Harry & David Garden

It's fun to fool around with the shallow depth of field on a macro lens. I found this lovely group of florets that created a natural bouquet and wanted to see if I could get crisp focus on just the one in front with the rest fading away into bokeh. :D

Here's another one in my striped canna series. So colorful and festive, I thought it would be nice to post on Christmas! Happy holidays to one and all!

The center of this lovely red rose is still drizzled with the last night's rain drops and made for a very juicy image!

These flowers are so beautiful and cover vines with countless blossoms. Harry & David had a magnificent and beautifully trained wisteria (it may have been several plants) that covered heavy trellising and an arbor that created a shady cave with a bench inside to sit on. What fun to watch people wandering around while semi-cloaked in the darkness under the wisteria's cover!

Here is a pretty pink rose I discovered at the Harry & David public garden. It was wet with raindrops which added a lovely sheen, and surrounded by greenery.

Another in my hosta series, here you can see a tightly curled leaf about to unfurl into a stunner like the one behind it. Such a magnificent plant!

My last picture of the year, the tear represents all that we have lost this year and for the unfortunated things that have come to pass. I am saddened by all of the deaths of so many people--whether famous, humanitarily important, or those who were loved or those who were forgotten--and yet, for the number of people who have died, many good things have happened in 2016. This list goes to 100...it's very encouraging to see so many positive things that happened in 2012! 1. British Columbia protected 85% of one of the world’s largest temperate rainforests, home to the wonderfully named ‘Spirit Bear.’ Reuters 2. In February, Peru and Bolivia signed a $500 million deal to preserve Lake Titicaca. HNGN 3. In March, the US government abandoned its plan for oil and gas drilling in Atlantic waters, reversing its decision from a year ago. Guardian 4. After nearly 13 years of difficult negotiations, Malaysia established a 1 million hectare marine park that pioneers a mixed-use approach to marine conservation. Guardian 5. In 2016, more than 20 countries pledged more than $5.3 billion for ocean conservation and created 40 new marine sanctuaries covering an area of 3.4 million square km. Reuters 6. That included a new record holder for the world’s biggest marine reserve, off the coast of Antarctica. National Geographic 7. New research showed that acid pollution in the atmosphere is now almost back to the level that it was before it started with industrialisation in the 1930s. Science Bulletin 8. In 2012, the US and Mexico embarked on an unprecedented binational project to revive the Colorado River. By 2016, the results had astonished everyone. Audubon 9. In November, the Obama administration followed up its March announcements by banning offshore exploration and drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic until 2022. Politico Huge strides forward for global health 10. The World Health Organisation released a report showing that, since the year 2000, global malaria deaths have declined by 60%. WHO 11. In 2016, some of the world’s biggest diseases, like colon cancer, dementia, and heart disease, started declining in wealthy countries. New York Times 12. A new study from the world’s leading health journal reported that the number of women dying from pregnancy and childbirth has almost halved since 1990. Guardian 13. Fresh evidence showed that public smoking bans have improved health in 21 nations. Wiley Blackwell 14. Uruguay won a major case against Philip Morris in a World Bank ruling, setting a precedent for other small countries that want to deter tobacco use. CS Monitor 15. Malawi achieved a 67% reduction in the number of children acquiring HIV, the biggest success story across all sub-Saharan nations. Since 2006, they’ve saved 260,000 lives. Al Jazeera 16. Child mortality rates came down by 12% in Russia. Article 17. Life expectancy in Africa has increased by 9.4 years since 2000, thanks to improvements in child survival, progress in malaria control, and expanded access to ARVs. Quartz 18. Mobile phones made significant inroads in the fight against rabies, a disease that kills more people annually than all terrorists combined. Ars Technica 19. Thailand became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. World Health Organisation 20. Harvard scientists created a new platform for antibiotic discovery that may help solve the crisis of antibiotic resistance. GEN 21. Liberia was officially cleared of Ebola, meaning there are now no known cases of the deadly tropical virus left in West Africa. Vanguard 22. The WHO announced that measles have been eradicated in all of the Americas, from Canada to Chile. It’s the first time the disease has been eliminated from an entire world region. NBC 23. The proportion of older US adults with dementia, including Alzheimer’s, declined from 11.6% in 2000 to 8.8% in 2012, a decrease of about a million people. Scientific American 24. The number of cigarette smokers in the US has dropped by 8.6 million since 2005. That fall will be accelerated by a tobacco tax just passed in California. NPR Political and economic progress in many parts of the world 25. In 2016, for the first time ever, the amount of money it would take to end poverty dropped below the amount of money spent on foreign aid. Vox 26. World