Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: pine tree

(+5 insets) Becoming One with the Forest When I go out on a walk with my camera, I try to open my mind as wide as I can. I will prepare for my adventure by playing a two-part game called "10 Things," and as I walk along, I pick out 10 things that would be worthy of a picture and 10 natural things that I hear. The point isn't to begin taking pictures instantly, but instead to become one with my surroundings. The crunch of my footsteps over dried leaves, the shine of sunshine on a dew-laden leaf…the morning song of a bird perched invisibly nearby, the glow of light through a new cluster of leaves. With this exercise, I shed myself of all but the world around me and I am soon another spirit drifting through the trees… This will be my last post from Honeyman! It's time to move on to our next stop, but my, wasn't this a gorgeous place we got to visit?! :) A whole two weeks was such a gift, with time to relax and soak up everything this park had to offer. We just loved it here! Today's Picture The rewarding jewel of my long walk every day at Honeyman was the enchanted forest loop past the edge of Woahink Lake. Nowhere else was the feeling of immersion so strong, the sense of being welcome here so undeniable. The new growth was everywhere, including this cluster of budding pine cones. Unusual and beautiful, I loved to stare at these closely whenever I had the chance. This image also shows the beautiful bokeh which can be achieved with my wonderful bridge camera, the Sony Cyber‑Shot RX10 IV . Today's Insets Inset #1: The other day I posted a magnificent Fringed Pinesap for my main image. There was another one sitting beside it which had just erupted from the ground and would not open up for many days. It was wonderful to get the opportunity to enjoy the show. :) Inset #2: This pair of budding, droplet-covered fuchsia twins was a great find and a delight to behold! They aren't native to Oregon but are a commonly planted species around state parks which are loved by all who find the dazzling dancing ballerinas. Inset #3: On the moss-covered floor of the magical forest loop I found countless Bird's Nest fungus adhered to twigs and branches that lay on the ground. The cups they formed were filled with spores called periodoles, which are ejected from their "nests" by water droplets that hit them and slowly spread these pretty fungi. This page, "Splish Splash Bird's Nest Fungi" is full of super information, pictures and graphics to teach readers about these remarkable, unusual nests. Inset #4: Two trees leaning towards one another over a tiny pond, the glowing, moss-covered "arms" seemed to stretch out to touch one another and the scene was magical to me. Inset #5: One last picture of the sand dunes meeting the edge of Cleawox Lake, formatted to be a wide panorama. What a sight. And Cleawox Lake was marvelous too, and full of trout that we caught for many meals! In fact, we caught so many (31!!) that we still had some in our freezer to enjoy when we got home! DELICIOUS! Thank You For Coming By! I appreciate all of your visits, comments and stars so much. I hope you have a marvelous weekend--please take care of yourselves! :) Explored on 1/29/22; highest placement #3.

