Find special surprises: LAPC & TTC

Find treasures on walks

When out and about taking pictures, you never know when you might find special surprises. This delightful dragon sculpture was at The Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon. It brought a little cheer into a cloudy day.

Find special surprises Silverton

Though not as much is in bloom at this time of year, I was happy to see these fall-blooming crocus at the The Oregon Garden last week.

Fall crocus

Find special surprises in the skies

Here’s the last glimpse of the sun going down on a nearly cloudless day near Waldport, Oregon.

Beach sunset

In the fall, clouds begin to fill High Desert skies, leading to dramatic sunrises. I took this picture from my house a couple of days ago.

find special surprises

Find special treasures nearby

You don’t always have to capture faces to capture a mood. These two kids were fascinated by the otters in this exhibit at the High Desert Museum. You can see the frame of the window they were looking through in the next picture.

watching otters

This picture shows reflections in the water and two Northern river otters swimming together, reflecting each others movements. Another submerged otter follows behind them.

Northern river otters

Find odd things while on the road

Sometimes when you’re driving down the road on your travels, you see something that makes you say, “What is THAT?” Do you know what this truck was hauling? (Find the answer at the end of the post).

Weird truck load

Find special surprises from the past

Other times you’re walking down the street in your hometown and find special surprises. This is Bend’s Pet Parade, the oldest parade in the city. This community tradition began in 1924. Can you find the umbrella in this scene?

Pet Parade

While digging through my archives to find pictures for this challenge, I found this little treasure. This was my cat, Weasel, my first pet I had after moving away from home. I was lucky to find this photo of a special pet from my past who brought me much happiness.

find special surprises cat

So did you guess what the truck pictured earlier in this post was hauling? According to my brief research, those are parts for SpaceX’s Starlink ground stations. You learn something new every day!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Treasure Hunt

Three Things Challenge (TTC) – Emotions

17 thoughts on “Find special surprises: LAPC & TTC

  1. Loved this one Siobhan, from start to finish! Your sunrise is stunning, the dragon and the kids are great fun, the hunt for the umbrella is terrific (and of course a double-dip with the pets!). Also love that you found an image of Weasel (altho I’m sure there’s a story behind the name!) and figured out what bizarre things the truck was carrying! Kudos for your excellent response this week.

    • Thanks for this challenge, Tina! I was just going to do a couple of the words, but I got on a roll. My cat was named ‘Damsel’ but she had a way of weaseling her way into your heart, and lap, so I changed it. 😁

  2. Those objects on the truck really had me puzzled but I did wonder about some sort of space research station – I’m glad I wasn’t far off the mark! Loved that sunset too, and the otters, while Weasel looks a real sweetie!

  3. Thank you for taking me back briefly to The region Garden. I might have mentioned before that I worked there as a volunteer for 4 years. I love that place. The dragon is new since I was there and looks awesome.

    Cool find about the starlink domes. We keep trying to decide if we should get that. It is growing fast, clearly. Thanks for doing the research for us. lol.

    Nice collection.

    • Thanks! No, I didn’t know you worked at the Oregon Garden. I’ve only visited in September. Gotta get there in the spring!

      Starlink is cool but expensive, I’ve heard.

      • Yes, which makes the decision tough. We camp off the grid quite often, with no service, and I don’t like not being connected to family. We have met a few people who love it. Guess we will keep hashing it over.

      • We use Verizon MiFi portable hotspot. Cost $10/month-added onto our plan. I’ve only tried it 5 places. Worked in 4. The other spot it worked if I walked about 10 feet away. 🙂

      • We tried miFi when we lived in Yellowstone, and had pretty good luck. That was quite a few years ago. Might even be better now. WE should look into it. It is tough to be without service. Thank you.

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