hunger reached its lowest point in 25 years. New York Times 27. In February, Ontario announced a $100 million initiative to curb violence against indigenous women. The Star 28. Myanmar swore in its first elected civilian leader in more than 50 years. BBC 29. Black incarceration rates fell in the United States. Not fast enough, but certainly something worth celebrating. Washington Post 30. In 1990, more than 60% of people in East Asia lived in extreme poverty. As of 2016, that proportion has dropped to 3.5%. Vox 31. Homelessness in the United States declined by 35% since 2007, and Los Angeles committed to $1.2 billion to help get more people off the street. CS Monitor 32. Taiwan is on the verge of becoming the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. New York Times 33. The Gambia and Tanzania banned child marriage, following sustained lobbying by civil society groups. Independent 34. In June, after years of wrangling, the drive to end female genital mutilation in Africa made a major breakthrough, when the Pan African Parliament endorsed a continent-wide ban. The Wire 35. Germany took on rape culture, introducing a law to broaden the definition of sex crimes by zoning in on the issue of consent. Catalogue 36. Two weeks before Brexit, the African Union announced a new single African passport that permits holders to enter any of the 54 AU member states without a visa. Washington Post 37. The United States now feeds healthy lunches to more than 30 million children, is about to ban trans fats, and has enacted one of the biggest overhauls of nutrition labels in decades. Vox 38. Italy became the last large Western country to recognise same-sex unions in 2016, following a long-running battle by campaigners. Independent 39. Denmark became the first country to no longer define being transgender as a mental illness, and Canada announced a ban on transgender discrimination. Telegraph. 40. 2016 marked the 24th year in a row that teenage pregnancy rates declined in the United Kingdom and the United States. 41. In December, the Gambia became the latest African country to show that voting does count, and dictators do fall. Daily Maverick We finally started responding seriously to the climate change emergency 42. The Paris Agreement became the fastest (and largest) United Nations treaty to go from agreement to international law in modern history. CBS 43. Global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels did not grow at all in 2016. It’s the third year in a row emissions have flatlined. Scientific American 44. Thanks to rapid technological innovation and political support from around the world, renewables now account for more installed capacity than any other form of electricity in the world, including coal. Gizmodo 45. The Chinese government placed a ban on new coal mines, created new rules for grid access, and doubled its renewables targets for 2020. WRI 46. India announced it won’t need any new coal plants for the next three years because it’s flush with generation capacity. Times of India 47. In April, the UK’s Chatham House released a report saying “Big Oil is screwed.” Chatham House 48. In the same month, 25% of European countries announced that they had quit coal. EcoWatch 49. The BRICS New Development Bank approved $1 billion in renewables investments in China, Brazil, South Africa, and India. RT 50. In 2016 Costa Rica ran solely on renewable energy for over 100 days. Now it’s aiming for an entire year with no fossil fuels. The Independent 51. In July, the US, Mexico, and Canada committed to getting 50% of their electricity from renewables by 2025. Their leaders also nailed the awkward handshake thing. Time 52. A new report showed that China reached peak coal in 2014, a landmark moment in the fight against climate change that was reported by every media outlet on the planet. Right? Guardian 53. China installed 20GW of solar in the first half of 2016, three times as much as during the same period a year ago. Reuters 54. In October, the International Energy Agency reported that half a million solar panels were installed each day around the world in 2015. It also drastically increased its five year growth forecast for renewables. IEA 55. In the same month, 197 countries agreed to drastically reduce their use of HFCs, and the International Civil Aviation Organisation agreed to measures to combat the impact of flying on greenhouse gas emissions. Scientific American 56. The world’s biggest offshore wind farm received the go ahead for its second phase. Guardian 57. Mexico announced $6 billion in renewables investments, Argentina $2.7 billion, Scotland connected underwater turbines to its grid for the first time, and solar energy generated more power than coal in the United Kingdom. Independent UK 58. In November, India unveiled the world’s largest solar-xpower plant, and revealed that it is now on track to be the world’s third biggest solar market in 2017. Al Jazeera 59. And in the same month, the United Kingdom agreed to phase out coal by 2025, France said it would get there by 2023, and Germany promised to reduce emissions by 95% by 2050. Guardian The world got less violent 60. Following the end of conflict in Colombia in 2016, all of the war in the world is now limited to an arc that contains less than a sixth of the world’s population. Associated Press 61. ISIS quietly started preparing its followers for the eventual collapse of the caliphate it proclaimed with great fanfare two years ago. New Yorker 62. In April, a new report revealed