1/365: "Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible." ~ Tony Robbins

365 Project

I began this project on January 1 and thought about it for months before I committed. I wanted to be sure that I could succeed, so I contemplated what I wanted to achieve and considered everything that would be a possible problem. I spent time reading advice from people who have done this project in the past. I looked at different projects to see what others had done.

The notion of a 365 project …  (read more)
54/365: "Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." ~ John Ruskin [Explore]

54/365: "Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing…

23 Feb 2013 1 525
We are now having crazy weather days, when it rains hard for 15 minutes and then the sun comes out. Just when you think the day will be beautiful, the skies close in and the rain pours down again! The air changes from still and quiet to a gale-force wind within moments. The sky can be dark and ominous one hour, and bright blue with puffy clouds rolling by the next! I didn't know if I'd be able to get out between the storms, but every time I looked out our downstairs bathroom window, I kept looking at the window screens we have leaning against the house. Some of them have been blown over from the wind and are laying on the ground. It is not possible to resist staring at the droplets of water resting there, shimmering when puffs of wind make them tremble and shake, glimmering brightly whenever the sun peeks out from behind the clouds. I have been waiting for the perfect day to take pictures of these screens, and today was it! :D The one thing I did was to carefully pick up one of the screens and bring it over to rest on the cover of our spa so that I could take pictures from underneath. I'd taken test pictures a couple of weeks ago and decided that it would be nice if I could take some from below as well as from above. This is the picture I liked from underneath, capturing a droplet complete with a starburst. If you look, you can see a partial yin-yang symbol in the droplet!! There is also a heart in the background, do you see it?! :) John Ruskin (8 February 1819 – 20 January 1900) was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political economy. His writing styles and literary forms were equally varied. Ruskin penned essays and treatises, poetry and lectures, travel guides and manuals, letters and even a fairy tale. The elaborate style that characterised his earliest writing on art was later superseded by a preference for plainer language designed to communicate his ideas more effectively. In all of his writing, he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society. He also made detailed sketches and paintings of rocks, plants, birds, landscapes, and architectural structures and ornamentation. Wikipedia: John Ruskin Explored on Flickr on February 23, 2013. Highest position: #435.
55/365: "A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song." ~ Chinese Proverb [Explore]

55/365: "A bird does not sing because it has an an…

24 Feb 2013 8 2 735
I am very lucky to know so many amazingly talented bird photographers on Flickr! You all know how much I adore your pictures, the vast variety of bird species, in flight or perched on a branch. My biggest problem about taking pictures of birds is that I lack the patience to wait for them to land where I can take a picture, or else I cannot aim my camera fast enough to capture them in flight! We have a 100-400mm telephoto lens, which is great for bird pictures, but it weighs almost as much as a truck so I rarely use it. However, today I decided to go outside and have a seat near our bird feeders and wait for them to forget about me and return to their eating. After about 10 minutes, back they came! Lucky me! I got a nice picture of the bird I wanted most to capture, the beautiful Oregon Junco! This lovely male shown here is showing off his black upper body and creamy colored chest feathers. This distinction sets these birds apart from the much plainer parent species, the Dark-Eyed Junco. We see several types of Dark-Eyed Juncos here, but the Oregon sub-species are especially pretty! They begin showing up in about November and the last ones leave in about April or May. If you'd like to know more about these lovely little birds, Wiki has information here: Wikipedia: Dark-eyed Junco Chinese proverbs are developed from the formulaic or social dialect/saying/expression and historical story in Chinese. Some proverbs are literary; that is, from a written source. Others originated among families, street vendors, and other commoners--all walks of life. ' Wikiquotes: Chinese Proverbs Explored on Flickr on February 24, 2013. Highest position: #462.
56/365: "The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life." ~ William Morris [Explore]

