Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: love

Note: I just finished writing the first of a series of blog posts about my new garden! My New Adventure: A Raised Bed Flower Garden! A couple of months ago, Steve and I visited a large public garden because we'd seen a friend's photography and hoped to see some of the same things. There was a huge variety of plants and flowers, and although we were too early for much of the show, we weren't late for the DUCK SHOW! There were two large ponds and many beautiful ducks, geese and other waterfowl to photograph. I managed to get very lucky with this shot, and captured this pair's lively discussion! :D (Thanks very much to Hawkeye (Art) for the extra information about the unusually colored duck on the left, it appears to be either a male Saxony or Leucistic Mallard, how COOL!) Early Announcement and Invitation: I have decided to do another A-Z project after this one is finished, and would like to invite all who are interested to join me! It's going to be about a month before I'm done with this current project, but I wanted to bring it up now so you can begin thinking about it to decide if you'd like to join in the fun! The requirements are as restricted as you want to make them: you can make it easy by having it like mine, "Anything that starts with the letter", or you can have a theme for your project, such as "A-Z Birds", "A-Z Flowers", "A-Z Insects". Keep in mind that a theme can be anything, such as photographic terms, or things that are a specific color, or items in your house or tool shop. The sky is the limit with an A-Z project, and yet, it's only 26 pictures, so it's not a project that will take over your whole life. Start thinking about it now, and if you want to join in, you can begin capturing and processing your pictures, placing them into a folder to upload as I upload mine! Explored on May 21, 2014. Highest placement, #2.

2 more pictures in notes above ! :) It was very cold this morning but the sun was shining, and this afternoon it had warmed up enough that I decided to take the dogs up on the hill for a proper walk and photo hunt! What a lovely time we had, with a smiling Molly in the lead most of the time (remember she has just 3 legs and it's a steep hike up that hill!), tail held high and waving grandly! While the dogs had fun romping, I found many fun things to take pictures of...a really cool stump with lots of texture, a bunch of mushrooms, lovely pine needles, a baby centipede, a black beetle, tiny white fungus with tiny pores and I even found bird's nest fungus in two stages: newly formed and showing its nest! I found these cool mushrooms under "Snakey's Log", which seems to attract all kinds of interesting things to it. (snakes, lizards, scorpions, insects, etc...) Today there was a beautiful black beetle which I photographed, and as I was about to put the log back into place, I noticed this curious family of mushrooms growing on its underside, leaning out to get a better look at me! HOORAY!! Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a English rock singer-songwriter and one of the best selling music artists of all time, having sold over 100 million records worldwide. Wikipedia: Rod Stewart Explored on November 25, 2013. Highest position, page 5.

3 more pictures in notes above ! :) You can also find me on Facebook ! It was another freezing cold day today, and I decided to stick close to the house because I'm a big baby and didn't want to "die of frostbite" again like yesterday! :D Stepping out onto the front porch, I saw that the flowers growing in two planters are now seriously on their way out because of the frost. But that doesn't mean they aren't still beautiful! :D So I spent some time taking pictures until my fingers and toes started yelling at me to go back inside! :) (You'll find two pictures after this one to show my picks!) I went into the kitchen and looked out onto our back deck, and what did I see but the adorable sight before you! Three extremely fluffy mourning doves, huddled up around a water dish (formerly a pot saucer). Now, if you know anything about me, you'll know that I simply go crazy whenever I see a bird with fluffed-up feathers! Here we have THREE!!! When they didn't fly away after a minute of me cooing at them, I ran for my camera and they were quite happy to sit and pose for me as I got pictures through the window! :) Doves are one of the most recognized symbols of peace. They also symbolize love and are a symbol for messengers. You can find out more about the dove as a symbol on this Wiki page: Wikipedia: Doves as symbols John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), commonly known as "Jack" or by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from January 1961 until he was assassinated in November 1963. Wikipedia: John F. Kennedy

2 more picture above in notes! :) Oh, what a gorgeous, sunny morning it was! With a day like this, I simply HAD to go on a walk along the ridge line! So, I grabbed my camera and called for Zoe and Moosie to join me, and up the hill we trudged, all of us delighted and overjoyed at the opportunity to go on an adventure! I decided that since it was Sunday, I would take all the time I wanted. I wandered along, parting my way through the tall grass that grew on the trail, looking at everything that caught my eye, and taking pictures as I went. However, I had just as much fun watching the dogs as I did enjoying my photography! Without question, the trail along the ridge line is our favorite walk. There's a special energy up there and we are all extremely happy whenever we are there. Moosie is a scent-hound, so he is in heaven as he checks out everything along the trail. Zoe is overflowing with energy, and can run all over the place to her heart's content, though she always stays nearby. The two of them are best friends and love each other dearly. It's such fun to watch them as we go along, and there are always several chasing sessions for me to cackle at with a grin from ear to ear as I watch, my eyes twinkling with mirth. Zoe will goad Moosie by yanking an ear, and then he'll take off in hot pursuit, ears flapping and legs churning as he tries hopelessly to catch her! Zoe makes it easy on him though because she's easily 2-3 times faster than he is, and slows down so he can catch her with a chomp on a back leg to pull the devilish prey down. Then it's a battle to the death as Moosie jumps up and down on Zoe, baying at her in outrage, and she rolls around on her back in supreme happiness, mouth gaping, tongue lolling, and chomping back at him. It is a joy for me to see them so happy. We had such a good time today, I had to dedicate my Picture of the Day to them! :D (The textures I used were SM262010-3 and PaperBox , both from Jerry Jones! Thanks Jerry! :) (Regarding this quote, the exact wording is, "The dog is the god of frolic." I thought it would be ok to change it slightly to makes better sense! :) George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. He was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Issues which engaged Shaw's attention included education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege. Wikipedia: George Bernard Shaw

