Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: SSC

(+1 inset!) Oh my, it's been another crazy day…it's just amazing how the hours just disappear. I got up at 6:45am this morning and I am just now sitting down to relax for a couple of minutes before dinner and more running around. Today I did a lot of cooking and meal preparation for our upcoming trip. I simply don't know how the hours drain away but after all is said and done, we now have 15 breakfast egg, onion, cheese and sausage muffins, a couple of quarts of faux-tato salad (made with cauliflower...it's 10x better than potato!), and a bunch of other things are sorted out and ready to go. Whew! The best part is having Steve try each of my creations and then wanting to eat them all! :) I'm bummed that I haven't had time to visit contacts on ipernity or leave comments. It's frustrating but time is so short that I don't even have time to work on my pictures. A shame. I haven't been able to process very many images from our past trip but what are you going to do when life is throwing a million tasks at you? I do apologize for not visiting—I feel guilty when so many have stopped by to say hi and I've not been able to reciprocate. I'm not sure what I can do about this problem...I can barely comment when we're away on our trips and when I get home I'm swamped with a million things to do. I would love some advice from you busy folks who manage to fit commenting into your day! This is also Saturday, and that means Saturday Self Challenge! When I read what the topic was a few days ago, I wasn't sure that I'd be able to get out for pictures of a subject for "Statues and Monuments". However, as luck would have it, Steve and I went out a couple of days ago and there was enough time for a picture of a particular statue I loved. In downtown Medford we have the Ginger Rogers theater—she lived here for all of her later life! Outside the theater is a square called Vogel Plaza. It's nothing special, though it's been used for protests and demonstrations through the years. The one thing that does make it special in my eyes is the awesome sculpture located on the far side of the square from the theater. There sits a bronze gentleman who is pondering his next chess move. Opposite to him is an empty bronze chair which tempts anyone nearby to sit in it! The artwork is fabulous with awesome details, an obvious understanding of proper anatomy and of course, a brilliant idea and execution. I asked Steve to pose for me so I could have a fun picture to share—I couldn't be happier with the wonderful mirror image he created for me! I also have an inset today...it's ME sitting in the empty bronze chair back in 2013! What fun! :) Pam, do you like to play chess? I love it but chess is a game which takes such a long time to play. I participated in online matches for a while but eventually I grew weary...I just don't have the time to contemplate all of the moves and look forward to the following possibilities, etc. It is a great intellectual pastime though! And my father—with his math-bent genius IQ—taught me as a kid and heh...beat me all the way up until he passed away at age 87. What a mind. Playing chess with my father made me feel like I was a cornered mouse being toyed with by a cat who likes to play with its food! LOLOL...well, I think it was nice that the smarts I got from my parents is all of the creative sort! Hope your day was a good one my dear! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 6/9/19; highest placement, #1.

(+6 insets!) (view large for a more hypnotizing view!) :D This picture is also dedicated to our dear friend on ipernity, Marie-claire Gallet . She is ill with a recurrence of cancer and I am hoping for a fast and successful recovery! Today I looked outside and it was just SO BEAUTIFUL! The warm sun coming up over the hill made everything it touched erupt with light and I knew I just HAD to take my camera out with me on my morning walk. Also, I just couldn't take the PRESSURE ANYMORE! Pressure you ask? What pressure? Stepping outside, my eyes were immediately drawn to a glorious patch of poppies which were positively glowing in the early sunshine. It's almost as if every one of those blossoms was singing a siren's song out into the heavens and I could hear every note! It didn't matter that I have countless unprocessed poppy pictures in my archives. I simply could not resist another day of their overwhelming gorgeousness and beaconing calls. I was immediately swept away into a dream of photography, surrendering to the luscious beauties posing before me. Their flamenco-like petal-dresses swayed and danced in the breeze, offered in so many lovely colors and combinations. I was not the only one hypnotized by their grandeur. Bees of all kinds buzzed and crawled drunkenly over the flowers in droves, stumbling over one another, completely out of their minds with desire. How familiar this scene was to me, I thought with a big smile on my face, and I watched them joyfully while I took pictures. I learned how poppies affected bees back in 2014 when I planted a garden for my first time. I scattered countless poppy seeds in the beds to be sure that if nothing else sprouted, at least I'd have poppies. Sprout they did…hundreds of plants all over the beds with so many flowers that I simply couldn't believe my eyes! For