56/365: "The true secret of happiness lies in taki…

25 Feb 2013 433
Today was very blustery and I wasn't sure if I'd be successful getting pictures in such wind, but out I went for an adventure! I ended up wandering along the upper edge of our larger meadow and following a deer trail up onto our hillside. There I found myself staring at a magnificent old Madrone tree which stood some 60+ feet tall. I went up to it and put my hand on its cool, smooth trunk, and stared up into its branches, feeling its age and wisdom of so many years. This tree stood tall and proud, and yet, I could see that it was a survivor from a wildfire that ravaged this area some years ago. I could see a singed branch and charcoal areas around the base of the trunk. Amazing that it not only survived, it was massive and doing fine! I wanted to take a picture for my 365 project, but as you may have discovered, it's not easy to take a picture of a tree in a forest. So I decided to take lots of pictures to show the lovely details that I found in this old warrior. You will see that most of the images highlight the wonderful curling bark of this tree which leaves the trunk and branches smooth and glowing. They are my favorite type of tree on our property because they're so interesting and have such lovely colors and textures! It was such a treat to discover this wonderful tree and share its details with all of you. William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and libertarian socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and English Arts and Crafts Movement. He founded a design firm in partnership with the artist Edward Burne-Jones, and the poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti which profoundly influenced the decoration of churches and houses into the early 20th century. As an author, illustrator and medievalist, he helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, and was a direct influence on postwar authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien. He was also a major contributor to reviving traditional textile arts and methods of production, and one of the founders of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, now a statutory element in the preservation of historic buildings in the UK. Wikipedia: William Morris Explored on Flickr on February 25, 2013. Highest position: #363.
57/365: "Even the woodpecker owes its success to the fact that it uses its head and keeps pecking away until it finishes the job it starts." ~ Coleman Cox [Explore]

57/365: "Even the woodpecker owes its success to t…

26 Feb 2013 2 519
This morning I walked down to the mailbox and naturally I brought my camera along. I was enjoying the sound of birds in the trees when I saw a flash of white and looked to see a female Downy Woodpecker fly from one tree to one quite nearby. I started taking pictures and to my surprise, this cool little lady wasn't very timid and allowed me to get close enough to take a bunch of nice pictures! I will never cease to be amazed that I can take nice non-macro pictures with my macro lens!! I feel incredibly lucky today that I got this picture to share with you all! When I started working on this picture, I thought it would need a texture, but when I was done with it, my husband pointed out that it looked just fine without the texture and at most, might benefit by having a light vignette. I tried it and agreed! However, I have the picture below for you to see! You will also notice that in this final version, I removed a few more sticks to make a cleaner outline.) Downy Woodpeckers are the smallest woodpecker in North America! They can be found in almost every state, but we only started seeing them around here a couple of years ago. Last year we saw a bunch of them and we think there were probably two pairs nesting and coming to our feeders to fill up on suet. I started seeing them this year about a week ago and I really hoped to take pictures of one in a tree, though I didn't actually think it would happen. Hooray for great surprises!! :D (If you'd like to know more about these adorable birds, Wiki has a very nice page here: Wikipedia: Downy Woodpecker ) Coleman Cox (1889 - 1967) was a writer from the 1920's who wrote short books of great quotations, usually directed toward sales. Employers were his biggest audience, often buying the books to give to their employees as gifts. Coleman Cox Bio Explored on Flickr on February 26, 2013. Highest position: #332.
58/365: "It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” ~ Charles Darwin [Explore]

58/365: "It is not the strongest or the most intel…

27 Feb 2013 2 596
This afternoon I came downstairs with Pumpkin (my parrot) and I saw a flash of something out the kitchen window. A tiny Sharp-Shinned Hawk had just landed on one of our plant hooks, hoping for a finch or junco to fly up to one of our bird feeders for a snack. My camera was right there so I grabbed it and started taking pictures while Pumpkin proceeded to crawl from my hand up to my shoulder and down the other arm to my camera...silly bird! After about a minute the hawk flew off and it was then I realized to my horror that I'd left the ISO at 1000 from this morning!! I was taking pictures of the sunrise and needed the higher ISO because I didn't have time to set up a tri-pod...and I didn't set it back. DRAT AND BLOODY H...well you get the drift! When I looked up, the hawk was back again! However, this time it was on a pole about 20 feet further away. I lowered my ISO and got a bunch of pictures, but when I compared all the shots on my computer, the best pair were with the high ISO...go figure! Anyway, I had to deal with a lot of noise and you'll see it in the wings, but I was able to alleviate most of it. This picture is another example of having a separate layer for the bird and another for the background. The background is smooth and noise-free and has only a bit of tint in it with soft vignetting. The bird has only as much noise reduction as I could get away with before I started losing too much detail. I then applied a light detail filter. Charles Robert Darwin, (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Wikipedia: Charles Darwin Explored on Flickr on February 27, 2013. Highest position: #85.
59/365: "The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man it is to know that and to wonder at it." ~ Jacques Yves Cousteau [Explore]

