Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Macro Monday

(+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.

(+4 insets) Ok, so ever since daylight savings time arrived, I've been slowly losing the battle to get up as dawn lightens the sky. There's just no way to keep up! It's now getting light at about 6am and I'm sorry but that's called "0-Dark-Hundred" in my book. Times have certainly changed though. There was a time when my normal wake-up time was 10:30am. Seriously. I'd stay up until 4:30am and sleep until…ok, I'm lying about 10:30…I sometimes slept in until noon. Really. It's kind of shocking to think about to be honest. My defense was that I was up the same number of hours as everyone else, it's just that I was a night owl and my hours were much more favorable to Dracula than to Robin Red-Breast! There really isn't anything the matter with the hours a person keeps--except if it doesn't mesh with your true desires. I always hated the "holier-than-thou" attitudes of early risers who would look down their noses at me when I admitted not remembering my last sunrise and my near-noon wake-ups. Why is a person better or worse depending on when they get up? It's totally ludicrous. The world's greatest talent and brilliant minds can be found in both camps. Enough said. As for me, there has always been an internal battle which got louder as I got older. I have always loved nature and on the occasions when I'd be awake when the sun was coming up, it was absolutely magical to me. Try as I might, I could not deny the fact that being up early felt "right" to me. I felt at home and at peace when I could experience dawn and the sunrise. And yet, being a night owl also sat well with me. In my late teens/early 20's, I would go on my daily run at 1am in the beautiful residential neighborhood where my family lived in San Francisco. Few things are more awesome than breaking into a run and disappearing into the cool, foggy night, the mist sometimes so thick I couldn't see more than 100 feet in front of me. I always felt safe because even if there might have been bad elements around, they wouldn't have time to react to me emerging and then disappearing back into the fog, wrapped in a protective cloak of darkness. After Steve and I moved up to southern Oregon, I kept my night owl hours for many years. One reason I'd sleep in was because I resented being forced to get up to go to work and so I'd sleep in whenever I could. But when my work situation changed to freelance, I kept my own hours. I slowly lost my resentment at being forced to get up earlier than I wanted to. It literally took years but one day I began to get up earlier to beat the summer heat. My reward was getting to go on a beautiful morning bike ride before the summer sun turned the oven onto high. Riding in sub-80-degree temperatures was so nice and as I gradually got up a bit earlier week by week, it would be about 65 degrees when I took off. Getting up earlier and earlier, I got to experience what it was like to listen to the birds waking up in the trees, filling the world with their cheerful song. What a joy! And then, I got to experience a lovely sunrise without being forced to get up. The peace and serenity of these special moments made me feel as one with the land around me, a part of it all. For the person that I am--whose heart is wholly bound in Nature's embrace--this is the time for me to rise and start my day. However, there is a limit. The 0-Dark-Hundred limit. It's becoming clear to me that I can't keep pushing the clock back to rise with dawn because at some point it will be 4:30 when light cracks the darkness of night. I also have to be reasonable because my husband refuses to get up earlier than about 7:30, and that's totally fine! He usually rises at between 8 and 9, and if I am getting up at 5 in the morning, I'll be asleep in my soup at 7pm while he's still lively until 9. Thus, I must lose this battle to get up with dawn. I'm fine with that. It amused me to no end that I'm putting the brakes on my desires to get up before the sun rises! (By the way, I got up at 6:30am this morning and it was wonderful!) Well, we all know what today is, right? It's Macro Monday, hooray!! :D The theme this week is "knives" and I knew exactly what I'd be taking pictures of! In the outfitting of our RV trailer, we bought many new kitchen utensils, including a full set of brightly colored titanium knives. They are so beautiful and sharp too. What fun to get to take some pictures of them for the Macro Monday theme! My main image shows all of them in a circle and just their tips showing. What a wonderful rainbow of colors with sparkly metallic flecking! The insets show a couple of the knives with extremely shallow dof which fade off into bokeh. What fun. I am also sharing a couple of pictures from a past project for the "Bokeh Thursday" group when their theme was "Tools." I hope you enjoy the show! Pam, I got a face full of "raspberries" when I searched for "knife" and "blade", but when I tried "sharp", I got an amazing group of results…that had absolutely nothing to do with "sharp" (except for focus, heh). So I decided to look at the thumbnails and pick one that delighted me first…and the winner is your AWESOME collage for "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles…" What a gorgeous image. So much work to create this outstanding artwork, and I am so happy that I get to discover your past masterpieces to enjoy and give you some strokes. :) Here's hoping you had a nice day, all things considered! *BIG HUGS from southern Oregon* :D

