slept like rocks and I joined Steve for an hour of snuggling when I first got up. Spooning my sweetheart is not a bad way to start the day I think! Today we will likely be staying inside because it's supposed to rain steadily and heavily all day but I also knew it wouldn't really get started until after 9am. Thus, I sprang out with my camera and macro flash and creeped around the large meadow just next to our rig, taking pictures of things I hadn't found yet. In case we went out, I wanted to make sure I had my pictures taken care of. Woot! Change of plans! There is an ocean-side town nearby called Crescent City and it features a restaurant known for its fish tacos...we both thought that sounded GREAT! And maybe we could walk on the beach while we were there! RAIN BE DAMNED, HAHAHAHH!! Will add to this when we get back! *many hours later* After an awesome lunch, Steve and I walked out to the beach and spent a couple of very happy hours wandering along taking pictures. The rain stopped after about 15 minutes and we enjoyed the fresh air while we captured images of birds, shells, seaweed, the ocean and the lighthouse there. We'd hoped to spot the seals which can be found on one of their piers but the closest I got to seeing one was the wonderful sea lion bronze outside the Crescent City aquarium. When we finally felt "full" of our beach adventure, we headed back up to the road and what would I find but the perfect fence opportunity for today's main picture, complete with pretty flowers for an accent! Just as we got back to the street and started back to the car, the faucets opened up and rain absolutely POURED from the sky and the wind picked up to a fair. We couldn't believe our good fortune! Despite having umbrellas, both of us were pretty soaked when we climbed into our truck and thought it made good sense to pick up rain slickers while we were in town. As I sit finishing up this post, I feel really happy that we didn't end up holed up in oiur RV and I returned with bunches of wonderful pictures to share! Along with my picture for Happy Fence Friday, I am also including an inset of the seal bronze (with replaced street background!) and a picture of waves crashing on some rocks that I was along our stroll. I'll have plenty of other pictures to share but it's late and I need to post this! Pam, we thought about you a lot while we were on the beach... A bummer I had to post a fence picture today or the image would be different! Enough said my dear! BIG HUGS from both of us!! Explored on 5/17/19; highest placement #7.

(+2 insets) Steve and I are officially on our next RV adventure! We left at about 11:30 this morning and drove from our home in southern Oregon west and south into the top of California. Our destination, which was about 2.75 hours away, took us to a campground about half a mile away from a gorgeous redwood park called Jedediah Smith State Park. The drive was lovely, meandering through forests and little towns, often with rushing creeks and rivers in view. Our campsite is very nice but nothing like our last one, which was a slice of heaven. This place is very pretty but the sites are close together and though there are trees and lots of grass and flowers everywhere, it's not a postcard-pretty place. I'll get a picture of our truck and RV in place at some point but didn't bother today. Unlike our last campground though, we have full hookups and super internet too! So, no fancy views but we can do stuff online if we want to which is very nice. Did I mention that it's raining? And that the forecast is for rain nearly every single day for the next week?! Say it ain't so? NO, actually! I'm happy to say that neither of us cares but the funny thing is that it was warm and sunny everywhere until TODAY. I found out a few days ago that the warm, sunny spring we were having would be ending just as we were supposed to leave on our trip. I was a bit worried that Steve would be unhappy, but instead he said, "Would you rather be stuck inside at home in the rain or would you like to be inside our RV somewhere wonderful in the rain?" YAY!! That's the right attitude! So we're fully prepared to deal with inclement weather and that's just fine. It will mean droplets and fog and mist and all kinds of wonderful conditions that I adore photographing! We have games to play if we want and of course I will be working on my pictures, writing, reading, and if possible, visiting folks on ipernity too. It will be just fine! Once we got ourselves set up it was time for dinner, which meant lovely steaks, sauteed-carmelized veggies and potato salad made with cauliflower instead of potatoes...SO DELICOUS!! Desert was mini key lime cheesecakes that we made last night for the trip...soooooo goooooood!! After dinner I popped out with my camera and got lots of pictures of flowers and droplets on everything! What fun. I spent about fifteen minutes wandering around until the rain finally forced me back into the RV but I was pretty confident I had some winners to post...and I did! The main picture today is a strawberry blossom bristling with droplets. There is a large meadow next to our RV that was filled with so many pretty flowers including lots of wild strawberries! I have two insets as well: one of them is a wonderfully disheveled daisy that I nearly made my main picture because it's such fun. I really have been having some great luck with daisies on our trips. They are really wonderful subjects, aren't they? My other inset features droplets on a redwood sapling. I love the shape of the droplets, they remind me of crystal balls! Pam, Steve and I had a nice time talking about you at one point along our drive. We hope that you are doing well and Steve sends his love and warm wishes! *BIG HUGS* from our new campsite! Stay tuned for new fun pictures in the coming days! :) Explored on 5/16/19; highest placement #3.

