Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: breathtaking

(+1 inset!) (Please view large!) Less Than A Week Before our Next Trip! We can't believe that we'll be on the road in in mere days! Steve's tying up loose ends and we're figuring out what we need to get before we go...isn't it amazing?! We are jumping for joy! A Second Week of Camping is Reserved! There's a clever trick to getting campsites that we learned from seasoned campers. You go to the reservation site and click on RESERVE SPOT at exactly 12:01am. It's sneaky and it will give you a much higher chance of getting a location that you're after. We are happy to report that this has worked for us perfectly so far and now we are set up for two weeks!! Next Sunday night Steve will try again for a third spot…and we'll just keep it up until we're ready to come home! :D Snakey and the Geriatric Toads are Going Camping! Last summer we left our snake and toads at home when we were away. We were gone for 1-3 weeks at a time so it wasn't a problem. When we went to Canada we brought them to a caretaker. This time we really don't know how long we'll be out, but we don't want to worry about our buddies either. We talked about rehoming them but the fact is that we love them and don't want to rehome them. Our Firebelly Toads are an unbelievable 20 years old now--we are down to two of the original seven but the last pair keep on truckin' and we think they're super cool. Snakey McSnakerton has grown up over the years from a lovely baby to a vibrant, beautiful adult, nearly 4' long and truly impressive to behold. He's part of our family and we don't want to give him up. That being said, we've made a place for each of their habitats in our trailer and we can't be happier that our family will all be together on our adventures. Neither of us felt good about leaving them alone on our trips last year. Now they will be with us (along with our parrot, Pumpkin, of course). When we drive from one spot to the next, Snakey and the toads will be in smaller carriers and then we'll put them into their habitats once we arrive at each destination. Hooray!! It may seem really odd to some of you but we really do love them and we're so happy about this! Feeling So Excited I've been stuck here on the property for literally months and the idea of getting away has me bouncing around like a little kid! With all that's been going on, I haven't wanted to take pictures or really do anything. I've struggled with depression and anxiety. Now we are finally going to get out into the world and go on adventures again! I can't wait! :) The thought of being on the coast again, wandering around with my camera…playing with my metal detector…looking for rocks to tumble…I have to shut my brain down before it pops from the thrill of it all! Writing, processing pictures, taking in the new sights and sounds, reading and just relaxing in another place…won't it be wonderful!! :D But We Are Prepared: It STILL Might Not Happen With the "opening of the US" after the quarantines and such, people are behaving as if there's no reason to be cautious and the case numbers are exploding again. We are going forward with our plans, knowing that it might all evaporate before we go or in the middle of our trip. Who knows what will happen? We're going to cross our fingers and head out if we can. If we're shut down, so be it. Hopefully everything will be fine for us! Today's Pictures Last year Steve and I drove into Medford and I walked through a neighborhood I frequented on my work breaks when I had a job in town for a couple of years. I'd wanted to visit in the springtime with hopes to capture the lovely garden explosions I'd seen. I was not disappointed! I'm sharing a pair of pictures from that fun day, featuring a gorgeous panorama of pink tulips as my main image. The inset is a lovely group of red tulips which turned out really well…I have issues with my camera's processing of red, and with some image tweaking, I was able to get the rich lustrous tones that I saw! Explored on 6/23/20; highest placement #1.

(+16 in notes above!) Last summer, from July until late November, I was given a never-ending poppy show. Every morning I would step outside and see the new blossoms glowing in the morning sunshine and the sight would take my breath away. These flowers are a photographer's dream, with extremely translucent petals and a rainbow of gorgeous colors. I have two very exciting comments to add! The first is that my poppies have reseeded themselves and I have counted half a dozen poppy buds that are already forming! That's three months earlier than last year!! My second exciting bit of news is that I purchased a huge assortment of poppy flower seeds which I will be planting on May 1, which is the official "last day of frost" here in southern Oregon. I can hardly wait! :) Explored on April 22, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

5 more pictures in notes above! This morning at 6:30am, I woke up to a very strange sight. Orange-red light was shining into the bedroom and turning the walls orange! I quickly got my glasses and when I turned to look outside, I nearly fell out of bed from the sight that you are now staring at! I was completely dazzled by this absolutely incredible sunrise for about two seconds, and then I leaped out of bed, thundered downstairs, jammed in my emergency 1 gig card, and flew back upstairs again. Even a few seconds later, the colors had changed from an even more red sky to what you see here, which is tinged with orange and yellow. I could not believe my eyes...this is the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen here!! I took half a dozen more pictures, but within about two minutes, the colors had faded completely to a soft pink and then blue. The day had begun. And this time...I captured this magical sight!! I have another picture as an inset so you can see another version, but they are similar enough that I didn't make that one public. I wonder which you like better? I cannot say, they are different and both lovely. For me, it is a wonder to see a sunrise. I have been an incurable nightowl all my life, stubbornly loathing to be forced out of bed before 9am. But a couple of months ago, Steve and I decided we needed to change this. If we hoped to go on bike rides during the summer, getting up early was the only way we'd be able to do it. What surprised us both is that we not only didn't mind, we LIKED IT!! And so, this sunrise is like a reward for changing our waking hour. I am so happy to be awake at my favorite time of the day. It's incredibly special, isn't it? Horace Mann (May 4, 1796 – August 2, 1859) was an American education reformist. As a politician he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1827 to 1833. He served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1834 to 1837. In 1848, after serving as Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education since its creation, he was elected to the US House of Representatives. Mann was a brother-in-law to author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Wikipedia: Horace Mann Explored on August 30, 2013. Highest placement, page 1 (#27).