Shuttering Yukon's favorite photos

It's time for week 2 of my Color Wheel project, which is part of the new ipernity group, "10-Week Picture Projects" . I would like to invite all of you to join in the fun, and if you missed last week with "Red", you can either skip it or upload a red picture too! My collection of beads has grown quite huge over the past week, because my husband, who is a product photographer for Fire Mountain Gems and Beads, brought home several grab-bags brimming with beautiful beads for me! I have spent many happy hours sorting them by color, and I'm still not done! :D I had a great time playing with my enormous pile of pink beads and finally decided on this picture as my favorite! The new ipernity group that I'm hosting is doing better than I ever could have hoped for, with over 200 members and an ongoing stream of pictures of first red and now pink images. The subjects are varied and spectacular and I'm having a great time! I hope you'll consider joining us if you haven't already! Explored on October 14, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

This morning I thought I'd try to be clever and take a picture of a croaking frog. As you can see, there are no pictures of croaking frogs. Stealth Janet is a myth! :D However, I did creep over to the pond to take a look and that's when I noticed flowers on the water! I thought, "They must have blown there from elsewhere or maybe a bird dropped them..." But that didn't make sense. I looked more closely and was amazed to see that they were blooming from a plant growing in the water! SURPRISE! I thought they looked suspiciously like a buttercup, and I smiled when I discovered that it is indeed a Water Buttercup! From Wikipedia: Ranunculus aquatilis (common water-crowfoot, white water-crowfoot) is a plant species of the genus Ranunculus, native throughout most of Europe and western North America, and also northwest Africa. This is an aquatic plant, growing in mats on the surface of water. It has branching thread-like underwater leaves and toothed floater leaves. In fast flowing water the floaters may not be grown. The flowers are white petaled with yellow centres and are held a centimetre or two above the water. The floater leaves are used as props for the flowers and are grown at the same time.

Note of Joy! Thank you all for the comments and favs, this is my very first #1 Explore! The very first thing I want to do is apologize to everyone for disapearing completely. I'm very sorry and I hope that you will understand. I needed a complete break from photography and that meant that I couldn't maintain contact with any of my friends, because we are all about photography and I needed to not think about it at all. I wrestled a lot with feeling guilty about my zero contact, but I hope that I will be forgiven. I spent my time playing a video game called Rift when I wasn't working, and it did a great job of taking all of my attention. I got to explore a virtual world with other players, slay monsters, cast spells, heal people, become powerful, and in a nutshell, I had a lot of fun! In the real world, it was the coldest and dryest winter we've ever experienced. It's finally getting a bit warmer and rain storms are rolling through. I hope that our seasonal pond will fill up finally so the frogs can have a long period for producing eggs and the tadpoles will be able to grow large enough to turn into froglets and hop away. Of course I will be there to help out with Lucky's Pond! :) I planted lots of flower bulbs and they're starting to grow, and the crocuses I've photographed so much are in full bloom now. My desire to pick up my camera again cannot be quelled much longer, so it's time to come back to the world of photography, and back to ipernity, and to all of my friends! :) I have many ideas about what I will do next. I think I will see about turning my 365 Project into a book. I also want to continue with my Flowers of Spring and Summer Project. I would like to participate in some phography groups, and I have a new group I am thinking about creating. One step at a time. Finally, I look forward to coming around and saying hello. I've missed you all so much and I am really sorry if I've caused anyone to feel worried about my absence. *big hugs* to you all! :) Explored on Feb 13, 2014. Highest placement #1!!!!! *bounces around the room*

3 more pictures above ! :) Today I have a presentation about a teensy-tiny little fungus called Cannonball Fungus, that I found a few days ago. It was very fascinating to me, but wasn't sure it was interesting enough to share. However, yesterday I was out with the dogs and studying a few logs along the way. I noticed some very tiny things growing, and when I was nearly eyeball close, I was amazed to find tiny jelly globes (the cannonballs!) resting on the interesting orange star-shaped fungus I found the other day. It was too late to take pictures so I went out first thing today, hoping they were still there...which I'm happy to say, they were! :) After I got my pictures, I looked up and noticed that there were droplets of water clinging to everything around me! It had rained all night and the world was dripping wet. Just a foot away, I saw this blade of grass fairly bristling with droplets, and thought it would be fun to try taking some flash images of it. When I looked at the images on my computer, I was delighted to see that this one showed clear refractions of the White Oak leaves scattered on the ground below! There are even tiny droplets on larger droplets, totally crazy! :) Arnold H. Glasow (Arnold Henry Glasow) (1905 - 1998) was an American businessman and humorist. He was cited frequently in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Chicago Tribune and many other major publications. Daily Quotes: Arnold H. Glasow Explored on November 18, 2013. Highest placement, page 3.