that for the first time ever, the death penalty has become illegal in more than half of the world’s countries. Article 63. Juarez, in Mexico, used to be the world’s most dangerous city. In 2016, crime came down and residents started losing their fear. National Geographic 64. Crime rates in Holland plummeted, with total recorded crime shrinking by 25% in the last eight years. One third of the country’s prison cells are now empty. Dutch News 65. Three years ago Honduras was the most dangerous place on earth. Since then community crime programs have achieved a remarkable reduction in violence. New York Times 66. Hellholes? Not according to US mayors, who in 2016 celebrated years of positive gains in US cities. Politico Signs of hope for a life-sustaining economy 67. Good science and simple economics have started a reversal in overfishing in the United States. New York Times 68. Norway became the first country in the world to commit to zero deforestation. The Independent 69. In June, a new survey showed that the ozone hole has shrunk by more than 3.9 million square kilometres since 2006. Scientists now think it will now be fully healed by 2050. Sydney Morning Herald 70. In July, more than 800,000 volunteers in India planted 50 million trees in one day. The country is planning on reforesting 12% of its land. National Geographic 71. Later that month, Israel revealed that it now makes 55% of its freshwater. That means that one of the driest countries on Earth now has more water than it needs. Ensia 72. McDonalds announced it would be removing corn syrup from its hamburger buns and removed antibiotics from its chicken months ahead of schedule. CNBC 73. By August, every major grocery and fast-food chain in the US had pledged to use only cage-free eggs by 2025. Washington Post 74. The average number of large oil spills around the world has been drastically reduced, from an average of 24.5 per year in the 1970s to just 1.8 a year in 2015. ITOPF 75. The citizens of Mumbai conducted the largest beach clean-up in human history, removing more than 4,000 tonnes of rubbish. Washington Post 76. Plastic bag use plummeted in England thanks to the introduction of a 5p charge in 2015. BBC 77. The Italian government overwhelmingly backed a new set of laws aimed at cutting down the vast amounts of food wasted in the country each year. Independent 78. In December, four of the world’s biggest cities, Paris, Madrid, Athens, and Mexico City, agreed to ban diesel cars from their centers. Guardian Endangered animals got a some well-deserved breaks 79. At this year’s CITES conference, 183 countries agreed to the strongest protections ever for endangered animals, with big wins for parrots, rhinos, porpoises, rays, and elephants. Washington Post 80. In February, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the global manatee population is no longer endangered. Scientific American 81. Wild wolves started coming back to Europe, and for the first time since the American Revolution, wild salmon began spawning in the Connecticut River. Al Jazeera 82. In March, Yellowstone’s grizzly bears passed a major milestone, completing one of the greatest wildlife comeback stories in history. National Geographic 83. Fifty years ago, the Columbian white-tailed deer population was 450 animals. This year, the US Fish and Wildlife Service took it off the endangered list. CS Monitor 84. Green sea turtles in Florida and Mexico were taken off the endangered list. Huffington Post 85. Sea World agreed to stop breeding captive killer whales. NPR 86. Humpback whales were removed from the endangered species list, having fully recovered in the last 46 years. Science Mag 87. The US finalized new regulations to shut down commercial elephant ivory trade within its borders and stop wildlife crime overseas. WWF 88. Mongolia created one of the world’s largest protected areas for snow leopards. Snow Leopard Trust 89. In September, giant pandas became the latest species to be taken off the endangered list. Guardian 90. And in 2016, for the first time, we heard that the number of tigers in the wild rose for the first time in 100 years. National Geographic The world got more generous 91. At the beginning of the year, we heard that global spending on aid and development increased by 7%, and spending on refugees has doubled. OECD 92. In April, Pony Ma Huateng, the chief executive of the Chinese internet giant Tencent, donated $2 billion to charity. South China Morning Post 93. 2015 was America’s most generous year ever, with charitable donations from individuals, estates, foundations, and corporations reaching record highs. 2016 is on track to be even bigger. Associated Press 94. In 2016, charitable giving in China rose to $15 billion, a 10 fold increase from just a decade ago Bloomberg 95. Online crowdfunding raised almost $1 million for the kids of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile to go to college. 96. Warren Buffett gave $2.9 billion to charity, again. And his son, a farmer and environmentalist, quietly continued to spend his billion dollar inheritance on sustainable agriculture and hunger eradication. The Atlantic 97. The Gates Foundation announced another $5 billion in charity for Africa. They also tweeted this video about progress on malaria. 98. Germany took in an additional 300,000 refugees in 2016, despite growing concerns about integration and a backlash from populists. Guardian 99. In Canada, hockey moms, poker buddies, and neighbors took in Syrian refugees, one family at a time.

