Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: fern

A Park Featuring Sand Dunes! How would you like to stay at a campground sitting right next to sand dunes? Along part of the Oregon coast lies a 40-mile stretch called the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, which are especially popular for folks who enjoy ATVs, dune-buggies and of all things, sand skiing! These dunes are also quite beautiful to look at, but I wouldn't recommend walking over them for any distance. The loose, deep and slippery sand is very arduous for cross and not recommended except for short stretches. (By the way, these dunes are only open to vehicles in certain areas.) Honeyman State Park has plenty of hiking and biking trails that do not go into the sand though, and I fell in love with this wonderful park and its unique habitat. The forest which hugged the edge of the sand was healthy and full of birds and other animals to enjoy, and of course I found lots of flowers and mushrooms to photograph as well! Today's Picture One of the trails I love takes me past a small pond and out to a much larger and picturesque lake. Every morning I was greeted by sun or diffused light streaming down through the trees, and in some of the trees, ferns grew. With beds of moss to cling to, the glowing greens and beautiful light was a sight that took my breath away every day. Up in one tree I saw this pair of vibrant fronds which showed the beautiful spores dotting each blade. Magnificent! Art News: New Doodles! I'm posting a pair of doodles I drew the other day and of course I have many more to share, which I'll do whenever I add another post! I don't draw every day but still, my linework improves quickly, which I'm very delighted by. It will be fun to see where my creativity leads me. Today's Insets One day Steve and I got to watch a family enjoying the sand dunes in their ATVs and it was such fun to get pictures! You'll see several pictures showing them buzzing around and climbing the hills of sand. One also shows the ocean in the distance. You will also see a picture of huckleberry flowers and a row of shelf fungus I found on the bark of a tree. Thank You For Stopping By! Thank you so much for your visits and support! Please forgive my lack of visits, I hope to get back to stopping by as soon as I am able. :) Have a safe and happy weekend! :) Explored on 1/7/22; highest placement #5.

(+5 insets) (clicking on this picture is recommended! :D) Lovely Walks at Harris Beach State Park My morning routine is to get up, shower, have my coffee and vitamin mix, and pop out the door for a walk which is ideally three miles or longer. Yet another reason this park is so perfect is that I designed a walk which is 3.5 miles and full of plenty of cardio, along with jaw-dropping scenery. I almost always take my phone with me, but sometimes I bring my Canon with 100mm 2.8L lens for some macro fun, and other times I bring my Sony bridge camera for zooming in on wildlife or fun activities that I find along the way. Today's Picture This lovely unfurling fern was just one of the masses of glowing spring growth that I saw everywhere on my walks. It's November as I post this, but it was the beginning of April when we started our trip and I really enjoyed seeing what budding springtime was like out on the coast. Today's Insets I got so many wonderful pictures with all three of my cameras while we were here! Today's handful of insets include a lovely mushroom, a pair of colorful ivy leaves, a playful collage showing a Mountain Chickadee, a bunny that I saw many times on my walks, and finally, a weathered whale skull mounted on a stand visible along one of the campground loops. Thank You For the Visits and Welcoming Home! I hope everyone is doing well! I have really enjoyed your visits and comments, and I'm making my rounds as time permits. Wow, it's so nice to be back!! I'm going to try to post every couple of days so I can get more pictures posted…there are so many that I've processed, and so so so many that are waiting for my attention! I hope I'll be able to share lots and lots, and I hope also to catch up with everyone too! Explored on 11/3/21; highest placement #1.

(+5 insets!) Today's Quick Post: Get Closer! My main picture today is one of those cool lessons you discover about macro photography. This dead fern frond is something most wouldn't notice. Why? It's dead. Furthermore, the color conditions us to ignore it because we've learned that brown plants = dead = boring. But if you get close to a dead plant, you'll often be greeted by a surprise like this one: new and interesting detail that you've never noticed before! Macro photography has taught me that even the most supposedly boring subjects can actually be extremely interesting and memorable! I now make sure to study all parts of a plant--both live and dead--because you never know what fantastic surprises lay in wait! :) Today's Pictures I'm featuring the other fern pictures I processed from my walk around the edge of Eel Lake at William Tugman State Park. I've also included a wonderful dead leaf with dramatic coloring and an interesting shape which I couldn't resist. :) I hope you are all doing great and have a lovely weekend in store! Explored on 2/20/21; highest placement #2.

(+5 insets!) Today's Quick Post There were so many beautiful plants to photograph on my daily walk around the edge of Eel Lake. Of course, it was impossible to resist taking more pictures of one of my favorite subjects--ferns! In fact, as I usually do, I got too many winner shots because ferns are such divas! Today I'm sharing some of the beautiful ferns and also some more pretty leaves I found too. Enjoy! Explored on 2/18/21; highest placement #1.