I was out after the rain stopped the other day and noticed this perfect blossom that was covered with droplets. I hoped that it would make a pretty picture, and I was right! :) I added some texturing to the background and some vignetting to add a bit more interest. :) Explored on November 18, 2013. Highest placement, page 8...

2 more pictures above! :) What a pretty plant. They are very hardy too, and I was seriously considering getting some for around here since they grow well, don't need much water, and are deer resistant. However, when I did some reading about this plant, I found out that there is a much higher risk of getting Lyme Disease where these plants grow because they create a cool, moist microclimate that ticks like. Ticks on my property already carry Lyme Disease and the last thing I want to do is increase their population! Also, these plants are invasive and spread easily, forcing out native plants. Maybe not the best choice after all. If you would like to read the article I found, here's a link: Japanese-Barberry--A Ticking Time Bomb

2 more pictures in notes above ! :) Last night when I was done taking pictures for Bokeh Thursday, I saw another picture I could take, but it required a flash or a tripod, and I just didn't have it in me to set things up for another series of images. Today I planned to take this picture, but before I got to it, I had taken pictures of tomatoes with dewdrops on them and I wasn't sure if I should wait to take this picture tomorrow. However, after I processed my chosen tomato picture, I wasn't totally happy with it. That's all the incentive I needed! :D Downstairs I zoomed and into the kitchen to set things up. A few minutes later I had a set of curling pumpkin stem images to look through, and this picture was the second one! :D It's also almost straight out of the camera, other than a bit of adjustment with levels! By the way, that strange color you see is how this wierd pinky-peachy-green mottled pumpkin looks! :D Plato (BC[a] – 348/347 BC) was a philosopher in Classical Greece. He was also a mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Wikipedia: Plato Explored on November 4, 2013. Highest placement, page 9.

This is a picture I took a couple of days ago at Riverside Park in Grants Pass, Oregon. I loved the pretty colors and the strong feeling of autumn that I got from this. (Thanks to Jerry Jones for the texture, "Paperbox" Explored on October 30, 2013. Highest placement, page 7...

2 more pictures and one note above! :) Check out my 365 number!!! Holy cow, I'm on #300!!! *falls over* Just a bit more than two months to go, and I'm still bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and having a blast with this awesome project!! :D Steve and I were planning to visit the beautiful Palmerton Arboretum today for fall pictures, but as we were drinking our coffee, we heard rain on the windows. It wasn't forecast for today and soon it stopped, but it was extremely blustery outside, and conditions were far from ideal, as they were yesterday when we went to Riverside Park in Grant's Pass. Instead, we went to Medford to do our weekly shopping and errands, and I took my camera with me to get my Picture of the Day. I already knew where I'd find my picture: in the parking lot of Costco, which was our destination. As we went into the store, I glanced at the shrubbery and trees as we walked past, and was happy to see plenty of excellent photo ops for me and I after we left the store, I spent about 15 minutes getting my pictures! :) I found some beautiful little flowers and got nice pictures of them (which I haven't processed tonight, but will share them soon as they are very pretty!) As I was taking pictures of the flowers, I saw some darling blackbirds relaxing around the bushes. I got a handful of fun pictures, one of which I'm showing tonight. :) And then there is my Picture of the Day, which are leaves from a very pretty bush called a Japanese Barberry. These plants are perfect examples of being boring from a standing-up position, and extremely beautiful when staring nose-close! I finished three pictures but I only have time to share this one tonight! (in a rush to get to bed this evening). Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. Ford did not invent the automobile, but he developed and manufactured the first automobile that many middle class Americans could afford to buy. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism": mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put dealerships throughout most of North America and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation and arranged for his family to control the company permanently. Wikipedia: Henry Ford Explored on October 28, 2013. Highest placement, page 2 (#48).