Janet Brien's photos

(+2 insets!) Guess what we have sitting in front of our shop?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! WE HAVE OUR VERY OWN RV!!! Oh what an exciting day!! Steve and I met one of the owners in town late this morning to transfer money and ownership. Then we drove over to their place and painstakingly hooked our trailer to our truck. Steve showed me everything he did just so I know and finally we were ready to pull out. I was assigned the duty of making sure there were no cars coming and then I waited and watched. The previous owners live at the end of an extremely narrow road with a fairly tight turn. Normally this would be a non-issue but we have a long-bed truck with a full-sized cab--about 25 feet. The trailer is 30 feet long. To make it around the curve in their road, Steve had to creep forward, check the angle and back way up to get closer to being able to get around that turn. It took him about 10 minutes of back-and-forth before he was finally able to clear the turn without wiping out the entire side of our RV! Steve drove up the hill and all was clear...until just as Steve was pulling out into the road, a car came buzzing around the turn. And then two more. What are the odds? No cars for 10 minutes and then three in a row! Sheesh. Thankfully there were no problems...the cars waited and Steve was able to get onto the main road. I hopped in and off we went! We drove at a leisurely pace for the 30-minute trip home and when we got to our gate, Steve stopped a good distance away so I could open the gates all the way and he'd be able to make the wide swing onto our property. Maneuvering the trailer into position in front of our shop was quite a time-consuming and stressful challenge. The biggest problem was that our property is extremely muddy and the soil is very soft. This meant that the tires on both the truck and trailer sunk many inches in various places as Steve was angling the trailer but thankfully nothing got stuck. The truck's wheels occasionally spun in place, refusing to back the trailer up, so Steve would have to pull forward and try again at a different spot. Steve's handled long trailers and big rigs in the past but it's been a while. He also needed to retrain himself on the unique and confusing situation of backing a trailer up and turning it 45 degrees. I did my best to help direct him and as time goes on we'll perfect our directing—and we'll find our walkie-talkies too! Our 2016 Grey Wolf trailer is now leveled and hooked up to power! It's totally and utterly amazing to us that we actually own an RV! It's going to take time for us to get used to this huge change, but we are good with it! I didn't take pictures inside yet but I do have one inset of the truck and trailer as Steve finally had it backed into position. I'll post more pictures tomorrow so you can have a look inside! It is Thursday and so I'm posting my Happy Fence Friday picture...it's another one from our wonderful motorcycle trip we took a few years back with our buddy Andy. This picture was taken on a stretch of road between Alturas, California and Klamath, Oregon. There is are endless expanses of beautiful country along the way and I had a wonderful time clicking away from the back of the motorcycle! (By the way, I also included a panorama of today's lovely sky to celebrate RV DAY!) Pam, since my main picture features cattle, I took a peek on your stream for "cow" or "cattle". Instead of finding a bovine, I found FLICKA! I really love this picture of him sitting in the snow. Here's hoping you had a good day! *HUGGGGGSSSSSS*!!! What a doll. Explored on 3/08/19, highest placement, #8.

(+2 insets!) Today I woke up to more rain and dreary weather but I didn't care! Steve and I are so excited about our new RV that no amount of cold and rain can ruin our moods. :) Pumpkin and I hopped into the shower where we whistled and sang to each other as she watched me from her perch. When we got out, I held her up to my face--touching my lips to her beak--closed my eyes and whistled softly to her. She whistled right back and I could feel tiny puffs of her warm sweet breath as she sang to me. My heart threatens to burst with the love I feel for that darling, amazing little girl. How lucky we are to have her in our lives! As I've been commenting on pictures over the past week, I keep running into images of Pam's favorite flower, Snow Drops! Every time I see them, I am reminded of our trip down to San Anselmo back at the beginning of the year. While I was wandering around Nathalie's property I noticed a small, white, spike of flowers that was growing low to the ground. The second I got close enough I recognized them! SNOW DROPS! I'd never seen these in person before so you can imagine how excited I was. However, there was something not quite right about that flower...it didn't look exactly like the Snow Drops I'd seen before. I would need to investigate. I'd planned to process the pretty little white flower image right away. However, you know how things go sometimes. I got distracted by other pictures and time passed. Today though, I was bound and determined...and huzzah, it's now my picture of the day!! Before posting, I wanted to make sure this flower was named correctly...and after comparing mine to a Snow Drop, I could see that it definitely wasn't one. Diminutive, white, green spots, but this little flower is a Snow FLAKE , not a Snow DROP . I found a nice page that showed and explained the difference. I am also including two more pictures from San Anselmo as insets. One of them shows some pretty Alyssum flowers that were growing on Nathalie's back patio (Do you see the little ant visitor?!). The other one was from our first hike and shows the remnants of a kind of wild grass called "Rattlesnake Grass." The seed casings on this grass actually SOUND like a rattlesnake if you shake the stems of several of them! Well Pam, I’m still hoping to find a real Snow Drop for you but I hope that this Snow Flake will make you happy too! I looked on your page for a picture of one of yours and found this little beauty to appreciate. They are so lovely. I hope that you are having a good day! Many hugs from southern Oregon! Explored on 3/07/19, highest placement, #1.