(+17 insets!) Our 2020 "Escaping Covid" RV Trip I'm going to go through our trip, stop by stop and hopefully I'll be able to get through all the pictures before we leave for our next trip! (Hint...so many pictures!!!) I'm including links to other posts which show images from this stop as well. First Stop: Humbug State Park We were so lucky to book a week here because the dates included Fourth of July, our Independence Day. Trying to find reservations a week before and following this day is usually next to impossible but to our total amazement we got incredibly lucky! Furthermore, this park is small and we really didn’t think we'd ever get to stay here! We counted our lucky stars every day! :D Humbug Mtn State Park--What Sets it Apart This park's unique features are its small size and its own, almost private, ocean beach, complete with a creek that runs into the water. The walk along the ocean is fabulous! Another unforgettable aspect that wasn't so nice was the wind in some areas. This intimate park sits in a narrow canyon which funnels coastal wind under the highway 101 bridge and up through the campground in a ferocious gale that affects some areas. Yet, in protected spots, the negligeable breeze makes you question whether or not you were exaggerating intensity of the wind rushing into the canyon. What a lovely campground it is! With an upper and lower loop, surrounded by lush forest with trails that meander up and out of the canyon and along the original Highway 101, this makes for a wonderful, wide walkway overlooking the ocean in some places. Of interest to bike riders, another notable point is that there is no cycling allowed in or around this park. Today's Main Picture My main image features the underside of a fern with its octopus-sucker-like rows of spores. These plants, which number over 12,000 species, are among the world's oldest and have been around for over 300 MILLION years! Isn't that incredible? I love their unusual appearance and never tire of photographing them! Humbug State Park sits in a lush forest which included plenty of ferns for my enjoyment. . Insets You'll find three other fern images to appreciate; I also included pictures captured on one of my trail hikes: a spike of beautiful purple foxglove blossoms that towered above me and a tiny wild purple and lavender geranium that peeked out shyly from the ground; a view of a dappled trail that lead up to old Highway 101 and another showing the highway-path so you can see how pretty it was! A wide panorama format was perfect for fuzzy red leaves stretching out from the main plant (Geranium?), and finally, a tall, narrow picture showing resin droplets that I found dribbling down the side of a fir tree. I'm also including inset-links to the other Humbug State Park posts I shared some time ago if you'd like to see the beach and other wonderful sights of this gorgeous place! Thank you for your visits! It's been so nice having ipernity back up and running again! I've really enjoyed visiting you guys, and getting your comments, favorites and views has totally made my day! Please stay safe, warm and dry!!

