Janet Brien's photos

(+6 insets!) My goodness but the trees were brimming with singing birdies this morning! Twitter, tweet, beep, cheep, peep, trill, call! And in the distance, HONK-HONKs from Canada Geese and CAW-CAW from crows and ravens, and the cry of Red-Tailed Hawks were heard over the hills. My my. All was covered with raindrops from last night and dew coated everything else. The air wasn't too cold and overhead the storm clouds were drifting in diaphanous wisps towards us. It will rain soon but I got my walk in before the drops began to fall. Yesterday I mentioned that I made some wonderful discoveries up on the hillside…and indeed I did! But first, a short story… All the way back in March of 2012, I was exploring our ridgeline for flowers and plants that don't grow in our meadows or lower forest. I found it fascinating to discover that our 26 acres had a microcosm of its own. Our hill rises steeply to the ridge and the difference in elevation between the land down by the front gate and at the top of the ridge is quite a lot, and it's enough that some plants are found in only some places. As I walked along, I noticed an unusual stalk of flower buds growing at the side of the trail. I kept an eye on them over the next couple of weeks and took pictures when it appeared they would be opening soon. Late one afternoon I saw that finally it was about ready and one petal had curled back. Enough to confirm that it was a Scarlet Fritillary! I was so excited but I'd have to wait until the next day before it was completely open. The next morning I fairly raced up the hill and arrived at...the place the flower USED to be. *sagging shoulders* Something had come by and eaten the whole plant, leaves and all. I was so disappointed. Every year after that I checked to see if another flower had popped up but no, I didn't find any more. Sad Janet is sad. Wind the clock forward to yesterday... I went up the hill on my search for trees that might work for the Saturday Self-Challenge. I won't lie. I really wasn't in the mood to climb up there. However, I knew it would be a good idea to see how the hillside was recovering from the wildfire that swept up our hill a couple of years ago. Were there flowers everywhere? I convinced myself to go and up I went. Immediately I was rewarded by flowers everywhere! The hillside was dotted with purple from Henderson's Shooting Stars. Then I saw a flash of yellow. "OH!!" I exclaimed. "MULE EARS!!" The outrageous golden blossoms which look like miniature sunflowers were growing in thick clumps all over the place...WHAT A SHOW! They are so stunning and I lost myself taking pictures of these showy flowers. (Sorry, no pictures to show today! They want their own spotlight!) Then I began hunting for Henderson's Fawn Lillies, our most elegant blossoms and a most treasured flower to me. Small and growing low to the ground, these pastel lavender flowers will stop your heart with their incredible beauty. Scanning as I climbed, I suddenly burst out with, "THERE!" I spotted one nestled in some grass...and then another! Here and there, as I rose to the top of the hill, I found lots of the little Cinderellas and did my best contortions to get images from down low so their lovely faces could be seen. How lucky we are to have such a breathtaking flower growing wild here! (Sorry, no pictures of them today either! They refuse to leave the dressing room unless they get first billing!) At the top of the hill I stared up at the dead trunk and branches of my majestic Madrone friend and then back down at the incredible vibrant growth—much taller than me now—circling its base. This tree had burned in our wildfire and broke my heart because I thought it had died. It had not. Seeing it recovering and growing larger each season eases my pain of its loss and instead fills me with joy to see it doing so well. Skirting the Madrone, a flash of red just a few feet away stopped me in my tracks. I screamed in excitement, "A SCARLET FRITILLARY!!!" I could hardly believe my eyes. Two buds, just about to open! I looked past them and...AN OPEN ONE WITH A BUD! And...ANOTHER FLOWER AND BUD!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I was so excited I hardly knew what to do with myself. Oh yeah...TAKE PICTURES!!!! I forgot about trees. I forgot about the Madrone. I forgot about the recovering hillside and I forgot about the fire. All I saw were those amazing flowers. They are so incredible!! At some point I was satisfied and decided to walk over to one of the fence lines and then take some pictures of trees on the way back. I kept my eyes open for more Fritillaries and I found three more! In fact, my main picture is one of them and the insets feature the others! (I would discover later that all of the flowers near the Madrone had been damaged by insects. The flowers I'm sharing today were all perfect! I hope you enjoy my triumphant finds—I'm so delighted that I found them! In fact, I feel like these special flowers were a reward for going up on the hill when I wasn't in the mood. And for that matter, the entire floral show was such a great experience for me...I'm happy that I made the effort and listened to the voice in my head that told me I really did need to go up there. :) Pamy, since these flowers are so red and lovely, I did a search on your stream for "Red" and found your gorgeous Amaryllis Collage ! Oh my, aren't they just incredible!! Your pictures are fantastic and perfect, how wonderful that you had a plant for the holidays! I am hoping that you are doing well on this very rainy day! I'm thinking of you and wish that we could have been there together to discover those lovely flowers together! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 4/8/19, highest placement, #1.

(+6 insets!) (please view large!) I'm going to make this a quick write-up because it's getting late and I need to post my pictures for Saturday-Self Challenge! The theme this week is "Trees" so today I went around on our property looking for likely candidates. I found a good choice in our big meadow that shows our bulldozer in the background. I also took a picture of a huge old Oak tree that had been turned into a tree house many years ago. It had died by the time we moved there, the tree house long since decayed into ruin. Then, the ancient relic toppled over a few years ago. It makes me sad when I see this fallen friend but I do my best to honor it by capturing images when I can of the interesting things about it. The wood from the tree house has nails and old carpet and growing all over it are various kinds of moss and lichen. I've even found mushrooms there. Perhaps I should to a series on this departed fellow, I think that would be fun and give it some well-deserved immortality. :) I turned and walked across our big meadow and made my way up to the base of our steep hillside. Looking back across our little valley, I saw the view which is my main image today--a line of trees marching along the far ridge. Cool. I climbed up onto our hillside and at the top I got many pictures of the burned trees which are just skeletons now. Some had their tops broken off and stand like sentries. Another looked out over the valley and forest beyond. One of the silhouetted images shows the huge old madrone which I loved so dearly. Even though it looks dead, all around its base and 6-feet high and taller are new branches and vibrant growth. It's going to be just fine, though it will take many years before it regains its past magnificence. I especially liked the tree skeleton which appears to be windswept. I felt very satisfied by my tree-finding excursion, and tomorrow I'll tell you--and show you--what else I found on my adventure! Pam, does your home reside in a valley like ours? I get the impression that it doesn't because I've never seen pictures of yours which indicate a valley. I did a search for "valley" and found your gorgeous coastal image, Valley of the Rocks Sunset . It's incredible, and yet, rife with sorrow, for it was a goodbye for you of a place you love. :( *MANY HUGS* for what is behind you but I do hope that you have plenty of special memories to add in the future. Thinking of you! Explored on 4/7/19, highest placement, #3.