(+3 insets) Yesterday I mentioned the Spring-like weather we've had for the past few days. Whaever possessed me?! Today it's miserable, cold and raining! It makes me laugh because I should know better than to spout off about the lovely weather. Mother Nature refuses to be predictable! I noticed that I haven't posted any mushroom pictures for a while so I thought it would be fun to share a little presentation I put together.. A few years ago I was creeping around on our property looking for mushrooms. I wasn't having a lot of luck but I kept hunting. I looked on the forest floor. I looked on the moss clinging to the trees. I looked under logs. Nothing. Feeling bored, I began studying the bark on the oak trees very closely. There are countless varieties of lichen and mosses to appreciate which appear in a rainbow of colors and I think they are extremely interesting. As I was studying the bark, I suddenly found myself staring at one of the tiniest mushrooms I'd ever seen! It was peeking out from a crevice, as cute as can be. And then I noticed another one...and another! Why, these itty-bitty mushrooms were all over the bark and I'd never noticed them until now. What a huge surprise! I have shared pictures of these little darlings in the past but it occurred to me that it might be fascinating for viewers to get a better understanding of how small these mushrooms really are. Along with my main image showing this pair of micro-sized beauties, there are two insets. One of them shows the tree at a normal distance and a circle that shows where the mushrooms are hiding. The second picture is a lot closer to show you what the environment looks like, and yet, those mushrooms are still quite small. In fact, each of them is perhaps 1/8" in size...they really are so very tiny!! If you enjoy these pictures, I have another presentation like this one that I'll share those at some point too. (I'm also including a colorful sunrise I got a while back!) Pam, I did a search for "tiny" on your photo stream and lo' and behold, I discovered your tiny bracket fungus pictures ! They are TERRIFIC!!! I especially love that you took pictures at various distances away as well, just like I did with my little presentation! *high five* Explored on 3/06/19, highest placement, #4.

(+3 insets!) Today was different. Today I smelled Spring in the air! Every morning for the past few days the sun has been shining so brightly that the tiny amount of frost on the ground melts as soon as the sun touches it. The days are beginning to warm up. When I went outside, the air was perfumed with the fragrance of fresh grass and a million other plants. There are signs of growth everywhere and it’s as if a switch just got flipped to “ON” in the “Spring is Here” department. I’m so happy!! It's about time. The signs of Spring have been delayed this year by as much as a month. Our very first flowers are extremely tiny but when I see the itty-bitty white blossoms from Whitlow Grass , I know that Spring is right around the corner. I usually see them in February but not this year. I have yet to see these darling little flowers but I bet it will only be a few days or a week before they make their presence known. Today is also Macro Monday!! The subject is “stamp”, and I knew exactly what I’d be photographing the moment I read the challenge. On my refrigerator I have two envelopes addressed to me from my father. I love them because my dad had the most lovely handwriting and every time I see those envelopes, they make me smile. Dad passed away a couple of years ago and these two envelopes are my special memorial. I took a series of macros which I’m pretty happy with but to be honest, I’m feeling sad and that’s a bit hard. It is amazing how fresh it feels when you are reminded of a close relative’s death and when it comes to a parent, it can be especially difficult. My main picture features a snipped of my father’s handwriting for you to see as well as the stamps. There are several other ideas as insets too. ENJOY! Pam, I wanted to find something joyful in your stream today and “joy” gave me this incredible sunset and poem which filled me with peace and words which warmed my heart as I sit feeling sad about my dad’s passing. Thank you! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 3/05/19, highest placement, #6.