months, every morning would be another show with new blooms. And, as I walked to the garden, the sound of bees preceded me, getting louder and louder as I finally entered the garden. The bees were EVERYWHERE! Even though I wasn't worried about them, I soon discovered that I might as well be invisible because they couldn't care less about me. And what a wonderful feeling, to know that the seeds I planted grew into flowers which were feeding all those bees. To this day, every time I see bees falling all over themselves at poppies that I had something to do with…it makes me feel overjoyed. :) Oh yeah…did you know it's Saturday? Specifically SATURDAY SELF-CHALLENGE! And today's challenge is "Shadows". Ok, so when I first saw the theme I immediately thought about the cool shadows I see on our window blinds and walls when the sun shines through the trees. I do love shadows. In fact, they stop me in my tracks so I can appreciate them! But today my initial idea got tossed out the moment I was bewitched this morning by the poppies. Even as I was being magnetically drawn to those glowing blossoms I could see the shadows through their translucent petals. Shadows? I'll give you shadows! My main picture is called "Angel with Wings," and when I saw this poppy I couldn't help but say out loud, "OOOOOH, LOOK AT THE ANGEL WINGS!! I got one picture that also showed the shadow of a bee crawling around between the "wings" but I thought this picture was better without the distraction. I have six insets to share as well, and you'll see a bee in flight in two of them! I really had to force myself to stop processing pictures…I got so many lovely images that I want to share but I think this is enough! :D Pam, remember when we went in on poppy seeds together?! That was such fun! I still have poppies reseeding themselves from 2014! What about you? Did yours reseed too I hope? What wonderful flowers they are. Sending my love and *HUGGGGZZZZZ!!!* Explored on 6/1/19; highest placement, #1.

(+1 inset) (please view large for the pretty details/!) (By the way, I'm away on my trip, posting a picture every day but I don't have much time to comment...thank you so much for your visits, comments and stars, and also for understanding that I don't have the time I usually do to give you the attention you deserve in return!) Boy, it's been a busy couple of days! We've really been enjoying ourselves but it's kept me off the computer and away from working on my writing and photo processing. I will need to figure out how to balance that too, but for now I'm doing my best! Yesterday after lunch, Steve and I grabbed our rain gear along with our cameras and headed over to Stout Grove in our truck, leaving the RV at the campsite This remarkable and famous redwood forest sits inside the protective borders of Jedediah Smith State Park. We couldn't wait to see it! The rain was coming down but we hoped for the best. The short drive was accented by unbelievable masses of glowing ferns which were seemingly growing everywhere. As stunning as they were, have you ever seen wild azaleas and rhododendrons in full bloom? I haven't. It was incredible! We couldn't miss the flashes of magenta and purple of these leggy bushes and small trees which peeked out from behind the towering and majestic redwood trees which ruled this place. What a show. Stout Grove sits at the end of a pothole-filled dirt road and we made our way carefully to the trail head and found plenty of parking. We were happy to learn that there weren't many other people brave enough to deal with the inclement weather. Those we met were warm and wonderful people with joyful smiles and glowing spirits. It was nice to share this place with other nature lovers like us. As we took off down the trail we protected our cameras as best we could from the droplets coming down, but as we walked, the rain slacked off and within 15 minutes, it stopped altogether, almost as if it were planned that way! HUZZAH! I went crazy with fern photography. Steve was using the Sony and having fun with that, and after a while we traded cameras and I got some nice pictures of the trees. Heh, a 100mm macro lens really can't take a picture of a towering redwood...unless it's just a tiny bit of it! :D I know I could have brought some other lenses but that's why I had the Sony. At a few points I was carrying BOTH cameras, *shakes head*...I think I may be certifiable! :D Our visit was just fantastic and after we felt we'd seen enough, we headed back to the car. Once we were tucked in, it began to pour again! What are the odds?! :) (I apologize for not including pictures of the redwoods and the ferns but I just don't have time right now, *cry*...I'll be posting plenty of pictures once I'm home and have time to go through them!) After we got back and had dinner, we pulled out a game that Steve's sister sent to us, "Qwirkle". What a fun game! Easy and yet full of strategy, we had a really good time and look forward to playing more games in the future. --------------------- This morning we got everything tucked away and headed out by 10:30, heading out to the coast and then north for a couple of hours to our next campsite on Coos Bay! It rained the entire time we were driving but it was such a lovely drive! Views of the ocean and enormous boulders with waves crashing against them...it was very