(+13 insets!) *sheepish grin* Sorry, I got a little carried away but I think you'll like them! :D (please view large for all the neato details!) It rained and it rained and it rained, rained, rained! On and off all day yesterday and then into the evening. And as I fell asleep last night, I was lulled into dreams by the pattering of droplets on the windows. Before opening my eyes this morning I was gently guided into wakefulness with the tap of rain on the panes of glass. Will it ever end? Walking down to the gate this morning to open the gate for Steve's drive in a little while, I surveyed the damage to our road repairs. Enough rain has come down that our work to fix the road has been reversed in some places. I fixed the worst spot and was pleased to see the water flowing off the road again. There were many other places that needed attention though. Hmm. Steve will need to do some touch-ups at some point. The next week promises to continue the ongoing series of spring storms and waiting on ruts in the road is never a good thing. Steve left early to take the RV trailer into a professional shop today! He rescheduled once due to the rain but decided to go ahead today, rain and mud be damned! We hooked up the truck yesterday and today he drove carefully and confidently down our driveway and on to Medford. I got a cheerful call from him to let me know that everything had gone great and they'd have the trailer's maintenance completed by mid-week. Hooray! This is a crucial step before we go on our first camping trip. We need to know that the undercarriage is ship-shape. They will be repacking the bearings and doing a variety of other work which we'd like seasoned eyes to carry out. Steve's extremely handy but all of this is new to him and we both agreed that it should be looked at by a pro who knows what they are doing. (As it turned out, all of the brake pads were worn almost down to the plates--it was a good thing we had everything checked!) Did you happen to notice that it's Macro Monday?! YES!! This week's theme is "bark" and bark is what you'll get! When I was up on the top of our ridgeline yesterday at one point I noticed the time and told Steve I'd be right down, "10 minutes max!" Silly wabbit, I had a camera in my hand! I need to remember that if I have my camera I need to add more time to my estimation! Heh. As I headed back along the ridge to the trail down to the house, I took lots of pictures of different bark that I saw. Is it my fault there were so many interesting bark pictures to take?! Ponderosa pine and oak bark on healthy trees, charred bark on dead trees, burned bark on the ground, and the insides of bark too! I even found some bark that has termite trails on it and a woodpecker hole! It was twenty minutes before I scurried in the door with a bashful expression on my face...heh. :D Along with my main picture--which shows charred oak bark and a bit of bare trunk--I'm sharing an embarrassing number of insets! I hope you enjoy the show! Pam, I thought it would be fun to look in your photo stream for "bark" and I found one that would work for Macro Monday! Your ice-covered Redbud bark is wonderful and so interesting to look at with its fine, glossy coat! Many kinds of lichen are visible too, so pretty in all their many colors! I hope your day is going well and your house isn't floating away in the rain! :D *BIG HUGS* Explored on 4/9/19, highest placement, #2.

(+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.

(+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.

