Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: sporophyte

(+3 insets!) I wanted to post a few pictures today to let everyone know that things are going much better for me lately and I'm definitely feeling much better! I haven't been around lately because I'm busy with lots of other things and I haven't been giving ipernity or photography as much attention. Sometimes we need a break! :) A Rediscovered Love of Rocks With my new interest in stones, minerals and my rock tumbler, I've found myself remembering how much I enjoyed my science and geology classes in school. This has resulted in the purchase of books to educate myself and stumbling around the internet, happily sucking up information about the elements, tips on tumbling stones and where to find them, and even discovering the history and what sort of rocks and minerals mined in this area. I've also been walking around on our 26-acre property to see what sort of rocks are laying on the ground…there are PLENTY of cool stones to pick up! It's all very fascinating to me and I'm slowly learning to identify a few of them which is fun. :) I am waiting for a couple of dry days so I can creep up onto our hillside. Once I was up there and I found a HUGE outcropping of white quartz crystal embedded in a larger mass…I want to find it!! And I'm interested to see what else is around! Rock Tumbling Updates My rock tumbling is coming along nicely! I decided to be very picky about what ones I allow to move from the first step of tumbling to the second step. I had a set that was all the way up to the end of the third step (pre-polish), but when I took a careful look at every stone I realized I needed to push most of them all the way back to step one--I had been too hasty. I'm learning that tumbling stones is something you just need to be patient about and the sage advice, "garbage in, garbage out" is something I think about as I evaluate my rocks. Anyway, right now I have a set in Step 1 and another set in Step 2. I will move them on in about a week--after I make sure they look ready! Today's Pictures It's finally starting to warm up a bit but we got several days of snow and lots of frost too. I thought it would be perfect to share one of my macros of a sporophyte with melting snow on it. I am also including a snowy footprint, a panorama of the snowy hills across the valley from where our house sits, and finally, a picture of Bird's Nest fungus which I captured a while back. It grows as a sort of little creamy bulge and then the top breaks off to reveal these tiny little "eggs" inside, which are the reproductive spores! How cool is that?! :) Pam, if I remember correctly, tomorrow is the big day for you. My heart is all a-flutter and I'm both nervous and excited. You will be in my thoughts, as you are every day! *BIG HUGS* my dear! Explored on 1/21/20; highest placement #1.

(+5 insets...ENJOY!) (this picture is very nice at full size!) :) Holy cow, I'm late posting today! I usually try to put my picture up by about 5pm PST but I was carried away and totally forgot about the time. What was I carried away about? Why, tomorrow's Macro Monday project, of course!! First of all, I had a great time taking pictures of the subjects I came up with. Then, when I looked at the images on my computer, I was really happy that I got lots of usable shots of my ideas! I took a running leap and did a swan dive into my artistic persona. For the next few hours I swam around in Photoshop, playing with each image and having a wonderful time. When Steve asked me about dinner I was shocked to see that so much time had gone by! EEK! :D I'm feeling the magic of being in the Moment of my creativity, so today I'm sharing a rather dreamy image of a droplet-encased sporophyte with his people. This was taken on the day there was snow everywhere. It had mostly melted where this group was but I am beyond overjoyed that I took pictures even though the snow was gone. I hope you like this gorgeous sporophyte as much as I do...I am still trying to figure out how to get their autographs! :) My insets feature some of my past sporophyte images. Aren't they just amazing? I think they are all like tiny people. Little villagers with great big personalities! :) Pam, I wanted to find a magical image in your photo stream and I found just what I was looking for with the sunset image you posted that glows in the Golden Hour. It's drop-dead GORGEOUS!! Stunning sunset and incredible silhouettes...but that warm light...ohhhh, it's incredible!!! You added the awesome quote which states the following words that I love so much: Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever. ~ Horace Mann This was just perfect for the way I feel right now! Sending oodles of *HUGGGGGGZZZZZZ*!!!!