(+4 insets!) Right now Steve is driving home after spending the morning with the folks who have our RV trailer! :D We put a down payment on it today and will be bringing it back home in the next week or so. Can you say excited? AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! There are no words to adequately describe how we feel! This is something we've been dreaming about for years and it's taken such a long time to get to this point. Now that we're here we can hardly believe that this next chapter of our lives is going to begin! I will certainly be keeping everyone up to date on our developing plans! I went out this morning with the hopes to get some frosty images but the sun melted the scenes as I arrived. I realized also that I wasn't really in the mood to take pictures. However, just as I was turning to go back to the house I decided to roll a log over to see what there. I discovered some extremely tiny fungus and one of them had a droplet of water on top like a tiny ice cream cone! Today I also took pictures for tomorrow's Macro Monday theme, which is "stamps." However, before I did that, I made myself a cup of espresso with cream and I couldn't resist taking pictures! So, today's main picture is my lovely cup of coffee, photographed in one of our double-walled cups. I'm also including an inset of the yummy espresso crema-and-cream on top, another version with extreme contrast filtering and also the neat little fungus I found with the droplet on top! Finally, today was so pretty with edge-lit clouds on a gloriously sunny afternoon that I'm including a panorama of that too! :) Pam, I looked up "mushrooms" on your photo stream since I was having fun taking pictures of itty-bitty ones today and discovered a wonderful collage you made of a group you'd found . It's just fantastic and a total delight to appreciate! Here's hoping the warm and sunny mood here is the same for you today! *BIG HUGS*!! Explored on 3/04/19, highest placement, #6.

(+2 insets) (please view large!) What a beautiful day it is! The morning began with a dusting of frost which quickly melted as the sun rose into the sky. Now it's shining brightly on the lovely clouds that are marching through the sky. I'm posting my picture early today because soon Steve and I are going to see the RV we're interested in and I don't know when we'll get back. I could post my picture later but I'd rather do it now so it's out of the way and not bugging me! :) It's Saturday Self Challenge!! The topic is "One"...which...is probably at least 50% of my photography so I got this done without even thinking about it! A few days ago it was extremely cold with a lot of frost everywhere so I got outside with my camera and went to town! The frozen droplets were just amazing and I'm featuring a dreamy image I got of one, along with 2 insets: a droplet-drizzled sporophyte and a frozen droplet at the edge of our deck, adorned with a frosted hat! Pam, since it's gleaming outside I found another sunny picture on your stream featuring "sunshine" and what did I find? A picture with that name that includes a super quote that I love. I sure do hope this was a nice day for you, and thank you for the kind words about the planets lining up for us regarding our RV plans! *BIG HUGS*!!! Explored on 3/04/19, highest placement, #6.

(+2 insets!) Steve and I went out to look at RV trailers today! We are getting very close to purchasing our new "home on wheels" and drove into town to look at a few that are in our price range and the style that we like. It's surprising how different they can be from one company to the next and standing in each type is important to get an understanding of the space. The layouts and slide options really make a huge difference in usability and size. Even the overall tone (dark/light) changes the way one feels from another. We aren't going to get something new so we need to be very careful about how "used" our chosen trailer is. About four months ago we went RV shopping to see what was out there and we found one that we really liked for sale by a private owner. Unfortunately we didn't have the money to buy it at that time so we had to tell him that we couldn't purchase it but if it happened to still be available when our funds came together, we'd be in touch. Steve did some looking and to his surprise, he discovered that the trailer was still available! He called the owner up who said that he didn't advertise the trailer after we'd shown strong interest and only recently put it back up for sale..what are the odds? We made the effort to look at RVs today to make sure that the trailer we liked was really the one we wanted. So, tomorrow we're going to go see it again and make our decision. It will be a life-changer if we say yes!! We are very excited! Today I am posting a picture of a lovely wasp gall that I found sitting in a pool of water that was inside a tree trunk! I just love the dreamy quality of the water. I am also posting another picture of a wasp gall that's absolutely bristling with frost! In fact, I call the inset picture, "Look at My Fancy Hair!" I'm also including another panorama of our property with the Table Rocks in the background. Pam, this afternoon as we got home, the sun came out and shone brightly with stunning golden light. I thought about you my dear, so I went to your page and looked up something with "sunny" in the search results. I came up with a beautiful picture of a False Sunny (oops, that's actually a Zinnia! TY Pam!) with a skipper and butterfly visiting ...such a happy picture to see! *BIG HUGS FROM SOUTHERN OREGON* :)

