Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: pair

(+3 insets) Yesterday I mentioned the Spring-like weather we've had for the past few days. Whaever possessed me?! Today it's miserable, cold and raining! It makes me laugh because I should know better than to spout off about the lovely weather. Mother Nature refuses to be predictable! I noticed that I haven't posted any mushroom pictures for a while so I thought it would be fun to share a little presentation I put together.. A few years ago I was creeping around on our property looking for mushrooms. I wasn't having a lot of luck but I kept hunting. I looked on the forest floor. I looked on the moss clinging to the trees. I looked under logs. Nothing. Feeling bored, I began studying the bark on the oak trees very closely. There are countless varieties of lichen and mosses to appreciate which appear in a rainbow of colors and I think they are extremely interesting. As I was studying the bark, I suddenly found myself staring at one of the tiniest mushrooms I'd ever seen! It was peeking out from a crevice, as cute as can be. And then I noticed another one...and another! Why, these itty-bitty mushrooms were all over the bark and I'd never noticed them until now. What a huge surprise! I have shared pictures of these little darlings in the past but it occurred to me that it might be fascinating for viewers to get a better understanding of how small these mushrooms really are. Along with my main image showing this pair of micro-sized beauties, there are two insets. One of them shows the tree at a normal distance and a circle that shows where the mushrooms are hiding. The second picture is a lot closer to show you what the environment looks like, and yet, those mushrooms are still quite small. In fact, each of them is perhaps 1/8" in size...they really are so very tiny!! If you enjoy these pictures, I have another presentation like this one that I'll share those at some point too. (I'm also including a colorful sunrise I got a while back!) Pam, I did a search for "tiny" on your photo stream and lo' and behold, I discovered your tiny bracket fungus pictures ! They are TERRIFIC!!! I especially love that you took pictures at various distances away as well, just like I did with my little presentation! *high five* Explored on 3/06/19, highest placement, #4.

(+2 insets!) It's another drizzly morning and as lovely as can be. The fog was swirling around the Table Rocks when I looked outside and at a comfortable 41°F/5°C I stepped out for my walk feeling energic and happy. Just as I was about to walk down the road for my first lap I heard a sound that filled me with delight. "THE FROGS ARE SINGING!!" I smiled broadly as I heard a handful of frogs croaking down at the seasonal pond. I'd heard the occasional frog here or there but this singing marks the true beginning of breeding season for the Pacific Tree Frogs. For months the frogs and toads will croon to the heavens whenever they feel safe enough to do so. The numbers will increase from the half-dozen of today to a cacophony of perhaps 100 or more at the height of the season. This makes me wiggle with excitement! Oh, how I adore frogs and toads…they are so darn cute! They are so ridiculous looking! And the way their vocal sacks look when they are croaking makes me want to squeal with glee! They think they look cool…I say they look hilarious! :D Whenever I get close to the pond—unless I'm very careful to be as silent as possible—all of the Romeos shut up. Just like the Warner Brother's Frog…they really WERE croaking, I tell you!! Then, after I am far away…CREEEEEEEEK…and one by one they start singing again! Silly froggies. Well, really it's SMART froggies. Best to be silent and live to see another day, right? I had a great idea though and when I heard one frog starting to croak again, I recorded him! You can listen to my audio link to hear our first frog singing this season! Today's picture is for Happy Fence Friday! While visiting my brother and his wife Nathalie in San Anselmo, I wandered around their property and found a tree brimming with gorgeous turning leaves. I was so captivated by this pair that I took pictures from each side! You'll find the front side as an inset. I'm also sharing another fence picture that shows some of the encrusted lichen and moss that I loved so much. Pam, I did a search for fence pictures in your stream and was surprised that you have never participated in the insanity that is Happy Fence Friday! I resisted as long as I could…but well, I couldn't help myself and now I'm one of the gang! :) I did find lots of pictures of yours that have fences though! I really liked this one that featured a trio of lovely critters as well as a fence ! :) I hope you are doing ok today—iand thank you so much for your lovely comment yesterday, it was so wonderful! *big HUGGGGS* from southern Oregon! Explored on 1/25/19, highest placement, #10.

