52 Tuesdays Challenge #5: Tree
Nature is amazing. Some of the scenery I see along the way shows me that there is no end to the creativity of nature. So the word this Tuesday is Tree.
Being as I travel through a lot of rural areas and have been blessed to travel to the Caribbean I had a few tree photos stashed in my library.
This first photo is from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Along the Princess Walk there are trees that are completely twisted!
This second photo is from Gentry, Arkansas. There is little lake there hidden in the woods where the autumn sun made the colors just gorgeous!
This tree was in a shopping center in Oregon in the fall. The colors were so strong that I had to play with the photo a bit to give it a different look. I like the effect that I chose for it.
So, now you know what is next! Show me your trees!!!
52 Tuesdays Challenge #4: Tempting
Seems simple,the word tempting.
Having an appeal.
But alas, it is such a feeling that has been shunned, preached on, and each of us made guilty in feeling. Yet, we all succumb to the temptations at times. Most of our temptations are simple things. Things that we indulge in once in a while but keep a check on. Yet what would life be without them?
Nevertheless, I love the temptations I am guilty of! Of course, as I get older they become stronger. My biggest temptation is good food and drink! Cupcakes top the general list!
My husband is quite the outdoorsman. He loves nature. So it isn’t unusual for him to get hands on when we are out and about. Here he is in Ketchikan, Alaska where the streams were so full of salmon that you could step out and pick one up!
And then our shared tempting item: Beer! Hubby collects beer bottles so we tend to stop in on the breweries wherever we are. Here is our sampler from Pike Brewery in Seattle! (or the remainder of it!)
What is tempting to you? Share with us! I can’t wait to hear your stories and see the photos. C’mon – I know you have ‘em!
Garden: A Word A Week Challenge
So exciting to see the challenge this week from A Word In Your Ear -Garden! Just yesterday Hubby asked me if I wanted a small spring/summer garden this year as now I am working from home. I thought it a marvelous idea! There are certain garden items that I really like having. Strawberries are number 1! Peppers, okra, tomatoes, lettuce, and raspberries are top of the list, too. When we last planted a garden we found some pepper, New Mexico chile, that I really liked for their texture and taste. I didn’t get to do as much with the okra from our last garden as I wasn’t into cooking as I am now. So I am looking forward to this coming garden. In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite photos from our last garden!
Island: A Word A Week Challenge
Oh, how I love the islands! Nothing beats a sandy beach, the sound of the waves, some great snorkeling and a tasty pina colada or rum punch in my hand – and gotta add sharing it all with Hubby! Here are a few photos to share with you as part of the Word A Week Challenge hosted by A Word In Your Ear!
These are from St Lucia, St Martin, and St Kitts. Enjoy!
The daffodils are coming!! Hurrah!!
Forget Phil – the daffodils are coming! So it means Spring is on its way! Here are the first photos of the daffodils in our yard. Yes, they just look green but inside those little buds are some beautiful blooms!!
Where the mountains meet you
Having just returned from a trip to Montana I have some photos to share! One of them that I have already shared on my Facebook page caught the attention of several people. The more I look at it the more I like it so I am sharing it with you here! I like the differences in the landscape and the rolling clouds bringing a snow shower. Hope you enjoy!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Home
Home is where your heart is.
Home has several different meanings for me. It is the physical place that I share with my husband and all our four-legged children as well as our two-legged children. My heart is always with my husband so in that sense the arms of my husband are my home.
But to share in the challenge this week of home I thought I would share some of my favorite photos of home.
A lovely fall sunset from the deck.
November sunset at home
A snowy winter day on our pond.
A beautiful spring lily that grew in our yard.
Shadows: Where’s My Backpack Travel Challenge
All we see are shadows, light, and color – which if I recall from biology is really a product of light. Anywho, this week the challenge from Where’s My Backpack is shadows. I kind of like this one. It’s fun to see what we can find in shadows every day and I’ve played with them a bit. My favorite one so far is of my nephew, back in 2010, fishing in Roaring River, MO. You will notice that it seems a bit upside down but isn’t that how our shadows appear to us?
Black & White Sunset
This sunset seems to really come to life with the change to black and white. I took it this past fall in Oklahoma. Enjoy!
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Water
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is Water. I like this challenge because it is related directly to the 5 Chinese elements. So Cee shared what those are/can be:
Sea, Ice, Storms, Rain, Steam, Fluid, Sound, Mist, Acid, Salt, Time, Pressure, Moon, Mirror, Snow, Frost, Sugar
I also wanted to go out of the norm and find those 3 photos that were not so obvious in the interpretation of water. I’ve chosen mist, ice, and moon.
Mist:
my favorite hot spring
Ice:
Moon:
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Wood
While camping a few weekends ago the river at the park was down well over 6 feet, exposing these cypress knees, as Hubby called them. At first I thought that they were the victims of the ever-so-busy beavers in the area but turns out I had never seen them because water usually covered them. Hope you enjoy!
Part of Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Wood!
