Aeromotor windmill in Redmond, Oregon
Photography
Paddling near Prineville : WW & LAPC
Paddling near Prineville on a spring day.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Skyscapes or Cloudscapes
Muttart Conservatory : Monochrome Monday
The path: LAPC, WWP, WS
The path in front of you may be dark and foreboding
At times, it will zig and zag, causing you to lose hope
Keep your eyes and mind open, looking for an ephemeral glimmer of light
Persevere to reach the colorful radiance ahead
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Skyscapes or Cloudscapes
Hollinshead Park Gardens: Friday Flowers
The Hollinshead Park gardens in Bend, Oregon include a community garden and a water-wise garden.
Hollinshead Park Gardens – Community Garden
The community garden at Hollinshead Park is managed by a cooperative agreement between Oregon State University Extension Service, Central Oregon Master Gardener Association, and Bend Park and Recreation District.
Local gardeners grow fruit, vegetables, and flowers on 90 reserved plots.
Gardeners plant in concise or freeform patterns. Some use various supports or covers.
It’s a great place to take pictures throughout the year.
You can see pale green wall-of-water plant protectors in the foreground below. They help protect the plants from freezing temperatures.
The flowers in bloom can change from week to week.
This looks like a very healthy zucchini plant.
The community gardens are scattered throughout Bend and nearby towns. In fact, they are so popular some use a lottery system to select potential gardeners.
Hollinshead Water-wise Garden
The Hollinshead Water-wise Garden focuses on landscaping plants that require less water. This garden is supported by the same organizations as the community garden, plus the City of Bend.
I like how plants are clearly labeled in this garden. Seeing these plants in person can help you decide if you want them in your yard.
This weeping Norway spruce was huge! We have one in our front yard.
I always think of Spirea as a plant for wetter environments, but there are varieties that do well with less water.
If you’re looking for a variety of scents in your garden, you can check out fragrant plants as well.
You can find more examples of plants that grow well in Central Oregon at the Extension Service Garden at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond, Oregon. The Central Oregon Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Madras also has labeled plants.
Models forever in flight: Wordless Wednesday
Dressed up tree: Thursday Tree Love
I saw this dressed up tree in downtown Bend a few days ago. I learned that this form of street art is called “yarn bombing.” Local crafters create unique knit and crocheted pieces to cover trees, statues, benches, bicycles, and other structures. Their work certainly brightens up a cloudy day.
At the end of the day: Wordless Wednesday
Black cottonwood up close: Macro Monday
This black cottonwood up close picture was taken at Malheur NWR headquarters in Oregon.
I kinda have a thing for taking pictures of bark. Can you see why I thought this tree was ready for its close up?
The anticipation of spring: LAPC
The anticipation of spring is a memorable time of the year
Some celebrate spring’s arrival with dancing and bugling songs
Others pair off with thoughts of creating families
Some blend into the background, unnoticed
Continue readingMallard drawing and photos: First Friday Art
Today I’m sharing a pen and ink drawing I did of a mallard duck in flight. These ducks live in many parts of the world and most of us are familiar with their quack, quack calls.
This hen was very photogenic. She stood a few feet away from me one warm summer day, posing in different positions.
Yaquina Bay Lighthouse: Wordless Wednesday
A small but bountiful garden: Friday Flowers
This small but bountiful garden was behind a house in northeast Bend, Oregon. This was one of the featured stops on the High Desert Garden Tour in July 2022.
These purple clematis were beautiful. There’s also a peek of an Annabelle hydrangea shrub in this photo.
These long-blooming flowers are a type of daisy. I think they’re Shasta daisies. You can see a multi-colored Euonymus shrub on the left side.
Lichens & moss up close: Macro Monday
This limb held an interesting collection of lichens & moss. It had a great variety of colors and textures. Golden grasses nicely framed the scene.
Collection of… : LAPC
A collection of ingredients used to cure maladies at an ancient apothecary
A few carefully curated contemporary works, echoing history
Water garden seating: Pull Up a Seat
The water garden seating blends into the background near the end of the bridge in this landscape. Duckweed covers the surface of the pond, adding to the predominant green color.