(+1 inset) For the past few days I've woken up to a very light dusting of snow which melts within an hour. I haven't been outside in the mess because it's a sloppy, muddy, slippery situation the moment I step off of our porch. The ground is totally saturated and it's a squelching, sloppy mess with every step. I just don't have the patience or interest to deal with mud caked on my shoes if ever I step off the gravel drive. Also, the dirt here is heavy clay so if I get mud on my shoes it's thick and heavy and makes me feel like Frankenstein with my huge feet of sticky clay! Today is another Thursday, which means it's time to post my Happy Fence Friday picture! I’ve got so many fun shots from the motorcycle trip that Steve took a few years ago, I don't know how I'll ever get through them all! :D Whenever I think about this trip, I am reminded of how grateful I am to our traveling photographer friend, Andy Spliethof. He encouraged me to take pictures from the back of the motorcycle as Steve took us on our adventures and I was finally brave enough to try. Once I got used to this method of photography it totally liberated me! It’s made it possible for me to document our trips in an incredible way and the memories from those images are priceless. The photo I'm featuring is from the stretch we rode between the extreme northern coast of California at Fort Bragg down to Santa Cruz, which is south of San Francisco. The coastline is rugged, wild and extremely beautiful. The roads are winding and rustic, full of countryside and seaside views that are totally breathtaking. There is a reason the west coast route from Canada to Baja, California (just north of Mexico) is so popular. The scenery is spectacular! (I've also included a picture I took before I had my Canon 5D Mk II/III when Steve and I drove down to Upper Lake Klammath. The area is brimming with beauty, including the fence shot I am including! :) Pam, I took a peek in your photo stream for a wonderful image and found myself staring dreamily at your glowing pear blossoms image . What lovely light! Incredible! I hope that you are having some pretty days to counter our muddy, sloppy ones! *BIG HUGS* from southern Oregon! Explored on 3/01/19, highest placement, #1.

