Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: wire

(+ 2 insets) The forecast promised a very cold morning and I crossed my fingers for frost before I went to sleep last night. Just because it's cold enough for frost does not mean it will be frosty! However, I had a good feeling that it would be fabulous this morning and I was right! Peeking outside after hopping out of bed, I was rewarded by a sparking shimmer on everything! Pumpkin and I were both very impressed and talked about it at length while I took my shower. Ok well, maybe Pumpkin only laughed at me and whistled with the water sounds but I'd like to think she was suitably moved by the frosty world outside! :) I spent about 45 minutes taking pictures and I was so happy I'd prepared my camera beforehand. All I needed to do was dive into my warm clothes and bounce outside and right into a glimmering wonderland! Some of the subjects that I captured were metal screws, nails, wire, barbs, hinges, springs...the mail box, frozen droplets on the mail box, leaves, wasp galls, ice at the edge of the pond, frosty weeds poking out of the pond...the list goes on and on! Let's just say I came back to the house with over 400 pictures so you get the general idea! My feeling is that we won't have a lot more frosty days so if I want pictures, today's going to be one of my last chances! I was so excited to look over my pictures and boy did I get a BUNCH of winners! I also got a LOT of garbage shots. Ugh. I may need to take a monopod with me because I was got so many blurry pictures. A flash can definitely help capture an image without blur but it's not a miracle-worker. The smaller the subject, the harder it is to get a crisp picture by hand-holding your camera. MEH! It's a good thing that I took multiples along with aperture sets of each subject. Sometimes I'd get 9 garbage pictures and only one good one! And unfortunately, I failed completely on some very nice subjects. Better luck next time, right? And I can't cry too hard...I got several dozen nice pictures that I'll need to process! This is my day to post my Happy Fence Friday picture so I looked through this morning's photo shoot I and found one that would work just fine! It's barbed fencing wire that's wrapped around a post. The frost isn't very prominent but I really liked the colors and interesting visual. It was on the outside of our property next to our gate and the red color caught my eye. I've also included an inset of the entire width of the wire wrapped around the post...plus a guest I didn't notice until I saw it on the computer! Finally, I have another picture of frosty barbed wire that I took a few weeks ago. :) Pam, I did a look-see for "frost" on your photo stream and found a series of frosty artwork that you'd created. I especially like your Frost Flowers Circle Scope which is marvelous eye candy! (Steve loved it too!) By the way, it was fun to read about what you'd done for jobs. I have many times wondered if it would be fun to work as a dental hygienist but a technician would be more interesting I'm sure. Not at all surprised that you designed jewelry and done graphic design as well--you have a wonderful eye! And of course, I can see gardening being a big draw, it's great fun! *BIG HUGS* MY DEAR!!! Explored on 2/22/19, highest placement, #1.

Frost on barbed wire is such fun to photograph! The sparkling frost dissolves into starry bokeh, the crisp frost crystals are so sharp and yet "furry" looking, and if you should get lucky, the colorful rust on the barbed wire makes a perfect contrast! And of course, you have a natural leading line of the wire to guide the eye. What's not to love?! :) Explored on 5/25/16. Highest placement #24.

One of the wonderful things about living in southern Oregon is experiencing four distinct seasons. I was born and raised in San Francisco, and it's about the same temperature year-round. So for me, frost and snow are amazing to see and naturally, frost is a favorite subject to photograph. This is a close-up of the tines on a strand of rusted barbed wire that I captured in November 2013.

3 more pictures in notes above ! :) The forecast last night said it would be cold this morning...they weren't kidding! When I went down to the gate at 7am to open and close the gate for Steve as he left for work, it was 27°F (-2.8°C)!! We stepped outside and the cold just hit me in the face. WOW, take a step back, Jack Frost, you're freezing my face with that frosty breath of yours!! I was bristling with sweaters and a coat, warm socks, hat, boots, gloves, and I had my camera with me too as I waved goodbye to Steve. I wanted to get some images of frost while I was down by the fence that borders the main road. However, I also knew I didn't have much time, because no matter how bundled up I was, that cold would find its way in through my worst defenses: my gloves and rubber boots. Knowing the clock was ticking, I quickly went to the fence and started snapping away, admiring the amazing crystals on the barbed wire along the top of the fence as I moved this way and that. Soon, my fingers started to tell me they were cold. Then I noticed the frosty pine needles on the Ponderosa Pine tree nearby and challenged myself to try for some good dof images. (Fail!) Looking down I saw pine cones with frosty edges and managed to get some nice pictures (I'll share that picture in the next few days!). At that point, my fingers were really beginning to hurt and my toes were beginning to yell. Making my way back up the drive way I stopped to take pictures of frosted gravel (I got a really great picture but...the gravel looks too much like...frosted doggy doo...*cackle*...so I can't use it! :D), and on the way I couldn't resist a few more pictures of frosted barbed wire, and then I couldn't stand it anymore and rushed up the hill and into the house, and got my hands under hot water to warm them up again...I can't believe it. I was out there for TEN MINUTES and my body was screaming from the cold!! Unbelievable!! It took a long, hot shower to completely warm up again. Totally crazy cold out there!!! Robert William Service (January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958) was a poet and writer who has often been called "the Bard of the Yukon". Service is best known for his poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", from his first book, Songs of a Sourdough (1907; also published as The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses). "These humorous tales in verse were considered doggerel by the literary set, yet remain extremely popular to this day." Wikipedia: Robert Service Explored on November 25, 2013. Highest placement, page 2 (#41).

This was a long piece of smooth wire, covered in frost! I hope you'll take a few moments to read this poem, it's fantastic and so visual, you'll need to put on a coat by the time you're done! :D My 9th grade English teacher introduced poetry to me and this was the one that made me love poetry! :) The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee. Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows. Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows. He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell; Though he'd often say in his homely way that "he'd sooner live in hell." On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail. Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail. If our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see; It wasn't much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee. And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow, And the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe, He turned to me, and "Cap," says he, "I'll cash in this trip, I guess; And if I do, I'm asking that you won't refuse my last request." Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no; then he says with a sort of moan: "It's the cursèd cold, and it's got right hold, till I'm chilled clean through to the bone. Yet 'tain't being dead — it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains; So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate my last remains." A pal's last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail; And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale. He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee; And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee. There wasn't a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven, With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid, because of a promise given; It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: "You may tax your brawn and brains, But you promised true, and it's up to you, to cremate those last remains." Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code. In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load. In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring, Howled out their woes to the homeless snows — Oh God! how I loathed the thing. And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow; And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low; The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in; And I'd often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin. Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May." And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum; Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum." Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire; Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher; The flames just soared, and the furnace roared — such a blaze you seldom see; And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee. Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so; And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow. It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don't know why; And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky. I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear; But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near; I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take a peep inside. I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked"; ... then the door I opened wide. And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar; And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and said: "Please close that door. It's fine in here, but I greatly fear, you'll let in the cold and storm — Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm." There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee.

This is a very tight crop but I wanted to include it because the frosted barb looks so much like a dagger covered in crystals!

[best appreciated at full size against black] Another image from my frosty photo walk, this is some of the fencing between our property and the folks next door. This image was taken in January, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Here is another image from my frosty photo walk! This is a strand of barbed wire tipped with icy crystals! This image was taken in January, 2012.