(+2 insets!) Along with spring finally arriving comes the crazy weather we get at this time. During the course of a single day, almost every weather condition can be described. For example, right now it's sunny but there's a cloud in the way to make it a bit dim. Earlier it was so windy the house shook and rain pummeled the windows. Still, it's very beautiful outside and my walk was wonderful. The violent wind made really cool ripples on the surface of our pond, but I noticed when I went back up the hill that the water was still! Crazy I tell you, crazy! Yesterday I mentioned that mushrooms had popped up all over our meadow and down the sides of our road. I got a bunch of pictures and promised to share a few when I was able. Well, how about today?! The main picture shows a mushroom that was next to our road near our gate and when I spotted several of these stunning, translucent beauties I made sure that I walked down to take pictures of them first because I knew they would be very special. Another thing about this type of mushroom is how fragile and temporary they are. Some mushrooms will last for days but these sprout early in the morning and by the afternoon they are tattered old relics or gone entirely. I learned this the hard way once when I spotted one and thought I'd wait until later to take pictures. After a few hours I came back with my camera but it had disintegrated into a sad heap. I was upset because it had been so lovely. Nothing like a unhappy outcome to teach one to act in a timely matter if the chance ever comes around again. My insets include two more from yesterday but I'm going to share the others another time so they get the proper attention they deserve! Do you ever do that? I have many pictures that I think deserve "first billing" or the center stage. Others I think are nice but aren't the same caliber in my opinion and I am comfortable adding them as insets. I feel almost protective about special subjects that I really love and I won't post them unless they are a main image. That's why I'm saving some of my mushroom pictures. It was such a lucky day and several turned out so well that I don't want to show them all at once! They deserve the center stage! Pam, it's another mushroom day so I've gone hunting on your stream for a likely candidate to gush over. *time passes*...Welllll, I know there were some other mushrooms that I haven't called attention to but I couldn't find them. SO. I spun the roulette wheel and ended up with your incredible, tiny, candy-striped blossoms, aptly named Spring Beauties! How I love these flowers and their myriad and subtle color variations. They are one of a zillion examples which prove that even the tiniest flower can be as outrageously beautiful as blooms five times their size. You sure did a nice job photographing these, what a stunning bouquet from Mother Nature herself. *BIG HUGS* Explored on 4/6/19, highest placement, #2.

(+10 insets!) As I mentioned yesterday, Steve and I spent the night in our house--not our RV--because our "gray tank" is full and we can't use the sinks until we go to one of the nearby RV tank dumps. The break was nice but both of us really missed our cozy RV and would have slept there if it made sense. What a great sign though, that things are going to work out for us! Even Pumpkin was fussy because she loves that we're always right there when we're in the RV! When I went for my walk today I was amazed at all of the mushrooms that had popped up in the meadow and alongside the driveway. It was an overcast, dewy day and I knew that rain was forecast for the next week so I grabbed my camera to take pictures before it started pouring. Happily I beat the rain and I also managed to get some real winners! Can't wait to share them but that isn't today! Why? It's time to post my Happy Fence Friday picture for tomorrow!! My pictures today are also the next installment of our trip to Provence, France, starting with Nice. The main image is a lovely latticed fence that we walked past on our first morning. We were on the way to a nearby grocery store to get supplies and this beautiful fence captured my attention. What's not to love about this awesome fence?! I was totally smitten and how lucky to get a picture without anyone in view! You will also find the next set of 10 insets showing some of our adventures that day--there will be about 3 more sets of Nice when I'm done. (You may notice that some images have a lot of process filtering because they were taken in stealth mode and turned out blurry but were fantastic for artistic creativity.) Here's more information about each PiP: PiP #1: We walked into Old Nice and wandered up Rossetti Street. At the top was a staircase and as we paused to look up, I saw our shadows on the wall! Shadow selfies for the win! :) PiP #2: This is a view of the Jules Eynaudi Steps, which lead up to a cemetery and castle above, as well as an incredible view of Old Nice and the sea beyond. PiP #3: This plaque commemorates Jules Eynaudi, writer and poet who lived and died in Nice (1871-1948). His most famous work is his "Dictionnaire de la langue niçoise". By his writings, by the associations he created, his whole life was devoted to the defense of the Nice culture. (text from A Walking Tour of the Streets & Monuments of Nice ) PiP #4: Halfway up the steps is this lovely sculpture, which I believe is St. Mary holding baby you-know-who (There is a cathedral named as such nearby) PiP #5: This is the view down Rossetti hill from the top of the stairs. PiP #6: A road from the Jules Eynaudi Steps exits onto a road which meanders around the hill and opens up to incredible views of Old Nice and the sea beyond. PiP #7: Steve and I discovered that in France, dogs are treated even better than in the US! These beloved companions are absolutely everywhere! It was fun to get pictures of some of the folks walking their dogs and I really enjoyed this pair trotting along with their best biped pal--the boxer in the background was a wonderful bonus! PiP #8: We saw lots of fun things in the windows of businesses we strolled past. This electric bike was made to look like a vintage relic and we just loved its old-time charm! PiP #9: In Nice, people commonly used a large variety of transportation other than cars, busses, bike and motorcycles. These push-scooters were very commonly used by teens and adults. Coming from San Francisco, it was a rare sight to see anyone other than a kid on one of these. PiP #10: As we were making our way back to our Air BnB apartment, we stopped to admire this beautifully lit Palace of Justice. This tan Neoclassical building dominates the Old Town square that holds its name. Its many steps lead up to the entrance for Nice's law courts. Pam, I enjoyed reading about your grape hyacinths--they really are so easy to keep and safe from varmints. Gophers and squirrels eat all of our bulbs too, boo! And finally, it is nice that you got to visit Peggy several times…something to look forward to in the future I hope!!! I thought it would be fun to look up "Friends" on your stream and what do you know? A picture of Peggy ! :) How sweet and wonderful. Ipernity has been such a wealth to us for friends and community. How lucky we are. And what a fantastic picture of Peggy! :) *MANY HUGS FROM SOUTHERN OREGON* :) Explored on 4/5/19, highest placement, #2.