(+5 insets!) Sorry so long! :D It rained and snowed all night long and this morning it's sloppy and positively yucky outside. What snow remains has been melting and it's been muddy and icky all day. You know, I forget that when snow melts, it makes slush and that's just bad news. I was going to say that there are no pictures to take but it occurs to me that I've never actually thought about trying to find an interesting slushy picture. That could actually be really neat! If you've taken one, link it in the comments, I bet it's pretty dreamy! As I type, there is an Acorn Woodpecker on one of our window sills, pecking at the surfaces and yelling about it. *shakes head* Our house is not a storage facility for your nuts, you crazy bird! :D I spent a lot of time today playing with pictures from France. So much fun! Street and city shots give me the opportunity to try out different photography than my specialty of macro and the change is both refreshing and invigorating. Plus, this sort of photography really lends itself to using filters to enhance the interest. Yay, time to play In the sandbox!! Do you guys know about Topaz Labs filter suites? They work for both Windows and Mac and they have stand-alone applications as well as plug-ins for Photoshop. (I am a Photoshop user from allllll the way back, but you don't need this program to work on your pictures!) I depend on their tools for a variety of my needs. Here's my workflow: 1) At the least, I use their Topaz Denoise filter which has enormous control for both RAW and JPEG. 2) Next, I usually place the subject on its own layer in Photoshop. I use Topaz Remask for this step, though I sometimes opt for using the polygonal lasso or magic wand for selecting the subject. 3) When my subject is on its own layer, I usually apply one or more detailing filters, taking the opacity down to about 50% usually. (Opacity means that I make the layer less and less visible and allow the original layer to show through more and more. At 50%, the effect of a filter is much more natural and allows the original details to show through the filtered layer) The look I'm aiming for is enhancement, not blatant garishness! Topaz Labs has several detailing filter suites but I usually use Detail (this is no longer available as a separate plugin but part of their stand-alone application, which has all of their tools in one convenient place.). Previous to Detail I used Adjust but I like the filters in Detail better, they are more sophisticated and less coarse. 4) Finally, I often add a vignette to my image to direct more attention to my subject. I do this with the Lens Correction feature in Photoshop but I also use Topaz Lens Effects and Texture Effects for this. (Other filter sets I adore, but not usually for final processing are B/W Effects and Restyle.) B/W Effects is full of fantastic monochrome and duo-tone options as well as interesting vignetting ideas. Restyle will eat your life. It changes the colors of everything in your image to varying degrees and can change the mood completely from drab to outlandish, for example. If you have an image with blah colors and you want to add pizazz, Restyle will do this for you. The only problem is that it takes forever to look through the universe of choices. It's really fun though and I love to allow myself the time to play in this suite from time to time. Lens Effects has very interesting vignetting options but also helps with recreating background blur or changing the lighting in your image. It's very powerful! Texture Effects gives you access to a world of textures and interesting filtering choices, as well as wonderful vignetting and border ideas. If your image is interesting but it's not quite enough by itself, Texture Effects will save the day! There you have it. The only other Topaz filters I sometimes use is Topaz Impression, which turns your photo into artwork with a zillion paint styles. It's really neat but I am more about enhancing my photography than changing it into something completely artificial. Still, what a fantastic tool! (I've also enjoyed Dynamic Auto Painter, a wonderful program you may like to explore) One other point: There are LOTS of filter suites out there which are outstanding—I just happened to latch onto Topaz and they give me the high-quality, adjustable filters I insist on. If you take pictures with your phone, you'll know what I'm talking about in this regard. Zillions of options! FRANCE TRIP, CONTINUED! Note: if you want to read my first and second France posts, they are here: The first entry: www.ipernity.com/doc/290645/48132924 The second entry is this: www.ipernity.com/doc/290645/48136884 Since I was playing with my France pictures today, that's the feature of today! If you may recall from the other day, Steve and I landed in Nice and got into our apartment late that night. The next morning was gorgeous and we were so excited to see the town. To continue on our fresh new adventure, Steve and I had a mission to find a grocery store for provisions. Once we located one we grabbed our cameras and headed out. Right away there were pictures to be had everywhere! A very colorfully painted car...a cool artistic sculpture featuring arrows going up and down...store signs, rows of motorcycles outside a shop and even the door handles leading into the store were cool! I tried out our sneaky way to take pictures of people, by holding my camera at my hip and pointing it up towards people but not looking at them. Lots of garbage but sometimes you nail it! However, at one point I was looking through my viewfinder and noticed a group of teenagers...I couldn't help aiming at them...and you'll see that the beauty who caught my eye most certainly saw my admiring aim and click! :D Pam, have you ever done city photography and pictures of people? The only images I found on your stream were of San Francisco, so maybe not? Or perhaps you just don't bother with them? I find city photography to be refreshing and interesting but you really do have to be in the right mood for it. People do NOT like their picture taken so you must be crafty...or ask their permission, but then it's no longer candid so forget it! I love architecture too...it's all really neat. Do you enjoy that sort of thing? Well, time to send more delicious soup your way...it's a cold and miserable mess outside, wouldn't be surprised to hear the same on your side! *BIG HUGS...AND SOUP!* :D Explored on 2/28/19, highest placement, #7.

(+3 insets) (view large for best impact) Again I am sitting--tucked in like a snug little bug in a rug--in my bed as I type up my post. Outside my window I'm watching the snow falling! It's not only snowing, it's sticking! There is a soft, white blanket of wet snow on the ground, though I fear that it's melting almost as fast as it's touching down. About an hour ago we lost our power! I am happily typing away on my laptop so this doesn't affect me too much. Steve has been busily setting up our portable generator and has reestablished our most important connections to power: our Monitor house heater along with lights and heating to make sure our parrot is comfortable. We will also have our computers and internet up and running too. How nice it is to have independent power when we need it! We learned the hard way how bad it can be to lose power for an extended period out in a rural area. After we moved to southern Oregon, we experienced some bad winter storms that caused a number of power outages--the worst lasting about two days. It was scary because the house got so cold and we were worried about keeping our parrot safe. After that we got a generator and it's given us peace of mind—and a nice warm parrot! :) The power is supposed to be back on within a couple of hours—let's hope so! Until then we'll be fine, thanks to Steve's diligence to keep us comfortable and happy! :) (By the way, we got power back after about three hours. Not too bad! :D) On top of the excitement of losing power, this morning began with a light haze of frost and I was very excited to get some pictures if I could. I was out for about 45 minutes and silly me—I forgot my monopod. Wow, it really does make a big difference in the number of crisp images I get. Thankfully I got nice images of most subjects I photographed so I'm not too annoyed with myself but I need to be sure to bring that with me when I go out! Today's picture is a frozen droplet I found today! One of the things I love about frozen droplets are the beautiful crinkled lines and frozen bubbles inside, so if I can capture that I feel very successful. Along with the droplet I'm including a picture of a bird in a snow pine tree I got a while back and I've also got a couple of panoramas from this morning with a very fogged-in valley and another that shows the snowy hills across our little valley. Such a lovely sight. Pam, I'm really having a lot of fun finding pictures on your stream to comment about here, and today I picked a collage of two cardinals in the snow that are so cute, so fluffy, so bright and beautiful, that I can hardly contain myself! I showed Steve and he was just as smitten. You bring us so much beauty and wonder in your photography, Pam. Thank you for the smile I have on my face right now! *BIG HUGS from southern Oregon* Explored on 2/27/19, highest placement, #3.