(+5 insets) (Please view large for best impact!) :) In some ways it feels like it's been such a long time since we were camping at Lost Creek Lake. Yet it's only been six days! I've had time to process 30 pictures of our trip and I hope to get a few more finished but I'm just about out of time. There is no way to win the battle against time so I've been working hard to process the most important pictures first and then the extras. I haven't been perfect about this so time will reply by not allowing me to process others I should have worked on. Considering the priority of pictures is really hard. As you all know, my specialty is macro. However, when we're on our trips, images of where we are and the amazing scenery we find there takes precedence. That has been a very tough pill to swallow but in the end, I do have to admit that it's the right choice. In all honesty, I want to see the pictures of where we were first before I want to see the details of the trip like animals, flowers, plants and any macros associated. At the same time, I think both are extremely important to the overall experience. Balance. Oh, it's so hard for me. My husband says I'm black or white with no shades of grey. He's right even though I have gotten much better about this over the years. I do my best. I have to admit that it's very hard do a bit of each thing instead of laser-focusing on one thing. However, coming back to Father Time…he is an unrelenting task-master and will never give in to my demands for more. I think I've done well on both trips with my balance of photography but it's such a struggle. However, this time around I dove straight into my scenery pictures and got them all done before moving on to detail shots. I'm happy about that but still feel the frustration of not having more time. You may ask, "Why are you worried about time? Can't you just process your pictures later?" Well, yes and no. It is always an option but at the same time, when Steve and I return from a trip, I have a finite amount of time before we go on our next adventure. I don't know how often these trips will be but for the next few months we will be on the move on a regular basis. Realistically, working on older pictures is not something I should be concentrating on if I only have a few days before the next outing. Let's just say it's all quite the challenge. That plus…everything else going on in our lives! In any event, I think I did well and have a nice assortment for this trip. I also thought about all the pictures I missed from my last trip to keep me on point. The sting of not completing the beautiful series of incredible Barn Swallows, the Loons, Greebes, Robins, etc, etc…and there are so many other cool pictures from our Upper Klamath Lake trip that may never see the light of day. Tragedy! Heh…I am sure you all know what I'm talking about. :D So, for today I'm sharing another glorious evening picture from our last day at Lost Creek Lake. The light was just so incredible. Steve and I stood there just gawking in between our picture-taking. What a gift. I'm also sharing a handful of other pictures but I won't post all of the images I finished…you'll all kill me if I do that! So I've got some more scenery and some of my macros too. It is just so amazing that we have the chance to visit places like this. I thank my lucky stars that I can take pictures that show the wonderful things I want to share. :) Pam, we had a little chat about your wishes on our trip. You'll get it. And you'll be in my thoughts, and Steve's too. Wishing we had a teleporter for you ma'am. Wouldn't that be fun. :) Explored on 5/15/19; highest placement #1.

(+5 insets) Before my husband was hired as a product photographer for a gem and beads company, he would do freelance projects that came along. He needed to have all kinds of "set dressing" available for backgrounds and interesting elements in the photos and that meant a box full of really neat junk! I would look through the various bags of stuff and imagine how much fun it would be to do macro studies of some of them. One of the bags was full of different kinds of sea shells that he picked up at a "dollar" store. A few days ago I pulled the bag out and placed all of the shells on our table so I could appreciate each of them. I wondered what their story was. Where in the world did they come from? Were they from the same beach, picked up by the same person? Or were many people involved in the gathering of these shells? I wondered if the collectors were kids or adults, and I hoped they were paid decently for collecting these shells which I was now admiring. I doubted it. I felt a bit sad as I turned the shells over in my hands, running my fingers over the rough textures on one side and the smooth surfaces on the other. How pretty they were. So many different sizes, shapes and colors…and every one was made by a sea creature to protect itself from predators. The life of a sea mollusk is so fascinating. They are one of our world's most ancient life forms. Did you know that if you visit the Grand Canyon (thanks Jaap!), you can find millions of tiny fossilized shells at the edge of the Canyon? Those prehistoric shells protected mollusks who lived on the bottom of the ocean…but millions of years ago, the ocean's floor was as high as the lip of the Grand Canyon! Sea mollusks have been around for a very, very, VERY long time! Explored on 5/13/19; highest placement #4. I finally got an excuse to take pictures of some of these shells and what fun I had! Such a cool subject to photograph. I took lots of photos and hoped that I'd get something special to share today…and it looks like I did! :) My main picture is a favorite style of mine…extremely shallow dof with just a sliver in focus while the rest of the subject drifts away into bokeh. I just love the dreamy quality of this kind of picture and when I found this image I was really happy! I also have five insets for you to see. It's a good thing I limited myself to only 15 minutes for pictures or there would have been 25 insets to share! :D Then you would all hunt me down for putting up too many insets! HA! :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy the presentation! Pam, I did a search for "shell" on your stream and I found fossilized shells! But I also found this gorgeous Three-toed Box Tortoise and the choice was an easy one! :D What a gorgeous fellow...how lucky that you found it. A turtle or tortoise is definitely on my photo bucket list, congratulations to you for ticking this off your list! I hope this day had some happy times for you my dear! *BIG HUGS* from southern Oregon! Explored on 5/14/19; highest placement #3.