This darling boy raised this chicken and it won first place! His mom was taking a picture and he let us take his picture too! This image was taken at the Josephine County Fair on August 20, 2011.

[best appreciated at full size against black] I would like to wish all of you a day full of love, romance and joy! I have made so many friends here on Flickr and it has been such a wonderful experience sharing pictures back and forth with all of you. One year ago today, Steve and I bought my Canon SX130 IS and when I found out how easy it was to take macro shots, I went crazy taking zillions of pictures. Things are better than ever with my new Canon 5D Mark II and I've learned so much in a year's time. Thanks to all of you for your support and comments, your inspiration, helpful advice and friendship. I'm looking forward to the next year with all of you, and hopefully many more new friends too! A big hug to one and all!! :) I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in February, 2012.

I was originally planning to make this my 365 picture by adding a heart border that I photographed today, but Pumpkin was the perfect choice, so this is my alternate! This is a Valentine's balloon that I saw in Celebrity Pets, and I knew it would look nice with an added texture. What fun! :) Texture by Jill Black , thank you so much! Thanks to Stephanie Calhoun for being an endless inspiration for adding texture to some of my pictures!!

This picture is worth a thousand words. Steve and Molly are in love and it's a joy to see their relationship. Molly is our Border Collie rescue, and as you can see, she only has three legs. That doesn't stop her though and she gets around just fine. She loves the water, so Steve made a wish come true by taking her for a walk on the beach when we went to Brookings, Oregon. It was such a wonderful thing to see them so happy together! :) (If you would like to read about Molly's story, here's a link to another picture and more information. ) By the way, I've uploaded 2 other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) Explored on October 9, 2012, highest position #247.

I was taking a picture of this flower when a bee landed on the blossom, followed by another one, which landed on the female! I took exactly two pictures before the male zoomed away, followed by the female! It's kind of funny to see the pictures in order: flower, blurry bees on flower, this picture, and the flower all by itself again! :D I will admit that this image suffers from contrast issues, but I thought it was pretty lucky to get the pair together and I hope that you like it too! :) (By the way, if you know what kind of bee this is, I'd love to label it correctly. I think it might be a Leaf-Cutter, but I'm not sure. Unfortunately this angle doesn't help!)

Romance was definitely in the air on the morning I got this picture...walking quietly along our ridgetop trail, I heard tiny voices which sounded like cooing. Creeping closer, I peeked around a tree and found this couple who were embraced in love and sing-songing to each other, "I love you....I love you more...my dear, I love you so much...my life would be nothing without you, how I love you..." Smiling as I quietly took their picture, I sank back from their intimate cuddling and remembered a quote to think about as I made my way back to my house: "Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without." ~James C. Dobson Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two (when I'm not buried in work) and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) Please forgive me for not stopping by lately, I have a huge project which is taking all my time, but I'm expecting a free day hopefully tomorrow! :) Explored on December 30, 2012. Highest position: #345.

Although white doves shown with olive branches are most recognized as symbols for peace, the Eastern species of this bird, called a Mourning Dove, is both Wisconsin's symbol of peace and Michigan's state bird of peace. The Mourning Dove is also known as a Turtle Dove, which is a symbol for devotion and loving kindness. By the way, the Mourning Dove got its name for the cooing sound it makes, which sounds like crying or mourning. Finally, one of the reasons I picked this quote was because of my surprise at its author. Jimi Hendrix is a legend in the music scene, instrumental in popularizing electric guitars in the 60's, but his music to me is very loud, harsh, and angry. I have always been offended by his style of music, so when I read this thought-provoking, wonderful quote, it really stopped me in my tracks. There was a lot more to this man than loud music, and if you'd like to read about him, Wiki has a very good page about him here: Wiki: Jimi Hendrix Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two (when I'm not buried in work) and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) Explored on December 26, 2012. Highest position #116.