(+8 insets!) It's been pouring cats and dogs since last night and hasn't stopped coming down. Steve and I drove into Medford to do our shopping and though the driving conditions aren't great, it's given us the rare chance to witness actual flooding. For the first time in a couple of years, our area is overly saturated with water and turning pastures into ponds! The volume of water is pretty amazing to see. We're supposed to get precipitation for the next week so it will be interesting to find out what happens. Right now I'm cuddled up in my bed with blankets tucked in around me while I type up my post. I like to go into our bedroom to write so I can concentrate without distraction. Steve and I have a pair of computers set up in our game room but it's hard to focus if he talks to me or makes too much noise and the perfect solution is to write in a quiet space. I keep looking outside because it isn't raining anymore...it's SNOWING!! I'm watching huge, heavy snowflakes fall to the ground and instantly melt. Not long after we got home, Steve exclaimed loudly, "It's snowing!" And indeed it was...small, wet flakes at first, but now they are much larger though still very wet. It's mesmerizing to see the different sizes of flakes and to check if the snow is sticking yet. We hope that it will...that would mean more fun photography opportunities! It is exciting to see so much snow coming down, it's so beautiful. (Alas, it has returned to rain, but I did include a panorama inset of the snowy hillside across the valley from us…it's high enough for the snow to stick up there but not down here!) Well, today is MACRO MONDAY!! The theme this week is "Belongings" but I have renamed it, "What Has It Got In Its Pocketses?!" After all, no Hobbit-loving person would ever resist such a perfect opportunity to quote our dear Gollum! :D For my project, I kept an eye on the different things that I had in my pockets over the week...rubber hair scrunchies...lens clothes...my phone, which fits into a large pocket on my pants...Blistex...camera lens cover...pecans and seed treats for Pumpkin...tissue...lint...heh... I chose my favorites and if you read my post yesterday, you'll know that I had a great time and was very late posting my pictures because I lost myself in creative bliss! :D The main picture shows a green lens cloth and you'll see a black one as an inset along with rubber hair scrunchies and my phone in its well-worn case and also a pair of images of the phone screen. What fun...I sure do love these projects that have me photographing totally different stuff! (Oh, I also included a second panorama about 15 minutes later than the first one...look at the difference!) Pam, since it's been raining nonstop, I looked in your photo stream and found a beautiful picture of a droplet-covered Snowdrop ! It's so pretty but the story you included is its match. Thank you so much for sharing the reason that you love these flowers so much. And did you know that I was also an 8-month baby? What a surprise--another thing in common! Here's a big *HIGH FIVE* and a *HUGGGG* as well! Explored on 2/26/19, highest placement, #5.

(+5 insets...ENJOY!) (this picture is very nice at full size!) :) Holy cow, I'm late posting today! I usually try to put my picture up by about 5pm PST but I was carried away and totally forgot about the time. What was I carried away about? Why, tomorrow's Macro Monday project, of course!! First of all, I had a great time taking pictures of the subjects I came up with. Then, when I looked at the images on my computer, I was really happy that I got lots of usable shots of my ideas! I took a running leap and did a swan dive into my artistic persona. For the next few hours I swam around in Photoshop, playing with each image and having a wonderful time. When Steve asked me about dinner I was shocked to see that so much time had gone by! EEK! :D I'm feeling the magic of being in the Moment of my creativity, so today I'm sharing a rather dreamy image of a droplet-encased sporophyte with his people. This was taken on the day there was snow everywhere. It had mostly melted where this group was but I am beyond overjoyed that I took pictures even though the snow was gone. I hope you like this gorgeous sporophyte as much as I do...I am still trying to figure out how to get their autographs! :) My insets feature some of my past sporophyte images. Aren't they just amazing? I think they are all like tiny people. Little villagers with great big personalities! :) Pam, I wanted to find a magical image in your photo stream and I found just what I was looking for with the sunset image you posted that glows in the Golden Hour. It's drop-dead GORGEOUS!! Stunning sunset and incredible silhouettes...but that warm light...ohhhh, it's incredible!!! You added the awesome quote which states the following words that I love so much: Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever. ~ Horace Mann This was just perfect for the way I feel right now! Sending oodles of *HUGGGGGGZZZZZZ*!!!!

