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Just one picture today, I have been so busy with a million things going on! I found a few minutes to spare and walked up on our hill, just a short distance from the house, and when I looked at a mossy stump , I found this mushroom peeking up at me! It amazed me that there are lots and lots of mushrooms even in this cold season! John Burroughs (April 3, 1837 – March 29, 1921) was an American naturalist and essayist important in the evolution of the U.S. conservation movement. According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress, John Burroughs was the most important practitioner after Henry David Thoreau of that especially American literary genre, the nature essay. By the turn of the 20th century he had become a virtual cultural institution in his own right: the Grand Old Man of Nature at a time when the American romance with the idea of nature, and the American conservation movement, had come fully into their own. His extraordinary popularity and popular visibility were sustained by a prolific stream of essay collections, beginning with Wake-Robin in 1871. Wikipedia: John Burroughs Explored on December 23, 2013. Highest placement, page 4.

2 more pictures above in notes! :) It was raining off and on today, so when it stopped, I immediately took the opportunity to go out and find my Picture of the Day. I returned to the same area of our upper forest as yesterday because I realized there is a lushness there which promises endless wonderful discoveries! I only went about 200 feet from the house, and there I found all kinds of mossy stumps and Oak saplings which begged closer inspection. First I found some Pixie lichen, but they weren't quite right. Then I found a lovely little mushroom under the lip of a log, and got some nice images. Then, I was carefully sweeping away leaves when I saw the leaf in the picture above! WOOT!! Look at those tiny wasp galls!! I did some looking on the internet but wasn't able to find out what kind these are, but they're a brand new discovery for me! So interesting to look at, like something from another planet. If you don't know, a wasp gall has the egg of a wasp inside, which will grow as the gall grows larger, and eventually the adult wasp will emerge from the gall! You can see the escape hole in the inset image above! Totally fascinating!! :D Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known by his stage name Moby, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, DJ and photographer. He is well known for his electronic music, vegan lifestyle, and support of animal rights. Moby has sold over 20 million albums worldwide. Allmusic considers him "one of the most important dance music figures of the early '90s, helping bring the music to a mainstream audience both in the UK and in America". Wikipedia: Moby Explored on December 24, 2013. Highest placement, page 6.

It was a cold and misty day today, so I took the dogs out into our larger meadow and looked around for interesting subjects to photograph. I found some tiny spider web strands and neat droplets clinging to various plants, but I really liked the droplets on this dried foxtail because they remind me of crystal balls! :) Śri Sathya Sai Baba (born as Sathyanarayana Raju; 23 November 1926 – 24 April 2011) was an Indian guru. He claimed to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi, who was also considered by his followers to be an avatar, spiritual saint and miracle worker, and who died in 1918. Wikipedia: Sai Baba Explored on December 27, 2013. Highest placement, page 9.

1 more picture and two notes above! :) I can't believe that there are only two more days after this one for my 365 Project! It's just incredible to me. I've lived with this project every day for a year and to think that it will soon come to an end...I'm just stunned by the thought! With the end of this project just around the corner, I am finally wrestling with the burden of this commitment. It's not something I allowed myself to think about and now I find myself looking forward to not having to be consumed by this every moment of the day. However, that being said, I'm still as excited about photography as ever, and going out today was such fun! I went over to our dry seasonal stream and walked along it, pausing now and then to peer carefully at the things that caught my attention. A cool mushroom, frosted diamond spider web necklaces, and then, these incredible droplets on wild honeysuckle leaves. I got many super pictures, but this one was my favorite because the droplets are marching along the edge like little soldiers! :) I was also amazed to see the unusual frost formations on various plants like Oak twigs. I took lots of pictures of this unique, needle-like frost, and you'll see my picture as my second entry today. Enjoy! :) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. Contrary to popular belief, Ford did not invent the automobile nor did he invent the assembly line. Ford however was the first to develop and manufacture the first automobile that many middle class Americans could afford to buy. In doing so, Ford converted the automobile from a relatively unknown invention into an innovation that would profoundly impact the landscape of the twentieth century. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism": mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. His intense commitment to systematically lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put dealerships throughout most of North America and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation and arranged for his family to control the company permanently. Wiki: Henry Ford Explored on December 29, 2013. Highest placement, page 5.