amazing to see. The lush green of the forests and farmland was a beautiful contrast as we rode along. Once we pulled into our campsite both of us assumed our various roles. It wasn't long before we got everything in proper order, we're really getting used to how to most efficiently get our RV set up. Steve took Molly out to use the bathroom and soon came back to tell me that I just had to come out to see the beach! It was a mere TWO MINUTES WALK from our RV!! The rain, once again, STOPPED when we left to go to the beach! Our luck is incredible...it keeps happening!! The beach. Holy cow. It's just lovely here. Either direction is marvelous. Tide pools one way, miles of beach the other. Tomorrow we'll ride our bikes along the water's edge. I hope to creep around the tide pools and get some cool shots of anemones, crabs, barnacles and other wonderful subjects. Won't it be nice to just relax and enjoy this place that we don't have to drive out to?! We are so happy...this is our favorite campsite this trip, and exactly what we hoped for! Ok, I really have to stop my blabbing! :D It's SATURDAY SELF CHALLENGE! Today's theme is Selective Color, so I picked one of the gorgeous little flowers I found at Stout Grove, kept the flower in color and removed the color in the background. I've also included one view of the jaw-dropping beach that's just a short walk from our RV! Pam, I loved your note about Cannon Beach. Unfortunately it's too far north for this trip but it's on our Bucket List so we'll definitely be visiting at some point down the road. No worries though, there is beauty-galore here that we will show you! :) Steve and I are sending hugs your way! Explored on 5/18/19; highest placement #1.

(+11 insets!) Today is Saturday and that means only one thing…SATURDAY SELF-CHALLENGE!! HOORAY! :D Today's challenge is a favorite topic of mine (heh, I have zillions of favorites! :D), RUST! I definitely wanted to take pictures of three specific things and when I went out to capture them, I was on a mission! :D The first place I went is to the enormous old, fallen-down oak tree with the rotted tree house, all of which are slowly disintegrating into dirt. (I have an inset showing the tree) It looks like nothing at all at a normal distance. But as a MACRO subject, this poor old relic is brimming with photographic treasures! I spent a while taking pictures of the countless rusty nails I found on the tree and rotting wood, knowing from past experience that I was sure to get some super images. It's just really hard to miss when it comes to rusty nails and the sort! :) As I hoped, I got lots of winners and my main picture today shows old nails sticking out of wood so soft now that you can break it with fingernails. Decay is working overtime with this dilapidated tree house! There are many insets that explore other nails and nail heads, all gloriously rusty and such fun at macro size! My second stop was a pile of remaining barbed and straight strands of wire in our large meadow. I have removed all but this last pile and so I made a beeline for these remnants that I knew had plenty of colorful rust to capture. You'll find insets of both a clump of knotted-up barbed wire and also an artsy razor-thin dof image of straight wire with a pair of Seablush flowers in bokeh to add some fun color. Finally, I went to a spot that I walk over every single day on my walks up and down our road. Above the driveway is a path that leads up to the top of a small hill where the septic leech field is located. At one point across the path are four links of a rusty chain deeply embedded in the cement-like clay soil. I had hoped to share pictures of this when it was bristling with frost during the winter. To my dismay, even on the coldest day when everything else was coated with a thick layer of frost, the links refused any frosty adornment. Probably because it's right at dirt level and thus cannot get as cold because of heat dispersion. I say BOO. However, it makes a cool picture for our topic today and so finally I get to share it with all of you! :) (You'll find this picture as an inset as well.) By the way, this colorful rusty chain has become a wonderful landmark on my walks, something I enjoy seeing every time I walk over it (the chain lies directly across the path!). I showed Steve my picture and he told me that he's tried to pull it out of the ground on his walks, to no avail. I was aghast! "MY PET CHAIN?! NO!!! You cannot harm my pretty chain!" We had no idea that each of us had taken a specific interest in that chain. He said he had been thinking of backing our tractor up so he could hook a chain to it and pull it out of the ground. ACK!! It's all too funny…I didn't know I had a sentimental attachment to that silly piece of chain but I guess I did! LOL! Anyway, I hope you all like the presentation! I look forward to seeing all of the other contributions this week! Pam, I looked up "rust" on your stream and found a fun picture of a Prairie Lizard sitting on a rusty something or other! :D So cute. That little fellow looks a lot like our Fence Lizards! I hope your day went well, Pam! Thanks for your comments about my Red-Winged Blackbird, I thought you might have them too, as they are pretty wide-spread. Such fun to see them! *BIG HUGS* from southern Oregon! Explored on 5/5/19, highest placement, #1.