(+1 inset) (view large for frosty goodness!) Such a murky, frostless day...blustery, cold, foggy, and then storm clouds moving in and rain coming down. NOT a day to be outside I've decided. My resolve to deal with frozen feet and hands has waned and since there was no frost to drag me outside, I am foregoing my exercise today. Sometimes I just don't feel like it and that's ok. I used to beat myself up when I didn't do my usual exercise but I've finally allowed that it's ok from time to time. Every weekend when I visit contacts to appreciate their photos and leave comments, I find many pictures for the group, "Saturday Self Challenge." Each week I think to myself, "OH THAT LOOKS LIKE FUN!" However, I am already in two groups that require my attention and input—Macro Monday 2.0 and Happy Fence Friday. (And of course the whole reason I got back into photography...my daily Pictures for Pam!) I have watched and considered and have decided that this commitment should be fine, so I applied and was accepted to the group today, hooray!! :) The week's challenge is "Sharp Focus" and funny enough, I've got perhaps 2 billion pictures that fall under that category! Specifically though, the rules request a new picture taken in the past week, posted today (my time zone's Saturday). Well, that takes the number down to a very scant 500-1000 pictures, heh. LOL, I don't usually take so many pictures per week but I was out twice for frosty pictures and my Macro Monday mishap meant that I did that project twice. So I did take a LOT of pictures this week. Today's image is one of the stars from my super frosty outing a couple of days ago. I almost added it as an inset for yesterday's post but it deserves the center stage, so here you go! Crazy frost crystals in sharp focus! I've also included a very frosty bolt that's bristling with crystals! Pam, I thought it would be fun to find a picture in your photo stream that would be a good entry for "Sharp Focus" and I found this glowing, fiery red and green macro of Autumn-Hued Grape Leaves that I loved. The first one has incredible crispness that show fine vein detail which is like a stained glass window. Absolutely beautiful. The other picture, Autumn-Hued Grape Leaves, Part 2 shows the whole leaf and is brimming with lovely, sharp detail and stunning light. They are both outstanding pictures which make me swoon in delight! Sending another virtual cup of warm soup your way! *BIG HUGGGGZZZZ*!!! Explored on 2/24/19, highest placement, #1.

(+1 insets!) (please view large!) :) Yesterday was an amazing day of frosty delights outside and I had such a great time taking pictures. However, when I looked at them on my computer I was pretty annoyed at the number of garbage shots. Motion blur and bad focus choice were the worst problems and I mentioned in my post yesterday that the next time I go out, I'll take a monopod with me to help with stabilization. I knew that today might have some frost but if so it wasn't going to be a big show like yesterday. Still, macro + frost of any kind = sparkly goodness so I crossed my fingers for any kind of frost! Happily, we did get some. And, it was just as predicted--only a little bit. Combined with the fact that today was forecast to be bright and sunny all day, I didn't have a moment to lose if I hoped to get frosty pictures. I made a bee-line to the burned shed and hoped for the best. I immediately checked out an old car seat that had been left behind the shed. It had disintegrated to a skeleton of rusty springs and coils--what a wonderful subject for macro photography! Yesterday I took about 30 pictures. Exactly ONE of them turned out well enough to share but I really wanted a little bit more depth of field so I could show off more of that amazing frost. I was so annoyed but at least I could try again today. Sadly there was so little frost on the springs that it merely looks like some salt granules but I got a bunch of good pictures this time and my main image is my favorite. You'll see yesterday's frostier image as an inset. Maybe it's better? Pam, just for fun I typed in "seat" on your photo stream since I was showing springs from an old car seat. What a surprise to find a hit! You took a really neat picture of a wrought iron garden seat caked with snow! Thinking about the fun fractals and filtery things you like so much, seems to me this seat picture would look really cool in a design. :) I hope that you and your day was like ours was--sunny and beautiful! *BIG HUGS* from southern Oregon! :)

