Janet Brien's photos

(+4 insets!) (Please view large for best impact!) Since we got back from our trip, the floral extravaganza continues to explode here as it does every year. One of the plants that grows in massive carpets all over is Hairy Vetch, which is a member of the pea or legume family. This non-native plant is found all over the US because it is a favored companion crop in agriculture and livestock love to eat this healthy forage. It features lovely sprigs of lavender and purple blossoms that catch the light and glow like beacons. In the morning as the sun casts its beams across our meadow and road, thousands of Vetch flowers light up and glow warmly. Its wonderful translucent leaves glow as well, and looking closely, the tendrils can be seen grasping onto anything within reach. I have taken many pictures of these pretty flowers so I did my best to resist. This morning I finally caved to the irresistible beauty of this yearly show. And so I went inside and reemerged with my camera, relieved to finally give in to the calls from the flowers. I thought it would be a nice choice to share such a lovely sight for Mother's Day, and I'll be posting some of my archive pictures too, and a couple of other flower pictures to celebrate all of you mothers out there! Perhaps I fit in the mix too, even though I've never been a biological mom…I am certainly a mother to all of my companions through the years and nurture them with all the love any doting mother has! :) Pam, you didn't have anything for "Mother's Day" so I found a picture of a pair of your kids in "Paw Prints on the Heart". You are such a good mama, and this pair of rainbow pups sure did love you! :) HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY PAM!!! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 5/13/19; highest placement #6.

(+3 insets!) Are you getting weird weather patterns where you live? It's supposed to be abnormally hot this weekend and it's been very warm all week. Got outside this morning and it was already 67 degrees! I knew it would change from cold to hot in the course of a week or so because that's how it is around here. Southern Oregon jumps into the deep end when it changes seasons and doesn't believe in a slow, gradual change! Sheesh. However, it's been so lovely, we've been trying to ignore the temperature. I've been doing my best to catch up with everyone, so many gorgeous pictures from everyone to enjoy and comment on! I do apologize if I haven't gotten to you yet, I'm trying to make my rounds as best I can. It was a bummer when we were out camping to not have any signal at all. We are hoping to rectify the situation for our next trip but we'll have to wait and see if the booster we get works as promised! :) Today is….SATURDAY SELF CHALLENGE! I really look forward to this group's themes. I often get to take pictures of things I don't normally concentrate on and this week was no exception! The theme is "Music" and I knew exactly what I'd take a picture of when the time came. About 10 years ago, Steve and I were down in Ashland which is about 30 miles away. There just happened to be a artist street fair going on that we hadn't been aware of, what fun! Don't you just love going from stall to stall and looking at the creative genius of each artist or vendor?! As we wandered along, we found ourselves standing in front of a fellow's lovely display of thumb harps, all made with knobbly gourds. Each was a different size and shape and all of them were expertly tuned by this man who was both an artist and musician. He played some music with the harps and we were absolutely enchanted. Looking over his beautiful instruments, we picked out a favorite and walked away with our wonderful prize! When we got home we found the perfect spot to display it in our living room and every once in a while we take it down and play "chopsticks" on it if we're able to manage! :) (By the way, these African-based instruments are also known as kalimbas, thumb pianos, or mbiras.) My main image shows our wonderful thumb harp and since I can never seem to share just one picture of a challenge subject, I have several insets as well! Each of them are macros and I had such fun showing off the wonderful keys in different ways. :) I hope you enjoy the show! Pam, I looked up "music" on your stream and found your awesome shot of the Trans Siberian Orchestra . It's such fun with the fire blasting out in the background! You obviously had a fabulous time at this concert, what a wonderful memory to look back on. For me it was Genesis: Invisible Touch and Peter Gabriel: So. Talk about LUCKY…they are known to be two of the very best concerts and they are the only ones I've ever been to! :) Yay for us!! :D Oh, thank you for your words of wisdom to live in the moment like our happy hounds. They do know what's important, don't they? I hope that you had a nice day, Pam…*BIG HUGS* from southern Oregon! Explored on 5/12/19; highest placement #4.

(+ 2 insets!) (Please view large to get a feeling of being there!) Steve and I were busy today doing errands and that's kept us out rather late. While we were driving around we talked at one point about how things are changing for us... You know when you travel for a couple of weeks and you come back and it seems like nothing has changed at your home but you feel like a different person? We are now back after our second trip of four days/three nights away. It doesn’t seem as if that should be enough to make a difference, but it really has. We feel as if our lives are morphing into something new. It is an odd kind of feeling but nice too. Having an RV is giving us a freedom we have never experienced before. We have gained the ability to go wherever we want--and we get to bring our dog and parrot with us. It's a way to travel in a relaxed manner without a time frame if we decided to just wander. After dreaming for so long and saving our pennies to make it happen, it's such a strange sensation to recognize that we are actually reaping the rewards of our efforts. We are a bit shocked to be honest. At the same time, we are incredibly thankful for our good fortune. Today's picture was taken on our last evening when Steve and I went on a long hike so I could take pictures along the way. As we were heading back, the light in this meadow was just so incredible that Steve and I just stood there and appreciated the view in front of us. How the leaves glowed, the grass shimmered, and the way the shadows streamed across the scene. Pure magic. We'd planned on hot-footing it out to the lake to take pictures of the sun setting behind the forest and hills but decided to take the advice that so many have stated: stop hurrying from one thing to the next. Enjoy the moment. So we abandoned our initial plan. Our quick boogie to the lake became a slow stroll back to our camp with lots of pictures as we went. There will be other sunsets but the pretty sights we were seeing now deserved our attention, appreciation and enjoyment. We certainly made the right decision and both of us had a lovely time! I am also including pictures of some ferns taken with my Sony (taken from the bridge in my last picture!) and a bumble bee resting under a stalk of flowers. (Anyone know what they are called?) Pam, I totally loved what you said in my last picture's comments, " The marvelous difference it makes to be able to stay and grow into a place. New insights." You are so completely right about that and it's how we feel! There are so many things in this world which must be experienced in order to understand. That understanding takes a bit of time to settle into as well. Ok...we can do that! *BIG HUGS from southern Oregon! Explored on 5/11/19; highest placement #14.