Clouds of Harney County: LAPC & WS
The clouds of Harney County form dramatic backdrops to the High Desert landscapes of eastern Oregon. I just returned from the four-day Harney County Migratory Bird Festival. Though I was there to see birds, the cloud formations draw your eyes to the skies.
Layers of fluffy clouds hung over the Battleground Buttes. Higher elevations in the county received 200% of their normal snowfall. Days before I arrived, these fields were covered with snow.
Farther south, on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, wispy clouds drifted in the wind. You can see part of Steens Mountain in the background. This 50-mile long mountain dominates the landscape.
Paperbark maple: Thursday Tree Love
This paperbark maple, Acer griseum, was growing in the Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon. This tree grows to a height of 20 – 30 feet.
TheGardenWebsite.com refers to paperbark maples as a “hardy, tough and well-behaved tree.” Their peeling, cinnamon-colored bark is beautiful throughout the year.
The species name, griseum, refers to the grey color on the underside of the leaves. In the fall, the leaves turn various colors of red, orange, and yellow. This maple produces distinctive winged seeds are known as “samaras” or “helicopters.”
Spring’s gentle beauty haiku: HPC
on arduous treks
take time to pause and notice
spring’s gentle beauty
Pink Chrysanthemum up close: Macro Monday
I saw this gorgeous pink chrysanthemum on the High Desert Garden Tour last year. Though native to China and northeastern Europe, these plants do well in many parts of the world. The long-lasting flowers are available in a variety of colors. These include pink, purple, orange, yellow, white, and red. Unlike many of the plants that grow in High Desert gardens, this one is not appetizing to deer. A big plus around here!
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #244-Glowing moments
Today I have the honor of serving as guest host for the Lens-Artist Photo Challenge. The prompt this week is glowing moments.
One of my earliest memories is of me sitting cross-legged in a darkened closet, awestruck by the glow cast from a jarful of lightning bugs. Though I don’t have pictures of that magical moment, I have captured many glowing moments since then.
A High Desert sunset glows with fiery colors.
While the rising moon shines in subdued tones.
Purple lupine flowers shine on a cool spring morning.
A trellis in Portland: Wordless Wednesday
Special sights seen: LAPC
Today I’m sharing some special sights seen nearby.
I found this cool geode slice recently. It almost looks like it has an animal’s face on it, doesn’t it?
…Or I used a mirror photography effect on an oval stone. The pointed thing on the very bottom is all that shows of my hand holding the geode.
I flew over this desolate-looking landscape on a recent trip.
…Or I took a picture of a sculptured seashore and cropped it. This area measured about two foot by three foot.
One day, I saw a flight of four dragons migrating across the sky.
Continue readingBarrel House Tour, Deschutes Brewery: LAPC
This past weekend, I went on the Barrel House Tour at Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon. The brewery offers several tours including public tours, private tours, and this one, where you learn specifically about barrel brews.
You begin and end the tour in the Bend Tasting Room & Beer Garden. As you can see, it’s full of visitors there to taste the brewery’s iconic beers.
On the tour, you walk to a nearby warehouse where you’ll see some of the ingredients used to make their beers. Deschutes Brewery currently sells their products in 32 states and a few countries. Black Butte Porter is their most well-known beer, but there are three dozen different beers, and a couple ciders, available at the tasting room location.
Continue readingA lazy lizard in the sun: Wordless Wednesday
Double yolk thunderegg: Macro Monday
I call this a double yolk thunderegg because two of these round rocks formed together. Thundereggs are Oregon’s state rock. You never know what’s inside until they’re cut open, like this one, or already cracked open.
This double yolk thunderegg is from Richardson’s Rock Ranch, north of Madras, Oregon. Though you can no longer dig there, you can purchase cut, polished, and raw rocks of many kinds from their large store.
If you want to dig for thundereggs, visit Priday Polka-Dot Agate Beds, about 9 miles northeast of Richardson’s. See my post about this amazing place if you want to uncover ENORMOUS thundereggs.