59/365: "The happiness of the bee and the dolphin…

28 Feb 2013 7 2 775
Every day I go out to appreciate the beautiful crocus that are in full bloom in our front yard, and naturally I cannot help but take pictures. Yesterday afternoon I saw something on one of the flowers as I approached and whispered to myself, "Oh! Could that be a bee?! I moved over very slowly and sure enough, there was a bumble bee on one of the flowers! But wait!! There were TWO! I couldn't believe it!! And the story gets better!! I was a little sad because I would have liked to make the bees my pick of the day but I'd already chosen the hawk from earlier. No matter, they would make lovely alternate shots, right? Well, last night when I let the dogs out, I had a suspicion so I checked the flowers. I wondered about them yesterday afternoon because they'd been moving very sluggishly in the rapidly cooling temperature. As it turned out, they were too cold to fly away and decided to sleep inside the flowers overnight!! Absolutely amazing! And best of all, I popped outside this drizzly morning, hoping it was still too cold for them to fly, and what do you know...the cutie pies were crawling around in and out of the flowers and I got my pick of the day!!! YAYYY!!!!! I feel so incredibly lucky and fortunate to get these pictures!! (By the way, I'll have a couple of others to share of them in a week or two--I thought it would be better to spread them out.) Jacques-Yves Cousteau, commonly known in English as Jacques Cousteau; 11 June 1910 – 25 June 1997) was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the Aqua-Lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the Académie française. Wikipedia: Jacques Cousteau Explored on Flickr on February 28, 2013. Highest position: #106.
365 Project: February Collage

365 Project: February Collage

01 Mar 2013 386
How amazing!! Two months have now passed in my 365 Project! It continues to be a huge delight in my day and I try very hard to take pictures that are interesting and high quality. I think that my photography continues to improve with this challenge, so I couldn't be happier! A huge thanks to each and every one of you who have followed my project, supported me and left me so many fantastic comments! I got to see Red Stiletto's 365 collage before I began putting mine together and I really liked her idea to showcase the most popular picture of the month, so that's what I did for mine too! That Sharp-Shinned Hawk got Explored to #95 and has gotten 897 views so far, holy cow!! :D
60/365: "Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are travelling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind." ~ Henri Frederic Amiel [Explore]

60/365: "Life is short and we have never too much…

01 Mar 2013 3 476
This tiny flower is one which holds a cherished place in my heart. It's called a Birdseye Speedwell, and it's one of those flowers which you can find growing in the cracks in sidewalks. So small you must get very close to the ground to see it well, but if you do, you will see its greatest lesson: just because a flower is tiny does not mean that it isn't incredibly beautiful! I remember finding these as a child and presenting tiny "Mouse Bouquets" of them to my mother, who would put them into a thimble and place them on the kitchen table to be admired! The quote I chose for this picture is directely related to the fact that this delicate blossom lives for just one or two days before falling off into the grass below. A very short life indeed! I took this picture in the late afternoon and was careful not to touch the blossom or shake the stem because it would have surely fallen! Henri Frédéric Amiel (27 September 1821 – 11 May 1881) was a Swiss philosopher, poet and critic. Wikipedia: Henri Frederic Amiel Explored on Flickr on March 1, 2013. Highest position: #156.
61/365: "So cute your brain might explode." ~ Daily Squee

61/365: "So cute your brain might explode." ~ Dail…

02 Mar 2013 445
Today we needed to go out to look for some plates and dishes for some product shots Steve needed to take for a client and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for a 365 picture! We went to some thrift stores to see what they had (you can't beat 49¢ for a beautiful plate that would retail for $10.00!!) and we also looked in some retail stores. We didn't find anything better than our wonderful selection at home, but it was fun looking, and I got lots of fantastic pictures!! This adorable bunny-shaped salt & pepper shaker was at a Pier 1 Imports store, which is always such fun to explore. They had a wonderful display of Easter decor, including this darling little guy! I cooed when I saw it, I cooed when I took this picture, and I cooed when I worked on this image! So of course I needed to use the quote from the Daily Squee , "So cute your brain might explode." If you haven't been to this website before and you love adorable pictures, you're in for a big treat! SQUEEEEEE!!!! :D
62/365: "Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature." ~ Cicero [Explore]