Steve and I are back from our trip to Lost Creek Lake! What a great time we had. It's hard to believe that such a lovely campground is a mere 45 minutes from our house. It really felt like a place for the elite and well-to-do, and yet, it was a state park! We paid only $24 each night, what an incredible deal! After lunch yesterday, we planned on going on a long photo walk, but as we were about to leave, our plans abruptly changed. RVs have three tanks that need to be monitored: the fresh water tank (50 gallon), the "grey water" tank (42 gallon) and the "black tank" (26 gallon). "Grey water" is from the sinks and shower; the "black tank" is just what you are thinking it is! There's a gauge that gives a readout on how full each tank is and they are notoriously inaccurate. Still, we have no other way to read the amount, ugh. We were surprised to see that our grey water tank was nearly full at mid-day on our second day. Then, when we were about to leave on our walk, Steve checked it again and it was reading full. ACK! That put the brakes on any other plans and became our top priority. Not that it was a huge deal. The campground had a dumping station that was only a couple of minutes' drive from our site, but it did mean hooking the trailer back up to the truck and driving it over there and back. Our initial thought was, OMG what a Pain In The A**!! But it only took a few minutes to stow anything that might fall over. I put a few things on the picnic table--including Pumpkin in her travel cage! Before we knew it, the trailer was hooked to the truck, the wheel chalks were out of the way (in case there was any slope, "chalks" anchor the tires to keep the trailer from rolling) and Steve left me to guard the fort with Molly in her outside pen and Pumpkin on the picnic table. We were all happy as clams. The last detail was our walkie-talkies! We have a pair of very powerful walkies that are sensitive to more than a mile away! I chilled out in our super-comfy bungee lounge chairs while Chicken chortled at all the things she saw. I was working on a crossword puzzle when I heard Steve over the walkie..."I'm done and heading back!" It had been just 15 minutes! WOOT! A couple of minutes later he was backing the trailer into place and soon we were all settled. Hooray!! We decided that dinner was in order so Steve fired up our grill for a pair of burgers and I set the table with all the condiments a person would want—avocado slices, onions, mayo, ketchup, spinach leaves and just in case, dill relish! The burgers came covered with melted cheese to die for—and we'd forgotten what grilled burgers tasted like! What a delicious meal we had. This camping business seems to suit us I think. :) With our hunger out of the way, we rounded up our gear, stowed the chicken (Pumpkin, of course!) and Molly in the camper and headed off for our little hike. We ended up heading out to the same area we'd been cycling on our first evening and it was just wonderful. I was hoping to get some pictures of three things: 1) I'd found some plants that had tiny white flowers sitting in a bed of great big green leaves. 2) There were some plants with lovely stalks of white flowers that I wanted pictures of. 3) Ferns!! I saw lots of them on our bike rides and hoped to get some pictures In the end, I was 100% successful! And then some! Steve and I had such a wonderful time. We strolled along, enjoying the incredible beauty of this place and I got so many lovely images! We had marvelous conversation as we went and soaked up the soothing atmosphere aw we went. The funny thing is that we both knew and enjoyed this place in the past. But it was only as a very temporary visitor. As a several-day resident camper, we could know this place at a different capacity. It was so much more. Both of us could see what it was like as a drive-in hiker...it was like a watered-down cup of coffee compared to this new experience. How amazing to have a new understanding of this place. And the revelation that, as RV campers, we would have deeper connections with all of the places we stopped at in the future. Something to think about...how awesome. Today's picture is my choice for Happy Fence Friday! It's really a "double fence". Ok, it's a pedestrian bridge, starring Steve! We went on a walk from our campsite and down to a view of Lost Creek Lake. There was a beautiful little bridge nestled in a deep forest of ferns and thick woods and I asked Steve to walk to the far side and pose for me. Voila! My Happy Fence Friday picture! :) Pam, I did a search for "fence" and found some of your "ice storm" images...this one with ice-laden branches and a fence in the background were just right for a HFF image but still...*shakes head*….what a shame. I hope that you had a good day. Thank you so much for your enthusiastic comments about our trip. *BIG HUGS* You're the best! :) Explored on 5/10/19; highest placement #9.

