Property Panoramas & Scenic Views

(2 insets) (please view large!) :) Ok, who out there is a night owl? Raise your hand! *bounces up and down, waving both hands* Wait a second. I'm not a night owl! At least, not anymore. I USED to be. I never wanted to go to bed, and 1-3am was the best time to be up and doing stuff. In my early 20's I would watch "The Love Boat" from 12am to 1am and then "The Big Valley" from 1am to 2am. I would go running at 1 in the morning through our hilly San Francisco neighborhood, and loved the peace and serenity of the fog swirling around me. I liked to say that I was protected by the "cloak of darkness" and shrouded by the thick fog. I now look back at those days and shudder, especially my running at night. When Steve and I met back in 2000, we were delighted to share our love of the night. We were always pushing our bedtime and it wasn't uncommon to stay up until 4 in the morning on the weekends. We'd drag our tired bones into work on Monday morning, sorely regretting our bad decisions but funny enough, when Friday rolled around we were happily staying up until 4am again! Oh brother. Moving up to Oregon finally forced a change in our behavior. The jobs we had required getting up very early—in fact, poor Steve had to get up at 6am so I couldn't even complain about my 7am wakeup. To make matters worse, our bodies weren't as resilient as they once were and if we stayed up too late, boy did we regret it the next day. However, I began to notice that as long as I got a reasonable night's sleep, getting up earlier was actually quite nice! And, as time went on, I had to admit that as fun as it was to stay up late, it was actually MORE fun to get up earlier! Now I get up at 7am (sometimes even 6:45!) because I want to, and I wake up to the sound of Pumpkin peeping a cheery good morning as dawn begins to lighten the sky. One of my favorite parts of the day is going out on my daily hour-and-15-minute walk because I get to experience the world waking up around me. I get to see the sunrise every day! And, what an indescribable joy it is to hear the myriad birds twittering, tweeting, chirping and carrying on as they start their day. When it's cold enough, I get to appreciate the lovely frost all over everything. I get to enjoy Magic Hour every day! There's just nothing like this daily gift. In a radical about-face, I now think that staying up late is overrated and I will leave night-owling to the young and naive! :) Today began as usual until I saw the morning light on the floor...it was PINK. "HOLY COW!" I said, and opened the blinds..."Oh wow, it's going to be a gorgeous sunrise!" I knew I had time for my shower so Pumpkin supervised from her shower perch and I was in and out in a flash. Looking outside, I could hardly believe the intense cotton-candy pinks and lovely shades in the clouds. I was so excited I put my shirt on backwards! I was bouncing on one leg trying to get into my pants without falling over! Pumpkin laughed at me in amusement—it was the Crazy Mama-bird Show! I mimicked her laugh right back at her and we trotted downstairs on the double. I put her on her kitchen perch and stepped outside with my phone to take pictures of the amazing sunrise. I looked over at the window and there was Pumpkin, admiring the lovely scene as well. What a SHOW!! I took more pictures later when I went on my walk, and you will see some insets that show the progress of this amazing sunrise. Pam, let these beautiful sunrise images elicit oohs and ahhs, and reflect on the lovely sunrises out your window each day. As I look at my sunrise, and you look at yours, we can think of sharing these special moments together. Two friends holding hands and experiencing the magic of a new day. May your next sunrise be even prettier than today's! Explored on 12/10/18, highest placement, #8.