52 Tuesdays #2: Transcendent
Transcendent – what a fabulous word! It always makes me think of those things that are out of this normal world in their experience. Merriam Webster defines it as:
extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience
I have been blessed to travel to Superior, MT this week and it has been snowing. We are staying at a beautiful lodge along the river. So my commute is absolutely a transcendent experience!! Here are a few photos of the commute from this morning! Enjoy and share your challenge photos by linking back to this post in your own or add your post link in the comments!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Beyond
This week the photo challenge from WordPress is Beyond.While walking thru the area around Multnomah Falls and Wakheena Falls in Oregon I found many little waterfalls hidden beyond the next corner in the path. Here is one as I approached it – you can see it just beyond all of the foliage. And the second is the waterfall as I came to face it. Enjoy!
A Day at the River
We spent a weekend in Beavers Bend park in Oklahoma and though it is winter there were still plenty of interesting subjects for my camera. The river that runs through the park is very low – Hubby estimated at least 6 ft. So while he fished I walked along the exposed river bed edges and found these treasures. Enjoy!
Multiples: Where’s My Backpack Travel Challenge
I’ve been holding onto these photos of multiple types of dogwood blooms since last spring. So when the challenge for multiples came along from Where’s My Backpack I decided to share them. Though they are not multiple in the photo there were multiple types of dogwoods at Honor Heights Park in Muskogee, OK.
Outdoors and Nature of 2012: Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge
Cee challenged us to show the best of our outdoor and nature photos for 2012 in her weekly Fun Foto Challenge. Now that is a hard one for me. I truly enjoy nature and the outdoors and have a lot of photos so choosing 3 is definitely a challenge. I had to think about what I wanted to share – my best photos or photos of those with my fondest memories or the most popular ones from this blog in 2012….
So ….. (drum roll) I am going with the fondest memories. Hopefully, you will enjoy them!
Mt. Rainier in Washington state
Hot Springs, AR
Wakheena Falls area, OR
Weekly Photo Challenge: Delicate
There is a bush that blooms in our backyard each spring that has the most delicate flowers that I have ever seen. I have no idea what the name of the flower or the bush might be. But here are a few photos to share the delicate beauties with you! Enjoy!
Part of the Weekly Photo Challenge: Delicate
Hot Springs holiday trip
I’ve shared some of the photos with you of our last trip to Hot Springs for the WinterTide exhibit at the Fine Arts Center. But I wanted to share a day in the life type of post with you. My husband is such a huge part of my photography – he and I travel together when we have the opportunity. Sometimes it is going to where he is working or where I am working and other times we venture off together to the unknown or known.
So the weekend of December 7 & 8 we were in Hot Springs, AR – one of our favorite places to visit. Here is a look into the 24 hours (not including sleep) of our trip!
We started out with the WinterTide exhibit attendance at the Fine Arts Center.
Then we went for an evening of dinner and entertainment at the Vienna. It is a live entertainment venue that was presenting a Christmas show that night. We were the odd couple in a room full of sorority ladies with their husbands that were one of the largest contributors to St. Jude Hospitals. Inspiring group. Our table was the odd man out group – a couple originally from Cuba, their friend, and two ladies that were friends with the owner. I also fell in love with the chandelier!
Early in the morning I snuck away while Hubby slept peacefully to get in a few shots of my favorite spring just across the street from our hotel, The Arlington. We took the rest of the day to venture out into Hot Springs and do some exploring of areas where we had not been before. We started with a quick trip up West Mountain and then heard of Garvan Gardens where they were hosting a holiday lights show.
At Garvan Gardens we found plenty of entertainment – lights, nature, music, and food!
All a very enjoyable and special 24 hours for my husband and I. We can’t wait to go back again and see what else we can find new to explore there!
2012 in pictures: Weekly Photo Challenge
2012 was a busy year! A lot of great opportunities for photos in new places. Here is 2012!
January in Beavers Bend
February with our daughter
Exploring Arkansas in March
April brought rainshowers
Memorial Weekend in Hot Springs
June in Oregon near Wakheena Falls
July with our daughter creating art
August – friends’ wedding in Las Vegas
September in Muskogee, OK
September at Pea Ridge National Battlefield
November sunset at home
October – found a little gift
December Gallery exhibit
Snow in black and white
We had a snow here in Texas on Christmas Day. Technically, a white Christmas. It had it beautiful moments but wasn’t really heavy enough or cold enough to stay around long. So I did get a few photos to share with you of the smaller aspects. Here are some that I altered to black and whites.
Enjoy!
Festive! Where’s My Backpack Travel Challenge
The first weekend of December my husband and I made a trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas for an exhibit at the Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs. The exhibit, WinterTide, showed two of my photos. While we were there we made a trip to Garvan Gardens. We saw a truly beautiful light show there. It had a great combination of nature, the holiday spirit – Christmas music, hot chocolate, popcorn, and lots of lights! Here are a few photos that mean Festive to me this holiday!
Tisha Clinkenbeard