(+3 insets!) "It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring!" Wow, have we been getting a lot of rain! It rained all day yesterday and it's been raining all day today. It's supposed to pour until tomorrow evening too! I wanted to go out last night to see how our water diversion tactics were working on our road but it was too late and we were too tired. We knew it would be raining all day so we could see how things were working in the morning. Peeking outside when I got up, I was rather amazed to see that our big meadow now featured a wide stream pouring down off our steep hill! This really is a big storm! I went out to go on my walk and found that Mother Nature was laughing at our pitiful attempts to keep the water from flowing down our road. At the top of our driveway, Steve's 2" irrigation pipe that crosses the road--designed to protect a buried power line and divert water--was not working at all. Gravel and dirt had covered the pipe and its many entry holes and the water rushed merrily down our road, giggling mischievously. Following the road stream 100 feet further, I came to a stop at the deep furrow designed to pull the water away from the road (You may remember the inset I shared a couple of days ago). Can you say "blowout"? The huge volume of water overflowed our channel and made a new one--which naturally went right down our road, spreading out into a road-wide mess of rivulets. The loud cackling from water imps was hard to miss. Our channel was clogged and in serious need of repair and enlargement. Walking the rest of the way down the road I could see that the rainfall was so heavy that all of our efforts were barely functioning at all. With the small storms we'd had previously, the work we'd done was successful but totally failed with a serious storm. Steve would need to get the big guns out…the TRACTOR! I began by doing the repairs I could, re-dragging the furrows off the road and unclogging any spots fouled with leaves, mud and gravel. I shored up washed-out spots in all of the channels and was pleased to see that I made some great progress on my own. I couldn't help but stand and gawk at our pond. Water was gushing into it from one of our seasonal streams and the level of our pond was now overflowing. The overflow was rushing out the other side in a heavy flow, pooling deeply near the culvert that takes it across the main road in front of our property. I don't know when I've seen it so flooded! Steve is now out there with the tractor, pulling huge furrows with one of the implements we have and making a ditch to keep the water from washing the road out. He's also using the box scraper to repair the road where it's been compromised. And there was a place by the culvert at the gate to create much better drainage and access to the culvert. It continues to pour and pour out there! Let's hope that Steve's efforts will be enough. What a storm! Today's picture and 3 insets are from our trip down to San Anselmo. The stars are a perfectly gorgeous little pair of blossoms that I found on a bush in Nathalie's front yard. While I was taking pictures of these dainty little flowers I couldn't help but be reminded of Sweet Peas. But…on a BUSH? I was delighted when my first search for identification gave me the answer: A Sweet Pea Bush (Polygalaspp.) ! :D It was no surprise these pretty flowers are not related to the flower we are familiar with--Sweet Pea garden flowers (Lathyrus odoratus)--because the stems of the shrub are woody and the plants are entirely different than the tender-stemmed Sweet Pea flower. I hope you find my attempts to share the beautiful details of this stunning little flower successful! :) Pam, I chose these flowers with you in mind. They are so bright and cheery that I hoped they might bring a smile to your face to ease your blues. Thank you so much for your lovely comments and also for letting me know how you are doing. You are in my thoughts and I wish I could send you a hug too… Explored on 1/20/19, highest placement, #1.

Steve and I are staying at my brother's home in the San Francisco Bay Area and a couple of days ago (and today also!) his wife took us on a hike up into the San Anselmo hills. It was a lovely day, though very windy and on the cold side, but the views were terrific! I brought my camera along with the hopes that I might find a few subjects to take pictures of. As it turned out, we actually found mushrooms! There were a surprising number of them too, and I am crossing my fingers that I'll get some winners when I get the chance to look at them on my computer. Today's mushrooms were photographed quite a while ago but I didn't have the chance to share them until today. I discovered this pair growing on the side of a rotting log while exploring our lower forest. It's amazing how fast a mushroom can appear when the conditions are right. I'd walked by this spot the day before and didn't see anything of interest. But when I investigated one day later, I found this pair of cutie pies, just waiting for their picture! Pam, I noticed that you have taken some pictures of mushrooms too! I love hunting for them as much as you enjoy finding butterflies on your flowers! I sure do hope that you are doing well today. Thanks so much for the lovely comments you've been leaving me, they make me so happy. Thinking of you every day! Explored on 1/3/19, highest placement, #1.