(+11 insets!) (Please scroll down to "Today's Pictures" for image information) Trip Talk: OMG We Bought a Brand New RV, Are We Certifiable???! Yep. We did it. I am the first person to tell you that buying a new vehicle is a total waste of money because the second you drive off the lot, it's worth a lot less…and it only plummets from there. So WHY in the world would we drop such a chunk of change for a new trailer, when we know full-well that we're throwing crazy amounts of money into the wind? We did it mostly because the RV industry is notorious for hiding damage, flaws, problems and issues. It is nearly impossible to find these faults and everything that comes up must be repaired by the owner or by a shop. It's expensive and time-consuming no matter how the issue is fixed. If you buy a new RV with a good warranty, it's not our problem. It's theirs. What I haven't told you is that on our Vancouver Island trip, we suffered an extremely frightening and potentially dangerous frame failure while on the road. When we were arriving at Campbell River--exactly two weeks into our six-week trip--Steve noticed with great concern that the trailer was leaning to the left. We pulled into a Walmart parking lot to take a closer look. Crawling under the trailer revealed a badly bent frame that was so warped and crumpled that both of us thought our trip was over right there. I'll talk more about this on a later post but long story-short, a local welding shop saved the day and allowed us to continue our trip and get home safely. That being said, the underlying worry of developing more structural damage made an indelible impact that was never far from our minds. Every "travel day", where we drove from one camp spot to the next, was filled with worry and tension because we could no longer trust our trailer. We were so relieved when we finally got home without any incidents! And yet, our trailer had totally let us down. We initially thought the build-quality was good enough for at least a year of use while we wrapped our heads around long-time RV travel. Instead, we got a serious reality check about the difference between a "weekender" RV and a "full-time" RV. Thinking about what might have happened in a worst-case scenario made us realize that we needed to get away from that trailer as soon as we could. Truthfully, our plans were to upgrade to a full-time trailer within a year or two. We were going to use our Grey Wolf for at least another six months or so but our narrowly avoided disaster changed everything for us. What price do you assign to the lives of you and your family? What's that? "Priceless" is your answer? Exactly. And THAT is the real reason why we bought a new trailer. Today's Pictures Today's main picture showcases one of my favorite things to photograph: shadows. I am forever stopping to gaze dreamily at dappled shadows on trails we walk on, and leaves captivate me when I see shadows creating lovely shapes on them. As Steve and I slowly made our way along one of the many explosively colorful paths of Butchart Gardens, my eye was immediately drawn to the shadows of a fern cast upon a richly-colored peach geranium (Thanks to Neira-Dan for identifying the species!) I don't know about you, but I find it very difficult to capture nhe magical quality of shadows because I think you need to see them in person to get the diaphanous effect that's happening. I was able to capture some of what I saw, though the reality was even more spectacular! Inset 1: this is my last lucky hummingbird picture, and it's feeding on gorgeous blue penstemon blossoms. Be still my beating heart you pretty little thing! Inset 2: I used to think that "ordinary" wax begonias were so boring. These dazzling red flowers which resemble coins to me, totally vindicate themselves of a description of blasé! Inset 3: how is it that I've never realized that begonias have such incredible foliage?! I've noticed their pretty leaves in the past but Butchart Gardens knocked me to the ground. This picture is just one example of the outrageously gorgeous leaves these plants can have. The park was overflowing with countless shapes, sizes and color combinations of leaves…I couldn't believe the variety! Inset 4: what a gorgeous group of fiery orange impatiens! This group was part of a huge plot completely covered with blossoms! Inset 5: here's another picture of a punch-drunk bee pigging out on flowers and not caring at all about the huge black thing hovering so close to it! Inset 6: this enormous pair of Elephant Ears was growing within a massive planting at the Mediterranean Garden. I just love the wonderful shape and texture of the leaves! Inset 6a: I made another version of the Elephant Ears with a darker background. It's more dramatic but maybe too distracting? Which version appeals to you more? Inset 7: I think this lovely blossom must be a white begonia, as there is a crimson one in the background and there are plenty of white begonias that look just like this one! Inset 8: in addition to having a staggering garden, Butchart also has their own little harbor! In fact, half of the park is surrounded by waters from Brentwood Bay, called the Tod Inlet. This is a view of the Butchart Cove harbor through a natural window created through a thick hedge! Inset 9: this is a view of Butchart's dock. If you can believe it, the docking area that leads out to the bay is designed for the pickup and drop-off of sea plane passengers! Inset 10: this is Butchart's little fleet of cute little tour boats. They offer 45-minute ecological trips around the Tod Inlet during the summer and if lucky, passengers might get to spot sea otters and many kinds of birds and other wildlife. Pam, one of the things I most admire about you is your creativity. Seeing the shadows cast upon the begonia in the main image makes me think about you because I'm sure you would have gone crazy if you'd seen the lovely shadows on these flowers! I sure do hope that you're able to get back to the point where you can once again create the marvelous artwork that comes from your heart, because it's part of what makes you complete. Maybe you'll need to change how you do things but I have a feeling that it will be possible! *BIG HUGS FROM SOUTHERN OREGON* Explored on 10/12/19; highest placement #1.

Hi everyone! We are finally home from our 3-week RV trip to four of Central Oregon's lovely state parks: LaPine, The Cove Palisades, L.L. Stub Stewart and Diamond Lake.What an amazing trip it was! There were so many beautiful places, so many wonderful adventures, and so many "firsts" too! It was also a trip which taught me a few things, but most of all I had to wave goodbye to an internet connection and just forget about it. I also realized that it was just impossible to keep up with a proper journal. It's always a struggle: do you LIVE the adventure or do you DOCUMENT it? It's all a balancing act and part of that balance is just throwing your hands in the air and enjoying the show without taking a single picture or writing a word about it. We were blessed to lose our truck's transmission in a place where we were safe. If asked, "Where would you like to be stuck if you were stranded in your RV for a week while your truck was being repaired?", we'd both say "L.L. Stubb State Park!" Honestly, there were many wonderful parks we would happily hole up in but we sure loved staying at L.L. Stubb with its endless hiking and mountain bike trails, comfortable weather, and gorgeous local. Deep, rich, beautiful forests are not the worst surroundings and in the end we got our truck back in premier condition and ready for years of adventures in the future! I've missed everyone here so very much. Even when there was an internet connection, I rarely had the time to visit which was too bad but what are you going to do, right?! :) I sure do hope that everyone has been doing ok and I look forward to visiting between the ebb and flow of chores around here! Today's picture is a one of a favorite subject: a fern frond! You may know how much I adore them--In fact, I'm infatuated by these lovely plants! When we were in L.L. Stubb State Park, we stayed at two sites. The first five days we stayed at their upper campground, the next five days we stayed at their lower campground. Next to our site was a steep hillside which of course I was soon crawling around on with my camera and macro lens. Why? Well, remember the Foxgloves I shared last? The white ones were waving at me and I couldn't resist. Once I was down there I found bunches of other lovely subjects to photograph. I saw some ferns too but they weren't in great condition. In fact, many fronds were in the process of yellowing and dying back. Then I noticed how colorful they were and took a closer look. HOLY COW, THEY WERE BEAUTIFUL!!! I was totally enchanted, and so today I wanted to share this picture with you so you can see how incredible a dying fern frond can be! :) Pam, you've been on my mind every day too. I hope you are well. I've been thinking a lot about Marie-Claire too and wishing for positive news--if anyone reading this knows how she is doing, I sure would like to know! Sending my biggest *HUGGZ* to everyone this evening!! Explored on 7/6/19; highest placement, #1.

