~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #241: Spring in My Messy Garden ~

My gardens consist mostly of perennial plants, trees and shrubs designed to provide food and shelter for birds, year-round. Some time ago I stopped pruning back the deadheads of Cone-flowers, and left the dry mop-heads of Hydrangea on all winter until about this time of year. Below are daffodils blooming amidst the cone-flower stems.

For three days in a row this week we actually had seasonally warm spring weather, so I dedicated as much time as possible to cleaning and re-landscaping the back yard. I removed one shrub and one tree, both of which I considered ugly, and the tree shaded out other much nicer shrubs. Two mottoes that guide me in the garden; “if it’s ugly – out it goes!” and when pruning , “if it was meant to be here, it will grow back.” Below, a scraggly shrub in the willow stump that was ugly year round.

Above, lower photo is after trimming the fern, removing the ugly shrub, and transplanting a golden mock orange shrub into the newly empty hollow of the willow stump.

Today the temperature dropped and the rains returned. We may even have snow tomorrow! But for those few days, I had a productive time in my gardens with the faithful companionship of both beagles; Daisy always on patrol, and Max looking on approvingly from sunny spots!

Thanks to Sophia Alves for inviting us to share spring images this week. It took me a while to decide to share my messy gardens, however it is the reality of spring – always a lot of cleaning to do!

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

https://photographias.wordpress.com/2023/03/18/lens-artists-challenge-spring

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~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #240: The Road (most often) Taken ~

Those who follow my WordPress site know that nature landscapes are my favorite subject. Our host this week, John Steiner suggests this is “the road I’ve chosen to take most often.” A subset of nature landscapes that I love as well, is learning about birds by taking photos of them and identifying their names through bird id resources. For this challenge, I’ve selected an assortment of songbirds of the Pacific Northwest photographed in their natural habitat.

Black-capped Chickadee – Poecile atricapillus
Savannah Sparrow – Passerculus sandwichensis
White-crowned Sparrow – Zonotrichia lencophrys
Eurasian Collared-Dove – Streptopelia decaocto
White-throated Sparrow – Zonotrichia albicollis
Spotted Towhee – Pipilo maculatus
Song Sparrow – Melospiza melodia
Purple Finch – Haemorbous purpureus
American Goldfinch – Spinus tristis

Whether you’re looking up, back or straight ahead, on your walk with life please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

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~ Wordless Wednesday ~ The Ides of March ~

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Posted in nature, nature photography, outdoors, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #239: Finding Peace ~

This week’s challenge from Tina, took me into a thoughtful consideration of what elements of life bring me a sense of internal peace. Visual elements include soft pastels, puffy clouds, water ripples and sunlight.

Pastel Sundown

Over the thirty years I worked as a high school counselor, I knew that we would have time in summer to sit on the deck at Cabin #1, listen to the soft lapping of waves over the pebble beach, and watch incredibly lovely sunsets. During stressful times, I just had to visualize it to have a moment of peace.

Cabin 1, Beach Haven, Orcas Island WA

Sounds have a profound influence on my perception of peace. Folk based acoustic guitar music is my restful background as I write this. Water on beaches, streams and my handmade pond at home are all calming places where I am immersed in tranquility.

Crescent Creek, OR
Long Beach, WA
Koi Pond

It is March on the Long Beach Peninsula. Marsh ponds are swollen and hosting ducks, geese and frogs. At dusk, legions of tree frogs begin their nightly refrain, a sound so primal and peaceful it often lulls me to sleep, even on a full moon night!

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Thank you Tina for another thought provoking challenge!

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~ Wordless Wednesday ~ Late Winter Beach ~

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Posted in nature, nature photography, outdoors, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography, Report from the Edge of a Continent, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #238: Alone Time ~

Being alone is a happy place;

I am immersed in my own world,

contemplating,

mulling memories,

remembering dreams,

creating my now,

moment by moment.

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Thank you Anne-Christine/Leya for this opportunity to share how much I enjoy alone time. A true introvert, I renew my mental, physical, spiritual and emotional energy by having time on my own in nature.

Posted in Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature, nature photography, outdoors, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

~ Wordless Wednesday + Cee’s FOTD ~ Snow! ~

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Posted in Cee's Flower Of The Day, nature, nature photography, pacific northwest, photography, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #237: Bringing Softness ~

Welcome to Bren, of Brashley Photography who is our guest host this week. She challenges us to show softness in our photos by lowering clarity and with the use of software. All the photos I feature in this post are “straight” shots; the image that my camera captured in the moment, straightened and cropped for clarity and balance.

Softness comes from the natural light of the Pacific Northwest, where clouds, mist and fog are perennial. This view from Fort Columbia State Park, across the Columbia River toward the community of Astoria, OR, is an ethereal landscape. Big clouds and hazy mountains in the distance add to the hushed feeling here.

Early morning mist rises above Crescent Creek, as sunlight accentuates wildflowers on its bank. This image is one that conjures in my mind, a vision of “the land of dreamy dreams.” (Willamette Pass, OR)

Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis), refresh in the surf at the Breakers beach, Long Beach, WA, with their ever-present companion gulls. A very gray overcast sky, restless ocean waves and birds in constant motion meant this batch of photos all came out blurry. What I love most about them is their natural velvety quality.

Hydrangea thrives in my Vancouver, WA gardens. In late spring to summer their gorgeous alluring colors invite me to come out and play with my camera. This close-up features many hues of blue and lavender in the blossoms, as sunlight provides just enough clarity, while keeping the whole image “soft and gentle”.

Many of my better photos are a consequence of being in the right place at the right time. When I saw the sun blazing on and through this small patch of cyclamen, I ran for my camera. The radiance of each tiny blossom set upon the shaded background of the pond waterfall, is one that truly does make me “feel alive and blessed.”

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Posted in Birding, birds, flowers, Gardening, Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature, nature photography, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

~ Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #236: East Meets West ~

Amy leads today with a challenge that has stumped me. Although I have traveled across the USA I have few photo records of places I visited, and the only countries outside the USA I have been to are France and Canada. All those photos are years old and didn’t provide enough inspiration to fire me up. Instead of conceding defeat (which of course is a legitimate option!) I’ve chosen to warm our mid-February with images of the sun.

We know the sun doesn’t rise – that is the shorthand we use to acknowledge our earth has rotated through the night and now our sun is visible again on the eastern horizon.

In the same way, the sun doesn’t set – our earth has continued to rotate through the daytime hours and our sun will soon be eclipsed by earth’s western horizon.

It is a perfect harmony, an easy arrangement to life. It guides the behavior of all living things and is equitable; having no preference for one life form over another.

I’ll end with a shot of Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) flying south at day’s end. Maybe because it isn’t crisp, this photo is a quiet statement of nature’s inherent beauty. Thank you Amy. Though not exactly what you were after, I hope you enjoy this bit of sunshine!

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Posted in Lens-Artists, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, nature, nature photography, outdoors, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, photography, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

~ Wordless Wednesday + Cee’s Flower of the Day ~ Late Winter Beauty ~

On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾

Posted in Cee's Flower Of The Day, flowers, nature, nature photography, pacific northwest, photography, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments