Sage in the snow near Bend, Oregon
Wordless Wednesday (WW)
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Sage in the snow: Wordless Wednesday
Oregon
Bear with Humor: Wordless Wednesday
Bear with Humor by Rick Bartow (Mad River Band of the Wiyot Tribe, d. 2016) at High Desert Museum
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Our pets: LAPC
Our pets know when we need to laugh
Or when we need to have a good cry
Pets show us when to dig in
Or when it’s time to hit the road
Animals learn how to fit into our lives
Or share a space when it’s needed
Pets help us weather hard times
Or find a soft place to land
Our pets know when it’s time to take a break
Or go on an adventure with a friend
Pets learn how to expand the possibilities
Or make the best of a tight situation
Animals know how to find excitement in every new day
Or show us how old age is not an excuse to slow down
And when our pets are no longer a presence in front of our eyes,
they will always hold a place in our hearts
This post includes pictures of every cat and dog I’ve owned since leaving home at age 17.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Cats & Dogs
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Cascade sunsets from above: WS & RDP
I thought it would be fun to take pictures of Cascade sunsets from above to get more comfortable with using my drone. For eight consecutive days, I flew my DJI drone up to an altitude of 100 feet from my backyard. The mountains featured in these photos are approximately 26 miles away, as the crow flies.
These pictures show several volcanoes that are a part of Oregon’s Cascade Mountain Range. I recently featured aerial pictures of them from a closer perspective in another post.
Hope you enjoy these images of our spectacular skies near Bend, Oregon!
Colorful Cascade sunsets
The first photo shows a fiery sky. These are more commonly seen in the winter months around here.
The second photo shows a pale yellow background with the clouds floating over the mountains edged in pink.
Blue sky sunsets
The third photo shows a mostly clear sky. There appears to be a haze of smoke that could be from one of our prescribed burns in local forests. These controlled fires help prevent bigger fires.
The fourth photo shows another clear sky.
The fifth photo shows yet another clear sky. This time I took the photo right as the sun was setting over the mountains.
The next photo shows… uh, maybe we should pause for musical interlude. This song, Blue Sky & The Painter by Bastille, is one of my current favorites and it’s about blue skies.
Why did I include an interlude? Because there were more days without a single cloud in the sky when the sun set!
The sixth photo shows a clear day as the sun sets.
The seventh day shows, you guessed it, another sunny clear day.
Based on these photos, is it really true that Bend, Oregon gets 300 days of sunshine a year? Nope. However, we do have 250-260+ days a year that are clear or mostly clear.
Stormy Cascade sunsets
The eighth day shows, HURRAY!, clouds as a storm was moving in. A thick, dark cloud floated ominously over the snow-covered peaks.
The Oregon Cascade Range gets quite a bit of snow each winter. Mount Bachelor (shown on the left in these photos), as I stated in another post, gets over 400 inches of snow a year.
I may try taking sunrise pictures for a future post. I just hope that if I do, the clouds will cooperate. 😉
Weekend Sky (WS)
Ragtag Daily Prompt (RDP) – Float
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Oregon Garden bench: Pull up a seat
This Oregon Garden bench looked like a nice place to rest while roaming the 80-acres of gardens. I have featured photos of this attraction in Silverton, Oregon in several previous posts.
Arrowheads up close: Macro Monday
This photo showing arrowheads up close was taken at Petersen Rock Garden & Museum. This unique roadside attraction is in Redmond, Oregon.
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Exquisite Creatures Revealed: LAPC & TTC
Exquisite Creatures Revealed is an amazing exhibition at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon. It will be on display until February 17, 2025.
Christopher Marley combined elements of art and the natural world into three-dimensional masterpieces. Marley has lived in dozens of countries and studied art and design, while pursuing a career in fashion. The time he spent working for Luis Vuitton, Georgio Armani, Gucci, Donna Karan, and Nike influenced his overall aesthetics.
These displays were created using mainly one color, complementary colors, analogous colors, and black and white. The unique works of art highlight the wide range of colors and forms occurring in nature.
