Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: sap

6 more pictures in notes above! :) I feel SO MUCH BETTER today!! Yesterday I thought I might be getting sick because I was so run down from my bike ride the day before. But I took Airborne last night and this morning and I was feeling bright-eyed and bushy tailed very soon after I got my day started!! :D What better way to celebrate a close shave with a bad cold than a beautiful photo walk along our ridge line with Moosie and Zoe to help supervise?! :) Such a lovely morning, it promised to get warm by the afternoon, but the temperature was perfect for our walk! Wandering along, I found myself stopping in front of a very tall Ponderosa Pine tree that had dried sap crusted all over one side. I think that Acorn Woodpeckers may have drilled holes to store nuts and caused the sap to run, but it was dry now and very interesting to look at. Studying the crystalized resin, I hoped to spot some droplets, and as you can see, I found one!! As I began taking pictures, I slowly moved my angle and saw that the sun was at the right angle to cause a star burst, so I took a set of images with the hopes that one would have a brilliant burst. I got lots of pictures that would have worked fine, but the second I saw this one, I burst out with a big, happy, "YES!!!" :D Henri Frédéric Amiel (27 September 1821 – 11 May 1881) was a Swiss philosopher, poet and critic. Wikipedia: Henri Frederic Amiel Explored on October 23, 2013. Highest placement, page 4.

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

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

[best appreciated at full size against black] How many times have you leaned up against a pine tree, only to find out later that you got sap all over your clothes?! It's especially nice to get it in your hair, yay!! However, as a photographic subject, resin is endlessly fascinating to me. On this day, I got my first chance to take a macro shot of resin with my new Mark II and 100mm lens! When I got back to the house to look at this image, I was amazed to see something I hadn't noticed when I took the picture. If you look carefully, you'll notice an ant, forever entombed within the resin! This image was taken in February , 2012.

Today was the day to find amazing resin droplets! This is a double droplet of sap on the side of a pine tree! Steve pointed out the tree to me and I found this treasure among the sap!

Can you believe what you're seeing?!! I saw this and my jaw hit the floor...it seems impossible, but here is a very heavy droplet of sap, suspended in a web! INCREDIBLE!!! Even more incredible, the size of this droplet is at least 1/2" in diameter, it's HUGE! I think what happened is that tiny droplets of sap fell one by one onto this web, and as you can see, it's just about to fall through, but not before I got this picture! One of the most amazing things I've ever seen!! I would have made this my 365 pick but I think it needs to be explained before you can understand what you're looking at, so I decided to put the fern as my pick.