(+4 insets!) (please enlarge!) (I hope you don't mind the excessive length of my posts, it's necessary to document the very beginnings of our unfolding RV trip!) Once again, busy, busy, busy! So many things to do lately it’s got Steve and me running all day! We had another RV dinner and sleepover last night and it was great! We cooked our dinner from start to finish there and the evening’s fare consisted of pan-fried steel-head trout topped with sautéed mushrooms and onions drizzled with a chili/soy sauce…YUM! The side was a repeat of yesterday's mushrooms, onions and asparagus stir-fried in butter...NOM! Needless to say, everything turned out perfectly! (By the way, Jenny wondered about our cold storage—we have a refrigerator topped with a freezer, roomy enough that hopefully we’ll be able to fend for ourselves for at least a week or so without needing to restock.) I mentioned yesterday that I needed to add our memory foam topper to my bed and that was the perfect solution! The hip I sleep on most is still tender but I’m now comfortable and it will get better in the next few days. What a wonderful night’s sleep I had! With all of the ferrying of items back and forth from our house to our RV I neglected to bring Pumpkin’s breakfast over last night. Since I wanted to wash my hair this morning and didn’t want to risk a cold-water catastrophe, I took Pumpkin over to the house with me and I showered there, returning to the RV with Pumpkin and her food. All of us enjoyed a very nice morning relaxing in the RV. I had a little time to do just a bit of commenting yesterday afternoon and this morning which was very nice. I do look forward to catching up as I can! We have been keeping an eye on the levels of our “grey” and “black” tanks and today we saw that our grey tank was registering full. A grey tank holds normal water flow from the kitchen and bathroom sink and fills up much faster than the black tank (toilet). In the next couple of days we’ll take the RV to one of the many places that provide grey and black tank dumping. In the time being, our overnight stays will be curtailed since we can no longer use our sinks. We will appreciate a break...we didn't actually plan on more than one night initially but realized it was a really smart thing to do. So we'll take a break but when the tanks are emptied we'll continue fine-tuning our RV camping! :) On another subject, today we went out and got a new phone and data plan for me. One of the things that’s very important when RV’ing is having unlimited data if at all possible. This allows internet usage without any concerns about running out of a set data amount for that month. The warehouse store we love, Costco, had a special deal that costs only $25/mo for new customers, and it was just too good to pass up. The only drawback is that I won't be able to tether my phone to a computer, but we have a solution for that too. Steve found an excellent deal which does include tethering to computers so we are now set when it comes to getting internet coverage! (Tethering means connecting your computer to your phone's internet data.) We’ve wondered how we would handle this important issue and it was wonderful to have the best deal we’ve seen drop right into our laps. The truth of the matter is that unlimited data plans used to be $100/mo at the very low end ($150-200/mo was common), and people actually sold their plans online or grandfathered them to family members because they were so rare and valuable. After all of our errands, I’m home fairly late so again my time is short…I haven’t processed many pictures in the past week but happily we will have a break from our RV overnight testing for a few days and things should settle down for a while! Oh! New birdies at the feeder today! I looked out and was delighted to find a pair of House Finches happily gobbling up millet! I giggled as I watched them through our binoculars--it’s pretty hilarious to see them with open beakies as they work on breaking the husks of the seeds! They were pretty happy about the treasure trove in front of them though and they stayed for a good ten minutes chowing down! :) It sure is nice to see those lovely birds back here. I’ve included an inset for you to see! :) Today I’m sharing another knockout from the dahlia exhibit that Steve and I visited a couple of years ago when visiting my dad in San Francisco. I have so many pictures to show but they all must take their turn! :D I've added three insets of other red dahlias I photographed there on my first visit there in 2011. Aren't they just a bunch of divas?! :) Pam, I wanted to find another travel picture of yours and found a beautiful image of Glastonbury Abbey Fish Pond with an absolutely gorgeous reflection of the cloud-filled sky and lined with lovely silhouetted trees. MAGICAL! Hoping all is well for you my dear, you are in my thoughts! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 4/4/19, highest placement, #2.

(+4 insets and several notes!) Our faux camping trip is coming along just great! Each day we are figuring out a little more to make it better. It's so nice to discover problems here instead of on the road. We have time to work out solutions and come up with ideas to improve efficiency. Last night we didn’t just reheat leftovers for dinner, we actually cooked our meal! Seasoned cauliflower rice stir-fried with sausage, onion, and broccoli and it turned out perfect! We also had asparagus and onion stir-fried in butter. What a 5-star meal, and we made it in our RV! There’s plenty of our main course left over to heat up for dinner tonight, so we’ll make up more asparagus and onions with our next dinner. We are so happy with how easy it’s been to prepare, cook, and clean up after our meals. Plenty of room and we aren’t finding many things needed now! Steve’s bed is now perfect but I have discovered a problem with mine: it’s too thin! Even though I weigh only about 106 lbs, I have wide hips. Laying on my side is my normal sleeping position but the pad provided is less than adequate, even with the cheap foam topper added by the previous owners. Both are very thin and even when we took the pad from the other bunk it’s not nearly enough. If I were laying on my back it would be ok but not on my side. Each morning my hip bones are more sore. This morning I was sure that the side I like to sleep on would be black and blue. It wasn’t but boy does it hurt! We have a very nice memory foam topper that isn’t in use, so we’ll replace the thin foam pad which effectively does nothing for adding comfort. I’m guessing that will be just perfect. Tonight I’ll give it a test! :) Steve brought Molly’s big round bed for her to sleep on last night instead of her smaller rectangular one and she was totally happy with that…she’d been unhappy with the thin pad for sleeping on, though she likes it fine for temporary lounging. We’ll toss it in the back of the truck during the day or when we are underway…SCORE! :) There’s no real secure place for Pumpkin to be in the bathroom when we take our morning showers so our solution is to leave the bathroom door open so she can hear the water and that suits her just fine. Yay! Steve and I continue to be amazed at how adaptable Pumpkin is. We discovered back when she was barely a year old that she loves to go hiking with us (she’s been hiking in Yosemite!) but you just never know…she’s 18 years old now and who knows if she just decided she didn’t like new environments and driving around? From what I know, parrots tend to not like changes. However, she’s like a dog in that regard. She loves driving places and new places thrill her! She loves being around people and loves chaos, so we are pretty sure she’s going to love going on trips with us! It’s actually a make or break…if she didn’t like it, well…we can’t do this. But Pumpkin has never acted any way other than, “LET’S GO!!” We can’t wait to share our adventure with her. :) ————— Today’s main picture is a beautiful grape hyacinth I found at our “faux campsite” this morning! :D (There is a row of them that grow on the side of our road, heh.) I also have an inset of the gorgeous morning as I stepped outside the trailer. It rained literally all night long so it was a wonderful surprise to have such a pretty view first thing! I also wanted to mention that there have been more birds sightings at our feeders! One of them is unique! For the first time ever we had a Red-Wing Blackbird happily wolfing down seeds! It stayed for about 15 minutes and Steve and I were so happy! Unfortunately it was on the shade-side of the feeder and the pictures would have been no good…a shame. The other two were a Golden-Crowned Sparrow and a Red-Breasted Robin…you’ll see insets for two and a link for the Blackbird…Ron, your picture is amazing! And as a final inset, I got some pictures of the Red-Breasted Robin who’s continued to land on our road and run in front of me when I go for my morning walk! I created a collage that has a main image containing 3 positions on the road that I got pictures. Hope you like it! :) Pam, it’s such fun to read about your adventures! I didn’t know that you’d visited Peggy three times, what a fantastic time you must have had. And to visit the Blue Ridge Mountains too…I can certainly see why you were head-over-heels in love with your experiences! :) I looked to see if you have any Muscari pictures but was surprised that you don’t have any of these hardy flowers growing where you live…the bulbs here were planted before we got here and continue to bloom every year. Instead I looked for something purple and found your beautiful purple geranium artwork image to enjoy. How pretty and creative! There is something so magical about these orbs you make, I just love them! Here’s hoping your day went well! :D *HUGS*! Explored on 4/3/19, highest placement, #3.