Today while I was on my daily walk, Steve stepped out in his fluffy blue robe and thick warm slippers to say good morning--he usually gets up an hour later because he's got the "sleeping in" thing down to a luxuriant science! Huzzah! At a chilly 31 degrees, no way was he stepping off the porch so I marched over to greet him with a hug and kiss. "ACK!!!" He yelled, reeling back from my affectionate peck. "Your lips are frozen, woman!" I couldn't stop laughing as I gave him a hug. He pulled me tight in an affectionate embrace and then shrieked, "OH MY GOD, you're an ICEBERG!" He rubbed my back bravely but quickly stepped away with a shudder, staring with abject horror. Receding towards the door with a slightly terrified expression on his face, he left me with, "I'm going back into the house where it's warm!" My maniacal giggling followed him as he shut the door. Gee whiz, I've repulsed my own husband! :D And now, let us all bow our heads and take this moment of silence to remember Triangle Man. The other day I posted an image of two lovely mushrooms that I discovered on my way up to our ridgeline trail. At the time I noticed a couple of smaller ones erupting from the earth nearby. In the following days I kept an eye on them but apparently something else was too. In fact, the day after I'd photographed the pair of mushrooms I found one of them laying upside-down nearby and the other one was just plain gone! A few days later, one of the mushrooms I'd been keeping track of disappeared. That left Triangle Man. Oddly shaped with a perfect, rounded-triangle cap, I watched this mushroom slowly force its way up from the soil and grow in size. Yesterday I saw him and burst into song! "Triangle Man, Triangle Man, Triangle Man hates Particle Man They have a fight, Triangle wins Triangle Man" ~ Lyrics from Particle Man , by They Might Be Giants (This is such a fun song that I linked it…ENJOY!!) I thought about taking pictures of Triangle Man but decided against it. The grass was very long in that area and to prep for a picture would have taken too long to be bothered. I decided that instead I would appreciate this fun-looking fungus every day as I walked up and down the driveway. At last he was rising up off the ground and I thought that maybe I would take his picture after all. What's 20 minutes of prepping? Triangle Man was worth it! I planned to take his picture that day but it began to rain and didn't stop all day. This morning Triangle Man was gone. I looked around to see if he might be hiding under a leaf but he was nowhere to be found. Poor Triangle Man. Rudely plucked from the earth and wolfed down by a denizen of the night. His chance at an immortal photograph was dashed. Oh, the cruel, cruel world! We loved you Triangle Man! Since I can't show a picture of Triangle Man, I thought it would be appropriate to share another mushroom picture. This photogenic pair was found a few days ago when I took a walk along the ridgeline trail that runs from our property about a mile away where it peters out. It's a mecca for plants and animals, ever-brimming with photo opportunities. These two were spotted on an Oak stick that fell to the forest floor and was partially covered with leaves. Only when I kneeled down to peer carefully at ground-level did I spot these extremely tiny mushrooms. They are only about ¼" in height! What an awesome find! Pam, I invite you to listen to the song, "Particle Man," which is sure to put a beaming smile on your face while you think about the mushrooms you've seen in your wanderings that are gone the next time you come around. We were so lucky to see them! I'm looking out the window now and thinking of you as I watch the mist drift slowly past the Upper Table Rock. Beautiful...just like you. Explored on 12/14/18, highest placement, #6.