Butterfly & Beetle Exquisite Creatures
The butterfly pieces were wonderfully colorful, but also beautiful because of their iridescence. The various species of Lepidoptera shown live in France, China, Indonesia, Laos, Peru, Brazil, Guyana, Bolivia, Central African Republic, Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia.
These Jewel Beetles are all the same species, just different in color. The wide variety of colors, and their shiny texture, made for an eye-catching display. They live in Southeast Asia.
Dragonflies and katydids
These remarkable creatures are considered one of the most efficient hunters in the animal kingdom. The dragonfly species in this piece live in regions of the U.S. and Asia.
There are over 20,000 species of leaf mimic katydids in the world. The insects shown live in Peru, Indonesia, Malayasia, Thailand, and Papua New Guinea.
Crab Exquisite Creatures
This triptych shows the significant differences in crab’s body shape and size. Did you know there are over 7,000 species of crab in the world?
Sea urchin and sand dollar Exquisite Creatures
I think these were some of my favorite pieces in this exhibit. The sea urchins in these pieces reside in oceans around the world.
This triptych piece had a nice movement to it. I liked its curving lines, the variety of its colorful sea urchins, and the simple shapes of the white sand dollars in the background.
I liked the next piece because it reminded me of the excitement I’ve experienced upon finding a complete sand dollar while walking along Pacific Northwest beaches. If you shake them, you’ll hear a rattling sound. The small V-shaped pieces found inside dead sand dollars are called doves. In life, they function as teeth.
Seahorses and brittle stars
These seahorse skeletons looked so delicate. These seahorses lived in Hawaii.
This piece, composed of Brittle Stars, also looked fragile. This species lives in the Philippines.
Snakes
This piece includes three Royal Pythons that lived in Sub-Saharan Africa. This piece was interesting, but I also found it to be kind of disturbing.
Feathers and birds
This piece showed the diversity of colors and forms of feathers.
These Rosella skins show the wide range of color in their feathers. This species is native to Australia.
Orchids
Christopher Marley briefly described why he included this orchid piece in the exhibition. He was impressed by the flowers’ “bizarre, extravagant, even superfluous morphology, and the colors unbound by any parameters give them a ruggedly individual, almost defiant air that I find both intoxicating and humbling.”
In case you were wondering, all of the artwork includes real preserved specimens. The specimens were collected using ecologically friendly and sustainable methods in collaboration with zoos, museums, and collectors. None of the vertebrates featured in this exhibition were killed for the art pieces.
The Exquisite Creatures Revealed exhibition was unlike any I’ve ever seen. It was definitely one of my favorite exhibits I saw last year. Yeah, the specimens themselves are fascinating, but the way Marley displayed them was awe-inspiring. WOW!
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Complementary Colors
Three Things Challenge TTC)- Yeah, Year
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X in the sky: Skywatch Friday
This X in the sky was over the Mill A Loop Trail in Bend, Oregon. This scenic trail runs along the Deschutes River.
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Oregon Cascades from above: LAPC
This week I’m sharing photos of the Oregon Cascades from above. Most of these pictures were taken with my DJI drone.
The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge prompt this week is “Shot from above.” That sounded like a perfect excuse to take a Sunday drive. We drove north from Bend and turned west near Terrebonne. After driving through Cove Palisades State Park, we headed south towards Sisters, Oregon.
Near Black Butte, Oregon
When you’re in dense forests, it’s hard to know what features are in the landscape nearby. I flew up a few hundred feet and got this picture of several of our mountains. The Cascade Range stretches from northern California to central British Columbia. Oregon’s Cascades are 260 miles long and as wide as 90 miles.
I like how trees look from above so I took this picture near Black Butte. I don’t usually include pictures of myself on this blog, but I do appear in this photo. Can you see me? 🙂
After navigating several roads like this, we decided to head to a lower elevation location.