(+4 insets!) Whew! It's nearly 4pm and I haven't stopped running! Finally got a break to write my post for the day. :) I'd like to start off by thanking all of you who've been letting me know how much you've been enjoying the beginnings of our RV adventures. I want to document it because it's kind of a big deal. It's also been a lot of work, so I also appreciate your patience with the fact that I simply don't have time to comment right now. I really hate that because it's such fun to go on my virtual trips around the world when I visit you all. Well, hopefully I'll be able to get some commenting in sometime soon. And of course, huge thanks to everyone for your amazing comments and stars for my pictures. It makes my day to read what you have to say, you're all just so very wonderful. :) Today is Macro Monday!! The theme this week is another seemingly "hand-picked for Janet" theme…Flower Buds! I am a little bummed that I wasn't able to get all the different bud pictures I was planning on. The plan was to go out today and take more pictures but it's literally been drizzling and raining all day long. I keep checking every hour and there is no end. So, sadly, I ran out of time for more buds. Boo. My main picture is a cluster of jonquils that grow in a thick patch next to our traditional daffodils. They are so fragrant! And of course, lovely too! How nice that the buds were covered with rain drops...BONUS! I have two more picks as insets: a trio of jonquils with daffodil and jonquil bokeh and also a rhododendron bud which is just thinking about what it will be like to flower in a month! I hope you like my week's Macro Monday contributions! You'll also see a couple of panoramas from our faux campsite! The first one was the lovely sunset at our "campground"! The second one was the view from the doorway of our trailer first thing this morning! :) LOL, isn't it funny that we're just here on our property and I can still get some wonderful pictures to share?! :D I don't forget for a moment how fortunate we are. Our Faux Camping Trip Continues! Our second night at the trailer was a great success! We had another dinner like the night before (perfectly amazing and delicious! :D) and afterwards we worked on putting LED lights in cabinets and wherever it made sense. One of the problems with RVs is that they can be quite dark but we're just about done and it's been a great improvement. Both Pumpkin and Molly were there with us from dinnertime and on. That was really nice and both of them enjoyed being in the trailer. Once Pumpkin got used to the new space, she's been fabulous! Whistling, singing, and of course laughing her head off at us whenever the mood suits her, we are confident that traveling with both our bird and dog will be very easy for all of us. We all slept really well and after we got up, Steve and I took our first showers there! One must be extremely conservative with water in an RV and one of the first upgrades we added was a proper shower head that has a button to instantly stop the water flow. This way you can turn on the shower, douse yourself, stop the water, soap up, turn on the water and rinse. I didn't wash my hair there because I wanted to keep it simple but that will definitely use a lot more water. We have exactly six gallons of hot water so there can be no lollygagging about. After one of us showers, the other waits for 15 min for the next 6 gallons of water to heat up. I chose to have the second shower so Steve could let me know what to pay attention to. That's why I got on better than Steve; he ran out of hot water so I was in and out in a mad flash. I also didn't wash my hair but he did. We shall see how well I manage with that addition. I just didn't want to risk running out of warm water…we all know what that's like and it being April 1, I didn't like the idea of some gremlins pulling a prank on me! :D After my shower I made our espressos there because we brought our machine over and will be bringing it with us. We've experimented with the new faddish "pod" machines but the US coffee pods are total watery garbage from our experience. We learned about these compact and convenient coffee machines in France and fell in love with L'OR pods. Intensity 12 are AWESOME but they are expensive in Europe when we found them and stupidly outrageous if purchased in the US so forget it. We'll bring our tried-and-true Rancilia Silvia and stop fussing about it! Testing the camper has been incredibly valuable and we'll keep it up until we run out of issues. Steve learned that he needs a longer shower hose to work for his 6'2 frame…he has to hold the hose up and lean over to get his head wet. That totally sucks. It's perfect for me though, I'm only 5'4 and don't need to make any adjustments. With a longer hose he'll still need to hold the hose up but at least he won't have to bend over! There are lots of little things that we need to change, buy, add, adjust and build but with each passing day we're slowly getting the trailer ready for the road. It's also totally exhausting! So much thought and consideration and shopping and decision-making. We're going to be happy to take a break once we're satisfied so we can recuperate. I think I might have mentioned yesterday that it's like a combination of moving to a new home and going on a trip. But in the end, we'll be confident that we can go on a real trip and it should go smoothly! Pam, it tickles me to no end to learn that you're a very experienced camper girl yourself! I love it! Our digs may be larger the van you were in but the experiences we have will ring true to the ones you have had! How cool is that?! (Plus, vans have some incredible advantages!) :D You know, in all the years that Steve and I have known one another (2000), we've only officially been camping once. We decided that it's just a bit too much work--even though the reward can be so sweet. We thought that someday we could save enough money for an RV and take a proper home with us without needing to break everything down and set it all up again at the next place. And here we are at the very beginning of our adventure. I'm so happy you're enjoying the show…I plan to write about the whole kit-and-caboodle so get ready for the ride…it's going to be AWESOME! I looked in your stream for a lovely place and landed on your Mt. Jefferson State Park picture…holy cow is that lovely. We are hoping to get to the Blue Ridge Mountains in our travels so this picture makes me so excited! So lovely!! Thank you for adding to my wanderlust with this gorgeous autumn landscape! *BIG, BIG HUGS* (Your panorama is a total jaw-dropper too, WOWZERS!) Explored on 4/2/19, highest placement, #1.