62/365: "Art is born of the observation and invest…

03 Mar 2013 2 490
Today Steve and I went on a bike ride and this time I remembered to take my camera!! We stopped at a Rogue River boat launch and while Steve kicked back to relax and listen to an audio story, I wandered happily along the bank with my camera in hand! There were many lovely things to take pictures of! I especially like these dried-up Snowberries with fun, artsy bokeh behind. You guys would have laughed to see me forcing my way into the bushes to get this angle! One misstep and I'd have tripped and landed in the river or face-first in a blackberry bush, ack! So I was very, very careful while I got into position. I couldn't get all the way around, so some of the berries are in the shade, but I captured the glowing translucence of the sun shining through! YAY! Marcus Tullius Cicero ( 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) sometimes anglicized as Tully was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul and constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists. Wikipedia: Cicero Explored on Flickr on March 3, 2013. Highest position: #317.
63/365: "Live a good and honorable life, then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time." ~ Dalai Lama

63/365: "Live a good and honorable life, then when…

04 Mar 2013 2 1 431
Steve and I went on another ride today, and this time we stopped at a wonderful little farm where they grown and raise their own food, and have a large garden and all types of farm animals too. It would be a lot of work to do this, but I'm sure it's also very rewarding. I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the animals, and since I adore chickens, they are most prominent in this collage! Aren't they cute?! :D The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, founded by Tsongkhapa (1357–1419). The name is a combination of the Mongolian word dalai meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word བླ་མ་ bla-ma (with a silent "b") meaning "guru, teacher" Wikipedia: Dalai Lama
64/365: "Life is like a camera; focus on what's important, capture the good times, develop from the negatives and if it goes wrong...take another shot." ~ Anonymous [Explore]

64/365: "Life is like a camera; focus on what's im…

05 Mar 2013 2 582
I was so excited to get outside today because I had a mission! I knew that at this time last year, there were beautiful Western Buttercups beginning to bloom on our hillside and today I was out to get some pictures! I also remember that when I saw the first Buttercup, it was our real beginning of spring. It's true...there is an explosion of growth that is only starting. Last year I was completely blown away by the countless varieties of plants and flowers in every color of the rainbow. From today until about June, it will be wall-to-wall flowers and beauty here! HOORAY!!! Explored on Flickr March 5, 2013. Highest position: #196.
65/365: "Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another." ~ Napoleon Hill [Explore]

65/365: "Think twice before you speak, because you…

06 Mar 2013 5 510
Today was one of those days where nothing turned out as I expected! I had plans of taking pictures of a new flower I found but in the end, I couldn't get the image I wanted! I took so many pictures and finally decided to choose another subject. Just outside we have zillions of tiny Whitlow Grass blossoms, so small you really can just barely see them! I discovered last year that they make a magnificent seed pod, so I thought, "OH! Let's take a picture of one of those!! And I guess that's what I was supposed to be taking pictures of today because of the dozen or so pictures, almost every subject turned out nicely! This is my favorite because of the fun bokeh, but I have another shown below too! Napoleon Hill (October 26, 1883 – November 8, 1970) was an American author in the area of the new thought movement who was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature. He is widely considered to be one of the great writers on success. His most famous work, Think and Grow Rich (1937), is one of the best-selling books of all time (at the time of Hill's death in 1970, Think and Grow Rich had sold 20 million copies). Hill's works examined the power of personal beliefs, and the role they play in personal success. He became an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1936. "What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve" is one of Hill's hallmark expressions. How achievement actually occurs, and a formula for it that puts success in reach of the average person, were the focal points of Hill's books. Wkipedia: Napoleon Hill Explored on Flickr on March 6, 2013. Highest position: #148.
66/365: "The buttercups, bright-eyed and bold, Held up their chalices of gold, To catch the sunshine and the dew." ~ Julia C. R. Dorr