(+1 inset!) (please view large to see the snowflake better!) :D There was a very light dusting of snow this morning which began to melt as I walked up and down the driveway. It was so nice to hear the birds doing their thing. I couldn't help hearing several Acorn Woodpeckers being loud and obnoxious but I love to hear them yelling at each other! They are so rude! :D We also have two kinds of noisy jays. Stellar's and Scrub Jays both vie for the title of "Most Obnoxious" along with the Acorn Woodpeckers. It's always fun to see them though, such pretty birds. Today I've decided to share a couple of snowy sporophyte pictures to go with the light dusting of snow this morning. I took them a couple of weeks ago when I woke up to a world covered in white. I really hoped to get some unusual macro pictures and I sure got lucky with these images! At the time, I had no idea that I'd captured actual snowflakes until I looked at them on the computer. Two of the pictures needed to be tightly cropped so I made them into a collage. I hope you enjoy them--the buried sporophyte makes me laugh! (I provided two sizes so you can see the inset snowflakes better) Pam, you made a beautiful snowflake artwork which I admire every time I look at it. It reminds me of kaleidoscopes, something I always enjoyed as a kid. Maybe that's one of the reasons that I love abstracts so much! I hope you are having a good day Pam!! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 2/18/19, highest placement, #1.

(Please view large!) Stop what you're doing and for just a moment, think of three things that you are grateful for in your life right now. Think about why you feel this way. This is something you can do for yourself every morning to make your day even more wonderful! On this rainy, cold, but beautiful morning, I walked up and down our driveway and I thought about my day's trio. What was I especially grateful for? Who did I feel grateful towards? I am grateful for my husband. He's always been there for me, he doesn't give up, and he is a huge reason for all of the fun and adventures we've had in our lives. He's exposed me to things I've never done before, like scuba diving. He's taught me to be the best that I can be whenever he has something to offer; in photography, he's shared his expertise which has shaped who I am. He and I are the best team I've ever had the joy to be part of and we continually prove we are better together than apart. I could go on and on but you get the point! :) I love Steve so much. I am so grateful. I am grateful for my parents. They raised me and my three brothers to the best of their abilities and we grew up in a nice neighborhood in San Francisco, close enough to all of our schools that we could walk to most of them. My mom and dad were both brilliant and I was lucky enough to get my father's analytical mind (but not his math skills, lol) and my mother's creative and artistic talents. I am so grateful that I have been able to tap into these life-long gifts from my mom and dad. I am grateful for the community here at ipernity. Since I came back to start my Pictures for Pam project, I have been welcomed home with open arms. I'd been in a terrible depression and hoped that doing something for Pam might make me feel better. It did. More than that, I've been surrounded by the most amazing, supportive, wonderful, warm, and generous people from all over the world. You've made me a new person. I have a renewed sense of confidence in myself and my abilities. You've reminded me of the joy of visiting the world through this community's eyes. I am able to give back my thanks by visiting your photo streams and letting you know how I feel about your pictures. This feeds my insatiable drive to make others happy. Additionally, the feeling of sizzling inspiration when I see some of your photography is so fantastic. Because of you, I am back to my wiggly, happy, creative self. That joy has then made my whole life, my relationship, my world so rich and full of exciting possibilities. I am so grateful to each and every one of you. Today's picture was something that amazed me when I saw it on my computer. It wasn't something I planned for and I had no idea it was there! As I was looking through images I'd taken a few weeks back, I came to this one and I could hardly believe my eyes! All I can see is Tony Robbins talking to a flock of enchanted followers that gaze up at him in awe. I know that feeling. His teachings are responsible for a huge amount of life-changing understanding and realization. I am so grateful to him. I hope you like my tribute! Pam, I am so grateful to you. You shook my shoulders and woke me up. You gave me the courage to stand up and take a step forward. A gentle realization came to me that doing something to show you how much I care would in turn begin a healing process for me. Because of you, my downward spiral turned upside-down and now I'm on an upward spiral with no end in sight. I am so grateful to you, my dear friend. May all of our grateful hugs bring you the strength to regain your health. We love you Pam. Explored on 12/19/18, highest placement, #2.