(Please forgive my lack of commenting, I'm so very sorry...getting our RV ready is eating my day! I'm missing you guys and your pictures and hope to get back to saying hello as soon as I can!) We did it! We spent the night in our RV trailer last night! If you may have remembered from yesterday's report, we were pretending that we drove our truck and trailer during the day and would arrive before dinner time. In actuality, Steve and I were bringing things over to the RV that we'd need for our overnight stay but also thinking about items that should stay permanently. It was an interesting process. Lots to do! Our first test was dinner. Starting out in Easy Mode, we brought left-overs to heat up. We wanted to test the microwave to compare its power and speed. Result: it's much less powerful and thus, takes longer to heat up our food but in the end did a fine job. Steve and I beamed at one another over our melt-in-your-mouth tri-tip steak drizzled with buttery steak gravy along with sautéed mushrooms and broccoli. Delicious! Romantic! Fabulous! We were so happy with our trailer and talked about how homey and comfortable it is. With so much space inside, we could really see ourselves being anywhere for a long while without feeling cramped. Both of us wondered why we ever thought we'd need something larger. Perhaps if living on the road fulltime it might be an issue but we feel very confident that this trailer is plenty large for our upcoming adventures. A pretend evening stroll was actually spent in our house but we returned after it got dark. Steve had forgotten about turning on the hot water and the manual didn't explain where the switches were. The online manual didn't help either. Instead of banging his head over something that should be simple, we decided to forego our planned showers in the morning and try again on our next sleepover…which is probably going to be tonight. In the meantime, we gathered up Pumpkin and brought her over in her travel cage. The decision was made to leave Molly at the house because it was just one too many things to deal with and we were exhausted, being a couple of hours later than we'd planned. Pumpkin was curious and anxious about the trailer but eventually relaxed in the new environment. She really is an amazing bird...it's not terribly common that parrots adjust so well to new places. How lucky we are! :) Cuddling up in bed, we watched some travel YouTubes to feed our wanderlust until Pumpkin had finished cleaning her feathers and settled down for the night. Then we carried her over to her sleeping tent, and in she went like a happy little trooper, peeping goodnight to each of us as we covered her cage with towels both for warmth and to keep bright morning light out. Our sleeping arrangements are different than some folks. Since Steve snores and I'm a very light sleeper I am known to unknowingly elbow him to the point of bruises (*gasp*). So to get a good night's sleep we prefer to sleep in separate bedrooms. This RV has a master bedroom and bunk beds (a "bunkhouse") in the rear. To be perfectly honest I am totally in love with my "squirrel nest" in the back! It's perfectly cozy and wonderful--and roomy enough that we'll be able to put a shelf on one side for a clock and books, etc. I have to admit that my inner child is bouncing around in ecstatic joy because it's exactly like a little clubhouse just for me! :) SCORE!! :D Both of us slept great! We were really happy and loved our beds. HUZZAH! We're planning to sleep in the RV tonight and will continue working out issues as they come up. We are hoping to go on our first real trip in about 3 weeks, hooray! :) Today I'm posting a picture I took when Steve and I went down to San Francisco to visit my dad and walked through Golden Gate Park on our way over to the Conservatory of Flowers where we were utterly consumed by the incredible dahlia exhibit. Just one picture today but I hope you like it! Pam, I decided to just look for whatever I liked first in your photo stream and descended on your White Lined Sphinx Moth presentation. Wow. How lucky you were to get pictures of one of these amazing moths! They are so HUGE and beautiful! Hopefully your day went well my dear! I am thinking of you all the time! *MANY HUGS*!!! Explored on 4/1/19, highest placement, #5.

(+10 insets!) (please view large for even more details!) Woo hoo! Saturday Self-Challenge is here!! The theme is “any subject beginning with the letter "S." I actually had plans to take more pictures of different ideas I had but unfortunately I ran out of time. Why? Well, Steve and I are getting our RV trailer ready to go and one thing we must do first is have some practice campouts right here on our property. This is taking a lot of time and energy to prepare for. (You may have also noticed that I haven't had time to comment, I'm so sorry!) On top of that, our washer decided it wouldn't drain anymore so Steve had to figure out how to repair it. I was there to assist him and the great news is that it's fixed! Guess what was clogging the drain? A lens cloth!! ROFLMAO, and Steve guessed it from the start. You should have seen his face when he pulled it out and showed it to me. LOL, his smirk was too funny. We are really excited because today we're pretending to be driving to a campsite and at dinner time, we'll bring our dinner and cook it over there. It will be our first meal in our RV, we can't wait! Then we'll watch travel videos on our tv in the bedroom and finally, we'll bring Pumpkin (our parrot) and our dog Molly over and sleep overnight! We'll take showers in the morning and then have bacon and eggs like usual for breakfast! It is going to be awesome! :) For my submissions today I'm posting lots of SEEDS , a SPIDER , a STAR in a STAR , SCREWS and SPICES ! My main picture is a seed from an avocado, and you'll see another one in an inset. The other seed pictures are flax, bird seed, wheatberries in black and white, and black oil sunflower seeds. The spice is red pepper flakes and as crazy as it sounds, I chomp up 1/2 teaspoon every morning! :D The spider is a tiny crab spider on a daffodil and the star-within-a-star is an elegant goundstongue flower (you will also see that the inner star is formed from a circle of white hearts!) Pam, I went to your stream to look for subjects that start with the letter "S" and I picked out your SKIPPER on SUNFLOWER picture, which counts for TWO S'S! HOORAY!! :D It's a great shot and wonderful timing for us to see its ridiculously long proboscis probing for goodies! :) I hope you had a good day my dear! *BIG HUGS* from southern Oregon! Explored on 3/31/19, highest placement, #2.