(+10 insets!) (Please view large!) Note: no pictures from Upper Klamath Lake today, it's Saturday Self-Challenge! LOL, it's another late posting day! It's not my fault! It's the fault of the Saturday Self-Challenge theme! "Coins" was just too much fun and then there was dinner and well, you know how it goes! :D I was originally going to post only pictures of foreign coins because I thought I'd read that in the description of the theme. I ran into trouble because I somehow managed to move our spare foreign coins and spent a while looking around for them without luck. Then I remembered that a few had gotten mixed into our change bowl and ran down to the kitchen to check. I poured them all out onto the counter (and spilled a bunch onto the floor, of course) and was delighted to find half a dozen from Europe and Canada! Hooray! Before I started taking pictures, I reread the challenge text and found out that I could use any kind of coin--not just foreign as I'd thought--so I decided to add some pictures of U.S. currency too. My main picture is a spill of foreign coins with my main subject precariously balanced on its edge. LOL, I spent more time trying to get those things to stand on edge, how ridiculous! :D I know I could have found some wax or other clever methods but the stubborn mule in me refused the easy route! :D At one point I got two of them to stand up! I got one picture before I bumped the table and down they went, wahhhh! :D You'll find seven insets to look at (and three archive images). Some of them are very similar--just different coins--but I thought you might like to see what I came up with. I just love coin pictures so I'm really looking forward to perusing the SSC group and seeing what everyone did! (I've seen a few already, nice job guys!) :D Pam, I looked up "coin" on your stream and found a picture of fossilized shells with a penny placed next to them for scale! :D LOL, that works! :) And the shells are really cool. Reminds me of the time I went to the Grand Canyon many years ago. To my utter disbelief there were shells absolutely EVERYWHERE! It was totally amazing. I cannot wait to go back with Steve so we can share this experience together! :) BTW I loved what you had to say about my sunrise picture and how different campsites are from one to the next and between the US and England! And finally, I sure do hope that you had a good day my dear! :) *BIG HUGS* Explored on 4/28/19, highest placement, #1.

(+4 insets) ACK! Double ACK! I was finishing up a special post for today when I remembered that it was SATURDAY! ACK-ACK!! It's Saturday Self-Challenge and I totally forgot!! *shakes head* I read about the topic a few days ago, "backlit", and because that's a common type of picture I take, I promptly forgot all about it until now. (I'll post my intended picture tomorrow!) :) The only pictures that might have worked that I'd taken this week were from last Saturday and well, that's kind of too old. So I needed to rush out and take some pictures now…and it was 3:30 when I stepped outside…and now it's 4:30! (I finished this post and made it public at 5:40!) Did I mention that there is an actual wind-storm going on outside? It's whistling through the roof and shaking the windows. In other words, it's not a good time to be outside. By the way, have you ever tried to take pictures of flowers when there's a breeze, let alone strong wind? I began cackling like a mad woman and pulling my hair out. But I had to try. Fact is, if I was unsuccessful, I'd be able to get something inside but well…a challenge…gotta do my best, right?! I only looked at my pictures after I typed the text above, so I'm adding this after I've processed the pictures I'm posting today. Can you say AMAZED? I simply do not know how I was able to get a single passable picture…but somehow I managed! I did try to go to spots where the wind wasn't blowing so much but there was nowhere to escape the gusts! I was literally laughing at the ludicrous impossibility of it all. I thought I'd have to cheat and use an older picture. I guess not. :) The main picture today has turned out to be one of the best images I've ever taken of a Mariposa Lily. These treasures grow all over our property and I adore their alien-like hairy petals and soft pink colors. What I love about this picture is that you can see the hairs shadowed on the petal! It's really neat. (you'll also find an archive inset which shows this lovely flower from above so you can see how amazing it looks from that angle!) The first of the two insets is a picture of a lovely little flower called a Goldfield. Well named, they grow in massive carpets and are found where it's very soggy. They are in full bloom now, but what a challenge to find one tall enough that I could get a picture from down low! Can't believe this picture turned out!! The second inset is a Common Brodiaea, and it also grows in profusion around our property. They are just starting to bloom now and I figured they would be a super choice for a backlit subject. Except. They grow on tall, flexible stems and you would have cackled right along with me to see them whipping back and forth in the wind. "YEAH, RIGHT!" was my mumbled comment as I tried to get a picture when the wind wasn't blowing. How I got this picture…I do not know!! My last inset is just to show you the sort of result that I was getting with that crazy wind! :D It's howling now…and I'm giggling back at it! I WIN, you confounded windstorm! :D Pam, I searched for "wind" and discovered the perfect picture! I landed on your Windflower collage and what do you know? They are incredibly beautiful in stunning back lighting!! HOORAY!! Really stunning flowers, Pam, it's obvious that you revere these gorgeous blossoms…as you should. They are amazing. Thank you for sharing them with us so perfectly. What an awesome display. :) I hope that you are doing well today my dear! *BIG HUGS* from southern Oregon! Explored on 4/21/19, highest placement, #1.