(This image is best viewed large!) I woke up this morning to the rain pattering against the windows and popped eagerly out of bed. As I got my day started, I thought to myself, "Oh goody! A walk in the rain will be so nice!" Armed with our huge umbrella, I skipped out the door, stretched on the porch and was soon on my way. Splashing my way down the gravel driveway like Christopher Robin, I sang merrily, "And the rain-rain-rain came down-down-down and washed away the pig-a-let!" (from Winnie the Pooh) The rain drummed enthusiastically on my umbrella and I beamed in response. There's something so wonderful about walking in the rain under a large, protective umbrella. It's like being in your own little world where time seems to stop for a while. I love it so much. As I walked along, I simply could not get enough of the shiny-wet juicy-colored leaves on the ground in a rainbow of colors…bright yellow, orange, rust, red, deep brown, and splotched combinations of any or all colors including bits of green. A stream of water ran down the driveway and the submerged leaves were even more beautiful. Leaf-shaped jewels I mused. So, so pretty. I thought about pictures but rain and cameras don't mix, and trying to coordinate an umbrella and a camera doesn't work either. I wondered if we'd get a break. By the time I was done with my 13 laps, my shoes went from dry to damp to squishing with water at every step, complete with very cold, wet feet! My lower pant legs were soggy too, but I didn't care, it was such a wonderful walk that I didn't dare spoil it with my audio story. I kept an eye out on the weather and was delighted to see my husband doing laps of his own, umbrella overhead and enjoying the experience for himself after I'd told him how nice it was. Eventually it stopped raining for a while and I slipped out with my camera in hand. I thought maybe the light wouldn't be good or the magic would be gone since it wasn't raining anymore, but I would discover I was in luck. In any event, my hope was to take a few pictures and go on my first exploratory adventure off into our lower forest. This is something I hadn't done in quite some time so I was excited to see what I might find out there. I wandered down to the gate, clicking at beautiful leaves I found...then I strained up to see the sporophytes on top of the brick post down at the gate and they were positively dripping with water! I stepped off into the woods and found wasp galls and cool lichen, micro mushrooms and tiny finger-like fungus that I captured. Lots of really neat things to photograph and soon the rain came down again and I made a beeline for home. I was amazed to find that I'd taken over 150 pictures on my little jaunt, how did that happen? Granted, I take many exposures of each subject to give me a better chance at getting one that's good, but that's no guarantee and I'm used to chucking out the majority of my shots, especially when I haven't been taking pictures for a while. To my utter surprise, I discovered that I got very nice images of every single subject I photographed! That never happens!! My biggest surprise was the picture you see today. I was hoping that I'd be able to share an image of the wonderful sporophytes on top of our gate, and what do you know? It happened. But here's the thing. This picture is...SIDEWAYS!! There is moss and sporophytes growing on the side of the brick too, and when I looked at this image I just about fell over, because you never know how a picture will turn out until you look at it on the computer. And though it works in its natural orientation, it wants to be sideways. Crazy! Pam, here is a sporophyte party for you! These guys are having a great time with their chieftain at center stage, fancy hair and all! It's such fun looking for images that I hope you'll like and this macro was a huge treat for me to find for you! FEEL BETTER!!! I'm thinking about you every day! Explored on 11/24/18, highest position, #15.

With a macro lens, the tiny things become clear, and suddenly a whole world opens up around you. Who would think that moss is interesting to look at, even fascinating? Have you ever seen a moss flower? No? That's because they don't HAVE flowers! Moss reproduce via spores, and what you see in this picture is a dried calyptra, which covers the growing sporophytes beneath. The reproductive process of moss is very primative and requires moisture and alternating generations to complete.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Little, tiny, itty bitty, eensy, weensy slug! I have Steve to thank for pointing this adorable little guy out to me, and he was hard to spot, measuring only about 1/2 an inch long! Here you can see him motoring along through the foliose lichen and moss forest, with a Pixie lichen towering over him. For another size reference, in the upper left is the "flower" of a moss plant, called a sporophyte...that's SMALL! Finally, you should take a look at where this guy is heading! Why...it's a mushroom! And that is probably what he'll be munching when he arrives, as it's a favorite food for mollusks! (In this image, you can see something on the mushroom...it's a BUG! I wonder if they will share?!) This image was taken in February, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Yesterday I showed all of you the "Quintet of Cobras", in actuality, the reproductive part of moss, which is called a sporophyte. However, the tips had fallen off, the part called a capsule. This is where the spores are formed, and when mature, the capsule will open and fall off, releasing the spores into the wind. This picture shows what appears to be a very mature sporophyte, just about to burst its cap open! Isn't that cool?! :D To me, this looks like a strange and beautiful, alien serpent! This image was taken in February, 2012.