(+11 insets!!) (please view large) :) Hey everyone! Guess what!! It's MACRO MONDAY!!! HOORAY!!! *bounces around squeeing happily* I neglected to look at this week's theme until a couple of days ago-- "Door Handles" (can be car doors but not windows and no knobs)--but I knew right away what I'd be photographing… When we moved to our home here in southern Oregon, we decided to replace all of the icky looking faux brass door knobs that were everywhere. Instead, we found some really nice brushed silver handles in different versions to take their places. We loved their elegant shapes and 18 years later we still love the way they look. The opportunity to do a macro study of them made me so happy and it just so happened that they are perfect for my favorite type of macro: a sliver of crisp focus that drops away to lovely bokeh. In fact, my main picture was the third image I took: the first one was just to see the angle…the second was to zero in on the dof…the third picture was just right. BOOM! :) I then went on to take a series of images of the various types of door handles in our home using different angles and lighting experiments. I also took some pictures of the few brushed silver knobs we had because I was interested to see how they would look. Finally, I wandered outside to our burnt orange Scion and took some pictures of one of the door handles. I got lots of neat images to share--including two door knobs for fun! The Scion door handle images turned out so well that I struggled with my choice for main image…elegant handle or juicy orange abstract? I asked my husband to look at the images with me and he thought I should go with the handle…so here you go! By the way, I've seen a number of people's submissions for the challenge and they are really terrific! Some really great ideas! :) Pam, I did a search on your stream for "handle"…NUTHIN! So I did a search for "door" and I did find a few pictures that might do. Then I found your gorgeous Christmas House card , which is just magnificent and so creative and cool. It's got a door…but we'll have to imagine a handle! :D I couldn't care less though, every detail of your card is charming and wonderful to see. :) It was bright and beautiful today…how about you? I hope that the positive energy going on outside your house with all of the spring madness spinning up has permeated every cell in your body! :) Sending many *HUGGGGGGS* your way!! Explored on 3/19/19, highest placement, #4.

(+7 insets!) SO SPARKLEY!! SUCH TWINKLING!! What a lovely, frosty morning it was on my walk today! Without a cloud in the sky, the sun rose to shine warm, slanting beams across our meadow, melting the frost as it touched each plant and blade of grass. Our front gates--which had a sheen of white and a million twinkles from frosty crystals--quickly melted with the sunlight's gaze, the wetness soon drying with the warmth. In the distance I could hear flocks of Canada Geese, no doubt causing a ruckus along the popular Rogue River. They are likely having territory issues about nesting spots but who knows…I am not very familiar with those lovely birds. Canada Geese have landed on our property a few times but our pond isn't big enough for serious interest and frankly, that's just fine with us. There are too many predators here and we would feel terrible knowing there is no way a gosling would survive to the point of fledging here. Still, it's fun to think about a line of goosy chicks swimming in our pond. The image brings a smile to my face as I witness the transformation of frosty crystals to shining droplets while I walk up and down the driveway. *YAWN* It's too early. Daylight savings time began yesterday, so even though the clock reads 9:30am, my body says it's 8:30am and I am very sleepy…another cup of coffee will be in order soon enough. That's not my usual routine however. I usually have a cup in the morning and one in the afternoon and that's about it. Today I am going to need more! I plan to work hard at pushing my internal clock back--I have come to love getting up with the sun and don't want to miss the special time when the world is waking up all around me. Nature's priceless moments. And by the way, welcome to a new week everyone! Today is Macro Monday!! The topic this week is "shoe soles" and yesterday I spent some time taking pictures of the bottoms of many different shoes in our house. That's a bottomless pit of interesting pictures, I must say. Every shoe sole is different and many of them are quite cool indeed, especially at a macro level. My main picture shows the metal cleat on one of Steve's shoes which he uses to clip into his bicycle pedals. If you're not familiar, these cleats create a solid connection to your bike and allow your pedaling to be seamless and energy efficient. And, until I took this picture, I didn't realize what happy faces these cleats have! I've included a host of other pictures as insets since I really enjoy the chance to explore each week's topic as much as I can. Truthfully I really had to stop myself from really overdoing it. My husband and I have so many pairs of shoes that I refused to go into our closets--I only picked from the pairs which were immediately available. Otherwise I'd still be taking pictures right now! :D Pam, I did a search for "shoe" and for "foot" but found nothing, so instead I decided to sort your pictures by date and looked for a picture for this day…March 11…and I found this gorgeous peach blossom! They are such lovely flowers and so different than other fruit trees. I love the size and shape of the petals and the deep, rich pink. So pretty!! It is shaping up to be a truly stunning spring day and I hope that the vibrant energy felt here today can be transferred to you along with a great big virtual *HUGGGGGGGGG*! :) Explored on 3/12/19, highest placement, #1.