(please view large) Oh dear. I'm terribly late again today! And on top of that I'm totally exhausted so there is only one picture tonight! What luck! Today was Medford's annual Pear Blossom Parade and street fair--the perfect event to bring Steve's sister to! In the dozen years we've lived here, Steve and I have never actually gotten our act together to go so we were delighted that we finally got to take part in the festivities. None of us minded walking so we parked the truck well-away from the parade route and then made our way over to take a look. I was immediately drooling at the Corvette Club's 25 entries that drove by in as many models and colors…they are one of my favorite cars and it was such fun to see them. We decided to walk towards the street fair area and we were walking at the same speed as one of Medford's high-school marching bands. As they played, a smile bloomed on my face and I fairly beamed in absolute bliss. The piece they played was one of my favorite songs, "Shake Shake Senoroa" and you'll recognize it from Beetlejuice, which is also a cult favorite of mine! (I've linked the YouTube video) For the first time in many, many years, I was hearing a band play very close to me and could feel the music course through me. The magnificent beat of the drums, the horns, the flutes, all of the instruments thrummed through me from head to toe. It was the most wonderful feeling to be part of the awesome music that unfolded as we walked along. I absolutely couldn't get enough of this awesome experience. Not only was my whole body completely captivated, watching them was pure, high-octane eye-candy! In front were the "color guard" or flag-twirlers and they spun their colorful flags and danced to the music…what fun they were to see! Such cute outfits, all of them were full of energy and each wore a big smile. Then the conductors in their festive hats walked backwards the whole time, leading their flock of musical sheep. Then the reed instruments, the drums, the horns, and others, with a row of officials to bring up the rear. I saw it all. I got the unique experience of being a part of their outstanding performance for nearly an entire mile!! When they got to the end of the song, they did some fancy drumming and then started over again…I felt like the world's happiest purring kitty. What a show! What a delight! It was fabulous. We then walked around all of the booths at the street fair and there I got to enjoy people watching and saw lots of really neat arts and crafts for sale, and endless types of food offered by a myriad vendors. The smells were so mouth-wateringly delicious…I felt like I was gaining weight just from the smells that wafted everywhere! HEAVEN! The sound of a band began to encroach on our senses and what we were hearing was one of my favorite kinds of music, bluesy-soul and the woman singing was AMAZING! Again I could feel the performance and just stood and enjoyed every song. (I found the band: "Not Too Shabby" and here's one of their pieces on YouTube: (click the words) ) Steve and Deanne both wandered off to get food and I had a bite of the sausage Steve got to tide me over. I loved watching the kids dancing to the music and the occasional adult that couldn't keep their bodies from moving to the rhythm. It was so neat. Eventually we had our fill and made our way back to the truck and headed over to the historic (albeit incredibly touristy) town of Jacksonville where we started off by going to our favorite coffee house there and enjoying perfect creamy coffee. Then we spent a couple of hours wandering around and enjoying the sights. Me? I had my camera with me and lost myself in hundreds of pictures of spring flowers and other cool sights. (I took a few at the festival but I had my 100mm with me and it's not conducive to street photography so I didn't really bother…no worries, I wasn't really in the mood to deal with possible agro from people.) We finally left and were completely happy with the day and totally exhausted from our activities. What fun!! Oh…yeah…I didn't forget about today's photo assignment! The Saturday Self-Challenge theme is "Your pet in black and white." OK! I suspected I'd be wiped out at the end of the day so before we left this morning, I had Steve handle Snakey McSnakerton, our beautiful 4-foot-long California Mountain King Snake for a photo shoot! I got lots of super shots but I don't have the time or energy to process any more than my main image. Isn't he gorgeous?! We adore him! Pam, it looks like you don't have any snake pictures on your stream but you did have a lovely skink picture which I really loved! Super cool to see this fellow, we have them on our property but I've only seen them a few times. I hope all is well with you, I enjoyed reading about your scorpion encounters and I'm glad you haven't been stung by any. *BIG HUGS*!! Thinking of you!! Explored on 4/14/19, highest placement, #3.