I used to think that lilacs were only lavendar in color. Little did I know that they range from rich, burgundy-purple to lilac, lavender, blue, white, and even creamy yellow. I found this beautiful white one on a bush at the Harry & David public garden! What a stunner, it looks like it should be sitting at a wedding. Did you know that lilacs have almost as many scents as they do colors? They can have varying degrees of the light floral scent they're famous for as well as warm, spicy tones. Such a wonderful flower.

(+3 insets!) Another cold, wet, and dreary day greeted me today and I simply didn't have the heart to go outside in the mud and icky weather. However, I did have a lot of fun looking through some of my archive photography and found the perfect picture to post for Valentine's Day. It's officially tomorrow for all of us in the United States, but since so many people on ipernity live in Europe, it's a better idea to post this picture today! Steve and I live near the town of Medford, Oregon, and a large company called Harry & David is located there. They have a huge public garden and specialize in endless species of roses. We've gone there for photo shoots a couple of times and my mind is always spinning by the time we leave because I've photographed so many incredible blossoms. This one in deep, rich red, is the classic Valentine's rose, and so it's my pick of the day. I hope you like it Pam! :D I'm also including some past Valentine cards I've posted. (If you'd like to see more pictures from the Harry & David garden, click on the album to the right and you'll see what I've posted so far.) I hope that everyone has a wonderful and romantic day! Pam, I looked on your photo stream for Valentine's Day pictures and found a lovely golden crocus that bloomed that day in 2014. What a wonderful gift! I wonder if it bloomed for you this year or did it get eaten like all of ours did? Anyway, I hope that you can find something pretty to enjoy on your Valentine's Day this year! *BIG HUGGGGGS* from southern Oregon! Explored on 2/14/19, highest placement, #1.

(This is not the most up-beat post, my apologies) Today has been lovely outside, a bit too warm but pretty. But in my heart I am feeling very sad and unhappy ever since I learned about Marie-claire last night. It's got me thinking about my mortality and Steve too, has been feeling low. He doesn't know Marie-claire but I told him what a special person she is and how important she is to the ipernity community. Oddly enough, Steve read a post on his favorite idle-time website, "Imgur" that affected him very deeply, for a reason I'll explain. The post was about a guy who had an online gaming friend. One day that buddy gave him all of his in-game stuff and said that he was very sick with cancer and had to stop playing their game. After a few weeks without his friend logging on, he couldn't bear to play the game anymore because it made him too sad. He still checks in from time to time...last time he looked, his friend hadn't been online for over 700 days... This story hit home with Steve because we used to have a very dear friend who we met while playing World of Warcraft. So many adventures, so much fun...our very best experiences playing any online game involved our friend and his wife. Later Steve and our friend discovered they both loved another game, World of Tanks. They spent many hours playing that game together and developed a very close bond. About a year ago, our friend got brain cancer and even though he fought very hard, he couldn't beat it. The whole time though, Steve kept in touch, calling and giving what support he could. One day, our friend's wife let us know that he was gone. It was such a hard time for us because we loved him so much and felt incredibly sad for his wife who we care deeply for as well. Steve still grieves deeply for his lost friend, as do I. We miss him terribly and think about him all the time. It's just so hard to believe that he's gone. That Imgur post affected Steve deeply because he still plays World of Tanks and our friend's character is visible every time he logs in. It's been about 700 days since he logged on. Steve mourns his lost friend and sadly, my warm hugs cannot bring him back. :( It is amazing to us that so many people discount online relationships as inferior to "real" in-person relationships. I for one, can tell you that my very best friends (other than Steve, of course) are ALL online. Today I am missing Marie-claire and I am very worried and sad about her. She is my friend and I want her to be well and happy and posting pictures like crazy as she is so well-known to do. My picture today is, again, a duel dedication to both my dear friend Pam and also to Marie-claire. I am having a problem knowing what to do so that I can show proper support to each of my friends. I am hoping that they will not mind if I change my project name to join them together, like this pair of flowers that I am posting today. I don't know how else to do this. :( (Pam has let me know that she is honored to have Marie-claire added in my daily dedication) :) Pammy, I'm so glad you enjoyed my poppy pictures...it's such a bummer that none of your poppy seeds survived to give you flowers! Maybe it's like the Moonflowers and me...I have tried and tried and tried to get them to grow for me but they just won't! It seems that some flowers just aren't meant to grow in certain places, even when the habitats seem to be the same. It is a fact that I've planted zillions of different wildflowers and almost NONE ever sprout. Our properties seem to be inhospitable to most flowers, and yet False Sunnies are what grow for both of us and mean the most of all! *THINKING WARM THOUGHTS OF YOU MY DEAR!* Explored on 6/3/19; highest placement, #5.