(+3 insets!) Today was different. Today I smelled Spring in the air! Every morning for the past few days the sun has been shining so brightly that the tiny amount of frost on the ground melts as soon as the sun touches it. The days are beginning to warm up. When I went outside, the air was perfumed with the fragrance of fresh grass and a million other plants. There are signs of growth everywhere and it’s as if a switch just got flipped to “ON” in the “Spring is Here” department. I’m so happy!! It's about time. The signs of Spring have been delayed this year by as much as a month. Our very first flowers are extremely tiny but when I see the itty-bitty white blossoms from Whitlow Grass , I know that Spring is right around the corner. I usually see them in February but not this year. I have yet to see these darling little flowers but I bet it will only be a few days or a week before they make their presence known. Today is also Macro Monday!! The subject is “stamp”, and I knew exactly what I’d be photographing the moment I read the challenge. On my refrigerator I have two envelopes addressed to me from my father. I love them because my dad had the most lovely handwriting and every time I see those envelopes, they make me smile. Dad passed away a couple of years ago and these two envelopes are my special memorial. I took a series of macros which I’m pretty happy with but to be honest, I’m feeling sad and that’s a bit hard. It is amazing how fresh it feels when you are reminded of a close relative’s death and when it comes to a parent, it can be especially difficult. My main picture features a snipped of my father’s handwriting for you to see as well as the stamps. There are several other ideas as insets too. ENJOY! Pam, I wanted to find something joyful in your stream today and “joy” gave me this incredible sunset and poem which filled me with peace and words which warmed my heart as I sit feeling sad about my dad’s passing. Thank you! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 3/05/19, highest placement, #6.

(+8 insets!) It's been pouring cats and dogs since last night and hasn't stopped coming down. Steve and I drove into Medford to do our shopping and though the driving conditions aren't great, it's given us the rare chance to witness actual flooding. For the first time in a couple of years, our area is overly saturated with water and turning pastures into ponds! The volume of water is pretty amazing to see. We're supposed to get precipitation for the next week so it will be interesting to find out what happens. Right now I'm cuddled up in my bed with blankets tucked in around me while I type up my post. I like to go into our bedroom to write so I can concentrate without distraction. Steve and I have a pair of computers set up in our game room but it's hard to focus if he talks to me or makes too much noise and the perfect solution is to write in a quiet space. I keep looking outside because it isn't raining anymore...it's SNOWING!! I'm watching huge, heavy snowflakes fall to the ground and instantly melt. Not long after we got home, Steve exclaimed loudly, "It's snowing!" And indeed it was...small, wet flakes at first, but now they are much larger though still very wet. It's mesmerizing to see the different sizes of flakes and to check if the snow is sticking yet. We hope that it will...that would mean more fun photography opportunities! It is exciting to see so much snow coming down, it's so beautiful. (Alas, it has returned to rain, but I did include a panorama inset of the snowy hillside across the valley from us…it's high enough for the snow to stick up there but not down here!) Well, today is MACRO MONDAY!! The theme this week is "Belongings" but I have renamed it, "What Has It Got In Its Pocketses?!" After all, no Hobbit-loving person would ever resist such a perfect opportunity to quote our dear Gollum! :D For my project, I kept an eye on the different things that I had in my pockets over the week...rubber hair scrunchies...lens clothes...my phone, which fits into a large pocket on my pants...Blistex...camera lens cover...pecans and seed treats for Pumpkin...tissue...lint...heh... I chose my favorites and if you read my post yesterday, you'll know that I had a great time and was very late posting my pictures because I lost myself in creative bliss! :D The main picture shows a green lens cloth and you'll see a black one as an inset along with rubber hair scrunchies and my phone in its well-worn case and also a pair of images of the phone screen. What fun...I sure do love these projects that have me photographing totally different stuff! (Oh, I also included a second panorama about 15 minutes later than the first one...look at the difference!) Pam, since it's been raining nonstop, I looked in your photo stream and found a beautiful picture of a droplet-covered Snowdrop ! It's so pretty but the story you included is its match. Thank you so much for sharing the reason that you love these flowers so much. And did you know that I was also an 8-month baby? What a surprise--another thing in common! Here's a big *HIGH FIVE* and a *HUGGGG* as well! Explored on 2/26/19, highest placement, #5.