(+1 inset) (Once again, sorry for the length of this post--I'll be doing this whenever we are out in the RV. If you want to know about the picture, just scroll down to the bottom. :) ) It's Tuesday night right now and I'm about to go to sleep…Steve and I went on a bike ride after lunch that turned out to be quite exciting! We were entertaining the idea of riding around Lost Creek Lake, which is supposed to be about 20 miles. However, we weren't sure if that was a very wise idea, given that we've only just started to get ourselves back into shape and our last ride at home was only 8.5 miles. We thought we'd start off by riding on the bike path that led down to the camp marina, just a few miles away. Funny enough, the path we took actually led the wrong way and brought us right back to our campsite! We couldn't stop laughing as we turned around and tried again, this time choosing the correct turn that we'd missed. Through lovely woods and over narrow wooden bridges, we made our way down to the marina and stopped to look in their little store. It had the bare minimum of supplies, all at twice the price they should be--big surprise…not! :D The marina was small but fun to see and I got a few pictures while Steve relaxed outside the store. While I was taking pictures I discovered the paved but lumpy single-track path that went along the lake and soon we were bouncing along the trail and enjoying the adventure. However, we soon realized that there hadn't been any maintenance done this season and we found a few poison oak branches that we narrowly avoided. Even though the trail was there, it became more and more worrisome as we continued. Many downed trees across the trail required us to carry our bikes over them, more and more poison oak was in the pathway and finally we couldn't even avoid the leaves which brushed against our arms as we rode by. There were many places that I couldn't ride my bike over--roots and rocks in the path, unexpected steep spots, bridges that could not be ridden over, etc. Then we encountered a spot where erosion caused a tree to fall into the lake, taking most of the trail with it. We could walk our bikes past the missing trail but just barely. Beyond that, a very steep hill going down and around a curve…and that was enough of that. Our nerves were shot. We'd hoped for an easier ride and this was just too much. We both ended up with poison oak on us and when we got back we took turns taking showers and we're hoping that we successfully washed the urushiol oil off of our skin before it's been able to give us rashes. Time will tell…keep your fingers crossed for us! Dinner was delicious barbecued New York Steaks and more yummy garlic-and-herb-spiced asparagus and Portobello mushrooms sautéed in butter, but I added green onions this time…NOM! Desert was brownies we made before we left on our trip…so tasty! :) We relaxed for the rest of the evening--Steve in the hammock outside with Molly, me working on my pictures inside with Pumpkin…such a nice evening! Finally we watched a show and got Pumpkin settled in for the night before diving into bed ourselves. :) Goodnight all! :) --------- I'm so happy that I'm able to upload pictures…I was really worried about it because the signal is nearly non-existent here. Thank goodness Steve's phone signal is working! We are going to look into a signal booster for the future. It's really important to us that we can hook up to the net. For now, I'm just hoping that I'll be able to upload a couple of pictures each day! As I sit finishing up this post, I'm outside at the picnic table, listening to the birds and feeling a warm breeze dance through my hair. Steve is chilling in the hammock which he set up in a pair of nearby trees, Molly is relaxing in her outside pen and Pumpkin is chortling to her music inside while she enjoys the view outside through the blinds. What bliss. (Heh, a Red-Breasted Robin just ran across the site, under the hammock and over to some trees…lol) This morning Steve and I hopped on our bikes and did a repeat of the ride we took around the park on our first evening, which included a lovely 3-mile woodland bike trail. You can't beat a meandering trail complete with dappled light and a couple of narrow bridges to cross! We even surprised a fox along the way, such a beauty. The forests here are a mixture of deciduous (Maples and "leaf-shedding trees") and evergreens like pines and cedars. Because of our nearly non-existent internet connection, I'll only be posting one extra picture along with my main picture. Today's picture was one I took yesterday when we walked out to see a view of the lake. The tiny beach had this magnificent stump on one side which made a nice focal point. I am also including a really lovely picnic spot with a lovely Maple tree overlooking the meadow. I have lots of other pretty views of the camp ground but they'll have to wait! :) Pam, have you done any camping here in the US? We are coming to realize that this RV camping business suits us quite well, heh. It's one thing to read about its popularity and why people enjoy it so. It's another thing to live it. Yep. We love it. I hope that you have a good day…you'll be in my thoughts my dear! :) *BIG HUGS* Explored on 5/9/19; highest placement #5.

(+1 inset) One of the things that drew Steve and I to southern Oregon is the close proximity to beautiful natural areas and outdoor activities. In fact, our lovely 26 acres is located on such a pretty road that it's a regular bike and motorcycle ride for local clubs. Steve and I have explored many of the hikes in the area and one of the hikes took us to a place called Lost Creek Lake, which is a mere 45 minutes from our home. We've been on a few hikes along the lake and really enjoyed them. So when we started looking for a good choice for an RV destination close by but in a pretty place, we both thought of Lost Creek Lake as a likely candidate. It turned out that there were plenty of campsites available, and being a state park, the price was really affordable too! It was so nice to have such a short drive, and yet it was so lovely. Spring in southern Oregon is incredible. Green fields everywhere, countless farm animals to see (babies too!), flowering trees here and there. As we drove along, we got glimpses of the well-known and popular Rogue River through the trees. Sometimes wild and roiling, it tumbled over rocks and boulders. In other places it flowed smoothly through deeper areas, dappled shadows of trees. Making our way into the hills on our curving road, we soon left the farmland and the forests and meadows took over, always with the Rogue River as a lovely escort. Before we knew it, Lost Creek Lake was just up the road! We pulled in and soon located our site, a lovely, large spot that was easy for Steve to back into. We didn't even need to unhook the truck if we didn't want to, it was that long! However, we did unhook it because it's necessary for leveling the trailer. Our first impression of Joseph Stewart State Park was BEAUTIFUL! Every site has lots of space around it. Trees everywhere (conifers and maples, lots of others too) and mowed grass meadows absolutely everywhere. We were amazed at how pretty this place was. The park has over 125 individual sites and they have cabins too! On top of that, there is a marina and roped-off swimming area too. How could such an incredible place be so close to home? We felt like we hit the jackpot. ------------------- Once we got set up, we enjoyed a melt-in-your-mouth ribeye steak perfectly grilled on the bbq along with lovely asparagus and portabello mushrooms sauteed in butter…YUM! We had just enough time last night to hop on our bikes and go on a several-mile jaunt on some awesome trails! We got to enjoy the last of a beautiful sunset over the mountains as we rode along and found ourselves travelling in and out of forest and meadows…how GRAND! ------------------- We slept like rocks, it is so peaceful and perfect here. We have also discovered the cell signal is almost nothing. I hope I'm successful getting my two pictures up today! (Well, it looks like using Steve's cell service did the trick! Posting this early because I didn't know it we'd be successful...HOORAY!!) I wandered around a little bit this morning with my Canon and macro lens and got zillions of cool shots. I really liked this pine "flower" and so it's my main picture for the day. My inset shows our truck in dappled light this morning with our trailer at our site! HOORAY for RV camping!! :) Pam, you would certainly enjoy this pretty place. You're in my thoughts! *BIG HUGS MY DEAR* Explored on 5/8/19; highest placement #6.