(1 inset picture) The morning fog made its way through our valley and then gradually dissipated, leaving a bright and beautiful day ahead of me. Walking up and down our road for my daily exercise, I kept looking up at our steep hillside, thinking about the ridge line trail. I wouldn't go up there for a couple of reasons. Partly because, by the time I got up to the top of the hill, I was miserably depressed over the sight of the countless dead trees. The other part was because I used to go up there with our Basset and Boxer, Moosie and Zoey. But a year ago we lost our dear Moosie, and our darling Zoey passed away in August. Our hearts have been broken by this horrible loss and walking along the ridge line was just too much. Since discovering that the hillside is covered with new saplings and young plants of all sorts, I feel like I can deal with the memories of Moosie and Zoey if I go up there for a stroll. The happy realization had me wiggling with excitement because I haven't been up there for over a year. It was time for a macro photo safari!! After lunch I popped into my boots and knee pads, packed my macro flash in my backpack, grabbed my camera and off I went! Up to the top I climbed and stood by my favorite tree, the Madrone which was now ringed with vibrant new growth. I turned to look down at our house and the valley below and realized that Moosie and Zoey wouldn't want me to feel sad. They'd want me to have a great time up here, just like they did when we came up here together. Such silly dogs! They'd chase each other all over and I'd have to keep telling Moosie to come along because he was such a slave to that nose of his. Seeing him trotting jauntily along the trail, his ears flopping back and forth, never failed to make me laugh. With her energetic puppy personality, Zoey was always joyfully running around investigating everything but made sure to stay close to Moosie or me. It was always a good time when we went and all of us would sleep well that night! :) (I have included an inset picture which I took of Moosie and Zoe playing on the ridge line trail.) I strolled along the path and had a great time. The Oak, Madrone and pine forest was so pretty—rarely visited by people, it's a wonderfully wild place. It was also perfect mushroom weather—humid and cool with moist soil—and I soon spotted a tiny little guy just waiting for the lime light! I spent the next hour or two discovering and photographing lots of tiny mushrooms before the sun grew heavy on the horizon and prompted me to go home. It had been a super experience and after I got home and told Steve about my trip, he asked me to take him up there so he could take pictures too! Moosie and Zoey would be so proud! :) Today's picture was actually taken a few days ago when I went up on the hillside the first time. On my way up I found this darling pair of mushrooms, and ever since I've been thinking about the mushrooms along the ridge line trail. Although I got plenty of nice pictures on my walk today, I figured it would be perfect to share this pair as my first mushroom picture since getting my creative mojo back! Pam, you would love the ridge line trail. It's hard to get up to the top of the hill, but I know you would enjoy meandering along the fire trail which is brimming with lovely woods all around. I imagine you oohing and ahhing over the endless beauty there. I thought about you a lot, and how thankful I am to you for bringing back my creative spirit and the courage to face things that hurt me...now I can visit our hill and the ridge line trail too! *huggggs* Explored on 12/9/18, highest placement, #5.

Though they appear to be huge, these flowers were quite small, and were growing among a lush carpet of rich green leaves and dozens of other blossoms. I was able to single the pair out for a tight close-up! I found them while Steve and I were on the Ashland Garden tour a few years ago.

Here's a mushroom I photographed back in 2012, and I got lucky with some nice light too! I have mixed feelings about this picture. I remember being so upset because you will notice that the very front edge of this mushroom is not in focus. I took about 10 different pictures to make sure I had good focus and STILL, it's not crisp along that edge. I am crazy about the bokeh, but it could be a bit softer. It's not my best work, but I am proud to display it because it does have a special glow to it that has always made me stop in my tracks to look at this picture. I processed it just a few days after I took it, so I've had a long time to sit and think about this image. :D If you've read this far, I'd love to know--would you have trashed this picture or kept it. Not hurting my feelings if you vote for trash, since it's flawed. Does it matter that the front edge--which is so important to the success of this type of image--is not in focus?

(+2 in notes) A couple of weeks ago I posted a picture of two mushrooms that were joined by a droplet of rain. That same day I discovered some other special mushrooms as well. These two are obviously in love and don't care if anyone knows it! The pair of identical droplets on their stems just kills me!! :) (By the way, if you roll your mouse over the picture you'll see the other picture I posted a couple of weeks ago and also my 365 image from that day!)

This was a fragrant rose that was growing in a friend's garden. Steve and I were invited to visit a couple of years ago and I was nearly overwhelmed by all the beautiful plants and flowers growing there. I was struggling with this image so I tried adding texture, and thought the result turned out nicely. :)

Our property has many different environments for mushrooms, so I've found lots of unique species in many sizes, shapes and colors. One day in November a couple of years ago, I glimpsed something orange near a pine tree and what fun it was to discover this beautiful family of mushrooms just waiting to have their picture taken! I called out, "One, two, three...CHEESE!!" And they all pulled in close for the perfect shot!

Steve and I went out one soggy day a couple of years ago so we could drive to another location in the hopes of finding some mushrooms. We found a patch of conifer forest and I popped out of the car for a look. After about 10 minutes, I looked down to see this pair of affectionate mushrooms, leaning together and joined by a droplet of rain. If you look at the base of the mushroom on the right, you'll notice that it grew up througha amall hole in the leaf that surrounds it!

Here's a magical scene that I discovered on the first day of my 365 project back in 2013. Walking around in the snow that day, I found so many lovely subjects to capture...such a wonderland. This pair of sporophytes--which are the reproductive parts of moss--were peeking up out of a mound of snow, complete with a melted droplet on top! :)

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.

