Wordless Wednesday
Just around the bend: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Rockridge Park – Trails & More: LAPC
Rockridge Park, in northeast Bend, is a nice place for walks and more. Bend Park and Recreation preserved features of High Desert habitat in this 36-acre park and added a few unique activities. It’s one of 82 parks in the city.
You’ll see a “forest” of juniper tree trunks near the small parking area. This play area for kids includes black “talk tubes” that connect underground. Primitive cell phones. 😉
I’ve been keeping an eye out for fall foliage and this park had several colorful trees. The maple trees are beginning to turn red and the paper birch leaves are turning a lovely shade of gold.
The trails in this park include a paved one-mile+ trail and more than a mile of unpaved bike trails. The beginner and intermediate bike trails include boardwalks and other obstacles.
Nasturtium blossoms up close: Macro Monday
Bright nasturtium blossoms up close in our High Desert garden. These flowers look pretty and they taste good. They have a distinctive spicy flavor.
Macro Monday
Focus on the form of cactus: LAPC
The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week is Symmetry. I decided to focus on the form of cactus in my garden by showing them in infrared. It highlights their prickly symmetry well.
To see some of these cactus blooming in brilliant colors, see Prickly and pretty.
American kestrel study in pencil: First Friday Art
This month, for First Friday Art, I’m sharing an American kestrel study I drew in pencil. When I took an ornithology class in college we learned about anatomy by studying specimens in a museum.
These sketches helped me learn more about birds, but they also turned out to be great tools for future works of art. I have referred back to them when working on pen-and-inks and paintings.
Here’s a photo of an American kestrel I saw in Malheur National Forest last year. They have beautiful coloring.
Do you have some artwork you would like to share? Use the First Friday Art tag.
Headdresses from Oregon’s past: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Shooting stars up close: Macro Monday
Shooting stars up close. Wildflowers blooming on Glass Buttes in the High Desert of Oregon.
Macro Monday
Encounter with a Eurasian eagle-owl: BWPC
Being able to participate in an encounter with an Eurasian eagle-owl was one of my favorite things on a recent trip to Ireland. You have the opportunity to see various birds of prey up close and personal at the Dingle Falconry Experience, located on the Dingle peninsula.
This bird is a female named “Fluffy.” Eurasian eagle-owls are one of the largest owls in the world. Females, which are larger than the males, measure 30 inches in length. This owl’s wingspan is typically 4 feet 4 inches to 6 feet 2 inches.
Continue readingThree-headed carrot: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Vaqueros – Tools of the trade: Monochrome Monday
Vaqueros, otherwise known as buckaroos, worked the range in eastern Oregon for many years. The spurs and ring bit pictured were handcrafted by a silversmith in Mexico, circa 1750.
These pieces are on display in the small museum located at the Pete French Round Barn. It’s a great place to visit from an historic and architectural perspective. The barn is one of my favorite local attractions.
Monochrome Monday
Old barn in hay field: Monochrome Monday
Monochrome Monday
Hope in a sunrise – tanka poem: LAPC
A sliver of hope
glimmers on the horizon
A dark bud opens
delicate petals unfurl
Hope blossoms, filling the sky
Art with a twist: A riddle in pictures
These three pieces of art with a twist by Dennis McGregor are displayed in the Old Mill District of Bend, Oregon.
Why do they come with a twist? Each piece represents the name of a local wildlife species but you have to figure out what they are. Can you guess?
A glorious cloudscape: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Bachelor buttons up close: Macro Monday
Bachelor buttons up close in our garden. I never knew they had so many colors. This flower has such an interesting structure – like a bouquet of tiny trumpets.
Macro Monday
A patch of blue in the smoke over Oregon
I saw a patch of blue in the smoke-filled landscape today. Air quality is hazardous and skies are smoky over Bend, Oregon, but one of my notoriously camera-shy mountain bluebirds paused for a portrait. I needed that today! My main computer decided it no longer wanted to wake up from sleep mode.
Here is the air quality reading yesterday afternoon over Bend.
Here are the readings from in and around Bend yesterday.
Fires are far from Bend, but wind blew smoke our way.
Wildfires are raging over much of the west. We are looking forward to a little rain this week.
Thanks to the firefighters at work on these fires! May they find their own patch of blue.
Bright blossoms haiku: Friday Flowers
After waiting years
for bright blossoms to appear,
luminous at last
Friday Flowers
Sunrise on green sheen obsidian: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Plateau Indian Beaded Moccasins: LAPC
I’m featuring pictures of Plateau Indian beaded moccasins for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The challenge this week is “A labor of love.”
After so much was taken away from Native Americans, creating beadwork became a labor of love. They preserved parts of their culture by decorating everyday items.
Prior to the European invasion of North America, Native Americans decorated their clothing with shells, porcupine quills, and bones.
Encouraging words on my walk: Monochrome Monday
I saw these encouraging words while walking my dog in a local park. I shared words seen on another walk on Hopeful words seen on my walk.
These words were drawn onto a curving section of the path. In these times of uncertainty, it was nice to see that someone took the time to brighten our days.
Grizzly Drawings – pencil and pen & ink: First Friday Art
I’m sharing grizzly drawings for First Friday Art this month. I found this pencil drawing tucked away in a forgotten file drawer. This bear, in a typical bear pose, is feasting on a salmon.
When I flipped the pencil drawing over, I found this on the back. I forgot it was there! The fur is not drawn realistically, but this stylized pen-and-ink is interesting. The bear looks so content.
Maybe I’ll let these grizzly drawings out of their lonely drawer and do something with them. There must be an empty wall somewhere…
Do you have some artwork you would like to share? Use the First Friday Art tag.
Looking up in Kilmalkedar Church: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
A praying mantis of another color: Macro Monday
When I first saw this praying mantis on hop plants in our garden of plenty, I thought it must be a species I had never seen. Its coloring was so light it was almost white. I learned that when some types of mantis shed their skin, they stay white for a short period of time. They can molt 10 times before reaching their adult size. This one will probably turn green, like others I have seen on our property.
Macro Monday
The Oregon Garden in late summer: LAPC
The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week is to pick images that go with five possible words. I chose to use all five.
I am featuring pictures from a late September trip to The Oregon Garden, in Silverton, Oregon. It’s an 80-acre botanical garden that is beautiful to visit during any season.
This mixed border is an “exuberant” mix of colorful flowers of various sizes and textures.
This planting looked “comfortable” with every plant spaced out so you can appreciate the details.
A garden of plenty: Homegrown Harvest Photo Challenge
Last year we started to create a new garden space in our backyard. After a lot of work, it’s looking like a garden of plenty now.
This is how it looked several years ago when we bought the place. The house included a fenced dog run with a heated doghouse.
Some of the beds in our newly-created garden are bordered by rocks collected on our property, and others are store bought. Smaller rocks we collected on our rock hounding adventures decorate the edges of the raised beds. See the obsidian from Glass Buttes?
Because otters make you smile: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Millican cabin in B & W: Monochrome Monday
Monochrome Monday
Household treasures from a different angle: LAPC
I am sharing photos of some of my household treasures taken from different angles. I used a tabletop studio to take these pictures. The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week is Everyday Objects.
The first two pictures are of a cricket cage I’ve had since I was about eight years old. I distinctly remember taking it in for Show and Tell. The crickets were chirping in the darkness within my school desk.
This is an antique egg beater I purchased at an antique show in Portland, Oregon. I’m not sure if the parts were meant to go together but that’s how I bought it. I use it regularly and it works great!
A silent symphony haiku: Friday Flowers
A deserted stage
Emptiness filled with blossoms
Silent symphony
Friday Flowers
August cactus in B & W: Wordless Wednesday & MWM
High Desert Mural: LAPC & Monday Mural
I have been busy filling up space and time by creating a High Desert mural. I recently posted more details on creating my Outdoor Pronghorn Painting. This weekend I added three additional paintings to the mural.
Masks with customized fabric: Getting creative
Did you know you can order customized fabrics from JOANN Fabric & Craft stores and other sources? Neither did I. This week I made face masks with customized fabric that I ordered online.
Fence lizard on Western juniper: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Ice plants up close: Macro Monday
Here’s a photo of ice plants up close from my garden near Bend, Oregon. I always look forward to seeing their bright, long lasting blooms.
Macro Monday
Arches National Park in bloom: LAPC
In early May 2017, we visited the national parks in Utah. With temperatures in the 90s, we didn’t exactly avoid the desert’s heat, but we were happy to see Arches National Park in bloom.
These plants grow well under the hot, sunny conditions. Here are a few of the plants we saw in bloom. Some are big and bold; others are small and subtle.
Outdoor pronghorn painting: First Friday Art
Here’s an outdoor pronghorn painting I did in our backyard. It’s the first Friday of the month so it’s time to share your First Friday Art. If you have artwork you would like to share, use the First Friday Art tag.
We have an 8 x 16 foot shed in the backyard and it had a boring blank west-facing wall. It needed something to make it more interesting. I thought of painting a pronghorn, one of my favorite critters.
A rush of green: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Brothers Stage Stop: Monochrome Monday
The Brothers Stage Stop, in Brothers, Oregon, is a little oasis in the high desert an hour east of Bend.
Monochrome Monday
My sanctuary through the seasons: LAPC
In my sanctuary
Spring arrives with a symphony
Birdsongs and blooms
Summer arrives with a sizzle
Glowing and grand
Plant ID – To weed or not to weed: Friday Flowers
To weed or not to weed. Sometimes weeding is a big job, so how can you tell which plant is a weed?
Are the tall plants in this photo weeds that I should pull?
What about this plant with pretty purple flowers?
Are these two plants weeds?