66/365: "The buttercups, bright-eyed and bold, Hel…

07 Mar 2013 8 507
Steve and I are trying to make an effort to get to bed earlier, and even though I didn't sleep well, I still woke up at just before 8am and looked outside to see the world covered with frost and gleaming in the bright morning sunshine! Oh YAY!!! I couldn't get dressed fast enough! I bundled up and bounced out the door, intent on FROSTED BUTTERCUPS!! But the second I left the house, I slammed on the brakes...HOLY SPARKLING DROPLETS EVERYWHERE, BATMAN!! Down I dropped and got dozens of totally insane frosty droplet pictures! I went around the meadow and got lots of other pictures before heading up to the hillside where I found what I was intent on! This Buttercup is bristling with just-melted frost, and I couldn't resist making it my pick of the day. I got some other pictures with frost on the blossoms, and I have one to show below! Julia Caroline (Ripley) Dorr (1825–1913) was an American author who published both prose and poetry. She was born at Charleston, South Carolina, but moved early in her life to New York City, then to Rutland, Vermont. There she married Hon. Seneca M. Dorr. Her earliest published writings appeared in 1848. Mrs. Dorr is best known, however, for volumes of thoughtful verse. A collected edition of her poems appeared in 1892. Wkipedia: Julia Caroline Dorr
67/365: “It’s a thorny road for dreamers and poets who fantasize of majestic places and deep-seated desires of the heart that their hands may never hold." ~ Terry A. O’Neal

67/365: “It’s a thorny road for dreamers and poets…

08 Mar 2013 2 509
It was another frosty morning so I decided to go down to our front gate and look around the lower forest for interesting subjects. I glanced over at the blackberry bushes and was totally surprised to find that the thorns were still covered in frost! Because they are dark, frost usually melts quickly from them and I always seem to miss it, so of course I went crazy taking pictures! :D I have two to share today, and another one at a later date! When I wandered into our lower forest, I found some lovely leaves too! Terry A. O’Neal was born and raised in Stockton, California, where her inspiration for lyrics, prose, and literature was born. Her poetry has been published in numerous magazines, journals and newspapers. Terry A. O’Neal Bio
68/365: "Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises." ~ Pedro Calderon de la Barca

68/365: "Green is the prime color of the world, an…

09 Mar 2013 432
Steve and I were very excited to go on one of the MeetUp hikes in our area, but last night we discovered the hike would be on Sunday, so we decided to go on the hike today. YAY! It turned out to be about a month early for flowers but I was able to find some wonderful subjects, including one of my favorites, FERNS! :D I was so happy to find some to take pictures of them, they are so wonderful to me! Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca (17 January 1600 – 25 May 1681), was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest. Born when the Spanish Golden Age theatre was being defined by Lope de Vega, he developed it further, his work being regarded as the culmination of the Spanish Baroque theatre. As such, he is regarded as one of Spain's foremost dramatists and one of the finest playwrights of world literature. Pedro Calderón de la Barca
69/365: "A closed mouth catches no flies." ~ Miguel de Cervantes

69/365: "A closed mouth catches no flies." ~ Migue…

10 Mar 2013 561
Today Steve and I went on a 25 mile bike ride that Steve organized and led for the local bike club! We had such fun, but we were both dead-beat when we finally got home! However, I was excited to go out on this gorgeous day to take my pictures, and I have 4 to share! Did you know that flies commonly eat nectar and pollen? In fact, there are a whole group of flies called "Flower Flies!" This one was slurping up nectar from a Saxifrage flower and made a wonderful subject! I hope you're not too grossed out--I think flies are interesting and cool looking, but I also know they are icky to many people, and that's totally understandable! Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra[ (29 September 1547– 22 April 1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered to be the first modern European novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written. His influence on the Spanish language has been so great that the language is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). He was dubbed El Príncipe de los Ingenios ("The Prince of Wits") Wkipedia: Miguel de Cervantes
70/365: "We may get to the point where the only way of saving the world will be for industrial civilization to collapse." ~ Maurice Strong

70/365: "We may get to the point where the only wa…

11 Mar 2013 2 422
I went out this morning feeling so uninspired! It's the very beginning of spring here, so my options for flowers is minimal...and I don't want you all to get bored with the same blossoms, so I went in search of something different. Nothing like a broken-down bulldozer to save the day!! :D These four things are on the side of the outer engine and thanks to tropic exposure , I now know they are the Injector Pump on our Caterpillar bulldozer! :D Maurice F. Strong (born April 29, 1929 in Oak Lake, Manitoba) is a Canadian entrepreneur and a former under-secretary general of the United Nations. Wkipedia: Maurice Strong
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