(Please click on the linked text to sing along with Oklahoma’s amazing Gordon MacRae) (and take a look at that incredible dapple grey he’s riding…yummy!) “Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I have a beautiful feeling everything’s going my way…” It is such a lovely day…there are puffy little sheepy-clouds in the bright blue sky and dew twinkling on every blade of grass…it’s one of those days when you open your arms over your head and twirl in the glory of it all. I stepped outside today and was immediately immersed in Spring’s vibrant and inescapable energy. How grand to be a part of it all! :) I have to say, it did take a long time for this morning to arrive. I lay in bed last night thinking about subjects that start the letter “S.” Why? Well, Saturday…HEY! That starts with S too!…is Saturday Self-Challenge and last night, just before going to sleep, I looked up the theme: “any subject beginning with the letter "S." Please remind me to stop doing that…I immediately began thinking about everything in our house that might start with “S”…I thought of what flora and fauna started with “S”…and then I was concerned that perhaps I might forget the different things I came up with. *groan* I rolled around for an hour considering all the ideas I came up with and even went so far as to wonder about botanical and zoological classifications which might begin with “S”. Seriously. (heh…S…) At one point I whimpered to myself, “Dear god just let me go to sleep, you freak!” I guess eventually I finally let it go … the next thing I knew my little feathered alarm clock was peeping at me as light peeked into the room. It will be raining this afternoon but for now the sunshine and glowing energy is fantastic to soak up this morning. I will need to pop outside for some pictures at some point today or this weekend because Macro Monday’s theme is “flower buds”…how fun to have another Janet-centric topic, hooray! Well, it ended up getting very stormy out with no chance for pictures but it sure was nice while it lasted! I'm sharing another buttercup picture that represents the amazing morning I had! Pam, I looked up “beautiful day” on your stream and found a picture of a glowing Gulf Fritillary butterfly on a zinnia that took my breath away! The lovely details are amazing and the bokeh is so perfect and really makes this gorgeous butterfly stand out. Incredible…what a visual treat! I hope that you had a nice day and that it was at least as pretty outside as it was here. :) Explored on 3/30/19, highest placement, #6.

(+3 insets) Yesterday afternoon I was out at our RV trailer assisting Steve with a project but I couldn't help hearing the ruckus going on next door. It sounded like a turkey-fest going on! They were chirping and cheeping loudly, gobbling and making all kinds of calls. I kept looking to see if I could catch sight of them but they were behind trees. I hoped I might see them and figure out what all the fuss was about. Near dusk, Steve and I wheeled our garbage and recycling cans down to the road for pickup this morning. Halfway down the hill we finally got a view of the turkeys and all became clear. We stopped and watched the show with delighted grins on our faces. It wasn't possible to keep from snickering at the sights and sounds of it all but we tried to keep it down. After all, we didn't want to be rude. :D In front of us was a veritable turkey extravaganza! There must have been about 20 and nearly half of them were males. They were spread out for quite a distance on each side of our road and beyond our pond. My goodness, what a display. All of the males were in courtship mode in their finest regalia. Feathers puffed to maximum enormity, tails fanned spectacularly above their backs. Each of them turned slowly this way and that to catch the light, creating even more glorious, rainbow-metallic shine. The ladies were unimpressed. They walked along, pecking at dirt and plants, looking for insects and other things to eat. Those boys. They were ever-so-tedious. If they weren't trying to convince the other toms around them of their superior status, they were cruising slowly around the hens, trying to herd them by use of turning their tails as they moved towards them. We call it "ruddering" and it's completely hilarious to watch. Ineffective much? The hens couldn't care less about the interest of the toms. The mere idea of these slow-moving, ostentatious motorboats gliding around and trying to direct them…well, it was sheer hilarity as far as they were concerned. Ignoring the outrageous runway show going on all around them, the hens stayed together in a close, protective pack to keep from being harassed. Steve and I finally started to head down the road again and the noise of the cans caused all of the turkeys to raise a flock-wide alarm gobble, 20 heads pivoting our way. We burst out laughing and then Steve did his best gobble back at them. They gobbled loudly in reply! We howled in laughter, Steve and the turkeys traded gobbles and we parted the crowd so we could open the gate and put our cans at the side of the road. Walking back to the house, we wiped tears of mirth from our cheeks and affirmed our love and adoration for these amazing modern dinosaurs. How lucky we are that our property is part of their territory. What a true joy to see them. This morning I went down to the gate on my walk and heard a couple of turkeys taking turns with their loudest gobble. Then I saw a sight that instantly brought a vision into my head of (spaghetti Western) Clint Eastwood facing a foe. The soundtrack to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly followed to color the scene. Out in the middle of the road I saw an enormous tom at full, outrageous fluff and about 30 feet up the road was his twin. The two took turns gobbling as loudly as they could, trying to best one another. How grand they were! The pair was unconcerned by their treacherous location but I was immediately--and extremely--alarmed. Instead of admiring their grandeur, I began clapping my hands and marching quickly towards them to get them off the road. All manner of trucks, cars, and semis roar down this road, especially in the morning, and there is no end to the dead animals who aren't quick enough to get out of the way. That would NOT be happening to this dueling pair of desperados. Thankfully they dropped their tails and trotted off the road and I sighed in relief. Showcasing is fine and dandy but BOYS! NOT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!! Sheesh. Well, as you might have noticed, it's HAPPY FENCE FRIDAY in much of Europe! I like to post mine late on Thursday so I can be part of the crowd. Today's picture is from the motorcycle trip Steve and I went on a few years back with our friend Andy. This fence was photographed as we passed a pretty meadow in South Lake Tahoe…at about 80mph! :D (I'm also including some archive images of turkeys since that was the topic of the day! :) Pam, I did a search for turkey on your stream and found this gorgeous tom turkey gleaming in dappled light. Incredible!! The colors on this guy are amazing. What a stunning boy! Here's hoping that you had something fun happen to you today too! :) Explored on 3/29/19, highest placement, #3.

(+1 inset) (please view large, it's a neat droplet!) I have been waking up at 6:30am for the past few days, partly because of my feathered alarm clock going off early but also just because I've readjusted to this new time and I've been getting enough sleep so I'm waking up earlier. It's nice to just lay in bed, dozing for another 15 minutes before getting up. I listened to the soft patter of rain on the windows and snuggled under the covers like a contented kitty until 6:45. How nice to wake up with the world around me. :) It wasn't raining when I left the house and only came down a couple of times during my walk. Nothing heavy enough to require an umbrella which is what I like. I don't mind a bit of rain on my head, it immerses me in the unfolding day. What a day for birdy song! I counted no less than a dozen different bird species and had to laugh when one of them belonged to a single Mallard duck flying overhead who gave me its opinion of me…well, I never! :) Turkeys, geese, hummingbirds, acorn woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches, those were the species that I could clearly identify. The rest of them…I have no idea. We live rurally enough that the variety of species here is vast. Isn't it wonderful? I haven't been listing the other birds I've seen this spring because they don't come to the feeders but there have been red-breasted robins, western bluebirds, crows and ravens, red-tailed hawks and vultures and more that I wasn't close enough to identify. It's really such a treasure trove of wildlife here. Aren't we lucky! Since it's a rainy day today, I'm posting a neat image I captured the other day. I noticed that the Houndstongue was sending up flower stalks so I went out for pictures. At one point I noticed a droplet positioned at the very tip of one of the namesake leaves and got a series of images. The main image turned out just as I had hoped, with crisp focus on the droplet and the cluster of buds in bokeh behind. I'm also including an image of the lovely droplet-covered buds in the background. Pam, I know that Pacific Houndstongue doesn't grow where you live but you certainly have plenty of hound's tongues to choose from! :D I picked your picture of Lucas on the shore at Lake Arbuckle today and what a happy, hot and contentedly exhausted doggy! :) Such a sweetheart. Thank you for sharing your Rainbow Doggy with us to enjoy! :) Explored on 3/28/19, highest placement, #3.