1 more picture in a note above! :) Today I took a walk into part of our lower forest with a plan in mind. I was hoping to find the one fern plant which I know of there, and it grows on the side of the seasonal stream bed. Our lower forest looks very different than it once did, because I spent months clearing buck brush and dead trees out, piling them up into habitats for animals. Now, instead of being an impenetrable, ugly mess, the lower forest is open and beautiful, filled with Oak, Manzanita and Madrone trees. So when I found a very large, mossy tree on the ground, I was quite surprised. Following my eye down the trunk, I saw that it had broken off the base of the tree about three feet up and looked as if it had been dead for a while. I walked up to the trunk and peered inside. At first I didn't see anything but a leaf, but moving my head, the light reflected on droplets below, and straining my eyes in the dim light, I could see the droplets suspended on an invisible web! If I could get my camera to focus on the droplets, my flash would light up the scene and I thought it might just be awesome! It took me a bit of time to find focus, but eventually I was successful, and got a bunch of different apertures to choose from. I hoped that the 2.8 images would be clear because the illusion of droplets floating in the air would be just that much more cool. And...they worked out!! HOORAY!! As it turned out, I have done almost nothing to this image except cropping and adding a very slight vignette! Saul Bellow (10 June 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only writer to win the National Book Award for Fiction three times and he received the Foundation's lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 1990. Wiki: Saul Bellow Explored on December 31, 2013. Highest placement, page 6.

A couple of weeks ago I opened the door to let the dogs out for their morning business and saw something on the door out of the corner of my eye. Turning to look, I nearly fell over! This moth is about 2" long, what a monster! I was really excited because I instantly recognized it as a Hawk Moth, sometimes called a Hummingbird Moth because it can hover in midair like a hummingbird and is also a nectar feeder. Moths in this group also have the longest proboscis (tongues) in the world (Morgan's Sphinx Moth holds the record at 1 foot long). It was so wonderful to get a nice picture of this beauty! Note: My apologies for being so slow to put up new pictures, I've been working on my book! If you would like read more about these moths, Wiki has a page here: Wiki: White-Lined Hawk Moth For more informations on this fascinating family of moths, visit this Wiki page: Wiki: Hawk Moths Explored on ipernity on April 7, 2014. Highest placement, #2.

15 more pictures above in notes! Over the past year, I have accumulated a massive library of photography, as I created pictures every day for my 365 project. Almost without exception, I got several--if not dozens upon dozens--of images that I wanted badly to process and share, but could not due to time constrains. I hoped that at some point I could revisit some of these pictures and give some a moment to shine. This beautiful iris was photographed at a friend's estate last May, where she and her husband have planted countless irises all over the many acres around their home. We were invited to spend the day taking pictures and I found myself overcome by the variety and stunning colors of the countless irises in bloom there. Today I will be sharing just this one spectacular blossom, but I've processed many others, which I'll upload at a later date. I'm so happy to showcase one of these flowers for my A-Z project!! By the way, on that day, we arrived home very late, after a lovely dinner with them, and I had to process one of the very first pictures I took because I could not spend the time to look through the many hundreds of pictures I took that day! You will see that picture above in a note, as well as the other pictures I had time to process from my visit. I never even touched the iris pictures because there were far too many to look at and I wanted to take the time to look at them carefully. Enjoy the show! :) Explored on April 11, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