(+14 insets!) (my apologies, I misunderstood the concept so I did the project twice!) I woke up to another very light dusting of snow which melted quickly as the sun rose over the hills. It's been very cold today but bright and sunny. What a nice change from the dreary grey days we've been having lately! In case you didn't notice, it's Macro Monday! This week's theme is "Advertising" and today I learned the lesson, "Understand the specific rules of a challenge." As in…I didn't. The rules state, "Advertising challenge: a branded product known in your country, so close that you hardly recognize it anymore. But if possible in such a way that you can guess it." I totally misunderstood. I thought the idea was to take a picture of advertising at a macro level. With this in mind I got a bunch of pictures of advertising around the house. Then, for an interesting twist, I found some ads online which I then took pictures of so they would be macros. I was happy with what I came up with but something told me to look at the rules again. Which I did at 3pm on Monday. Oops. Once I realized I misunderstood the directive I grabbed my camera and tried again. We're not supposed to say what the subject is so you'll just have to try to figure it out! I took pictures of three very well-known company logos, and a fourth one worked from my photo shoot yesterday. I'm also including all of my misunderstood pictures so you can see what I came up with originally! I hope you can stand all of the insets! :D Pam, what did you do for your career? I am a graphic designer so the subject of "advertising" is burned into me. I hope you had a career that made you feel satisfied. Doing graphic design is really fun for me but only when I can stand behind what I'm involved in. Thankfully I have only worked for companies that essentially make people happy, which is a driving force in my life. Sending *BIG HUGGGGS* from southern Oregon!

(+5 insets!) (enlarged is best!) Today is just icky...blustery, cold, grey and inhospitable. In fact, as I am listening to the wind howl against the windows and shake the door, I admit that I haven't stepped outside even once! All the snow is gone except a little patch in protected areas, but it may get cold enough for more snow in the next few days. I am so glad that Steve made a huge pot of mushroom soup for our dinner, it's perfect for this chilly day! And now...we all know what day it is...it's Macro Monday! Hooray! This is my day to stray from my usual nature photography and play around with inside subjects! This week's theme is "Spots and Dots"...I immediately thought about ladybugs, beetles or flowers with spots on them, but vetoed the idea. Discovering indoor solutions is a fun challenge and I was sure I could find something perfect if I looked. I realized that fabric would be a wonderful place to find spots and dots so I dove into our closet and found a treasure trove! Shirts with tiny dots in the pattern, colorful buttons, and lots of pretty spotted fabrics too. I still have some of the beautiful clothes I would wear when Steve and I went out dancing many years ago. With the pretty sheen and cool bokeh I got I knew they'd be the stars of this show. My main image is a pink leopard velour fabric used in a little halter top. The insets show some other pretty fabrics that turned out nicely too. Naturally I couldn't resist changing the colors on a couple of them for fun! :) Pam, do you guys ever have wind storms? They can be really distressing to me because big gusts can shake the whole house. I don't like the mournful sounds either which make me feel very out of sorts. And...with intense wind storms we sometimes get power outages that can last hours before the downed lines are found and fixed. Not so bad when the weather is warm but when it's freezing it can be really bad. We know this first-hand with a winter power outage that lasted two days a few years back. After that, we bought a small generator and it's come in handy several times. Peace of mind is priceless. Well, I'd love to teleport some of our yummy mushroom soup to you but I haven't gotten the kinks worked out! Here's a virtual *HUGGGGGGGG* instead! Keep warm my dear! Explored on 2/12/19, highest placement, #8.