(+11 insets!) Today is simply gorgeous! It might as well be March 20 because it couldn't be a more classic spring day. Sunny, warm, the rich smells of plants and earth perfuming the air, birds twittering in all the trees. We've filled our bird and suet feeders and the back and forth of the birds to their nests is constant and a great source of enjoyment whenever we look out the back window. We've seen Oregon Juncos, Acorn Woodpeckers, Pewees, California and Spotted Towees, Scrub and Stellar's Jays...still waiting on many types that we commonly see. The neighborhood is still learning about the new food source, at which time the feeders will be very busy all day! The only thing that tells me that spring hasn't truly arrived yet is the lack of spring flowers. I have been creeping all over the meadows, forests and hillside, and so far as I can tell, there are only six species in bloom at this point: Whitlow Spring Grass, Saxifrage, Buttercups, Bird's Eye Speedwell and two new finds: Redstem Storksbill and Spring Sandwort. I can't even include our daffodils because they are still in bud though they may begin to open in the next few days. It is definitely the latest spring in all the years we've lived here—about 15 years now. Saturday Self-Challenge has arrived, and with it, the day's topic: Signs of Spring! I thought about driving around and looking for newborn farm animals but decided to just stay on the property for the most part. I did ride my bike around our rural block yesterday to confirm that it's just too early for most flowers right now, and it's true. I found exactly ONE daffodil in bloom that I was able to photograph. Other than that, the native flora is only beginning to prepare for the yearly extravaganza. I enjoyed looking for different flowers and all of them are harbingers of spring. I didn't find any Buttercups or Saxifrage for my presentation but the flowers I did find were very nice subjects. When I could, I photographed them in bud, though some had glorious blossoms that rivaled flowers ten times their size! Today's main picture is a Redstem Storksbill flower and bud and though the face of this flower is quite beautiful, the back is truly stunning with wonderful hairy and striated, variegated details that shine luminously. The finished image just had to be my main picture! I hope that you enjoy all of the images I've added as insets. What a delightful SSC challenge this was! Pam, I wanted to find a picture on your stream that signified spring, and found this breathtaking and artistic crocus in a bubble with water reflection. It's so pretty and makes me so happy that you have posted these lovely creations for all of us to enjoy and be inspired by! Thank you! I do hope that today is better than the last few...I'm sending hugs your way my dear! :) Explored on 3/17/19, highest placement, #1.