(5 more pictures above in notes! :D) I used to think that a Jonquil was any kind of daffodil, but I found out that it's actually a specific type. In truth, "Jonquil" is an accepted term for "daffodil in some places, so I was very tempted to open my selection to every daffodil in my archives. But...no, I wanted to show a true jonquil. Narcissus jonquilla flowers are smaller in size and grow as clusters from one stem. They are also the most fragrant of all daffodils. To my surprise, I have very few pictures of these fragrant beauties. Although we have some growing in our yard, I immediately remembered the grouping I photographed last Spring at my friend's home. The same friend who has the beautiful irises in fact! :) Weeks before, we visited to take pictures of her daffodils, and she'd picked a bunch of them for the house. I remember how wonderful these smelled! If you would like to know more about these flowers, Wiki has a page here: Wikipedia: Jonquils Explored on April 15, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

+ 10 more inset images above in notes! :) "Killer" is also slang for "cool", which is what this stunning, beautiful, gentle and non-venomous snake is! I found this amazing California Mountain Kingsnake on our property 1.5 years ago and when I discovered that this reclusive species is actually quite common in this area, we decided it would be ok to keep him as a pet. Affectionately named "Snakey McSnakerton", he's doing great and growing larger with each passing month. When I found him (we don't actually know the gender, but call it a male!), Snakey was about 10" long, and is now about 16". There are about 45 species of Kingsnakes, which also include Milksnakes. They come in a large number of colors from solid black to almost white, with a dizzying variety of patterns. In fact, some species, such as this one, mimic the highly venomous coral snake , which only lives in the southern States. (NEVER approach a snake unless you are SURE it's harmless!) Kingsnakes are among the most popular pet snakes due to their docile, friendly dispositions and ease of care. In the wild, they are secretive, usually moving about during the day, and eat rodents, reptiles and birds. If you would like to know more about Kingsnakes, Wiki has a nice page here: Wiki: Kingsnake This picture uses some texture in the background, courtesy of Jerry Jones: Soft-Faux-n-Grunge-Bokeh Explored on April 18, 2014. Highest placement, #2.

(+16 in notes above!) Last summer, from July until late November, I was given a never-ending poppy show. Every morning I would step outside and see the new blossoms glowing in the morning sunshine and the sight would take my breath away. These flowers are a photographer's dream, with extremely translucent petals and a rainbow of gorgeous colors. I have two very exciting comments to add! The first is that my poppies have reseeded themselves and I have counted half a dozen poppy buds that are already forming! That's three months earlier than last year!! My second exciting bit of news is that I purchased a huge assortment of poppy flower seeds which I will be planting on May 1, which is the official "last day of frost" here in southern Oregon. I can hardly wait! :) Explored on April 22, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

(+ 18 insets above in notes!) I have been arguing with myself until this moment where this picture should go: "W is for Wonderful White" or "M is for Magnificent Mushrooms". But M just HAS to be for Mushrooms, right?! Yes, I have many pictures of mushrooms, but this one stands out from all the rest. So, with this upload, the matter is finally settled! These mushrooms are called Ivory Waxy Caps, but they are also known by the name "Cowboy's Handkerchief" because the droplets and moisture you see are actually slime that oozes from this fungus to keeps it hydrated and also serves as a deterrant to any wildlife which might be considering these mushrooms for a meal. I hope that I never encounter a handkerchief used by a cowboy. *shudder* Explored on March 29, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

(+9 insets above) This is a developing cluster of male pine cones surrounded by many needles, which are this plant's leaves. The pine cones we are familiar with are female cones. On a pine tree, male pine cones are usually found in clusters like this one, and are concentrated near the bottom of the tree, while the female cones are concentrated near the top. This arrangement helps to ensure cross-pollination between pine trees. There is another story here too, if you look closely. On the right side of the cluster, you will see a small spider, and if you look down below, you will see its newly shedded skin or exoskeleton. My apologies for posting so infrequently. I am busy working on my book, and now that the last day of frost has arrived, I have a garden to plant. And of course, there are a zillion other things going on...work, life, etc! :D Explored on May 6, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

