365 Alternates

2 more pictures above in notes! :D On the day that I took this picture, Molly was given permission to join Moosie and Zoe on our walks up the hill to the trail along the ridgeline because she was finally fit enough to attempt this challenge. At one point, I stopped to let the dogs rest while I took some pictures, and when I looked up, here was Molly--regal, beautiful, and in her element. I wanted to post this picture because Molly was so happy today and so--GRATEFUL--to get to go. Unlike our other dogs, she really recognizes these walks as a very special event, and she lets me know the entire way just how happy she is. What a sweet girl!! LOVE THAT MOLLY GIRL!!! :) (Above are the other two pictures I processed from that wonderful day!)

This evening, just after the sun had set, I looked out and gasped. I'd forgotten about the smoke from the burns today. The effect on sunsets can be incredible and they certainly were tonight! The added bonus was a pair of jet trails, the moon and Venus above!! Hooray!!

While wandering around my front yard yesterday, I saw the magnificent, enormous rose hips on our rose bushes and I instantly thought of the ipernity group, "The Sunday Challenge", which has a theme this week called "Wabi-Sabi". I thought this would fill the bill perfectly! :) From Wiki: Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence, specifically impermanence, the other two being suffering and emptiness or absence of self-nature. Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.

2 more pictures above ! :) I would also like to add this comment that was submitted by another very dear friend here on ipernity, Leapfrog (Art) . It is so suitable that I will delete most of my description in favor of his perfect addition. Thanks Art. You rock. *big hugs* ------------------------------------------------ Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae, MD, was a Canadian Poet, Physician, Author, Artist and Soldier during World War I, and a Surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. During that time, a close friend and former student, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer of Ottawa was killed by an Enemy shell. The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem: In Flanders Fields In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. I remember those Women and Men that gave of their lives, so that we may all enjoy the freedoms and advantages we have today in our great country. I hope those Veterans who have and will return from our recent conflicts, equally enjoy the freedoms and advantages that they have provided. Sincerely Art ------------------------------- This is my shortened description: I saw these beautiful, blazing red poppies this morning, shining in the bright sunlight. Still drizzled with morning dew, this blossom was just opening up and looked amazing! I still can't believe these flowers are STILL BLOOMING since I planted them in April and they began blooming in July...they just keep going and going. An incredible flower which I would recommend to anyone who wants a carefree, gorgeous flower that just keeps on giving! :) Richard Norman "Doc" Hastings (born February 7, 1941) is the U.S. Representative for Washington's 4th congressional district, serving since 1995. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes most of central Washington and the southern half of Eastern Washington, including the Tri-Cities, Yakima, and Wenatchee. Wikipedia: Doc Hastings Explored on Tuesday, November 12. Highest placement, page 7.

1 picture above and a note! :D This is the fungus I found the other day, and you can see why I was totally fascinated. How ODD and pretty these are. They do, however, remind me of opened Alien Face-Hugger eggs! Thanks to Chrissy for finding out what this fungus is, I'm beyond excited to learn how it grows and spreads its spores!

