Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: teasel

My daily walk is more than just exercise to me. By starting the morning with an invigorating march, I energize my spirit for the day and jump-start my body by getting my lymph and blood flowing. These walks are therapeutic and allow me the time to reflect on anything on my mind. They are also a great way to listen to audio books. To top it off, exercise is fun and feels wonderful! Essentially, it's a vital and important start to every day! Stepping out into a frigid 28 degrees morning, frost twinkled at me as I made my first lap down to the gate. I could see that the frosty filigree was back on the metal tubes that form our gate and I leaned in close to appreciate the cool formations scribed by the frozen moisture. I would return with my camera on my next trip down. Time to see if I could capture that lovely frost for Pam to enjoy! However, at the very top of the hill I spied the tall stand of teasel and glanced at them as I walked by. I'd been keeping an eye on one in particular because it kept yelling for attention. At the base of the stalk was a particularly large leaf that put on a show, although it was nothing special at first, sitting in the shadow of the hillside. But once the sun crept over the top, rays of light would hit that leaf and turn it into a glowing golden flag, complete with marvelous texture and shape. I struggled. On the one hand, the artistic side of me said, "Take the picture, it's super cool and amazing!" But the other side of me said, "If I present this image, most people won't have any idea what it is and will not like it!" Every day I saw this leaf and the battle raged on. Finally I decided that this unique and beautiful sight should be immortalized and if people didn't understand it, well, that's just the way it would be. I did take pictures of the frost! But the frost laughed at me and said, "You silly girl. Trying to take a picture of our tiny, delicate lacing without a proper flash or tripod will be an exercise in FAILURE!" LOL, I got a couple of pictures that were blasé passable, but not at all what I had hoped for. I chucked all of the dozens of images. But of the dozen pictures I took of the teasel leaf, four stood out, and here you see the winner. Pam, I hope that you enjoy this natural glowing flag! Like you, it is incredibly special, unique and glows with warmth. I hope that your day is a bright one my dear! *big hugs* Explored on 11/21/2018, highest placement, #17.

Please see our new group, Pictures for Pam , we would love to have you! You may read the latest news of Pam`s recoverery here (11/9/18): www.ipernity.com/home/christine.bentley ------------------------- Yesterday began with a rough start but this morning I was happy and looking forward to my day. Just above freezing and without the odd, icy wind, I didn't bother with a second sweater and was perfectly comfortable as I stepped out into the crisp gleaming sunlight. Pausing to stretch my calves and thighs, I noticed that my neat line of little white rocks had been pushed around—perhaps by an investigative nose or beak of some sort? I had my suspicions. The most likely was mulled over in my mind while I put the displaced pebbles back on the slab with the others. Striding down our gravel road, I was soon met by the suspected critter's calling card on the drive, exactly in my path. I wrinkled my nose and stared down at the small but offensive pile. Our rural property is home to a huge variety of wildlife and one of them is a very rude—in my opinion, anyway—fox. This guy—or gal?—is bound and determined to make it known that this territory belongs to HIM and I'd better not forget it! Since I don't seem to be getting the memo, nearly every day I am faced with yet another present along my path. Mumbling amusedly under my breath, I returned the joust with one of my own. Clearly aiming for a message of "I have no respect for you!" I gave the old heave-ho to the strategically-placed berry-filled dropping with a side-of-the-shoe fling and sent the poo flying into the weeds. Sheesh. I shook my head and grinned at the reality: I have been arguing over property rights—with a FOX—for nearly 10 years now!! How ridiculous and wonderful! I couldn't help thinking about the most outrageous message left for me just a few days before. My husband walks laps on our driveway too, and just for fun, he picks up colorful rocks and tosses them in a pile next to my rock slabs. I will often change out some of my pebbles with a few he has found on his walks, but I only need 13 stones so his growing pile of many dozen sits mostly unused but appreciated. The other day I went to put a pebble in place and suddenly goggled at what I saw. The fox had left its dropping DIRECTLY ON TOP of Steve's pile of rocks!!! I spluttered! I gasped! I may have even yelled an expletive or two in disbelieving amazement! Why, that was the most blatant "F_ _ _ YOU!!" that I'd ever seen a wild animal direct at me. Or…I wondered…could it have been left for Steve specifically? After all, that pile of rocks smelled of Steve, not me. The fox merely nosed my pebbles, choosing to leave its usual present on the road for me. And also, Steve only just recently began walking up and down the drive, so perhaps the fox was trying to say, "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! BEGONE!" Who knows. I decided that the best thing to do would be to just remove the message and ignore my mad desire to hunt the devil down and throttle it vigorously before letting it go with a warning of my own, "CUT IT OUT YOU DISRESPECTFUL CURR!" Turning my thoughts to my dear friend Pam, I figured she'd enjoy this tale because she has wildlife tales of her own to share. I was pleased that I already knew the picture I'd be taking for her today so after my walk, I grabbed my camera, walked up the hill beyond our house. I came to a stop at the dried army of teasel which began its formation where I stood and marched in a thick column down to our big meadow. What a formidable sight and wonderful to appreciate from seed to dried stalk, at all times of year and in any weather. Teasel never disappoints and is an outstanding photography subject for beginner and advanced alike. I had a classic image in mind, showing off several beauties with the sun behind to make them glow. Moving around here and there, I looked for background elements at the right distance to create just the right effect. Not sure of exactly what would look best, I took a couple of dozen images with various apertures and different cropping potentials. In the end, one of the first choices turned out to be my pick and not the close-ups of three I'd expected. My choice shows a hint of the massive number of teasel along with a foreground trio, and a background which shows the colorful autumn colors blended with teasel and oak bokeh. It was a wonderful surprise when I cropped this image down to size and was presented by this delightful view. I was reminded of the joy of capturing an image that I didn't consider as an outcome and was so happy I was lucky enough to get it! Hoping your day is a nice one, Pam, and know that you are in my thoughts with warm wishes headed your way in a stream of healing and affectionate virtual hugs. Explored on 11/13/18, highest placement: #36.