(+5 insets!) As I type now it's 8:45am and SNOWING! When I first got up at 7am it was only wet out but no rain. As I got my day started I looked outside at about 7:15am and huge, soft, puffy flakes were drifting down from the sky. I could hardly wait to get out there to experience a heavy snowfall! Have you ever walked in falling snow? It is a delightful experience. Soft flakes come down and land on your clothes and in your hair. If you're lucky, you can stick your tongue out and catch a flake there too! Depending on the dryness of the snow, you can often wipe it off of you before it melts. This morning's snow was extremely fluffy and though I had my umbrella with me, the flakes drifted down and under it and I got snow all over me! The snow was falling so thickly that I couldn't wipe it off fast enough before I was covered with snow again. It landed on my umbrella with a steady fluffy patter of "plump-plump-plump" and piled up so that I could actually feel my umbrella getting heavy with the snow sitting on top! I walked up to the top of the hill where I take my panoramas and somehow managed to hook my umbrella into my clothes so it didn't fall to the ground while I held my phone and took pictures. I hoped the pictures would show the falling snow…and as you can see from the insets, I was successful! (The last inset I just took a few minutes ago--late afternoon--there is snow on the far hillsides and snow is coming down too!) Walking down the drive to our gate, I considered turning around and going back inside because I would be soaked in no time if the snow continued to fall heavily. But 30 seconds later the flakes became much smaller and no longer drifted under the protection of my umbrella. I loved walking along this way, looking out at the snow falling down across the property. There is a very special peace when you walk in the snow. You hear the squeak of snow as it compresses under your feet but other than that, it's silence, serenity and a sense of peace in this beautiful scene. I discovered a long time ago that if you want to truly experience a type of weather, you must be in it--not merely looking out at it. Every kind of weather has a different feeling. Walking in snowfall is the most special feeling to me because of the peace that comes over me. It's similar to walking under an umbrella in the rain but 10 times better. :) After returning to the house, I kept an eye on the snow which continued to fall for the next hour or so. Then it stopped, the sun came out and just like that the snow melted and disappeared. We are supposed to get more snow in the coming week and maybe it will finally begin to stick. I would love to be able to walk around in drifts of snow. A proper snow shoot would be super but I'm not holding my breath. It's not getting cold enough and not likely to. But I really enjoyed my adventure today and walking in the heavy, fluffy snow was magical! Today's main picture was one I discovered in my archives the other day. I really love the way the pine needles look like a porcupine! It's another one of those surprises that makes you wonder how it wasn't processed to begin with! In fact, the whole folder is full of snowy gems and hope to get at least some of them finished for show-and-tell. :) Pam, speaking of porcupines, have you ever seen any around your property? I haven't but I know they're out there. When Molly and her puppy found their way onto our property, we didn't immediately make them indoor dogs. We fed them and provided a very comfortably furnished Dogloo on the porch to sleep in. The pair would sometimes wander onto the BLM property nearby and one day the 8-month old pup came back with a bunch of porcupine quills on his nose and a few on a paw. Thankfully we were able to remove them ourselves. Until that day we didn't know there were porcupines in the area. It's amazing how many animals live around us that we aren't even aware of. Well, I sure do hope this is a pleasant Saturday for you my dear! *BIG HUGGGGGGS*!! :) Explored on 2/10/19, highest placement, #3.

Ravaged by the fire that roared up our hillside, the forest that grew there was totally devastated. So many old trees, all gone. It is a horrible tragedy, but when I look at the ruin around me there, I am reminded that this is all a part of nature and an important part of the ecosystem. (There are also dead madrone trees behind and to the right.)

This image was taken on the MeetUp hike around one edge of Howard Prairie Lake on August 7, 2011.

Photographed on the Rogue Gorge Trail, near Union Creek, Southern Oregon

Photographed on the Rogue Gorge Trail, near Union Creek, Southern Oregon

Photographed on the Rogue Gorge Trail, near Union Creek, Southern Oregon

Photographed on the Rogue Gorge Trail, near Union Creek, Southern Oregon

Winner of FlickrDuel contest: +10 Wins: Flora Photographed on the Rogue Gorge Trail, near Union Creek, Southern Oregon

Photographed on the Rogue Gorge Trail, near Union Creek, Southern Oregon

Photographed on the Rogue Gorge Trail, near Union Creek, Southern Oregon

Another older picture, I remember everything about this day. Very special trees here, massive, strong energy from all of them! Winner of FlickrDuel contest: +10 Wins: Nature Photographed on the Rogue Gorge Trail, near Union Creek, Southern Oregon

[best appreciated at full size against black] Looking for water droplets the other day, I remembered one of the pine trees that grows near the road, so off I went! I was initially disappointed because I couldn't find any droplets at the very end of any needles, but then I realized that a droplet doesn't need to be at the end to look interesting...what do you think?! :) 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 January, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] If you've been visiting my photostream for a while, you'll know that one of my favorite things is taking pictures of leaves that get stuck on the way down as they fall from the tree. In this case, it's a pine needle, stuck at the top beween a manzanita's branches. I didn't show where it was stuck because for me, the really interesting part was the end of the pine needle. It's not what we usually notice, and I like how it seems to be trying very hard to get to the ground! This image was taken in February, 2012.