(+5 insets!) It was so lovely to be outside this morning, even though it was frosty and grey above. Marching down to the gate on my second lap, I encountered a Red-Breasted Robin on the road who charged along in front of me. I've seen this bird now for three days in a row now. Each time it runs down the road about 20 feet away, quite unafraid of me! The funny thing is that it stays on the road and that's where I'm going so I have to slow down and avert my eyes. I don't want it to think that I'm chasing it. The problem is that it keeps going the same way I am so I end up stopping and watching out of the corner of my eye. The gate was open because I'd opened it on my first time down--Steve will be taking our RV trailer out for some practice driving and I wanted to make it easier for him. The robin ran through the opening and stopped to peer back at me. I got to the gate and turned around for my return trip and said goodbye to my handsome friend. I hope I'll see it again tomorrow! By the way, if you're interested to know how our RV adventure is shaping up, Steve has been hard at work upgrading, altering and furnishing our home away from home. One of the first things we ordered was a replacement for the "China bomb" tires. RV trailers usually come with tires manufactured in China and they tend to blow out without warning. Low-quality and dangerous, we put new tires at the top of our list. They're in place now and we're delighted at the great price we got for them, as well as the peace of mind we have with proper tires on our rig. Steve's done lots of other upgrades and tweaks inside and every improvement makes it just that much better. We felt at home right away with this trailer and the additions make it even nicer. This next week we are planning on a couple of days of "driveway camping" to find out how everything works and discover any problems that pop up. If all goes well, we're planning on our first outing in about three weeks. Both of us are getting very excited and getting comfortable with the reality that this dream of ours is really going to happen. Stay tuned for more as the adventure begins to unfold! Today's picture is all about being happy! This flower is called a Chickweed Monkeyflower and it grows in extremely boggy areas. On our property it grows by our two seasonal streams and where the water flows from our hillside down over moss-covered slabs of granite. Another thing I should add..this picture is upside-down! Steve asked me to turn it around when he saw it and we both burst out laughing at the boisterous, funny face that stared back at us. I don't usually link music videos but I just gotta this time around. The song is "Happy" and the video is actually a dance performance from Dancing with the Stars. It's one of my all-time favorites, and the celebrity is phenomenally talented ice skating Olympic Gold Medalist Charlie White and his professional partner Sharna Burgess . The main flower today is Charlie through and through! (The dance ends at 1:34) It's a dancing version of how all of the flowers are feeling today! I am also sharing another round of flowers from around our property, taken on the first day of spring last week! I hope you enjoy the presentation! Before I forget, we had two new visitors to our feeders! Several turkey hens were wandering around under the feeders yesterday and I whooped in delight when I also found chickadees ferrying single sunflower seeds back and forth to their nest in a regular procession. Hooray! I've added insets for both species—you'll have to excuse my turkey collage which shows males for the most part but I think you'll forgive me...they are stunning! Pam, I found the perfect picture to represent "Happy", namely your Flicka "Smile" and its perfect poem to match. Flicka is so darn cute and beaming with joy as he looks at the love of his life. So dear. I hope that the day is treating you well my dear! *BIG HUGS FROM SOUTHERN OREGON*! Explored on 3/27/19, highest placement, #2.