(+2 insets!) Steve and I are heading out in a few minutes and I have just enough time to get my pictures posted. Excuse my extremely short write-up, I will be leaving in just a few minutes! *SQUEEEEE*!!! :) We are so excited! Our campground is only about 45 minutes away but it's on a lake that we know and love. It will be such fun to stay there for three days instead of just driving home like usual. We'll be bringing our bikes this time--there's a trail around the lake!! There is hiking to be had as well so we've packed our hiking boots, yay! We can hardly wait to get out of here…the check-in time is 4pm so we've had plenty of time to get our last-minute things packed and ready to go. What's really nice too is that we're so much more relaxed this time around because we've done this once already. :) Today I'm posting several macros of especially eye-catching California Poppies in orange and cream and an unusual seed pod that attracts visitors with it's incredibly colorful seed pods! I hope you like them! Pam, I loved your comments about my rusty pictures, I'm so glad you enjoyed them and also, that you love rusty subjects too. :) Thanks for letting me know what your lizard was sitting on! I hope that your day goes well my dear! You'll be in my thoughts as we head out for another adventure! :) *BIG HUGS* Explored on 5/7/19, highest placement, #3.

(+4 insets!) Holy cow, Steve and I were so busy today! We were out doing errands until dinner and then we had a bunch of stuff to do and ack! It's after 8 and I haven't written my post! Eeek! Eeek! I have been trying to get my scenery images finished from our trip to Upper Klamath Lake because I'm afraid that if I don't get them done now, they will be swept away by the never-ending river of pictures that keep on coming. We'll be leaving on our next trip tomorrow and so I'm just about out of time. Yes, I can go back and process more down the road, but it also might not happen. I actually finished more pictures than I'm posting today but these are all different enough that I can put them together into one presentation. Also, the type of picture is the same and I don't want to water down the beauty of the scenery. Our canoe trip on the Upper Klamath River Canoe Trail was about 5 miles in distance and we spent about 3.5 hours on the water. The views were just breathtaking and it was so relaxing out there that it felt like a state of meditation every time we were quietly paddling along. The peaceful, calming sounds of the water splashing as we stroked, the whooosh-splash as the front of the canoe cut a path through the water…it was wonderful. In the distance, hidden by the marsh, sometimes overhead, we heard the sounds of endless birdlife, many of which we'd never heard before and couldn't imagine what they might even look like. The warm sun on our faces, the breeze dancing through our hair, the smell of the lake and grasses, it all swirled together into an experience that can really only be understood if you are there. It was magical and so special…what a totally fulfilling day in every way. As the afternoon passed by, Steve realized that we needed to pick up the pace or we would arrive later than we were supposed to be out--4 hours--so we began to paddle in earnest. We only stopped a couple of times to take pictures, and one sight that I insisted on photographing was the main picture that you see today! The clouds were moving in front of the sun more and more as time went on and at one point I looked up and saw them edge-lit so perfectly, and to top it off, there was a magnificent reflection. I was over the moon when I looked at my pictures and found that this set had turned out as I had hoped. :) I am also including four insets to give you a better idea of what the views were like as we traveled along. I hope you enjoy the show--I only wish that each of you could have been out there with us taking in these vistas! :) (Sorry about the difference in exposures, I'm still working out the bugs!) Pam, I did another search for "lake" on your stream and this time I picked your Broken Bow Lake image! What a lovely image. Lakes make such wonderful photography subjects and your shot is truly lovely. Here's hoping that you had a good day today!! *BIG HUGS* :D Explored on 5/6/19, highest placement, #4.

(+11 insets!) Today is Saturday and that means only one thing…SATURDAY SELF-CHALLENGE!! HOORAY! :D Today's challenge is a favorite topic of mine (heh, I have zillions of favorites! :D), RUST! I definitely wanted to take pictures of three specific things and when I went out to capture them, I was on a mission! :D The first place I went is to the enormous old, fallen-down oak tree with the rotted tree house, all of which are slowly disintegrating into dirt. (I have an inset showing the tree) It looks like nothing at all at a normal distance. But as a MACRO subject, this poor old relic is brimming with photographic treasures! I spent a while taking pictures of the countless rusty nails I found on the tree and rotting wood, knowing from past experience that I was sure to get some super images. It's just really hard to miss when it comes to rusty nails and the sort! :) As I hoped, I got lots of winners and my main picture today shows old nails sticking out of wood so soft now that you can break it with fingernails. Decay is working overtime with this dilapidated tree house! There are many insets that explore other nails and nail heads, all gloriously rusty and such fun at macro size! My second stop was a pile of remaining barbed and straight strands of wire in our large meadow. I have removed all but this last pile and so I made a beeline for these remnants that I knew had plenty of colorful rust to capture. You'll find insets of both a clump of knotted-up barbed wire and also an artsy razor-thin dof image of straight wire with a pair of Seablush flowers in bokeh to add some fun color. Finally, I went to a spot that I walk over every single day on my walks up and down our road. Above the driveway is a path that leads up to the top of a small hill where the septic leech field is located. At one point across the path are four links of a rusty chain deeply embedded in the cement-like clay soil. I had hoped to share pictures of this when it was bristling with frost during the winter. To my dismay, even on the coldest day when everything else was coated with a thick layer of frost, the links refused any frosty adornment. Probably because it's right at dirt level and thus cannot get as cold because of heat dispersion. I say BOO. However, it makes a cool picture for our topic today and so finally I get to share it with all of you! :) (You'll find this picture as an inset as well.) By the way, this colorful rusty chain has become a wonderful landmark on my walks, something I enjoy seeing every time I walk over it (the chain lies directly across the path!). I showed Steve my picture and he told me that he's tried to pull it out of the ground on his walks, to no avail. I was aghast! "MY PET CHAIN?! NO!!! You cannot harm my pretty chain!" We had no idea that each of us had taken a specific interest in that chain. He said he had been thinking of backing our tractor up so he could hook a chain to it and pull it out of the ground. ACK!! It's all too funny…I didn't know I had a sentimental attachment to that silly piece of chain but I guess I did! LOL! Anyway, I hope you all like the presentation! I look forward to seeing all of the other contributions this week! Pam, I looked up "rust" on your stream and found a fun picture of a Prairie Lizard sitting on a rusty something or other! :D So cute. That little fellow looks a lot like our Fence Lizards! I hope your day went well, Pam! Thanks for your comments about my Red-Winged Blackbird, I thought you might have them too, as they are pretty wide-spread. Such fun to see them! *BIG HUGS* from southern Oregon! Explored on 5/5/19, highest placement, #1.