A few days ago, I took my camera up to the top of our ridge and went for a walk to see what I could find. At one point, I saw a circle of ashes where the Forest Service had burned a pile of branches, logs and leaves. (This is done to keep the "forest fuel" level down so the fire danger is not as bad.) I saw that something had been growing in the ashes, so I took a close look. To my utter surprise, there was almost a carpet of these moss sporophytes growing very tall above the ashes, which is really only about 2", but hey, that's tall for these delicate beauties! When I saw this image on my computer, I was so fascinated that I had to find out more. I discovered that sporophytes are the equivelent of a flower, but instead of producing pollen, they release spores! The spores are released from a capsule which grows at the tips, but they are long-gone from these dried sporophytes. I think these look like little russet-colored sculptures! This image was taken in February, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Don't you just love droplets? They are so magical to me, especially the tiny droplets. Having a macro lens means that I can capture images of droplets that are barely visible. Here we have a moss sporophyte encased in a droplet while another looks on! :) There are some interesting focus, flare and bokeh things going on too...I hope you like this artistic image! :) I've uploaded one other picture today and I hope you'll visit it too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in February, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] How many moss sporophytes does it take to hold up a big droplet of water? One...two...three...FOUR! These four seem to be straining very hard to keep this droplet in the air...or perhaps they are all trying desperately not to find themselves pulled to the ground by the MASSIVE weight of this enormous droplet! Come on guys, you can do it!!! And meanwhile, the other sporophytes are just looking around, enjoying the day, a small dried sporophyte without a capsule stares at them in awe, and another one seems to be looking up to see if another droplet will fall on it! :D What a neat little scene to find, so tiny you need a macro lens to see it! :) This image was taken in February, 2012.

A year ago, I was up on our ridge line and I saw something orange and fuzzy on the ashy area where a burn pile had been. Taking a closer look, I was astonished to see a carpet of orange sporophytes, dead but so beautiful I couldn't stop taking pictures! When Steve and I went on a hike last week, I noticed carpets of these glowing in the afternoon sun and pointed them out to him as a subject to photograph. I found some too and though these aren't glowing, I was happy with the dof here!

Here is another picture from our photo hike to Lost Lake Reservoir. When Steve and I decided to turn around for the return trip, we stopped to have our lunch right there on the trail. Of course I couldn't help looking around while we munched on our sandwiches and chips, and this beautiful scene was something I found as I peered closely at the side of the trail. I didn't realize how cool that lichen actually looked until I saw the pictures on my computer, it's so small that I didn't detect the beautiful detail and colors! Above and behind the lichen are several dried moss sporophytes that appear to be checking things out! :D

One of my longest Flickr friendships was made last summer when I was fortunate enough to meet Joe Vimal Raj Jeyaraj . I was very excited to find another photographer who used my new camera at the time, the Canon SX30 IS. I was amazed at the quality of his images, and thrilled that he was as friendly as he was talented. Joe's taught me so much! We've been trading comments almost every day since we met and become great friends along the way. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!! I hope you have a GREAT DAY and here's to another year of friendship!! *big hugs* I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

[best appreciated at full size against black] Some time ago, I posted a picture of a dried up moss sporophyte, and I took this picture on the same day. The place I found these sporophytes growing in a thick mat which looked like weird orange hairy stuff at standing height. Even when I took these pictures, I didn't see how interesting these were until I saw the pictures on my computer! :D I really like the way this one turned out because of the bokeh, which shows many more sporophytes in the background. In my last picture, people thought these look like snakes or golf clubs! I think it looks like some sort of new age lamp...or maybe an electric razor that's on a rampage...what do you think it looks like?! :D This image was taken in February, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Creeping around on our hillside one day, I found a log covered with moss and lichen. I noticed there were still droplets on this patch and staring closely, I discovered this pair, who are sharing a tiny droplet of water. Is it just me or do they seem to be trying very hard not to fall over from the weight?! Can you imagine?! This droplet is about the size of the ball at the tip of a pen! This image was taken in January, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Last Saturday, Steve and I went to the top of the Upper Table Rocks to look for wildflowers and any other wonderful thing we could find. As I made my way over the flat mesa, I soon discovered beautiful Haircap moss growing on rocks near the vernal pools (seasonal marsh). Bending down to get a nose-close view, I found myself facing a village of sporophytes who look as if they've gathered together to meet the strange huge being who came to visit! Aren't they incredible?! Every kind of moss has a different type of sporophyte and Haircap moss sporophytes are much larger than the ones on our property! I really like their shape, don't you?! :) I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in March, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] When Steve and I went to the top of the Upper Table Rocks a few weeks ago, the initial plan was to look for wildflowers, but naturally, I had my eyes open for anything cool to photograph. We found lots of neat things, and I found some amazing moss and sporophytes! This image is one of my favorite sporophyte shots because it really looks like they are marching along in a migration from one place to another! The one sporophyte that's in focus is so unusual looking that it really stood out from all the others! I hope you like this picture too! I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in March, 2012.