Between Bend and Sisters, Oregon
We stopped at the Cascade Flyers field, located halfway between Bend and Sisters. This is where a local remote control aircraft club meets. Even an ordinary scene like this one can look interesting from the sky. I’m in this photo, too. Great self-portrait, right?
This picture shows several iconic peaks of the Oregon Cascades from above. South Sister, Middle Sister, and North Sister fill the frame. South Sister is the most active local volcano. This mountain range is almost entirely volcanic in origin.
This picture shows Black Crater and Mount Washington. From certain angles, Mount Washington has a distinctive teepee-shaped formation on its peak. This volcanic plug formed when hot magma hardened within a vent.
Here’s a closer view of Mount Washington.
The last picture shows Three Fingered Jack, Black Butte, and Mount Jefferson. Bend’s Deschutes Brewery makes a delicious Black Butte porter beer named after this peak.
I’m still learning how to adjust the camera settings on my drone. If you don’t make adjustments, the pictures tend to be overexposed in the Auto setting. That means I will have to actually read instructions or watch videos instead of just “winging” it.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Shoot from above
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The Blacksmith restaurant: Foodie Friday & TTC
We had a burger dish and a pasta dish recently at The Blacksmith restaurant in Bend. We made sure to leave room for one of their special desserts.
This is a picture of the Blacksmith Burger. The dish includes a 1/2-pound Kobe patty on a brioche bun, topped with tomato, lettuce, red onions, and aioli. You can choose to have the burger with either fries or a side salad. The fries and burger were delicious!
This picture shows the Shrimp Linguine dish. It includes shrimp, cherry tomato, basil, mint, red onion, and garlic. White wine lemon cream sauce, parmesan, and fresh herbs top the linguini pasta. This dish was full of flavor.
The Blacksmith restaurant desserts
The Blacksmith is well known locally for their desserts.
This photo shows their Fostered Bananas Split. This twist on a traditional banana split includes house-made banana bread, vanilla bean ice cream, and sauteed bananas, topped with orange rum caramel sauce and whipped cream. This was a good dessert, but my banana bread was a little dry.
This is a picture of their Brownie dessert. The dish includes a rich brownie sprinkled with sea salt, topped with vanilla bean ice cream, caramel, and toasted walnuts. This was a very tasty dessert, nicely presented.
I’m including a copy of their dessert menu. Yes, they are expensive! The banana split price, in particular, is too high, in my opinion.
You can find the dinner, happy hour, and drink menus on their website.
I enjoyed the food and atmosphere at The Blacksmith restaurant. This building, built in 1923, once housed Pete Pierson Blacksmithing. The owners since then have tried to keep much of the original structure. The building opened as a restaurant in 2003 and its current owners have owned it since 2013.
One of the things I appreciated the most about our meal there was the ability to carry on a conversation. I didn’t need to shout or strain to hear my tablemate speaking. At some restaurants in Bend, the industrial style-design makes talking with your tablemates very difficult.
Three Things Challenge (TTC) – Price
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Headdresses at HDM: Wordless Wednesday
Headdresses at High Desert Museum (HDM), Bend, Oregon
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A rockcress blooming: Friday Flowers
The soft flowers and leaves of a rockcress blooming amongst sharp pieces of obsidian at Glass Buttes, Oregon.
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Peaceful pastel sunrise: Wordless Wednesday
Kendall Planetarium ceiling art: MM & SS
I saw this Kendall Planetarium ceiling art on a recent trip to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), in Portland, Oregon. I thought these metallic strips hanging from the ceiling would look great in black and white. For this post, I’m showing them with infrared processing.
Monochrome Monday (MM)
Sunday Stills (SS) Monthly Color Challenge – Things that are metallic
Colorful lawn chairs: Pull up a seat
A row of colorful lawn chairs lined up in front of a rock-covered building at Petersen Rock Garden and Museum. This unique roadside attraction is part way between Redmond and Bend, Oregon.