(+ 2 insets!) The days are beautiful now but it's still just above freezing on most mornings. By the time I get inside from my walk my poor fingers are numb! Ok, ok...I admit that my warm gloves are in our RV and I'm too lazy to go get them. So I've been using my lightweight gloves and they are laughably inadequate for the job. The result is that I have to sit by the heater to thaw my fingers out or put them in a basin of hot water until they're happy again. Sheesh, you would think that my fingers could handle 37-45 degree temperatures without screaming bloody murder. Noop. Ten little babies pitch a fit every day! This morning I thought I'd be clever. I put on TWO pairs of thin gloves, figuring that would do the trick. *sounds a FAIL buzzer* It was almost zero difference at all! Tromping into the house my ears were ringing with all of the screaming going on. Well, maybe I should stop being stubborn and get my warm gloves. Guaranteed that the morning I put them on it will be too warm outside to wear them and I'll be chucking them to the porch after my first lap! HAH! Today I'm posting several pictures from our canoe trip on Upper Klamath Lake. There were Red-Winged Blackbirds all over the place as we paddled along and the sunlight really made their shoulder patches glow a brilliant red and orange. This is the first time I've gotten the chance to get some good pictures of these beautiful birds. There is a pair which is now showing up at our feeders but they are a) never in good light and b) sitting on our feeder (phooey) so I haven't been lucky with them. Plus, the shoulder patches on our birds are much more orange with just a sliver of red. It's a remarkable difference! My main picture is a male who has puffed his feathers up and is making its characteristic song. It's the only time they seem to get hugely fluffy like this and I was overjoyed when I discovered this picture had turned out! If you would like to see these birds making their song, here's a YouTube video! I am also including a couple of other pictures that turned out well! I'm so happy that I now have pictures of this lovely bird! Pam, do you get Red-Winged Blackbirds where you live? I did a search on your stream but didn't see any. I did find a lovely picture of a Grackle and holy cow is that a looker! I love how "black" on a bird is "iridescent rainbow" in the right light! Stunning. I sure do hope you had a good day. Thank you so much for your comments about my pictures, I'm so glad that you have been enjoying them! It makes my day! *hugs* Explored on 5/4/19, highest placement, #5.

(+10 insets!) (This is another installment of my trip to Provence, France. If you would like to see my other pictures, please visit my album, "Provence, France 2018" --most of the pictures are presentations with many insets on each entry!) It's another lovely day full of flowers and glowing greenery! Today I've been working on my Upper Klamath Lake pictures but since today is Thursday, I'll be posting my Happy Fence Friday picture late this afternoon and thought it was about time for another visit to France! It's been more than a year now, since Steve and I went to France. Much has changed for us, and we've learned and grown a lot since we returned! I don't know how many of my pictures I'll get through now that we've begun our RV trips but at least I'll be able to share our visit to Nice! Here is my next set! The Promenade de Anglais hugs the meandering coastline around Nice and bends inward towards the main part of town, along with the barrier that lines the walkway. While Steve and I were strolling along, we noticed a handsome couple who were enjoying the late afternoon and obviously quite smitten with one another. The fellow wanted to take pictures of her and so she hopped up onto the barrier and posed. I happened to be close enough to get a picture too. The portrait turned out nicely enough that I thought it would be a perfect main image for HFF! For the rest of my presentation, I'm choosing images that include some of the artistic things we saw on this lovely day. About these pictures: PiP #1: Steve and I stepped into a building and though I cannot remember where it was, the outside wasn't remarkable but as you can see, the ceiling inside was spectacular! :) (I did do a bit of filtering to make it dazzle) PiP #2: Walking to the grocery store on the first morning that Steve and I got to Nice, we walked past the Nice Chamber of Commerce. The top of the building was really pretty to look at as you can see! PiP #3: I was really surprised to see a copy of Michelangelo's David in a little park that Steve and I walked through during the day. Such a lovely sculpture in bronze, I have seen at least two other copies in my travels. I have also seen the original marble piece in Florence, Italy, when I was just 21 years old, and it completely changed my understanding of what art was. I remember walking in there with the tour group I was with and, though I was interested, I wasn't expecting anything special. No big deal. I walked into the room, looked up and BOOM! I just about fell over from the power of this piece! David is HUGE! Looming over you, it literally glows with energy and I was simply unprepared. I stood there and just gaped. The gorgeous details, silky smoothness of the stone, the angles and grace of this lovely sculpture…it utterly blew me away. Until that moment, I didn't really "get" sculpture. I appreciated it, but I didn't realize that an artist can truly become part of the artwork in a way I can't explain. It was an amazing revelation to me and changed my life, just standing there and staring. But it got better. There, at the Accademia Gallery, is another room, where Michelangelo's unfinished pieces are housed. After I was finally released from my hypnotic state with David, I turned and wandered, punch-drunk, into the adjoining room. I found myself staring at many pieces of partially finished sculptures. What was this? I stared. Slowly my jaw dropped and again I gaped in complete wonder. There, in front of me, I could see the pieces inside the marble, and could imagine the shapes within which joined with what Michelangelo had exposed. It was incredible. The chunks of rock were just boulders. How could there be anything inside? Looking at just the stones, I saw nothing, but Michelangelo could see the sculptures inside. He could see where to tap, to chisel, to break, in order to release the sculpture locked inside. When he exposed part of the sculpture and I had something to direct my attention, I could then see below, inside the marble, the sculpture which he was able to release. Standing there, I felt a new awareness bloom within, brought to my senses by Michelangelo himself. I wondered how a person can see something that is hidden inside a rock, without even a bit of guidance whatsoever. It is the kind of artistic prowess that I find truly incredible in every sense of the word. To this day, my life is changed for the better because of my visit to the Accademia Gallery in Florence. I see sculpture and artwork at a much higher level with an understanding that allows me to appreciate everything so much more. How lucky that I was brought to this place at the tender age of 21. I am convinced that the quality of my art has been influenced by what I saw that day and I have always paid attention to art (man or nature-made) that moves me because it continues to broaden my scope and understanding. :) PiP #4: This is a sign I saw above a shop that I thought was fun…I don't know why but I love the word "fromage" (cheese), and I can only imagine that a bite of cheese with a sip of whisky might be a very delightful combination! PiP #5: A lovely monument and sculpture of a man named Giuseppe Garibaldi, a military figure who lived in Nice during the 18th century. It stands in a square by the same name. PiP #6: This beautiful artwork was found outside a popular bar by the same name. Captured after nightfall, the tastefully directed illumination made this an irresitible picture for me! :) PiP #7: What an odd and interesting artistic creation of light fixtures! When I first saw this I thought, "An egg-beater sculpture, neato!" It was only when I looked closer that I discovered that the "egg-beaters" were actually light bulb cages. I had hoped to learn more about the artist, "E. Mosser: architect/designer" but alas, I was not able to glean anymore information to add here. (If you are luckier than me, please let me know so I may update this information!) PiP #8: This colorful group of lounge/beach chairs made a really nice arrangement and by desaturating the background, the chairs popped right out of the image! PiP #9: Steve and I loved this wonderful bag and purse shop, overflowing with beautiful leather workmanship in all sizes and shapes. There were several displays found outside the shop and this is the other picture I'm posting which turned out nicely! PiP #10: Having visited Europe on several occasions, I know that balconies are often turned into gardens, stuffed to the brim with plants that hang on for dear life. Here is such a display, one that brought a beaming smile to my face! PiP #11: Finally, I saw this neat sign as we walked along and thought it would be fun to turn it into a filtered image! Pam, I hope your day went well. I'm so glad you enjoyed my sunrise picture with the ducks flying through the sky. I really couldn't believe my luck. The sort of thing you dream of but it never happens. And yet, as I looked out at the sunrise, I heard the quacking of ducks…and incredibly, they were flying in the path of the sunrise! I took the chance of clicking away with the hopes that maybe one would turn out. Success. I'm floored. What a bucket list picture…I'm so glad I could share it! :) Where are we going next? To a lake about 30 miles away! We'll be going in just a few days, hooray! *BIG HUGS* :) Explored on 5/3/19, highest placement, #3.