(1 inset image above) When Steve and I got married, we went to Australia for our honeymoon. We spent a few days in Sydney and then flew up to Cairns for a day before departing for the Great Barrier Reef for 10 days of scuba diving on a live-aboard dive boat. The weather didn't cooperate with us and most of our trip was spent in a torrential downpour. However, we made the best of our time there! One of the two days we were in Cairns, we wandered around and found ourselves in a square busy with a small crafts fair. We had a marvelous time looking around and eventually found ourselves in front of a booth of beautiful polished rocks that twinkled with opals! We were smitten! Neither of us had ever seen opals in any other way than just the opal itself and we thought these polished rocks were prettier than any opals we'd ever seen. The couple there told us about their opal mine, which so far hadn't paid off with the lucrative opals yet, but they were getting these pretty opal-infused sandstones, which polished up very nicely and could be sold. They had dozens and dozens, and a great many were strung on leather strings as adjustable-lengh necklaces. Steve and I knew what our precious souvenir from Australia would be! We spent a long time looking at every one, and the couple were kind enough to allow us to carry them over to the sunshine. In the end, I picked this one because it is smaller and also has beautiful colors in the opal flecks. Steve picked a larger one, equally beautiful. We were so happy with our special Australian presents! And from that day until today, these necklaces have never come off except to replace the waxed leather string. Explored on April 18, 2014. Highest placement, #2.

Steve and I went shopping the other day and I had my camera with me. There was a garden center so I went around happily capturing the beautiful flowers, and when I came to this one I stopped and gawked. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PURPLE FLOWER!! This flower was a bit of a challenge to process. The focus was just what I wanted, showing the fine detail of hairs, stamen and anthers. The narrow leaves falling away into bokeh with the glow of light was working too and the color was also right. But the background out of camera....it was too close in value to the flower and took attention away. I tried a few things...making the background really light to make those petals pop...but then I lost the hairs, which are one of my favorite things about this blossom. I could make it go to black...but then the leaves looked horrendous and also, there are a couple of places in this image where the hairs are not on a dark background, and they looked awful. So, I tried darkening as much as I could get away with...and that worked. It's not perfect and I'd really like more separation between the flower and the background, but considering the fact that I took this picture at a gardening section in a store's greenhouse, surrounded by other plastic potted plants, I felt a bit victorious with this result. :) By the way, here's a search on ipernity for Pasque flower, and you can see some of the incredible results when there are better conditions! And also, I didn't know that this flower is very uncommon in this color! ipernity Search:Pasque Explored on May 17, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

Note: I just finished writing the first of a series of blog posts about my new garden! My New Adventure: A Raised Bed Flower Garden! A couple of months ago, Steve and I visited a large public garden because we'd seen a friend's photography and hoped to see some of the same things. There was a huge variety of plants and flowers, and although we were too early for much of the show, we weren't late for the DUCK SHOW! There were two large ponds and many beautiful ducks, geese and other waterfowl to photograph. I managed to get very lucky with this shot, and captured this pair's lively discussion! :D (Thanks very much to Hawkeye (Art) for the extra information about the unusually colored duck on the left, it appears to be either a male Saxony or Leucistic Mallard, how COOL!) Early Announcement and Invitation: I have decided to do another A-Z project after this one is finished, and would like to invite all who are interested to join me! It's going to be about a month before I'm done with this current project, but I wanted to bring it up now so you can begin thinking about it to decide if you'd like to join in the fun! The requirements are as restricted as you want to make them: you can make it easy by having it like mine, "Anything that starts with the letter", or you can have a theme for your project, such as "A-Z Birds", "A-Z Flowers", "A-Z Insects". Keep in mind that a theme can be anything, such as photographic terms, or things that are a specific color, or items in your house or tool shop. The sky is the limit with an A-Z project, and yet, it's only 26 pictures, so it's not a project that will take over your whole life. Start thinking about it now, and if you want to join in, you can begin capturing and processing your pictures, placing them into a folder to upload as I upload mine! Explored on May 21, 2014. Highest placement, #2.

