Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: The Sunday Challenge

While wandering around my front yard yesterday, I saw the magnificent, enormous rose hips on our rose bushes and I instantly thought of the ipernity group, "The Sunday Challenge", which has a theme this week called "Wabi-Sabi". I thought this would fill the bill perfectly! :) From Wiki: Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence, specifically impermanence, the other two being suffering and emptiness or absence of self-nature. Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.

(This is my submission for The Sunday Challenge: Curves :D) Yesterday Steve and I spent a couple of hours at Riverside Park in Grants Pass, Oregon, and really enjoyed the autumn show going on there. As I was walking around, I noticed the evergreen plants too, and walked over to look at this Holly bush. Suddenly I noticed that many of the leaves had no prickles! How odd!! I found out that this can occur because of drought, young leaves will sometimes not have prickles, and if a Holly shrub is really huge, it may stop producing the prickles because it has enough leaves that the energy necessary to produce the prickles isn't necessary. (I wonder about that answer...) If you would like to know more about this plant, Wiki has a great page here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holly

3 more pictures in notes above! :) My uploads tonight are all dedicated to The Sunday Challenge group! :D You may know that I have become quite fond of spiders in the past couple of years since I began taking pictures and learning more about them. And when a darling little orb weaver spider came to live just outside my front door last September, I had a naming contest for my new little friend, who would be named Roscoe Frank McCrawlerson! :) I have read that Cat-Faced Orb Weavers live only one season, but it is now well-into October and Roscoe is still alive and well in her corner of her nook. She has had two suiters that I know of, but has not made an egg sac. I know that her time grows short, so I appreciate her every day that she is still here with me. (If you'd like to see pictures of Roscoe with many stories, here's a search for her pictures: Roscoe's Pictures on ipernity A few days ago, I noticed that there was a NEW cat-faced orb weaver in a much darker color, hanging out on the ceiling of the porch. Soon it found itself a spot not very far from where Roscoe lives! I think it's another female, and about half the size of Roscoe, the a body about 2/3" in diameter. Hooray!! And THEN I was looking around on the wall and suddenly gave a squeak of delight! There, near Roscoe's nook, was a BABY ROSCOE!! Awwwwwww!!!! Just a bit bigger than Roscoe when she came to stay (1/4"), this little doll is perfectly adorable, making beautiful, tiny webs and acting very brave and bold! I hope she and her older girlfriend will be here to stay, and I hope that everyone gets along! :) (Textures by Jerry Jones: Square-170 and Square-151 ) A big thank you to Shuttering Yukon , who is the admin for The Sunday Challenge , for letting my critter pictures slip in under the wire! :) A proverb (from Latin: proverbium) is a simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. Proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures, and sometimes come down to the present through more than one language. Both the Bible (including, but not limited to the Book of Proverbs) and medieval Latin (aided by the work of Erasmus) have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs across Europe, although almost every culture has examples of its own. Wikipedia: Proverb

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL COFFEE DAY!!!! (September 29, many other dates) Today is my birthday and I turned 49 years old!!!! How amazing it is to me! I remember when I was a kid thinking that anyone who was this age was OLD! Hilarious!!! :D :D I know that many people don't want to say how old they are, but it is a celebration for me! Every year I can look back and think about all that I have learned, the good and bad things that happened, the challenges and victories! It's such a funny thing because I feel like a 20-year old with a child inside, and though I don't look like a kid, I'm happy that I look younger than my age! I'm happy and excited about my next year of life, it's all such a fun adventure! I am so thankful to all of you for your friendship, encouragement, and helping to make every day wonderful! *big hugs to all of you* :) Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 (April 2, 1743 O.S.) – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States (1801–1809). He was a spokesman for democracy and the rights of man with worldwide influence. At the beginning of the American Revolution, he served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia and then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781). Just after the war ended, from mid-1784 Jefferson served as a diplomat, stationed in Paris. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France. Wikipedia: Thomas Jefferson