MANY notes above! :) Dad, I love you with all my heart. You have given me such a wonderful life. You've always stood by me and encouraged me to try when I didn't think I could. You saw the potential in me that I didn't know I had. You have always made me feel like the best and brightest star. Much of who I am today is because of your wonderful upbringing and solid foundation. Thank you so much for my life, dad. Happy Birthday!!! ------------------------------ ABOUT THIS PICTURE: ------------------------------ A few days ago, I realized that my father's birthday was coming up and I knew instantly that I'd dedicate that 365 Day to him. After thinking it over for a day or two, I knew exactly what I would do! Back in October, I went to visit my dad in San Francisco, and while I was there, I had some time to look through and scan many of our family pictures. I didn't have time to scan in all that I wanted, but looking through the images, I was happy to see that there were more than enough to create a collage for my dad's birthday! :) I spent a couple of days putting the collage together, and yesterday I went down to our granite valley, where I picked out many dozen rocks that I would use for my border. Last night I lined my rocks up, picking out the right shapes and arranging them. This morning I took my two rows of rocks outside and placed them on a rubber mat we have outside, sprayed them with water and took a picture. Then, I took that image, selected the rows of rocks and removed everything else. I then enlarged my image canvas size to that of my father's collage. I copied and pasted the collage into my rock image, aligned the rows, desaturated the rocks by about 60% and...PRESTO! Save To Web, and the picture is done! Sarah Orne Jewett (September 3, 1849 – June 24, 1909) was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for her local color works set along or near the southern seacoast of Maine. Wikipedia: Sarah Jewett (The original quote is this: "My dear father; my dear friend; the best and wisest man I ever knew, who taught me many lessons and showed me many things as we went together along the country by-ways.")

I slept in late this morning because Steve and I have been staying up too late, and I awoke to the sound of Steve singing to Molly as he made coffee downstairs. I lay in bed with a joyful smile on my face as he crooned to his beloved doggy girl... Only Moooooo can make this world seem right Only Mooooooooo can make the darkness bright Only Mooooo and Mooo alone can thrill me like you do and fill my heart with love for only Moooooo Only Moooooooooooooo can make this change in me For it's true you are my destiny When you kiss my hand, I understand the magic that you do do You're my dream come true my big fat Molly-Moooooooooooooooooooo (this stanza is repeated twice) You can see the wonderful video here! "Only You" by the Platters Steve Brien (born April 28, 1962) is my wonderful, handsome and very talented husband. We met in March 2000 and have been married since 2008. He was born and raised in southern California and has worn many hats over the years for his career including miniature special effects in the movie industry, and website designer and project coordinator. He currently works as a product photographer at Fire Mountain Gems & Beads.

Steve was playing around with portraits yesterday and I decided to add Pumpkin to the mix! She is our 10 year old White Belly Caique, my best little friend in the whole world and I love her with all my heart!

When I turned over the cement block today, I also found this earwig mother, who was guarding her clutch of eggs. I know earwigs aren't everyone's favorite critter, but I thought it was really neat to see this and thought you would like to see too! :) (After I took my pictures, I carefully replaced the block as I found it.)

The other day when Steve and I were in Celebrity Pets, I saw a cute Valentine's balloon, which I thought would make the perfect Valentine's card and also my pick of the day if I added a border. However, when I got up this morning, I saw the image in my mind of our darling parrot, Pumpkin, cuddled up in one of our red blankets and knew that was what I'd do! With the help of Steve doing the cuddling, I got three pictures and they were all wonderful, but this was my favorite! If you're wondering about the hearts, this is how I did it! I have lots of little paper punches in different shapes, including a heart. I found some cardboard in our recycling with glossy red paper on it and punched out about a dozen hearts. This morning I lined them up on white cardstock and used a book to make sure they were straight. Then I took a picture overhead. I opened the file in Photoshop, selected the hearts and pasted them onto their own layer in my image of Pumpkin. I duplicated them until they lined the entire length of the image. I then used some of the "FX special effects filters to create the embossed appearance. Finally, I created a black layer underneath, duplicated the layers to make a top and bottom border, added the off-white rule, and presto! Pretty hearts for my holiday picture! Laozi or Lao Tzu; also romanized as Lao Tse, Lao Tu, Lao-Tsu, Laotze, Laosi, Laocius, and other variations) (fl. 6th century BCE) was a philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching (often simply referred to as Laozi). His association with the Tào Té Chīng has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of philosophical Taoism (pronounced as "Daoism"). He is also revered as a deity in most religious forms of Taoist philosophy, which often refers to Laozi as Taishang Laojun, or "One of the Three Pure Ones". Wkipedia: Lao Tzu

I took the dogs out for a walk around the property before dinner and brought along my camera. When I saw this incredible glowing wild pea pod, I forgot everything else and lost myself in its radiating beauty. As I took pictures, I smiled warmly because this peapod represents the strong friendships I have with so many of my dearly loved "pod sisters/pod brothers" here on ipernity. With each of you, I have formed a common bond, each of us seeing eye to eye on so many facets of our photography, the way we think, how we feel, the closeness we feel to one another. To me, we are all connected through this tapestry of images and feelings. I love you all, and I am overjoyed whenever I find another "pea" to add to my "pod"! :D *big hugs and much love to my pod siblings* Augustine Birrell PC, KC (19 January 1850 – 20 November 1933) was an English politician, barrister, academic and author. He was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907 to 1916, resigning in the immediate aftermath of the Easter Rising. Wikipedia: Augustine Birrell Explored on Flickr on May 4, 2013. Highest position #6.