Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Explore on Flickr

2 more pictures in notes above! :) Yesterday I was delighted because a new flower is blooming in my little garden, and I was very excited to feature it for my Picture of the Day! In fact, I'd finished taking pictures and was appreciating the beautiful poppies that are all blazing away in red and pink when I saw a hoverfly zoom up to a poppy! I LOVE HOVERFLIES!!!! They make me hyperventilate in excitement, and I instantly zeroed in on my new best little buzzy buddy and started taking pictures! It was actually very mellow and let me take all the pictures I wanted as it crawled around and posed for the camera! "Do I look better from the left? Or from the right? Head in the pollen? Oh, I know, I'll hover for a second or two and give you a challenge!" :D :D I got lots of wonderful pictures, and I have another one to share today, as well as ANOTHER hoverfly just larger than a grain of rice! (This hoverfly was about 3/4" in length) Plato (BC[a] – 348/347 BC) was a philosopher in Classical Greece. He was also a mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Wikipedia: Plato Explored on July 12, 2013. Highest position, page 4. Also Explored on Flickr on July 13, 2013. Highest placement: #113.

ACK!!! It's 11pm and I just got home a few minutes ago! Steve and I left the house at 7:45am and met our friend Michael and then drove 2.5 hours away to a lovely town called Cottage Grove, where we spent the day going on an amazing bike ride which took us to many beautiful covered bridges, around the edge of a gorgeous lake, and through sun-dappled forests! It was 35 miles of incredible scenery on a perfect day which we will never forget!! This pictures shows flowers called Queen Anne's Lace in the foreground and one of the covered bridges in bokeh beyond! WHAT A DAY...and now it's time for bed! No time for more pictures tonight, and I'll have to look at my pictures tomorrow! Brian Harold May CBE (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and astrophysicist who achieved international fame as the guitarist of Queen. As a guitarist he uses his home-built guitar, "Red Special". Queen's albums include numerous May compositions, including "Tie Your Mother Down", "I Want It All", "We Will Rock You", "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Who Wants to Live Forever". Wikipedia: Brian May Explored on July 13, 2013. Highest placement, page 3 (#68). Also Explored on Flickr on July 12, 2013. Highest placement: #405.

3 more pictures above in notes! :) The poppy show is still in full swing over here, and this morning I was beside myself with excitement when I bounced outside to see what had bloomed. I'd been waiting for a certain flower to bloom and today was the day!! To explain, on the 4th of July, Steve and I had to be out of the house by 8:00 and I had absolutely no time to take pictures that morning. I just about cried when I saw that an enormous pink poppy had opened up and was positively glowing in the morning light. However, I knew that plant had several other bud-pods growing and I would get another chance to take pictures. This morning another one opened up and I was so excited and happy!! Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, Hepburn was active during Hollywood's Golden Age. She has since been ranked as the third greatest female screen legend in the history of American cinema and been placed in the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. Wkipedia: Audrey Hepburn Explored on July 9, 2013. Highest placement: page 2 (#43...) Explored on Flickr, July 8, 2013. Highest placement: #369.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!! Today has been a blur and I'm running as fast as I can! This image is in response to an invitation to a new group on ipernity called Bokeh Thursday, and the theme this week was "Clothespin". I wanted to try something different than what I've seen in the past, so I tried stacking a few and putting some sparkly tinsel in the background to add some colorful bokeh in addition to the bokeh of the clothespin itself! I hope you like it! In about 30 minutes, Steve and I will be leaving to go take firework pictures, but I won't be back soon enough to put one up for my 365, which is why I'm in such a rush to get this done before we leave! :D Emile Cioran (8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher and essayist. Wikipedia: Emile M. Cioran Explored on July 5, 2013. Highest position: Page 4. Explored on Flickr on July 4, 2013. Highest position: #180.

1 text note and 1 more picture in a note above! :) Steve and I live in sunny southern Oregon, and it gets very hot here during the summer. Therefore, if anyone wants a garden, daily watering is vital. Every morning I go out to visit the flowers and I usually take pictures before I water them because it seems a little bit like "cheating" to sprinkle the flowers before taking pictures but I also think it's fine as long as you tell people that you did it! :) (On the other hand, I think that removing things like sticks, dirt, postprossessing elements out of the image is fine and often necessary. What do you think? :) ) Our water is very "hard" and will leave spots on the petals when they dry, so if I hope to get pictures of the blossoms, I must take pictures before I water them, since it's next to impossible to keep water off the plants. (I really should see about putting in a drip system!!) Also, even though I have the setting at a light "shower", the flowers will often fall over. When I saw this flower, I first thought, "Awwww, darn it! And THEN I took a closer look and immediately dropped the hose and ran into the house for my camera! :D 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". Wikipedia: Lao Tzu Explored on July 6, 2013. Highest position: page 1 (#20). Explored on Flickr on July 5, 2013. Highest position #278.