(+2 insets) (view large for the best detail!) It was so pretty this morning with the sun shining brightly and so lovely to be outside as the world was waking up around me. Well, ok--to be honest, when I begin my walk at an early time like today it's 7:30am and the sunrise ship has already sailed away two hours before! But I'm sorry, 5:30am is officially "0-dark-hundred" and that is no time for a sane person to be getting up! At least, not in my mind, anyway! Heh...I'd consider myself a "morning person" now but that only goes so far! Steve and I have been so busy working on the property and prepping for our trip that I've had to neglect my pictures from our last trip. However, today things were much more relaxed so I took the opportunity to get some images finished from our lovely visit to Stout Grove, in Jedediah Smith State Park. This lovely park is nestled in a huge forest of old-growth redwood trees. These magnificent trees include the largest and tallest trees in the world! They only live along a narrow strip in northern California to southern Oregon and are quite the magnificent sight. (I'll be sharing pictures of the redwoods in another post) :) The forest here was also brimming with fern species and I went totally hog-wild with my photography the moment we got out of the car. You may know that I'm a hopeless junkie for ferns, especially when the fronds are unfurling...they are so unbelievably cool to me. :) And so, today's presentation is all about some of the lovely ferns I photographed! The main picture is a close-up of an unfurling Sword Fern and the insets show two other pictures of this super cool species, including their "elephantine" unfurling fronds and a fun shallow dof art shot! I hope you enjoy the show! Explored on 6/5/19; highest placement, #4.

(+5 insets!) (please view large!) :) I've just returned from a chilly but bright and sunny morning walk and my body is ticking with energy coursing through my veins. How vitalizing it is to get some invigorating exercise at the beginning of the day. It really makes me feel motivated and ambitious. After all, I've done something so good for my health and well-being at the very start. What better way to set yourself up for a series of wins, progress, achievements and successes?! Besides all of that, getting outside when the world is waking up around you is a wondrous experience with the twittering of birds and their songs and calls heard from near and far. It is a joy I missed out on for so many years. How lovely to get up early enough to be immersed in this daily marvel. Sitting down at my computer, I hop onto ipernity and check out the Explore section. Who is showcasing today?! Gazing at the selection of 27 pictures on the front page, I sit in wonder. So much talent. Such a vast variety of photography. The creativity boggles the mind. Pictures from literally all over the world, in all types of formats, from a dizzying variety of cameras. Exquisite images from seasoned professionals and from budding talent as well. Some have such a wonderful, recognizable style that you can tell who took the picture without glancing at the name. Others are unique and exciting and beg for a click so you can see what other pictures they've taken. Inspiration drips from the page. How grand to be part of it all. The community at ipernity is incredible. Wonderful, warm, intelligent folk who, like the pictures on Explore, cover a vast range of personalities and interests. Photographers can be very quirky and plenty of us spurn society for a gamut of reasons. But here on ipernity we can reach out and make friends. Isn't that wonderful. In my "real" life, the "in-person" friends I have fit onto one hand, perhaps two if I include family. But online, my friends and acquaintances number much closer to 100 or more! What a difference! In "real life" I am shy and very wary of people, but online I am extremely friendly and gregarious. Isn't it all so very interesting? I am extremely grateful to have the chance to be friends with people from all over the world, all walks of life, and who allow me the chance to know them. It is an honor and a true gift and I thank you all for allowing me to be part of this fine platform! *BIG HUGS TO ALL OF YOU!* Today happens to be St. Patrick's Day so I'm posting a picture that's very green! This fern was photographed in San Francisco a couple of years ago. Steve and I walked through part of Golden Gate Park to get to the Conservatory of Flowers' dahlia exhibit and on the way we stopped to take pictures of some of the fabulous plants found there. Ferns of many kinds grow everywhere and this one did not miss my gaze. (I'm also including some other green images for you to enjoy!) Pam, isn't it wonderful to be a part of this amazing group of people?! We are so lucky. And because of ipernity, we got the chance to meet…how cool is that?! :) Anyhow, I thought it would be fun to find a nice green picture on your stream and decided on a wonderful picture of a Ruby Throated Hummingbird sitting in a vibrant green oak tree. What a beautiful bird with her iridescent green feathers! It really is fun doing searches in your photo stream--it shows me how few I've actually seen and then I get the prize of appreciating them! Thank you for your lovely comment about my flower pictures! I'm so happy to read that you have been able to see a few of the flowers that are blooming for you now. I hope you can find great joy in these pretty spring sightings…one day at a time my dear! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 3/18/19, highest placement, #6.

