365 Alternates

Alphabet Group: R is for RED!! A couple of weeks ago, Steve and I went on a bike ride which started off at a library parking lot in the tiny town of Gold Hill. After we got back, Steve met up with our friend, Michael Adams, so he could check out Steve's trike (and then ordered one!). I spent the whole hour wandering around taking pictures, and I found these bushes which were covered with brand new leaves, all of which were red underneath and glowed a fiery red when viewed from behind. Lisa, is that you waving at me again? You keep showing up in my pictures! :D :D (By the way, I haven't added any saturation whatsoever...these babies are THAT RED!)

Aren't these interesting and beautiful looking flowers?! If you can believe it, they will turn much of our hillside purple as hundreds upon hundreds of these pretty flowers reach the height of their blooming phase. Below you will find many pictures I took last year! ENJOY! :)

I was taking a look for signs of tadpoles at our pond when I heard the "Honk-Honk" of approaching geese. It's so nice of them to announce their arrival so I can prepare myself to take pictures! I think waterfowl are the Photographer Training Wheel Birds of Flight! :D These birds flew DIRECTLY overhead and then they turned in a circle to fly over my head again, and then AGAIN! I couldn't believe it!! I walked away from the pond in case they meant to land, but after the third pass they circled back the way they came. This is closest I've gotten to a flying bird before with my camera, and I could have almost filled the frame with one of these beauties!! So fantastic!! *high five to all of my amazing bird photographer buddies*

I've shown a couple of pictures now of unfurling ferns, and mentioned that I should take a picture of an opened fern so you can all see what these look like! Below are the two pictures I took of the tiny, unfurling ferns. This open fern is about 2.5" in diameter. If you can believe it, I had to desaturate this because it's so brilliantly green that it looks unnatural! LOL!

I took one final picture this afternoon but I thought, "Oh, this is going to be a horrible exposure nightmare!" So I only took the one image....and what a surprise when I saw it on the computer! Below are two more pictures to see!

As I was looking around our massive, moss-covered rock area of our property, I noticed a flash of red. I thought I could just walk forward and turn around, but when I did, I couldn't see the red thing anymore. So I carefully backed up until I was in the same spot, and looked again very carefully. FLASH! There it was! I knelt down to take a closer look, and growing in a bed of drying moss was this pretty little sprout, complete with a pair of bright red leaves at the base! (Is that you waving at me, Lisa?! ) I wonder what this plant will become?! :)

This Grass Widow is has finished blooming and is beginning to curl up, but not before I found sunlight shining through its petals and stem. They are so beautiful in full bloom, but they are stunning even when their show is finally over!

This grouping of Grass Widows was right at the edge of the Lower Table Rock with the sky shining behind them. I'll never ever get tired of these incredible flowers!! :D

This was another successful picture I got of pretty little Oregon Sunshine blossoms, and in the background you'll see a Grass Widow in bokeh! I would have liked to not have that focused flower dead center but alas, the composition looked best this way! Does it bother you?

When Steve and I parked our car this morning and I stepped out with my camera, I couldn't believe all the beautiful little pink flowers in the grass! I got lots of pictures but this one is my favorite...and you want to know what that blue bokeh is? My Ford Focus!! :D :D :D

I found this pair of bugs having a tug of war under a flower!

This morning as Steve and I were waiting for riders to arrive, I spent every moment taking pictures! I saw this dandelion head and thought, "Oh heck, I'll give it another try." I always see such AMAZING pictures of these seed heads but I never seem to capture the magic I've been hoping for. Maybe I got lucky today...it is by far my best attempt yet! :) By the way, I didn't do any clarity on this image at all, only a very minor Levels alteration, cropping, and a frame.

This opening Magnolia blossom looks as if it's amazed by all the other blossoms in the tree. It reminds me of a muppet! :D I took this picture yesterday, one of many neat images I got of this tree!

This is another magnificent magnolia blossom I saw a week ago last Sunday. They are so pretty, aren't they?

There are few things more hilarious to me than a Tom turkey strutting his stuff! He is quite convinced he is the most gorgeous creature on the planet, but fails to notice what's all over his face! :D :D Have you ever seen them moving around after the females? It's just priceless! They don't walk...they CRUISE. And as they cruise along, they turn their tail this way and that--kind of like a rudder--as they attempt to "herd" the females where they want them to go. And have you seen a fluffier bird in all your life?! To top it off, they're absolutely ridiculous looking from behind! SO FUNNY!!! Oh, how I love turkeys!!!

All of you who've been visiting my stream for a while know about my little friend, Lucky , and his pond, which is actually a kiddy pool which we've kept full since last July, and it's a permanent fixture now, filled in around the sides with dirt and ramps that make it easy for critters to get out. About a month ago, frogs began singing down at the seasonal pond, and I wondered...you see, when a tadpole turns into a frog and hops away from its pond, it will return to that pond to breed the next season. I know that there were at least 100 froglets that grew up and left Lucky's pond over the summer and fall, and I wondered...what would happen in the springtime? So, you can imagine the overjoyed smile on my face when I heard the first frog begin to sing at Lucky's Pond a month ago!!! Since then, there have been about half a dozen frogs singing for mates. By the way, did you know that only males croak? At night I would lay in bed, smiling up to the ceiling and thinking about the fact that I was most likely responsible for those frogs singing down there! Would there be any females? I was very excited to find out as the weeks passed by. I'd been looking every few days without finding any evidence of froggy procreation. That is, until yesterday!!! As usual, I looked very carefully, but this time I saw one!!! A little, tiny pollywog, only about 1/8" long, snuggling up to the side of the pool! Then I saw ANOTHER! AND ANOTHER!! GREAT SCOTT!! WE HAVE BABY FROGGIES AT LUCKY'S POND AGAIN!!!! HOORAY!!!! I could hardly contain my excitement as I raced upstairs to tell Steve what I found!! He was as delighted as I was, and we beamed at each other of this happy news. I got my camera and took some practice shots but realized I really needed my flash to get a reasonable image, and decided to wait before trying again. So, today I went out with my camera and macro flash. While I was taking pictures, I was amazed at all the life in the pond! The water was teeming with countless tiny critters, some of them nearly as large as the tadpoles! I spent a long time slowly making my way around the entire pool, looking closely at the little guys moving around. I also found what I hoped to find: masses upon masses of frog eggs that will be hatching in the next few weeks...I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!! Isn't it wonderful news!!! Lucky's back, with lots and lots of brothers and sisters, and zillions more to come!!! WELCOME HOME, LUCKY!!! HOORAY!!! IT'S PARTY TIME AGAIN AT LUCKY'S POND!!!

I was looking in Lucky's Pond yesterday when I saw this gorgeous Henbit Deadnettle growing there, and today I made sure to get pictures so that you all can see how incredibly beautiful these tiny flowers can look! (I showed this flower a couple of weeks ago, but the blossom was not the prettiest. Problem solved! :D

This is a close-up of this remarkable flower's center. Isn't it just stunning?!!! I am beside myself with happiness that our bulb flowers are finally coming up!!