Purple flowers of spring: LAPC & SC
I think of spring as being a season in flux, constantly shifting between the coolness of winter and the warmth of summer. Purple flowers, part warm red and part cool blue, reflect this indecision.
Cheery little phlox flowers blossom in profusion when spring arrives.
Tall, graceful penstemon pull in passing pollinators.
Guinness Storehouse visit
I’m sharing photos of a Guinness Storehouse visit on this Saint Patrick’s Day. The Storehouse is in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland and it gets millions of visitors a year.
Guinness was first created in 1759 and the Storehouse where it’s made opened to the public in 2000. The best selling alcoholic drink in Ireland is Guinness. The exhibits at the Storehouse lead you through the history and manufacturing of this iconic beer.
I liked how the display boards had brief, informative explanations.
Displays are also artistic and multimedia. This fountain was one of my favorites. I’ll share photos of their whimsical advertising displays in a future post.
When misty fog surrounds haiku: HPC
seek a firm anchor
when misty fog surrounds you
dawn will show the way
Ochoco Highway drive in Oregon: LAPC
Last October, we took a scenic drive along the Ochoco Highway in eastern Oregon. The landscapes in this area are punctuated by scenic rugged buttes, painted hills, rimrock mountains, and snow covered peaks.
Rustic buildings persevere, despite the harshness of the environment near Strawberry Mountain. Puffy overcast clouds filled the sky.
Black Butte stands out when you round a corner near Mitchell. The clouds in this picture were breathtakingly beautiful.
A plane dreaming of flying: Wordless Wednesday
A plane dreaming of flying at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon
Ladles in waiting: Monochrome Monday
These ladles in waiting are at the Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site in John Day, Oregon.
High Desert Oases in Oregon: LAPC
High Desert oases offer peaceful retreats for wildlife and human visitors.
Lake County Oases
Summer Lake lies at the base of Winter Ridge in Lake County, Oregon. When water levels are high, this alkaline lake measures 15 miles long and 5 miles wide. Explorer, Captain John C. Fremont, named the lake and ridge. Here is how he described them:
At our feet…more than a thousand feet below…we looked into a green prairie country, in which a beautiful lake, some twenty miles in length, was spread along the foot of the mountain…Shivering on snow three feet deep, and stiffening in a cold north wind, we exclaimed at once that the names of summer lake and winter ridge should be applied to these proximate places of such sudden and violent contrast.
John C. Fremont, 16 December 1843, Report, Second Expedition
Lake Abert, in Lake County, is Oregon’s only saline lake. The lake can host over 50,000 birds a day. Wilson’s Phalaropes and Snowy Plover feed on the brine shrimp and alkali flies that only live in saline lakes. Like the Great Salt Lake, water levels have dropped dramatically in recent years.
Round and round we go: Wordless Wednesday
Solitary Moments in Nature: LAPC
Solitary moments
Collecting pollen for little larvae
Browsing branches in High Desert landscapes
Eyeing potential prey, gliding overhead
Weeping hemlock sculpture: TTL & SS
This whimsical weeping hemlock sculpture is in the Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon. The weeping growth pattern of this hemlock works perfectly for this garden feature.
A winter bridge: Wordless Wednesday
A dusting of snow: LAPC & SC
A dusting of snow accentuates
sculptures created by the wind
And softens rough edges
of twisting structures
A dusting of snow
muffles the calls of nature
A tall tipi: Wordless Wednesday
Lungwort up close: Macro Monday
Here’s a picture of lungwort up close, taken near the North Santiam River in Oregon.
Also known as Lung lichen, this lichen has been used in dyes, teas, and for treatment of lung ailments. Deer and moose browse on lungwort and other animals use it for nest material.
Lungwort is sensitive to air pollution and doesn’t grow well in polluted locations. In fact, the National Forest Service keeps a database on this and other lichens “to detect, map, evaluate trends, and assess the ecological impacts of air pollutants.”