(+4 insets!) Steve and I have had the chance to stay at Nathalie and Brian's home in San Anselmo on several occasions but this visit was the first time I'd brought my camera. I was really excited because I knew what was in store for me. It seems like anywhere inside or out, there are super cool things to take pictures of. One of the first places I attacked was Nathalie's amazing patio. She's got all sorts of potted plants and bushes and on the walls are moss and lichen. It's a bit dizzying to decide where to start but I made a beeline for her tree fern, what I call a "dinosaur fern", and these plants are among my very favorite. Because of the low light I was using my macro flash and as I clicked away, I became aware that Nathalie and Steve were talking in the kitchen just a few feet from me inside. Nathalie was wondering what the odd flash of light was, and then Steve noticed. I couldn't help grinning to myself as Steve realized it was my flash and explained to Nathalie. "Ohhhh!!!" I heard her say, as Steve went on to tell her how versatile our flash is. (By the way, if you are looking for a similar flash at a fraction of the price, I'd recommend this one !) She stepped out to see what I was doing and found me literally crawling around under the fronds of her fern. I giggled and told her that I am often splayed on the ground in very strange positions when I'm taking pictures, and have been asked on a number of occasions if I was ok and not, perhaps, dead! :D The biggest problem that I had with this fern was that the unfurling balls of leaves that I love to photograph are quite dark and indistinct and so they aren't as dramatic as others I've photographed in the past. However I think I managed to get some nice pictures and I've included four insets in addition to my main image. I played with some textures on a couple of them because I thought the bland background could use a bit of dressing up. I will definitely try some different ideas the next time I get the chance to take more pictures of Nathalie's awesome tree fern! Pam, I was surprised that you have no fern pictures in your photo stream! I'm going to guess that they don't grow on your property? I thought we didn’t have any on our property but one day I just about fell over when I discovered one by a seasonal stream. Another time I found one on our hillside. They aren't big but they are still super cool! I hope you have had a nice day…you are always in my thoughts! Explored on 1/11/19, highest placement, #5.

Steve and I were invited to visit our friend's beautiful garden a few years ago and upon entering, I was transported into photographic bliss! Not only did she have countless flowers in immaculate condition, there were lovely ornamental greenery plants as well. This is a magnificent frond from one of her gorgeous ferns.

Gardens are such a photographic wonderland. You get the chance to take pictures of countless subjects that don't grow locally. Steve and I spent a few hours at my friend's garden in May 2013, and along with a dizzying variety of flowers there were decorative plants as well. Including ferns, which is a huge favorite to me. The magnificence of an unfurling fern has few equals in my book, and here is an example of nature's perfection.

This fern plant isn't large, with each frond being only a few inches long, so I thought it would be fun to try getting some close-ups of the undersides, which are so fascinating to me. What you are looking at are spores, which is how ferns reproduce. Ferns are one of the world's oldest plants, and they do not reproduce by flower pollination like most other plants. The next time you are admiring a fern, take a look at the underside, and you'll be surprised how interesting the spores look! In fact, the spore vary drastically from one species to another, and I find them quite beautiful! :) If you would like to know more about spore reproduction in plants, Wiki has a very nice page here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporogenesis

I found this beautiful fern growing at my friend's garden and had a wonderful time trying to capture the graceful shapes of these unfurling leaves.

This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.

This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.

I wanted to display a close-up of the fern I showed yesterday. Look at how the seeds on the leaves look like octopus tentacles! Winner of FlickrDuel contest: Versus Color: Green This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.