Beer rainbow: Wordless Wednesday
Some howliday cheer: TTT
Are you in need of some howliday cheer? The holidays can be full of joy, but they can also be stressful. My talented dog, Tesla, would like to bring a smile to your face with some of her beautiful singing.
Here she is standing right in front me singing a short song. Note the wagging tail.
I have never owned a dog who has been quite so vocal before. Here’s Tesla accompanying random notes on a harmonica in a more complex song. She especially loves music with harmonica in it–any type of music. My other dog, Shelby, is her backup dancer in this clip.
Here she is singing in a more relaxed position. If you feel the urge to sing, you have to go for it no matter where you are, right?
Winter officially begins in one week. Try to stay warm and comfortable. Tesla is a pro at that. 😉
Hope this dose of some howliday cheer brightened your day!
Three Things Challenge (TTT) – Vocal
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Winter’s ice and snow acrostic poem: LAPC
Winter’s
Ice and snow accumulates
Neutralizing colors
Transforming the ordinary into
Enchanted scenes
Reverberating silence
All photographs in this post were taken at my High Desert home in Bend, Oregon.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Winter
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High Desert alkali flats: Wordless Wednesday
Water and other elements: LAPC & WWE
Water pounds down mossy hillsides into heart-shaped ponds
and flows past creations full of fire
It meanders past herons, crafted of bronze,
and ponds bordered by colorful fragments of earth
Traveling through dense forests, it thunders over sheer cliffs,
and settles in creeks, calm and cool
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – 5 Elements
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Fresh fruit pastry: Foodie Friday
If you’re looking for a special sweet treat while in Bend, Oregon, consider getting this fresh fruit pastry. You can buy this and many other delicious treats at Richard’s Donuts and Pastries, located at 61419 S Hwy 97 Bend, OR 97702.
The phyllo dough pastry is filled with a custard filling and drizzled with icing. The fresh fruit in light syrup rests on top of the pillowy pastry. Since it includes fresh fruit, it’s healthy, right? Well… maybe not.
A word of caution: Between the flaky pastry, custard filling, and chunks of fruit, this delicious treat can be a bit messy to eat. Do not attempt to eat this particular pastry while driving! 😉
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Backyard buck: Monochrome Monday
This backyard buck visited our yard on a cool winter day. Mule deer are frequent visitors on our property. Most of the year, we see does and fawns. The bucks are more common in the fall and winter months.
High Desert wonders: LAPC
High Desert wonders
Roam and rest in grassy meadows
Emerge from burrows, full of curiosity
Long shelf life: Wordless Wednesday
Turkey Vulture up close & far away: LAPC & BOTW
When you see a Turkey Vulture up close and far away, you’ll have much different opinions of them.
Up close, you may not think of them as exactly beautiful. However, their bald face is more likely to stay clean after eating dead animals. Their scientific name, Cathartes aura, means ‘golden purifier’ or ‘purifying breeze.’
You will also see their dark brown feather’s iridescent color if you observe them up close.
From a little farther away, their distinctive profile stands out. The lack of feathers on their head makes it look smaller. When they’re flying, this is even more obvious.
You often see more than one Turkey Vulture at a time since they’re attracted to prey by smell. Compared to other birds, the part of their brain responsible for detecting smells, is much larger.
This bird that’s considered to be ugly up close, is incredibly graceful in flight. They glide on their six-foot wingspan in a distinctive teeter totter flight pattern. I often have the pleasure of seeing Turkey Vultures drifting by in the skies right outside my window.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – In the details
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Petersen rocks up close: Macro Monday
Here is a close up view of some Petersen rocks. I took this picture at Petersen Rock Garden and Museum in Redmond, Oregon. This unique roadside attraction has small-scale buildings and landscaping covered with local rocks.
To learn more about this attraction, see my previous post. It includes LOTS of photos!