3 more pictures in notes above ! :) I hope you all had a lovely holiday, if this was a festive one for you! Steve and I celebrated quietly and had a very wonderful day! He played video games and I took the dogs up the hill for another exploration picture hunt! WHAT A DAY!! So many wonderful mushrooms and interesting fungus, I can't wait to get them all processed. Unfortunately I'm rushed for time so can't write much this evening, but I had a great time finding subjects. :) Today's Pick of the Day is an impossibly tiny mushroom I found inside the crevice of a rotting log. The only reason I saw it was because it was white against dark brown bark and had shiny droplets on it that caught the light. To my amazement, I found that it was on a stick and so I was able to carefully take it out for more pictures. One of the insets shows a picture of it before I took it out--LOOK AT THE DEWDROPS!!! AMAZING!! Joyce Meyer (born Pauline Joyce Hutchison; June 4, 1943) is a Charismatic Christian author and speaker. Meyer and her husband Dave have four grown children, and live outside St. Louis, Missouri. Her ministry is headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri. Wikipedia: Joyce Meyer Explored on November 29, 2013. Highest placement, page 3.

3 more pictures in notes above ! :) Yesterday I wandered up one part of our hillside, and today I decided to take the dogs with me up the other side and then along the ridge line trail. I'd originally planned to take better pictures of a lovely little lichen I found yesterday but I decided to explore instead. The dogs and I went up behind our shop and disappeared into the forest above the house, the oaks almost all devoid of leaves now. As the dogs nosed around, I puttered along, looking under logs and examining everything that looked interesting. So many cool subjects to photograph today! I found some beautiful amber droplets under a log, a cute little insect nymph of some sort, and ten different mushrooms in singles and doubles! :) Creeping off the trail and examining rotting logs, I looked down and suddenly found the magnificent, huge pair that you're looking at. Easily 4-5" in diameter, they were just barely poking up through some leaves, so I spent 10 minutes carefulling excavating around them, pulling off leaves and twigs, clearing out the fore- and background to get a clutter-free picture. Regarding this pair, I think that just about every mushroom out there is pretty, but some of them are truly magnificent. To me, a frilly cap and lovely gills are just so amazing and I will never tire of a sight like this! :D (I've included another view from above to see the color of the cap: inset image only) Khalil Gibran (full Arabic name Gibran Khalil Gibran, sometimes spelled Kahlil; (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) was a Lebanese artist, poet, and writer. Wikipedia: Kahlil Gibran Explored on November 28, 2013. Highest placement, page 4.

2 more pictures and a note above ! :) Such a pretty, sunny day it was today! Steve and I hopped in the car to drive around our "block" so I could take pictures off the property. Our "block" is actually about 7 miles around! The road travels up about 1,000 feet in elevation, through many kinds of terrain, and there are some conifer forests there that I've always wanted to investigate. Once we found a good spot, I hopped out of the car while Steve enjoyed himself with some iPad games. Making my way into a pine-needle and leaf-strewn ravine, I immediately encountered mushrooms and different fungus all over the place. I was hoping to take a long look at the whole area but there was no chance of that because everywhere I turned, I would find another mushroom! :D Resisting the urge to take pictures of every mushroom I encountered, I looked for something really special that would be a great image for my Picture of the Day. I looked up the far side of the ravine and saw some large mushrooms pushing their way out of the soil, so I made my way over to them. The first one was decaying and soggy, but I saw something peeking out at me from a bit higher. Carefully pulling away a clump of moss and dirt, I was presented with the beautiful sight that you see here. I took time to remove enough leaves and pine needles so that I could show the pair off, but I kept most of the beautiful moss and dirt that was still on top of them, looking like a green and brown roof. Aren't they magnificent?! :D I feel so fortunate every time I make an extra-special discovery! Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his 1875 adultery trial. Wikipedia: Henry Ward Beecher Explored on November 18, 2013. Highest placement, page 2 (#49).

I have two areas in our front yard where I've planted wildflower seeds, but since we live in a rural area, the animals feast on my flowers and will eat the plant down to the ground, usually just when the flowers are ready for pictures. We put a mesh fence around my metal tub, but the larger area was not protected. The morning I got up and found the gorgeous plant that was about to erupt into bloom had been completely eaten, we went out and got a motion-detecting spayer. It's WORKING!! These two blossoms are a few that are still alive after several days and I'm elated!!! I chose this quote because it not only fits, but Steve and I are currently watching a very interesting, well-done BBC mini-series called, "The Impressionists", which is reconstructs the origins of the Impressionist art movement and features Claude Monet (among others). It's very good! :) Claude Monet (14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant) Wikipedia: Claude Monet