3 notes above! :) I saw this group of birds circling and cruising on the thermals as they slowly passed over the property. I heard them cawing and doing aerobatics, tumbling and doing somersaults and generally having a wonderful time! After reading the information below and reading more on the web about the differences between these birds, I am not sure. The fan-shaped tails and the fact they are in a flock suggest they are crows, but crows have more of a flat wedge of their tail, so...this suggests these birds are ravens. Here's a picture to compare: Raven vs. crow tail feathers The aerobatics and low cawing sounds suggest they are ravens. They were quite large, which says raven; crows are a LOT smaller, and these guys were definitely big. If I'd been closer I'd be able to see their faces, which would tell me for sure. Judging on the extra information from Leapfrog (Art), I'm thinking they are ravens (my original feeling)....what do you think? Here's more info though, very interesting! :D How to Tell a Raven From a Crow , a helpful guide from Audobon! These black birds may look similar in some ways, but several distinctive traits help set them apart. These two species, common ravens and American crows, overlap widely throughout North America, and they look quite similar. But with a bit of practice, you can tell them apart. Ravens are larger, the size of a red-tailed hawk. Ravens often travel in pairs, while crows are seen in larger groups. (In flight, ravens will soar and do somersaults on thermal or wind-generated updrafts, but crows do not soar. So if that big black bird is soaring, it's a raven.) Also, watch the bird's tail as it flies overhead. The crow's tail feathers are basically the same length, so when the bird spreads its tail, it opens like a fan. Ravens, however, have longer middle feathers in their tails, so their tail appears wedge-shaped when open. (but not flat along the bottom like a crow) Listen closely to the birds' calls. Crows give a cawing sound. But ravens produce a lower croaking sound. This is what a Common Raven sounds like and this is what an American Crow sounds like.

1 picture above in a note! I took dozens of pictures of this sunset because, as you know, they change from moment to moment. However, this was the second picture that I took and I think it's the nicest. The clouds are the most interesting in combination with the burning sunset. Looking at both versions I am sharing tonight, it seems impossible that they are the same sunset, but they are! If you look at the times the pictures were taken, they are about 35 minutes apart, but wow, what a world of difference! The location of this picture is about 5 minutes away from our house. So much fun to compare!

2 images above in notes (same as on main picture) This picture shows Roscoe as she was still working on her egg sac. She must have started it many hours before, as it's larger than she is and she was completely exhausted from her efforts. Isn't she amazing?! I think she's just wonderful and I feel so blessed that I got to spend more than a whole year getting to know her. Would you like to watch a video which shows the life cycle of the orb weaver spider? There is an awesome guy over on YouTube named Bob McAndrews, better known as "Bob The Spider Hunter" , and he made a wonderful video which shows the life cycle of a species related to this spider. He is a fine instructor and, like me, strives to both educate and entertain, with the hopes to illuminate the beauty and gentle nature of spiders. Before you watch this video, please be warned: Bob allows the starring spider to crawl on his hands, so if this will make you run screaming into the night, you may want to prepare yourself! Please try to watch it though, it's very fascinating, educational and will show you that these beautiful spiders are not to be feared. :) Orb Weaver: Cycle of Life

Can you believe my luck at finding this family of mushrooms?! So cute, and I nearly stepped on them!! As I've mentioned, our lower forest is just exploding with mushrooms, so I need to be very careful where I put my feet. The number of interesting mushrooms is off the charts, but choosing to take a picture of these three was a no-brainer! :D

1 image above and many notes to explain what you're looking at! Here you can see a wider view of the rotting log this fungus was growing out of.

2 pictures above in notes! :) Before Halloween (October 31), I asked Steve to bring home a couple of pumpkins so I could take some festive pictures. I was delighted by his choices and got some really nice pictures of them (See the insets to see this pumpkin). One of the neat things about many squash varieties is that they will sit happily for weeks and weeks without rotting, so we have had these pumpkins for weeks now and they are in perfect shape. However, we would like to use them in cooking before they go bad, and so I looked up some recipes. I've never cooked with pumpkin before and I wanted to try something savory and different. I found a recipe for spicy Thai pumpkin soup that sounded wonderful. I found out what to do to prepare the pumpkin, and then cut it up and made the soup, which turned out so good that we wish I'd made a double batch of it! :D I took some pictures of the inside and will post a couple of pictures sometime soon, but for now, I wanted to share this funny picture! Turning the pumpkin over, I found a one-eyed smiling face looking back at me! Denis Waitley is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, and has counseled leaders in many fields: Apollo astronauts, Fortune 500 top executives, Olympic gold medalists, Super Bowl champions, returning POWs. He was a founding member of the National Council for Self-Esteem. Wikipedia: Denis Waitley