This monument is in front of Saint Sépulcre chapel. The plaque says his name and "sa ville natale" which translates to "his home town". Named after the Italian military figure, Giuseppe Garibaldi, this central Nice square dates back to the 18th century. Originally used to celebrate the arrival of the Counts of Savoy, it was designed by Antoine Spinelli and is surrounded by attractive Baroque structures. The style of architecture definitely has a very Italian feel to it.

(+1 inset) (please view large for more dreamy goodness!) :D Wow, it's already May 1! How did THAT happen? It seemed like winter hung around forever, and now spring is just flying by! Every day is so beautiful and green with flowers everywhere. It's such a joy to walk up and down the driveway and enjoy watching the show. :) April 28 was Steve's birthday and we upgraded his 30 year old mountain bike with a new one so we can take our bikes on the road with us in our RV! Although my beloved Trek Women's Specific Design bike is about 15 years old, it's in fine condition and I have no problems with it. Over my birthday (last September), Steve and I took our bikes with us on a 3-day get-away to Sunriver, Oregon (a few hours away) and got our bikes tuned up while we were there. With a normal servicing my bike is in tip-top shape but Steve's bike was in need of some major work. What better, then, to get a new bike for his birthday?! Steve spent several days researching and going to bike shops and in the end picked a Diamond Back from a private seller on Craig's List. The bike is basically unused--the owner hoped to use it for commuting to work but his back injury never healed well enough to allow riding. So Steve ended up getting $500 off for a bike with just one ride on it. Along with lots of posh extras, so it was a wonderful deal and the owner was really happy that Steve would be giving it such a good home. That being said, we're starting to go on rides every day or so to start getting ourselves back into shape. First 3 miles…then 5 miles, and yesterday I went for my "short" 7.5 mile ride--Steve took the day off--and boy did I feel that ride when I got back to the house! Today I'm taking the day off--with my legs shaky tired yesterday I need to give them time to recuperate today. Hopefully I'll be back to doing my 17-19-mile rides again soon, and of course, now we'll be taking our bikes on our RV trips and that will give us some fun options! Today I'm taking a break from my Upper Klamath Lake pictures to share a special image I got a few days ago. While I was tromping up and down the driveway a few days ago, I noticed a flower I've rarely seen on our property and wanted some pictures. As it usually happens, once I'm out I tend to wander around for a little bit. It's just so hard to resist taking more pictures than just the subject I was initially after! :D So I'm cruising around here and there and suddenly--OH! A BUTTERFLY!!--I see a fluttering flower! I stop and look to see if it will land. Some manic flying around and it lands…I creep closer and…off it goes, never to be seen again. I am left hearing its cackle and loud raspberry directed at me. Story of my life. :D I keep making my way around our meadow and part of our lower forest and…OH!! ANOTHER ONE!! This one lands on a Mariposa Lily, busies itself with eating and doesn't notice me edging closer. I managed to get a bunch of pictures and then another one landed on a different flower! WOO HOO!! I ended up getting 6 crisp images of the one and two of the pair. I'm so delighted!! I'll post a couple of those in the next while. The lucky streak didn't end yet! I saw another butterfly land on some Common Vetch buds and it was quite interested in trying to get into those flowers. Me? There's nothing to see, little flutterby, keep working those buds while I take pictures! I got 5 crisp pictures of that beauty and then 3 more when it flew to another cluster of buds nearby. YAY!! WHAT A DELIGHT! I often have trouble getting pictures of butterflies so when I get some good fortune I am totally overjoyed. Let's hope my luck continues this season!! My main picture has very shallow dof and a very dreamy quality that I just love. I hope you like it too--I know this sort of picture doesn't appeal to everyone! :) My inset is another crisp picture from the last group of pictures I captured! Pam, I'm so happy to show you my successful butterfly pictures! And when I looked, I found that you'd captured a fabulous image of a similar beauty, the Eastern-tailed Blue Butterfly ! What a fine picture you got too! These are such darling little butterflies--what fun to get pictures of them to be proud of! :) I hope your day has been a good one my dear! Many *HUGGGGGGS* your way! Explored on 5/2/19, highest placement, #1.