(+5 insets!) (please view large!) I awoke with a start, my eyes darting around the darkened bedroom. Outside, the wind battered against the house, shaking the windows and rattling the walls. Last night I'd noticed that a big storm was forecast for today and it was letting me know that it had arrived. Pumpkin peeped at me for reassurance from her warm fleece tent hanging in her cage. We cheebied and whistled back and forth in our affectionate contact calls. Then I softly whispered, "I love you, little Chicken" to let her know all was well. It was only 6:00am and far too early to get up so I snuggled back under the covers until 6:45. I'd been able to adjust for daylight savings time and was back to my normal "up with the birds" timing..how nice! Dawn was just beginning to lighten the skies when Pumpkin and I popped into the shower with our usual commentary of darling whistles and chirps back and forth. Pumpkin ruffled her feathers in the warm, humid air of the shower and cleaned her feathers inbetween our melodic commentary. Molly greeted us with a wag and a sniff when we got downstairs and soon all of us were provided for…food ready for Pumpkin and Molly, coffee down the hatch for me. Pumpkin stepped off my finger and into her day cage with eagerness, immediately diving into her breakfast and looking outside as the day brightened. I left with an affectionate "I love you, sweetheart! Enjoy your breakfast!" with a muffled whistle in reply. Her beak was buried in her food bowl, the little doll! :) Intermittent raindrops hit me sideways as I walked up and down our driveway. I love to be out in weather like this because it's so raw and wild. How often do you brave this kind of stormy condition? I'm going to bet it's not common unless you must--I used to refuse! But the very reason we don't want to be out is exactly why it's so cool to be immersed in crazy weather. It makes you feel alive and a part of where you live. It's a chance to experience just a touch of Mother Nature's power and life force. The birds carried on as usual, twittering in the trees and flying about. On my first lap down to the gate I disturbed a pair of mallards who'd had a sleepover at our pond. Soon I heard the characteristic whistling sound of their wings as they took off and flew away--they are much too nervous to hang around even though I pose no threat. Good. The next person or creature might and it's best to assume we're all bad. :) I finished my walk just as large drops began to fall. Nice timing! What a great way to start the day, energized and full of vim and vigor! Ok class…can you tell me what day it is? WHY YES! It's Macro Monday!! And today's theme was another one that was seemingly hand-picked for me…ballpoint pens! You may not know this about me, but we have a small wood lathe and I learned how to use it! With this awesome machine I have created--or "turned"--dozens of pens. Both Steve and I are huge fans of exotic wood and when our attention is directed there, we love to make pretty things with our wonderful treasure trove of wood. If you're interested, I have an album of my pens that you may visit if you like which show the majority of the pens I've turned: My Pens Today's Macro Monday challenge was a lot of fun for me because I got to do some artistic photography with them. My main image is a close-up of a pen tip from one of my creations, with lots of others scattered around to create some cool bokeh. The light is shining in from outside and reflecting on the glass table the pens are on. Groovy. :D I've also included some other pictures as insets, I hope you enjoy the presentation! Pam, I know that you don't turn wood but your creativity shows no bounds. As I've said in the past, your collages are masterful things and a wonder for me to peruse and appreciate. Today I've picked out your September 19th Garden Collection Collage to remark upon and what a stunning collection it is! Although it doesn't illustrate the incredible artistic layering and delicate blending of elements as some of your other creations, I saw this first and simply must choose it. What a glorious collection of insect, bird and flower images. Wonderful to see at normal size, by enlarging on black, every picture's pretty details and lovely colors can be appreciated and enjoyed. What a fantastic display of the life where you live, Pam! Thank you so much for sharing your talents with us! I hope that today treats you well! *BIG HUGS from southern Oregon*! :D (+4 insets) (please view large!) :) It may be springtime but that doesn't mean the end of freezing cold mornings. I popped out of bed today with a resounding "BRRRRR!!!" I'd set my space heater too low since it's been a lot warmer lately--turning it up was the first thing I did. Cold inside meant it was REALLY cold outside. With all the windows (even double-paned), my bedroom gives a very good indication of the temperature, cold or hot. The thermometer read just 33 degrees but I know it had been colder because frost was melting and dripping from the eaves. I found patches of frost on my walk too and on the gate I admired lovely frozen droplets before the sun made them go away. Since it started off so cold I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to share some frosty pictures! My main picture shows our front gate with frosty frozen droplets. I got this image on a particularly cold day and the frost was just incredible! I'm also including some other frozen droplet pictures for you to see! :) Pam, I had fun looking through your frosty images and ended up picking your Birdbath Ice Flower which is a perfect name! The lovely formations are such a joy to look at up close and personal. So cool. I hope your day was warmer than ours, 60 degrees isn't very cold but it was too chilly to be outside without a jacket! *MANY HUGS*!!! Explored on 3/26/19, highest placement, #5.

(+4 insets) (please view large!) :) It may be springtime but that doesn't mean the end of freezing cold mornings. I popped out of bed today with a resounding "BRRRRR!!!" I'd set my space heater too low since it's been a lot warmer lately--turning it up was the first thing I did. Cold inside meant it was REALLY cold outside. With all the windows (even double-paned), my bedroom gives a very good indication of the temperature, cold or hot. The thermometer read just 33 degrees but I know it had been colder because frost was melting and dripping from the eaves. I found patches of frost on my walk too and on the gate I admired lovely frozen droplets before the sun made them go away. Since it started off so cold I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to share some frosty pictures! My main picture shows our front gate with frosty frozen droplets. I got this image on a particularly cold day and the frost was just incredible! I'm also including some other frozen droplet pictures for you to see! :) Pam, I had fun looking through your frosty images and ended up picking your Birdbath Ice Flower which is a perfect name! The lovely formations are such a joy to look at up close and personal. So cool. I hope your day was warmer than ours, 60 degrees isn't very cold but it was too chilly to be outside without a jacket! *MANY HUGS*!!! Explored on 3/25/19, highest placement, #6.

(+10 insets!) (please view large) :D I woke up to a very wet day but happily it wasn't raining when I went out on my walk. It's such fun to be outside in the springtime because the birds are so busy! It seems like every tree is a-twitter with birdies, and though I cannot see any nests, I'm sure they are there, hidden in the branches. I was delighted to discover exactly where a pair of nuthatches have theirs--it's in a hollowed spot of trunk near the top of an oak tree just off the road. I saw them leave as a pair and could see where they came from! What fun! By the way, if you've been keeping up with my bird sightings at the feeders, we've got new species showing up! Finally the lovely Lesser Goldfinches have found the feeders and we're seeing groups of up to 6 visiting! Yesterday I saw a mourning dove moving around under the feeders and when I turned away, Steve laughed out loud and said, "Another mourning dove flew in and crash-landed on the first one…RUDE!" :D I'll show these new bird species as insets below my main presentation. Today is SATURDAY SELF CHALLENGE!! YES!! *pumps fist in the air* The theme seems to be made exactly for me: "Close Up In Color". OK, I think I can do that! :D Happily, Wednesday was the first day of spring and I went on a photo safari around our property looking for all of the flowers which were in bloom. I managed to find several few new ones and I got some pictures of saxifrage too. (This is a flower I've mentioned but haven't shown any pictures until now.) It's a fairly plain flower but I'm delighted to say that I got some very nice images to share. I also got a much better picture of a flower I'd photographed in the past called Hairy Bittercress. My main image is a tiny hoverfly (.3"/8.46mm) sitting in a sea of bokeh with just its face in sharp focus. It landed on a stem right next to me as I was photographing a buttercup and wasn't bothered by me at all. This allowed me to take many dozen pictures in various apertures and different angles. In fact, I was the one that left, not him! The thing that sets this little guy apart are those incredible iridescent wings! Aren't they amazing?! This picture is magical to me because the bokeh turned the colors of its wings into fairy dust! You will find two more angles of this hoverfly as insets but I'm also presenting most of the subjects I photographed on the first day of spring. What fun it was to process them all. It was extremely satisfying to add some better pictures of species I've photographed before. I am not much of a fan of either Saxifrage or Hairy Bittercress but I actually got some attractive images of them--not easy to do, let me tell you! :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy the show! (I actually had to trim down the number of pictures…far too many so I'll post another set in a few days along with pictures of new flowers I've found since!) :) Pam, it was easy to know what to search for and I went in figuring there would be plenty of choices--hoverflies are pretty brave little guys and make fantastic subjects because they often just sit there, asking, "Do I look more beautiful from the left, or perhaps from the right? Oh? You'd like an image of me hovering? Why of course, here you go!" :D I picked your beautiful Hoverfly on Bradford Pear Blossom image… what a stunner. The blossoms are right out of Cinderella and that hoverfly is the perfect model! :) I hope you have had a good day my dear!! *BIG HUGS TO YOU*!!!! Explored on 3/24/19, highest placement, #1.