(+3 insets above) Note: I have a series of blog posts about my new garden! My New Adventure: A Raised Bed Flower Garden! (More posts are there now!) A couple of years ago, I got a really nice deal on end-of-season spring bulbs, and Steve and I spent many hours digging holes and planting them out in our meadow around the beloved Oak tree which stands guard there. We didn't have much soil to contribute, so we dug in the clay dirt, plopped in some potting soil, added the bulb and covered it up. We set up sprinklers and watered every day. In the end, not a single bulb flowered. We were so disappointed. Last year in April, I looked out into the meadow and saw something blue. No. Could it be? I ran out to see, and yes, it was an anemone!!! I got my camera and took many pictures because I expected that it would be eaten by the next day, and it was. It was the only flower to bloom. (See the insets above). This year, April came around and I looked at my anemone pictures to get the exact date. A few days before, I began making rounds, but the blue anemone didn't come up. Discouraged, I almost gave up the hunt, but decided to check the next day, just in case. As I approached, I saw something red and held my breath. Shouting in happiness, I bent down to look. "Ohhhhhh!!! A RED ONE!!" Again I ran for my camera and took pictures. Even though it lasted just a day, I am so happy I captured images of this lovely red de Caen Anemone! Explored on May 24, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

(+1 inset, showing our metal trough planter full of flowers) Note: I just finished writing the first of a series of blog posts about my new garden! My New Adventure: A Raised Bed Flower Garden! (There are several posts now, the bottom of each links to the next) Last August, I asked Steve to bring home some seeds so I could conduct an experiment: I wanted to see if I could get a fast-blooming plant like a Zinnia to bloom before frost in November. He found a 25¢ deal on flower seeds and brought home a bunch of them. One of them was Sweet Williams. When I discovered they were "biennial", I thought they would never bloom, so I took a bunch and tossed them in my metal trough planter and some in my front flower garden, since it wouldn't hurt and I didn't think they would grow anyway. (The deer ate my experiments, boo!) This spring, something strange plants started growing in each garden. The tops were green and fuzzy, sort of like a Tribble on a stem. Having no idea what this odd plant could be, I waited and wondered. I specifically didn't look on the internet because I simply love flower surprises! One day, about three weeks ago, I saw a bud forming and I could see that the whole top would be covered with them. A couple of days later, the first flower opened and I could hardly believe the beauty of this gorgeous flower! It was a Sweet William, and I'd never seen one face to face before! Stunned by its beauty, I remembered they are in the carnation family, so I leaned in to smell... mmmmmm... sweet and spicy, the classic and unmistakable carnation fragrance! About then it suddenly ocurred to me: the metal trough was FULL of these "Tribble Tops", dozens and dozens of them, plus a couple in the front flower bed. I was in for a SHOW!! (See the inset picture) What a show it has been, and I am so dazzled by these flowers! They are a mix of colors ranging from white to purple, with varigated forms, and they are positively, drop-dead gorgeous. They are now among my favorite flowers, and I'll be sharing more pictures through the year! :) Explored on May 27, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

(+1 inset) (By the way, I have three articles for Part 8 on my Garden Adventure articles...ENJOY! Part 8a—Dreams of a Big Flower Garden, 1-Month Update: The Good Part 8b—Dreams of a Big Flower Garden, 1-Month Update: The Bad Part 8c—Dreams of a Big Flower Garden, 1-Month Update: The Ugly I have tried a few times now to grow tulips. The deer and other animals thank me for my efforts and eat them all before they bloom. Next year will be different because I'll have fencing around my garden but this year was another failure. I did get pictures of one brave tulip that managed to make it nearly to the day it would open! (See the inset) A couple of years ago, Steve and I got the chance to to to an Emu farm, and it was an experience I will never forget. Aside from the emus, the farm was complete with a vegetable garden, an orchard, and everywhere there were flowers planted, including this tulip. Thanks to my A-Z project, I finally got the chance to process this picture, one that I was so happy with and have wanted to share since I first saw it. :) Explored on June 3, 2014. Highest placement, #1.