Sage in the snow near Bend, Oregon
Wordless Wednesday (WW)
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Sage in the snow: Wordless Wednesday
Snow
Peaceful pastel sunrise: Wordless Wednesday
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
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
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 readingWinterish Spring on Santiam Pass: WW
Winter wonderland at night: Wordless Wednesday
Snowy bear sculpture: Sculpture Saturday
This snowy bear sculpture is located on the east side of Bend, Oregon. It’s part of our privately funded roundabout art collection. Art in Public Places has helped fund art in over 20 of our 51 traffic roundabouts.
I’ve been waiting for snow to fall here in Bend to photograph this sculpture. Can you see why I liked showing it as a snowy bear?
Grizzly was created by Montana-based artist Sherry Sander in 2001.
This sculpture is a block away from Bend High School. The mythical lava bear is their mascot.
Here’s one more photo, taken a month later, showing more snow covering the statue.
To see some of Bend’s horse-related sculptures in roundabouts and elsewhere, see my Outdoor Horse Sculptures post.
Snow in words and images: LAPC
Today I’m featuring quotes related to snow next to snowy pictures taken in my yard. Winter has finally arrived here in Bend, Oregon.
A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder.
Susan Orlean
Advice is like snow – the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Northern winds haiku: WHPPC
northern winds swirl, sting
snowflakes dance, drift, and alight
kisses of winter
Cooling her jets after fetch: WW
Under the Snow Exhibition
When I entered the Under the Snow exhibition at the High Desert Museum on a busy weekend, I thought of one word: engaging. I watched young children dash from one part of the gallery to another, voicing their excitement the whole way. Adults paused and pointed out interesting facts and features. The interactivity of the displays drew everyone in. This exhibition, created by High Desert Museum staff members, displays information in English and Spanish.
Under the Snow presents information on twenty species of wildlife, plants, and fungi on large and small screens. They live in the area beneath the snow called the subnivium. The snow provides insulation, maintaining a steady temperature even when it’s below freezing outside.
Continue readingFrosty around the edges: Macro Monday
These Oregon grape leaves were frosty around the edges. This picture, taken in November, shows the leaves getting their fall color.
A winter wonderland: Thursday Tree Love
There’s a winter wonderland in my yard near Bend, Oregon. My favorite western juniper is dressed up for the season with a few inches of snow.
Snowfall softens edges while sharpening the contrast. It can also mute colors, as it did in this photo. The structure shines through, even on a cloudy day.
April showers?: Wordless Wednesday
Lichens with frosting: Wordless Wednesday
Snow-capped mountain ash: Thursday Tree Love
Snow-capped mountain ash berries are a delicious dessert for our feathered friends.
Walking with Winter in B & W: LAPC
Walking with Winter along a River of Falls
Where snow softens hard edges of steel
And creates ephemeral works of whimsey
Where snow and ice form furrowed bridges
Continue readingMy badger painting in the snow: Wordless Wednesday
The softness of snow: MM, SS, & Six Sentence Story
Peering through a branch-lined portal at the softness of snow.
Where frosty starbursts emerge from the desert soil.
And wise elders rejoice, reaching to the sky with arms contorted by the years. Ancient trees collect the bountiful flakes falling from the sky to share.
They tuck the next generation under downy crystalline blankets. When spring awakens them, they will change into new beings who will continue the cycle and share the softness of snow.
Monochrome Monday (MM)
Canada goose sculpture at dawn: Sculpture Saturday
The sun was rising and it was snowing lightly when I walked by this Canada goose sculpture in Bend, Oregon.
Here’s what it looks like with a bit more snow.
This life-size bronze sculpture is by artist Peter Helzer. “River Geese” is part of the Art in Public Places initiative in Bend.
There are plenty of real life Canada geese in this neighborhood to keep the artwork company. The Deschutes River, and the Bend Whitewater Park, is directly behind this sculpture.
First dusting of snow: Monochrome Monday
The first dusting of snow covered this old shed near Redmond, Oregon. Winter is on its way to the High Desert!
Monochrome Monday
Resplendent with crystals of snow: LAPC
Winds shift and winter blows
In from the farthest reaches of
North, carried on cold fronts
Turning landscapes into
Enchanted scenes
Resplendent with crystals of snow
Prickly pear in the snow: SMM
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Spruce Cones in Snow: SMM
We got some much needed snow in the last few days of our mild winter. This close-up of spruce cones in snow was taken in my yard in Bend, Oregon.
Sunshine’s Macro Monday (SMM)
Ordinary to extraordinary: Monochrome Monday
Even a little bit of snow turns the ordinary into the extraordinary. Here are some patterns in the snow I noticed on my morning walks.
Monochrome Monday
Snow in the Sage: Monochrome Monday
Monochrome Monday
Covered in coldness poem: LAPC
Covered in coldness
Obscured from view
Layered in lightness
Dazzling and new
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Cold
Where could my dog be?: Monochrome Monday
Oh where, oh where could my little dog be?
Monochrome Monday
A 24″ snowy cake: Monochrome Monday
Care to join me for a piece of snowy cake?
Monochrome Monday
A snowy day at home: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Patterns in the Snow: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Nature’s Icing on Christmas
Just enough of Nature’s icing on our wreath to brighten up the holidays.
“He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter.”
John Burroughs
Reaching for the Sky: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
A dusting of snow: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Sun kissed bunchgrass: Silent Sunday
Silent Sunday
Snowy Cairn: Silent Sunday
Silent Sunday
Waiting out the storm
Robins feasted on juniper berries while waiting out the storm.
And counting…: Wordless Wednesday
Snowfall makes
Snowfall makes
Mountain ranges on branches
Snowfall makes
Stars burst forth below
Snowfall makes
Logs into letters
Snowfall makes
The roughest spots smooth
Snowfall makes
New tracks in ancient places