(+2 insets!) Please view large! :) (I'm late again so making this short!) Every day that passes has both Steve and I feeling more excited about our next adventure. We had such a good time on our first RV trip that we're already booked for our next one! We will be going to a nearby destination again just to make sure we're not too far from home if we run into problems. We can't wait! For today, I'm finally posting the sunrise over Upper Lake Klamath. There were clouds in front so it's not a normal kind of sunrise but I really like the way it made the sunrise look. What an incredible moment to experience. I'm so happy I was there. Just look at this reward…even ducks flying by! I just couldn't have asked for more than this. :) I am also sharing two insets: one is a picture of birds on the water with golden light making the cattails glow, and the other is an abstract of the reflection of a jet trail on the water! Pam, I was thinking about my jet trail abstract so I looked up "abstract" on your stream. What a cool image your "Northern Lights" creation is! It gets a 10 on the Groovy scale! :D I hope you had a nice day my dear! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 5/1/19, highest placement, #1.

(+10 insets!) (please view large!) :) What a gorgeous day! The species of flowers in bloom on our property right now is just amazing…they are so beautiful! So many colors, shapes and sizes, it's mind-boggling! To be honest, it actually makes me feel very stressed out. Every year it's like this…I have the urgency to take pictures constantly and yet I must resist and force myself to just relax and let the flowers come and go. I have to remind myself that there's just no way to keep on top of all of the species of flowers and even if I could, I'd never be able to process all of the pictures. Case in point: years ago I worked on a project, "The Flowers of Spring and Summer" and did my best to photograph, process and post every species in bloom on our property. Over the months I ran myself ragged as I explored every inch I could get to on our 26 acres. In the end I got so worn out that I just couldn't work on the project anymore. So now I have folders of pictures that have not been touched. Sadly I don't even know where I left off so it would be a challenge just to figure out where to pick up that torch. Ugh. Do you ever feel like you should be out there taking pictures and processing everything? It's such a struggle. But you know, it's just not a race you can win. It is, however, a good time to practice relaxing about trying to document everything. I feel like I need to document every wonderful thing I see and experience and I think that learning to chill out about this is something that would be good for me. I've noticed that as I get older, I'm not so frantic about this, but it's still hard sometimes. Especially now with so many pretty flowers and plants exploding so vibrantly everywhere. :) But it really is a fact: we will never ever be able to get through all of our pictures and that's just the way it is…so, I'm learning to deal with it! :) Ok, today is Macro Monday! The theme is "white on white" and the first thing I thought of was my wedding dress! It is such a pretty thing but not overly fancy. The dress has all kinds of lovely iridescent-white beads sewn into the fabric in a leaf and flower design that is just so pretty. The problem is that the thread is wrapped in a gold foil and unfortunately takes away from the "white on white" concept of this week's challenge. I did my best though and I hope that the threading isn't too much into the realm of "cheating". I had better luck with my veil, which is white with iridescent white bugle beads sewn in at the edges and made for some really fun pictures that are more in keeping with the challenge. Also, I got a simple but usable picture of the ribbon sash which turned out nicely. And finally, Steve bought me a lovely string of pearls which he surprised me with on our wedding day…they are so beautiful and delicate. I have only worn them a couple of times but I love them so much. When I looked at my pictures, the pearls were the easy favorite for my main picture. I am sharing 10 extras as insets (one shows a wedding picture to see the dress! Pam, I looked up "white" on your photo stream and though I did find plenty of white flowers and such, I was thinking about wedding pictures, so I tried that and found the wedding collage you posted in 2015 which I remember so clearly. It's so lovely. And you know what I forgot? We both got married in 2005! You in January, and Steve and I in November! It's been quite a ride, hasn't it? But a wonderful one with its marvelous ups--and for me, things are better than ever. I do have you to thank for helping me to figure out how to fix some things. I will always be indebted to you, Pam my dear. *BIG HUGS always* Explored on 4/30/19, highest placement, #8.

(+1 inset) Today I spent several happy hours taking pictures of and processing images for Monday's Macro Monday. In fact, I got so carried away that I totally forgot about my post today! Thankfully I have my next pictures all ready to go from our trip to Upper Klamath Lake! What a special occasion. How many times have you made yourself get up to see the sunrise? I bet there's a whole lot of you who are like me--that number is extremely low, maybe 5 times? I do get up earlier now and sometimes it turns out to be before sunrise but that's not the same thing. What I mean is…you're asleep. You either wake up because of an alarm that you set just for a sunrise or the light wakes you up…you're so tired and groggy and you don't HAVE to get up. It's entirely up to you. When I'm not forced, the result is usually rolling over and going back to sleep! What about you? I'm really happy that I won my epic internal battle to get out of bed so I could be part of the sunrise. I think part of my success lies in the fact that I'm old enough to know how it feels to really regret a bad decision. And I would have been very unhappy if I'd gone back to sleep. There really is something to be said of some sagely wisdom as the years tick by. I posted my silhouetted tree picture but I have other before-sunrise pictures that turned out well so I have two more to share today. The main picture is the left side of the dock with the glowing horizon and cool soft colors everywhere. I even managed to capture a duck in the water, huzzah! My inset is a look down the right side of the dock with the moon above along with a wispy jet trail. (By the way, I'll be posting sunrise images on the day after tomorrow, since tomorrow will be my Macro Monday pictures!) I'm really delighted with how well this new Sony is working out. Our ipernity friend, Roland (ROL/Photo), who was my inspiration to get this firecracker of a camera, gave me a tip about lowering the exposure by a stop in bright situations and it's really helped a lot. I've been able to adjust my images in my Camera RAW application and the dynamic range is super. Even though it wouldn't seem necessary in before-dawn images, the difference between light and dark is quite extreme and it's been wonderful to get better results with my pictures! YAY! Pam, I did a search for "sunrise" and found this beautiful sunrise image you got while in flight to Atlanta Wow, is that lovely. There's something really neat about capturing sunset/rises while flying. I'm glad you got such a nice picture, mine haven' been so successful! Hey, I hope you had a nice day today, you've been in my thoughts! *hugs*