(+4 insets!) Walking up and down the driveway this morning, I kept my eyes open for natural frames. That's because today's Saturday Self-Challenge is to create a frame within a frame, in black & white format. I could have done something easier with man-made frames but I thought it would be better to challenge myself. I grabbed my camera when I was done with my walk and headed outside again. The problem with natural frames is that you don't always have the match of a frame and a subject. I found so many keyhole openings, frames of branches, sticks and leaves, but there were never any subjects for the frame. I wandered here and there and ended up creeping onto the side of our steep hill. I was also checking for signs of spring and confirming that we really are late for spring's arrival. We normally have crazy amounts of flowers at this point but not this year. I did find some Saxifrage in our meadow (without any natural frame nearby) and then I found a buttercup on the hillside! The Hounds Tongue is just now sending up its beautiful, fuzzy leaves, but the beautiful blue flowers won't come for another couple of weeks I expect. It was good to see the signs of flowers though! As I was making my way along a deer trail on the hillside, I looked up and noticed the Lower Table Rock and thought, "Ok, now that would be nice if I can find framing branches!" It took a while but eventually I found branches that I could create a frame with…HUZZAH!! I am also including a bunch of other attempts with variable results. Do you think my main image was the right choice? I had a hard time deciding…b/w isn't my strongest suit so I'm not as confident with these pictures! Pam, I did a search on your stream for "black and white" and came up with only one picture, and it explained a lot! :D Your self-portrait looks really dramatic in b/w and I really like it! You also explained that you're not a huge fan of creating b/w pictures and you know what? I am that way too. I really love the artform but I usually leave my pictures in color because it's so important to me. Here's hoping your day is going ok! *BIG HUGGGGGSSSSS*!!! :)

(+2 insets) (please view large!) What a beautiful day it is! The morning began with a dusting of frost which quickly melted as the sun rose into the sky. Now it's shining brightly on the lovely clouds that are marching through the sky. I'm posting my picture early today because soon Steve and I are going to see the RV we're interested in and I don't know when we'll get back. I could post my picture later but I'd rather do it now so it's out of the way and not bugging me! :) It's Saturday Self Challenge!! The topic is "One"...which...is probably at least 50% of my photography so I got this done without even thinking about it! A few days ago it was extremely cold with a lot of frost everywhere so I got outside with my camera and went to town! The frozen droplets were just amazing and I'm featuring a dreamy image I got of one, along with 2 insets: a droplet-drizzled sporophyte and a frozen droplet at the edge of our deck, adorned with a frosted hat! Pam, since it's gleaming outside I found another sunny picture on your stream featuring "sunshine" and what did I find? A picture with that name that includes a super quote that I love. I sure do hope this was a nice day for you, and thank you for the kind words about the planets lining up for us regarding our RV plans! *BIG HUGS*!!! Explored on 3/04/19, highest placement, #6.

(+1 inset) (view large for frosty goodness!) Such a murky, frostless day...blustery, cold, foggy, and then storm clouds moving in and rain coming down. NOT a day to be outside I've decided. My resolve to deal with frozen feet and hands has waned and since there was no frost to drag me outside, I am foregoing my exercise today. Sometimes I just don't feel like it and that's ok. I used to beat myself up when I didn't do my usual exercise but I've finally allowed that it's ok from time to time. Every weekend when I visit contacts to appreciate their photos and leave comments, I find many pictures for the group, "Saturday Self Challenge." Each week I think to myself, "OH THAT LOOKS LIKE FUN!" However, I am already in two groups that require my attention and input—Macro Monday 2.0 and Happy Fence Friday. (And of course the whole reason I got back into photography...my daily Pictures for Pam!) I have watched and considered and have decided that this commitment should be fine, so I applied and was accepted to the group today, hooray!! :) The week's challenge is "Sharp Focus" and funny enough, I've got perhaps 2 billion pictures that fall under that category! Specifically though, the rules request a new picture taken in the past week, posted today (my time zone's Saturday). Well, that takes the number down to a very scant 500-1000 pictures, heh. LOL, I don't usually take so many pictures per week but I was out twice for frosty pictures and my Macro Monday mishap meant that I did that project twice. So I did take a LOT of pictures this week. Today's image is one of the stars from my super frosty outing a couple of days ago. I almost added it as an inset for yesterday's post but it deserves the center stage, so here you go! Crazy frost crystals in sharp focus! I've also included a very frosty bolt that's bristling with crystals! Pam, I thought it would be fun to find a picture in your photo stream that would be a good entry for "Sharp Focus" and I found this glowing, fiery red and green macro of Autumn-Hued Grape Leaves that I loved. The first one has incredible crispness that show fine vein detail which is like a stained glass window. Absolutely beautiful. The other picture, Autumn-Hued Grape Leaves, Part 2 shows the whole leaf and is brimming with lovely, sharp detail and stunning light. They are both outstanding pictures which make me swoon in delight! Sending another virtual cup of warm soup your way! *BIG HUGGGGZZZZ*!!! Explored on 2/24/19, highest placement, #1.