(+ 2 insets) The forecast promised a very cold morning and I crossed my fingers for frost before I went to sleep last night. Just because it's cold enough for frost does not mean it will be frosty! However, I had a good feeling that it would be fabulous this morning and I was right! Peeking outside after hopping out of bed, I was rewarded by a sparking shimmer on everything! Pumpkin and I were both very impressed and talked about it at length while I took my shower. Ok well, maybe Pumpkin only laughed at me and whistled with the water sounds but I'd like to think she was suitably moved by the frosty world outside! :) I spent about 45 minutes taking pictures and I was so happy I'd prepared my camera beforehand. All I needed to do was dive into my warm clothes and bounce outside and right into a glimmering wonderland! Some of the subjects that I captured were metal screws, nails, wire, barbs, hinges, springs...the mail box, frozen droplets on the mail box, leaves, wasp galls, ice at the edge of the pond, frosty weeds poking out of the pond...the list goes on and on! Let's just say I came back to the house with over 400 pictures so you get the general idea! My feeling is that we won't have a lot more frosty days so if I want pictures, today's going to be one of my last chances! I was so excited to look over my pictures and boy did I get a BUNCH of winners! I also got a LOT of garbage shots. Ugh. I may need to take a monopod with me because I was got so many blurry pictures. A flash can definitely help capture an image without blur but it's not a miracle-worker. The smaller the subject, the harder it is to get a crisp picture by hand-holding your camera. MEH! It's a good thing that I took multiples along with aperture sets of each subject. Sometimes I'd get 9 garbage pictures and only one good one! And unfortunately, I failed completely on some very nice subjects. Better luck next time, right? And I can't cry too hard...I got several dozen nice pictures that I'll need to process! This is my day to post my Happy Fence Friday picture so I looked through this morning's photo shoot I and found one that would work just fine! It's barbed fencing wire that's wrapped around a post. The frost isn't very prominent but I really liked the colors and interesting visual. It was on the outside of our property next to our gate and the red color caught my eye. I've also included an inset of the entire width of the wire wrapped around the post...plus a guest I didn't notice until I saw it on the computer! Finally, I have another picture of frosty barbed wire that I took a few weeks ago. :) Pam, I did a look-see for "frost" on your photo stream and found a series of frosty artwork that you'd created. I especially like your Frost Flowers Circle Scope which is marvelous eye candy! (Steve loved it too!) By the way, it was fun to read about what you'd done for jobs. I have many times wondered if it would be fun to work as a dental hygienist but a technician would be more interesting I'm sure. Not at all surprised that you designed jewelry and done graphic design as well--you have a wonderful eye! And of course, I can see gardening being a big draw, it's great fun! *BIG HUGS* MY DEAR!!! Explored on 2/22/19, highest placement, #1.

(+3 insets) It's been a while since I posted any pictures from my trip to San Anselmo so I thought I'd fix that today! It's so miserable outside right now that all I want to see right now are blossoms and bright colors! Nathalie's garden featured many different plants and flowers and many of the blossoms were quite small. That meant they were perfect for me! The flower I'm posting today was maybe half an inch long from its pretty face to the end of its tube. Even though it was tiny, it was easy to see that it was covered with hairs! Thank you for all of your help to try to identify this flower! I was able to find some pictures of "Salvia greggii" that Ron Hanko suggested and they are the same! But the blossoms definitely have the traits of the other flowers suggested, so thank you all! I am including two insets to show a front view (Look at the fancy hair!! And the funny mini flower on its forehead!) and also a pretty bokeh view with some flowers in the background. Finally, I have another panorama to show the sort of weather it's been today! :) Pam, I was looking around in your photo stream to see what you had in the way of "purple flowers" and found this delightful picture of an upside-down butterfly on Buddleia flowers …I was particularly tickled that you called the Fritillary a Butterfly Bat! :D I love it! :) It's another warm soup day so I'll be sending some via my virtual teleporter! :) I hope you like cream of mushroom soup, we made a lot of it! :D *HUGS* Explored on 2/21/19, highest placement, #3.