7 pictures above in notes (1 enlarged version for each collage picture and three other pictures) This kind of find is so exciting to me! I've never seen anything like it before, and though I spent a long time searching online, I couldn't find any pictures of this type (species info below!). In any event, I was delighted to have found this interesting fungus. With globes, each stands only 2-3 mm in height, very small. A HUGE THANK YOU AND HUG to Chrissy for identifying this fungus for me!!!! It's called Cannonball Fungus, or "Sphaerobolus stellatus" and you aren't even going to believe this...like its name says, it HURLS a "cannonball" of spores (see inset image) away from itself to spread its spores!!! Check out this animated gif here to see! Cannonball Fungus in Action! ) Can you say TOTALLY COOL AND AMAZING?!!!!! WOW!!! Here's more information about this cool fungus, and once again, THANK YOU CHRISSY!!! :D Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month for July 2005: Sphaerobolus stellatus, the Cannonball Fungus

1 picture above in a note :) This pretty lady arrived on our porch back in mid-October and I saw that she was a Cat-Faced Orb-Weaver like Roscoe, except darker in coloring. She was also quite a bit smaller, so I wasn't sure what her life expectancy was. Would she live until spring, grow larger and then make an egg sac? I didn't know, but I certainly enjoyed her company. Unlike Roscoe, she didn't stay in one spot and tried out several locations before settling on a place just above our doorway, tucked up against the ceiling. One of her spots was especially cool because she was able to make a very large orb-web in one corner of the porch, and she caught a huge number of wasps and flies there. I'm not sure why she moved from that spot, but maybe there was too much air current. A couple of weeks ago I saw her dabbing silk on one spot and I thought to myself, "I think she's making an egg sac!" That night I took another peek and found her proudly displaying her great masterpiece for all to see! The size of her egg sac is about half the size of Roscoe's, which makes sense, since this spider was much smaller. The picture you see above was taken when I saw her egg sac for the first time! :) A week passed, and then a few more days, and she never moved far enough away that she couldn't have one of her feet touching her egg sac. However, last night I looked up to see how she was doing, and discovered that she had left. I looked around to see if I could find her, but she'd already made her last journey to a dark corner to have her final rest. Even though I didn't know this spider very long, I enjoyed her company and loved her pretty coloring. However, just like Roscoe, this spider left me a great treasure to watch over until springtime, and if I'm lucky, I'll be able to share pictures of the babies hatching...and maybe one of them will choose to stay! :) (By the way, I've put her other picture as an inset for you to see! :)

2 pictures above in notes! :) When I was looking at the different mushrooms, I initially tried to pull this twig away from the pair until I realized that they were growing on it! Then I was happy because I had a handle to hold them with! It is a very stressful experience trying to hold something so tiny with your fingers--it's very hard to have any control! If you can believe it, these two are only about 4-5mm in height! (To understand what that looks like, do you see my picture icon on the right of this image? They are SMALLER than that icon!!) And yet, they are still larger than the "3 Amigos" I photographed a couple of weeks ago (see inset) , but nevertheless, they are very, very, VERY small!! (By the way, I added some light texturing to the background to give this image more depth) By the way, I have a friend, Ken Dies who's very experienced with mushrooms, and he explained that these mushrooms are not actually blue or green. They have been attacked by a fungus, which gives them that color! Thanks for the information, Ken! :)

I had a hard time deciding which picture would be the best choice for Picture of the Day. I really like the way the droplets look against the sky in this image, but I think the bokeh in the first image makes it stand out. I'd love to know what your opinion is! :)

How colorful these leaves are, and yet when you just glance, there is nothing special about them. I love it when they curl because you get to see both sides of the leaf this way!

I found this little beauty growing on a piece of bark, and the only reason I saw it was because there was a big mushroom showing its cap behind the bark. I pulled the bark back, and found this little guy! So cute! :)

This is the same sunset as the one in the main image, looking south instead of west. The cloud bank with the splashes of pink above were so pretty and not something I've seen before.