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Silent scene: LAPC
In a silent scene, filtered light illuminates deserted dwellings
Gentle ripples trail an American Avocet quietly striding across a wetland
Aerial angels haiku: Birds of the Week
aerial angels
drift o’er a desert dreamland
shadows of summer
Birds of the Week
A snowy divide: Monochrome Monday
I took this picture of a snowy divide in my front yard last winter. Snow mutes colors and I decided to accentuate that by showing this image in black and white.
Though it may be a while before I get much snow at my house, snow is beginning to accumulate at higher elevations. In Bend, there’s a snowy divide based on elevation. I live at an elevation of 3,400 ft.
Continue readingSeabirds by the sea: Wordless Wednesday
Founder’s Square: Monochrome Monday
Founder’s Square features a large open-air pavilion at the Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon. At certain times of the year, the Silverton Market Garden, located behind the pavilion, is full of color.
The Founder’s Square pavilion structure is beautiful year round. I’m highlighting its architecture in black and white. This pavilion is one of several venues available for rental at the Garden.
The Oregon Garden is designed to showcase foliage and flowers throughout the year. It’s easy to overlook the architecture and many outdoor sculptures. This is the kind of place where you will notice new details every time you stroll through it.
Falling back into Autumn: LAPC & TTC
When days start to shorten and nights take on a chill,
the world begins falling back into Autumn.
A single fallen leaf shines as brightly as a star,
announcing Fall’s arrival.
Leaves begin to turn,
slowly at first.
Delicious fish at Brigham Fish Market: Foodie Friday & FOWC
If you’re looking for some delicious fish while traveling in the Columbia River Gorge, check out the Brigham Fish Market in Cascade Locks, Oregon. This business is owned and operated by a local Native American family.
We like going there for the delicious fish and chips. The clam chowder is also one of our favorites.
In fact, this restaurant is so successful, it’s been featured in an issue of Food and Wine magazine. The article tells about how sisters Terrie Brigham and Kim Brigham Campbell are part of a family with a long history of fishing this area. After their preferred fishing grounds at Celilo Falls were inundated to create The Dalles Dam, their father and grandfather moved an hour down river. The sisters still use the scaffolds their family built for fishing.
Lovebird window display: Wordless Wednesday
Baranger lovebird window display at National Neon Sign Museum, The Dalles, Oregon
Petersen Rock Garden & Museum: LAPC
Petersen Rock Garden & Museum is a unique roadside attraction located halfway between Bend and Redmond in Oregon. The original owner, Rasmus Petersen, began working on this site in 1935.
As you can tell, he loved rocks. He constructed the many features on this 4-acre site using rocks collected within an 85 mile radius. Oregon is known as a rockhounding paradise so there are plenty of rocks nearby to collect.
About Petersen Rock Garden
The “novelty architecture” here includes castles, churches, buildings, and bridges.
Continue readingFogarty Creek Beach: Wordless Wednesday
Long-eared owlets: Birds of the Week & FOWC
I saw these three Long-eared Owlets at the Summer Lake Wildlife Area in southeastern Oregon last May. They were perched within a thick stand of willow trees.
There were rumors of these owls being in the area and I wanted to get a quick glimpse of them. I was lucky to spot these secretive, well-camouflaged birds. Older Long-eared owlets like these are referred to as “branchers” since they often perch on tree branches near their nests.
Painted by elements: WW
A night in winter: Wordless Wednesday
Born Again Babaylan: Monday Mural
The Born Again Babaylan mural is one of many murals located in downtown Bend, Oregon. This mural was painted by Bekah Badilla in 2021. I previously featured one of her other works, Myth of Progress, also located in Bend. The Born Again Babaylan mural was created in collaboration with the High Desert Equality and Justice Mural Festival.
Bekah describes this work in the following partial description. See her website for the full description.
Melting out of the glacial ice is the spirit of a Babaylan and her descendants. Babaylan refers to the naming for a matriarchal leader, spirit guide and warrior prevalent in pre-colonial Philippines. The Babaylan is embodied in the ice, changing, shifting and eternally offering knowledge and guidance not through elitism and brute force but through spirituality, mysticism and ancestral strength.
Bekah Badilla