Please see our new group, Pictures for Pam , we would love to have you! You may read the latest news of Pam`s recoverery here (11/9/18): www.ipernity.com/home/christine.bentley ------------------------- Well, as you can see, this image isn't the collage I planned on! In fact, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that it's from my phone! I did touch it up in Photoshop but I have to admit that the pictures I get from my Samsung are really quite nice, so I thought, "Why not post this picture for today?" I was really running late and it was obvious that a collage wasn't going to happen at this rate. It occurred to me…wait a second. Yesterday's picture was a view of the Upper Table Rock from our back deck, so why not post a picture from the top for today?! Who needs a collage anyway?!!! :D So here we are! I do want to add though, that my hike up the Upper Table Rock was just as wonderful as I knew it would be. I took Steve's camera with my 100mm macro lens, and had a lovely time taking pictures as I went. I really did try to restrain myself, I did! However, I ended up with over 50 "keepers" after chucking duds and extras. Trying to choose about ten of them for my collage turned out to be troublesome at best, and so I decided to abandon the idea. I plan to post some of the nicer ones in the days to come. This will also solve my problem of finding interesting subjects on my property. Of course they are everywhere but I've burned myself out to some extent (to subject matter on our property) and being able to use pictures I've captured on my trip up the Upper Table Rock trail will make me a very happy girl! Plus, there are lots of cool images and they deserve to be seen alone and not in a collage! :) I'm cutting my usual bloggish diatribe short because I would like to post this picture before it's ridiculously late, and I'd like to spend some time visiting everyone who has taken the time to leave comment on my picrtures! Thank you all!! :) Explored on 11/15/18, highest placement, #62.

Please see our new group, Pictures for Pam , we would love to have you! You may read the latest news of Pam`s recoverery here (11/9/18): www.ipernity.com/home/christine.bentley ------------------------- Waking up with a virtual wagging tail, my mind was brimming with wonderful ideas on how I would spend my day. Foremostly, I had a super notion for my image today—which would actually be a collage when I was done. However, my plan was cut short when I realized that what I'd hoped to do wasn't going to happen today. You see, I thought that it would be a grand adventure to walk to the tops of our nearby natural monuments, the Upper and Lower Table Rocks, and take pictures of highlights to share with Pam. Unfortunately I need to stay on the property because we have a package being delivered and I need to be here when it arrives…which could be anywhere from now until 8pm. Blast and drat it all! One of my worst faults is impatience and when a roadblock is thrown in front of my happy agenda I get extremely and unfairly frustrated and annoyed. But I thought to myself, now is always a good time to work on flaws, so I sighed inwardly and admitted that my plan would work just as nicely tomorrow as it would today. Why do I always need instant gratification? Why am I so pushy and rude about needing to have my way? How is it that I can be so patient and understanding in some situations, and yet such an unreasonable, tempestuous brat in others? I've been travelling on a road of introspection as of late and doing my best to work on parts of me that could use improvement. Tomorrow is indeed another day and my upcoming hikes will be something to look forward to! I do love the joy of anticipating something fun on the horizon, so working on my impatience has become its own reward. That's kind of cool, isn't it? With that in mind, my picture for the day was instantly upon me. I went upstairs to get my husband's camera, which usually has the 17-40 wide-angle mounted, as much his favorite lens as my 100mm is to me. I figured I'd swap lenses but then thought better of it. Steve finally got a new camera a year ago, as he was sorely in need of an upgrade to his aged Canon 5D (aka Mk 1). When I graduated from my beloved point-and-shoot super-zoom Canon SX30IS, we leapfrogged to the Canon 5D MkII, a camera which allowed me to fully blossom as a photographer. Steve got a Canon 5D MkIII, and I've got to admit that it's an amazing camera and outshines mine in every way. Still, I prefer to use "my" camera, so I haven't given the MkIII the workout that it truly deserves. Today though, I decided to leave the 17-40 on his camera and took it downstairs and out onto the back deck. If I can't take pictures of my hike up the Table Rocks, why not take a picture of one of them from our back deck?! We are blessed with a stunning view of the Upper Table Rock and a glimpse of the Lower Table Rock too, and I have taken a myriad pictures of this view over the years. It really is a sight that never grows old. So, a few clicks later, I had a picture that you see now! Pam, today is another day to rest and recuperate. I do hope that each day is better than the last. Feel better soon my friend…my thoughts are with you! Explored on 11/14/18, highest placement, #56.