~ Winter to Spring ~ Tuesday Two by Two ~

Since February 2 is my birthday, I’ve paid attention to the traditions surrounding this date. Growing up in climates where winter was cold and snowy, it seemed that even on overcast days the sun would appear long enough for me to see my shadow.

A groundhog from the start, now I think of this day as the tipping point — a fulcrum that slides us through late winter and settles us into early spring. Time to plan the coming gardens. Wishing everyone a happy late winter and merry early spring.

USA & Canada – Groundhog Day, The Gaelic festival – Imbolg (i-MOLG) and Christian festival – Candlemas, all have rituals marking this time of year.

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~ Foggy Sunrise ~ Monochrome Monday + WPC – Vibrant 3 ~

There is something magical about being able to look at the sun in full glow safely filtered by all the tiny water droplets suspended in the air about me.

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A trip to the beach is in my near future!

Vibrant

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~ Tunnel ~ WPC – Vibrant 2 + Cee’s Odd Ball Challenge ~

Four thousand feet above sea level on OR – 58 USA – heading northwest.

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Vibrant

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~ Vibrant Friday Flyers ~ Weekly Photo Challenge – Vibrant ~

American Goldfinches flock to my feeders in spring. The males bless me with their vivid yellow feathers at breeding time. During winter, Lesser Goldfinch males are she showy ones. Zinnia and dahlia’s attract bees all summer long.

Anna’s Hummingbirds are year round visitors to the feeder. When threatened or challenged the male’s head and throat vibrate a luminescent pink.
Vibrant

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~ Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge – Lines and Angles ~

Looking up through the ceiling of Point Loma Lighthouse ~ San Diego, CA

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This small museum is in a lovely setting. Some of my favorite photos are from this site. This one is improved using black and white.

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~ Meet Mr. Mew ~ Wordless Wednesday ~

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~ Tuesday Two by Two + Color Your World – Cerise ~

Cerise – the French word for Cherry. This week’s color challenge is to explore the range of tones of pink to magenta.

What a lovely topic on a dreary grey PNW day!

Color Your World – Cerise |

 

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~ Sunbather ~ Monochrome Monday + WPC – Optimistic ~

In the dark grey days of winter I use a biolight to boost my mood.

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Never before has one of my beagles decided it was just about as good as real sunshine — until Jello!

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~ Heavyweight Grasshopper ~ Cee’s Odd Ball PC ~

When I pulled up next to this hunk of metal I just had to snap a picture. Luckily the light gave me time to get a clear shot.

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~ On The Sunny Side ~ Weekly Photo Challenge – Optimistic ~

Most people consider me an optimist, though occasionally I was accused of being gullible on account of it. Still, I’ve always found it suited me to look at life from the ‘glass half full’ perspective. Once when I was quite young, I went back to bed and got up on the other side to shift my qi energy — though at the time the word qi was not in my vocabulary!

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On our walk through a neighborhood in Corvallis yesterday (1/22/16), I saw téte a téte daffodils blooming already. The above primroses have continued flowering all winter in my rock garden —  now that’s optimism in my book!

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