I went out today feeling rushed and frustrated, not in the mood to look for pictures, but knowing there was something special going on outside. Things were frosty...but...everything was extra white, and that spelled something different. I was right. The frost was particularly long and extremely fine, which you can just see on the droplet and leaves. I spent more time than I could afford taking pictures because this was a rare frost and I wanted to capture it in as many images as I could to process later. I'm really glad I did because I found some very cool and amazing sights! This frost-covered droplet is dangling from the curled, dried leaves of a teasel plant. Amazingly, I was able to get the frosty droplet and leaves in perfect focus with a teasel dropping away into bokeh behind! For me, that's insanely lucky, because something usually always messes up that kind of an attempt. But today, everything lined up just right! :) Ayn Rand (born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum; February 2,1905 – March 6, 1982) was an American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism. Born and educated in Russia, Rand moved to the United States in 1926. She had a play produced on Broadway in 1935–1936. After two early novels that were initially unsuccessful in America, she achieved fame with her 1943 novel, The Fountainhead. Wikipedia: Ayn Rand Explored on December 18, 2013. Highest placement, page 3.

Did you know that teasel has really beautiful tiny flowers?! They are so pretty, and in fact, the buds are lovely too--a grid of tiny green "pillows" that gradually turn lavender and then open up into these blossoms! :)

4 more pictures in notes! :D You can also find me on Facebook ! Sometimes I just cannot resist a juicy challenge! A few weeks ago I was invited to a really fun new group here on ipernity called "Bokeh Thursday" . There are lots of theme groups out there to help motivate, inspire, educate and entertain members, but this one was a group I thought I could actually participate in while being committed to my 365 Project, since most of my pictures are all about bokeh! To make things more interesting, there is a new theme every week. This week's theme was the letter "T"--anything that starts with T could be your subject. I actually had a hard time getting to sleep last night as I lay in bed thinking about subjects I could photograph that started with T... texture... turtle... thread... television... tool... toy... turkey... the list grew in my mind until I suddenly remembered what's in full bloom outside and screaming for me to photograph it...TEASEL!!! And...TAR WEED!! And then, when I woke up this morning and happily immersed myself taking pictures, I got pictures of bumble bees sticking their long TONGUES out...and I found THORNS and THISTLE... lol... this main picture showed me another thing to go with teasel... TWIRL! I finally had to pull myself back into the house by my ear (how do I do that, anyway?!) or I'd still be out there taking pictures of TREES and the TABLE ROCKS (huge, beautiful plateau formation visible from our home)...and groupings of TWO and THREE or even TEN! Oh brother... I ended up processing five pictures in all and I hope you enjoy my Bokeh Thursday submissions! By the way, our group would LOVE to have new members--if this group sounds like fun, please come and join us!! :) Jose Rene "J. R." Martinez (born June 14, 1983) is an American actor, motivational speaker and former U.S. Army soldier. Starting in 2008, he played the role of Brot Monroe on the ABC daytime drama All My Children. He is the winner of Season 13 of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Martinez served as the Grand Marshal of the 2012 Rose Parade. In 2003, Martinez sustained severe burns to over 34 percent of his body while serving as an Army infantryman in Iraq. Since his recovery, he has traveled around the country speaking about his experiences to corporations, veterans groups, schools and other organizations. Wikipedia: J.R. Martinez Explored in July 19, 2013. Highest placement, page 2 (#37).

Teasel flowers really attract bees, and I had a great time taking pictures of them today. I saw this guy hanging out on a teasel head and it was sticking its tongue out to reach something clearly out of reach below. Maybe it was doing tongue stretching exercises, I don't know! :D But I knew I'd have to feature this bee for one of my Bokeh Thursday pictures!! :D

[best appreciated at full size against black] This group of teasels appear to be looking up in awe at the constellation of Orion in the beautiful night sky. This image was taken on February 6, 2012.

This is one of the many images of frosty teasel that I got this morning! I have found that it can be quite a challenge to find the right angle and depth of field for macros of these wonderful seed heads, but I always relish the opportunity to work at getting better with my skills! Jewel Kilcher (born May 23, 1974), professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress and poet. She has received four Grammy Award nominations and has sold over 27 million albums worldwide. Wikipedia: Jewel

This is my third pick of the day, an immature teasel head which toppled over before drying up, with a mature head in the distance. Helen Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. Wikipedia: Helen Keller

This is my alternate pick for today. I had a hard time choosing which was better for the pick of the day...do you have a preference? (By the way, I decided that this image didn't want any frame. I tried different ones but in the end, it looks best without one! :)

I had to work until about 8pm tonight, and though I could have taken a picture inside, I was restless and wanted to go out, so I put on the macro flash and out I went, up to the stand of teasel! Once there I lost myself in a world of wonderful thorns, spines, spirals and prickles! What fun! Teasel is amazing to look at closely, isn't it? This picture and my alternate show the dried leaves from a teasel. Nature is truly magnificent! :) Hugh Miller (1802–1856) was a self-taught Scottish geologist and writer, folklorist and an evangelical Christian. Wikipedia: Hugh Miller

This is another picture I got today on this beautiful, frosty morning! :) It's the stem of a teasel plant! James Russell Lowell (February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets. These poets usually used conventional forms and meters in their poetry, making them suitable for families entertaining at their fireside. Wikipedia: James Russell Lowell