(+7 insets!) (Please view large) :) Well, you know what day it is...it's MACRO MONDAY! The theme this week is porcelain. Plates and dishes were mentioned as examples but I could have gone for something different like a porcelain figurine. The thought crossed my mind because I have some lovely porcelain horses packed away that would have been very nice. But no, what I really wanted to do was play with subtle patterning on dishware. Specifically, Steve gathered some dishes from a thrift store years ago to use in food photography. I am crazy about pure white dishware and I've wanted to take pictures since he got those plates so I wasn't interested in straying from the obvious this time. Whenever I do a Macro Monday photo shoot, I intentionally refuse to look for ideas online because I want to see what I come up with on my own. Playing around with different ideas is such fun. The whole process of learning what works and what doesn't is really cool because you slowly solve the challenge of creating a compelling image from something rather ordinary. Some ideas don't work out at all so I have to try again. Or later I'll think of something to try that I didn't think of initially. Adding to my own difficulty, only a couple of plates had interesting patterns to work with but that was enough. I ended up with six extras to share along with my main image that I hope you will all enjoy. I played around with the colors on some of the insets for fun because they are always so cool and pretty! The Macro Monday 2.0 group has been such a great experience for me. Because I'm in the US I am the last person to post pictures each week and for some reason I love that! I make a point of not looking at the contributions until after I've posted my pictures (though I do see a few sometimes because I comment on pictures throughout the day and there are usually a few MM submissions in the mix). One of my favorite things to do is to visit every contribution after I've posted my pictures. It's so much fun to see what everyone else has come up with and to be blown away by everyone's clever ideas and beautiful subjects. I love being able to give a pat on the back to each person too, because everyone likes encouragement and congratulations on doing such a great job! You will also notice that I've posted a panorama of snow on the far hillside across the valley...if you've been reading my blogs, I mentioned yesterday that it was supposed to snow today. Well, it actually DID! The snow fell just the tiniest bit here and the flakes melted instantly but it DID snow. Our altitude is just a bit too low for anything to stick but I thought it would be fun to include some proof of snow. Pam, I did a search for "plate" on your stream and found some very festive images that made me want to run over to your house and demand a feast! I also found this gorgeous image of an actual FLAMING Christmas pudding!! AMAZING!! What a lovely picture, Pam. I have to admit, I didn't have a clue what Christmas pudding tastes like, so I looked it up! I found a super page that talks about it if you're interested, just click on the highlighted words here . Oh dear. Dried and candied fruits and nuts...please forgive me for running away and holding up a chair to fend you off! I am not a fan of candied fruit, but I expect that your pudding was absolutely divine! The flame is incredible too! Thank you for the fun holiday memories, and I'm sending a virtual *HUGGGGGG* your way! Explored on 2/5/19, highest placement, #7.

(+4 insets!) Yes! It's another Macro Monday! This week's challenge is "Perfume Bottle." This presented a problem for me because I don't wear perfume. Other than a tiniest hint of natural fragrance like vanilla or almond, I don't like perfume. Steve doesn't wear or like cologne either. This means that our house has exactly zero bottles of perfume. A few days ago I wrote a post about our hunt for a perfume bottle and as it so happened, I found exactly what I was hoping for at a local craft store. Namely, a lovely faceted bottle that would be fun to photograph and provide nice bokeh possibilities as well as fun details to look at. I didn't count on finding a bottle that had holographic rainbow tape adhered to the base! In fact, the idea didn't even occur to me, but when I saw this collection of bottles, I was SOLD! :D (It measures 2.625"/6.667cm tall) I spent some time taking lots of pictures and had a great time fooling around with different ideas. In the end I've selected four pictures as insets to go along with my main image. One of my biggest joys of macro photography is the incredible bokeh you can get. There's just no way to know exactly how this will turn out so looking at my pictures on the computer is a little bit like opening Christmas presents when they turn out nicely. This main image was a lovely present for me and I hope you like it too! :) Pam, the storm has finally passed us by and it's been bright and beautiful all day. I've been thinking about you as I've worked on my perfume bottle pictures and wishing that this lovely day is the same for you too. Please give all the dogs big hugs for me…it's World Hug Day and everyone needs as many hugs as possible. I am sure they'll all hug you back as much as they can, but I can't promise you they won't get excited and tip you over in their attempts to turn that hug into playtime! :) Explored on 1/22/19, highest placement, #2.