(+10 insets!) (Please view large!) Note: no pictures from Upper Klamath Lake today, it's Saturday Self-Challenge! LOL, it's another late posting day! It's not my fault! It's the fault of the Saturday Self-Challenge theme! "Coins" was just too much fun and then there was dinner and well, you know how it goes! :D I was originally going to post only pictures of foreign coins because I thought I'd read that in the description of the theme. I ran into trouble because I somehow managed to move our spare foreign coins and spent a while looking around for them without luck. Then I remembered that a few had gotten mixed into our change bowl and ran down to the kitchen to check. I poured them all out onto the counter (and spilled a bunch onto the floor, of course) and was delighted to find half a dozen from Europe and Canada! Hooray! Before I started taking pictures, I reread the challenge text and found out that I could use any kind of coin--not just foreign as I'd thought--so I decided to add some pictures of U.S. currency too. My main picture is a spill of foreign coins with my main subject precariously balanced on its edge. LOL, I spent more time trying to get those things to stand on edge, how ridiculous! :D I know I could have found some wax or other clever methods but the stubborn mule in me refused the easy route! :D At one point I got two of them to stand up! I got one picture before I bumped the table and down they went, wahhhh! :D You'll find seven insets to look at (and three archive images). Some of them are very similar--just different coins--but I thought you might like to see what I came up with. I just love coin pictures so I'm really looking forward to perusing the SSC group and seeing what everyone did! (I've seen a few already, nice job guys!) :D Pam, I looked up "coin" on your stream and found a picture of fossilized shells with a penny placed next to them for scale! :D LOL, that works! :) And the shells are really cool. Reminds me of the time I went to the Grand Canyon many years ago. To my utter disbelief there were shells absolutely EVERYWHERE! It was totally amazing. I cannot wait to go back with Steve so we can share this experience together! :) BTW I loved what you had to say about my sunrise picture and how different campsites are from one to the next and between the US and England! And finally, I sure do hope that you had a good day my dear! :) *BIG HUGS* Explored on 4/28/19, highest placement, #1.

(+1 inset) (please view large!) Now that Steve and I have been home from Upper Klamath Lake for a day, we've been reflecting on the differences. Most notably, it was only just entering spring there, though the temperature was quite nice and cold only late at night. Did you experience a long winter where you live? We did and I know that many places in Oregon had a very late winter too. Talking to the folks at Rocky Point Resort, we learned that they've only been open for business for a couple of weeks because their winter was about a month longer than normal--just like us. In fact, daffodils were just beginning to bloom there, whereas our daffodils peaked a month ago. Checking the elevation, I was surprised to find that Upper Klamath Lake sits at 4100 feet, whereas we are at 1500 feet. This all made sense to us when we thought about it and all of this explains why it didn't feel like spring hadn't arrived yet. I've only stayed at a campground once, many years ago, and that was traditional tent camping so it this place was very interesting to me. Modern campgrounds in the United States have specific sites meant for RVs and other spots are just for tents or small camper vans. Some spots have no "hookups" and are just a place to pitch a tent or to "dry camp", which means that you have to provide water and electricity. Fancy spots, like the one we had, included "full hook-ups", which meant we had electricity, water AND a sewer. Sewer hookups are uncommon but most campgrounds offer water and electricity hookups. It was all new and fascinating to me. Another interesting point is that sites are sorted by size of trailer. Many campsites, especially remote ones without the luxury of a lot of space cannot accept camper vehicles at all, only tents. Some can only accommodate camper vans or trailers up to 25 feet long or so. More often than not, campsites are only long enough for a trailer; the truck must be unhooked and parked beside the trailer. However, there are some campsites that have spots which will allow a very long RV AND a truck which doesn't even need to be unhooked! We're talking 80 feet or longer!! That's just astonishing to me! I really shouldn't be surprised because I've seen some unbelievably long combinations of truck + RV or huge motorhome + car towed behind. Still, I never really thought about it before! Did you know that in most cases, you reserve your campsite online? In fact, there are many places that are so popular that you must reserve a spot an entire YEAR (or longer) before you want to go!! And then, there are lots of places that don't allow reservation at all!. How would you like to drive all day to get to a campsite without even knowing if there is a place to pull into?! What do you do if you can't get in? It's a whole new thing for us to learn about and it's lots of fun to figure it all out. I'll be writing about what we learn as we go whenever it's interesting enough to pass along. I expect it's probably fascinating to some of you who live in Europe and don't see anything larger than camper vans. The difference between European camping and US camping totally blows me away and I figure it's fun to read about! I'll do my best to be entertaining! :) Today's picture was taken yesterday morning before sunrise when I stepped out of our RV and headed towards the dock. The colors in the sky behind the bare trees was just incredible. Part of me wanted to rush out to the dock because I didn't want to miss the sunrise but I simply couldn't miss this picture. I'm so glad I got it. :) My inset was the picture I thought about posting yesterday for Happy Fence Friday. It shows the Rocky Point Lodge and the actual "rocky point" which is the namesake of this beautiful place. I am very happy with the way the picture turned out but I don't think it's got the "wow-factor" I am hoping for in a main shot. I hope you like it! This lodge is a restaurant but it's currently being remodeled and because of the long winter they are far behind on the renovations. Maybe we'll get the chance to eat there some day on a return trip! Pam, I did a search for "lake" and came up with a picture that looks a bit like Upper Klamath, namely one of your pictures of Lake Arbuckle ! :D Such a lovely view. Looks like a wonderful place for a picnic! By the way, thank you for your sweet comments about our trip…and I hope that your day has been a nice one! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 4/27/19, highest placement, #2.