Photo Challenge: Frozen

After an extended hiatus for the holiday season, the Brenda Photo Challenge is back! The winter weather has been unusually harsh and a constant topic of conversation here in the States. Perhaps only Hawaii has escaped from the grips of chilling temperatures and the associated gripes by residents! Appropriately, the current theme is of the photo challenge is Frozen.

There is something absolutely magical about snow, our winter visitor during the cold months. It is a significant transforming element for photography. The white blanket clears the clutter normally seen through the viewfinder. The subject matter stands out clearly. And the end result takes your mind off the cold your body feels. Instead, you focus on the warmth in your heart for the stark beauty and contrasts.

With the combination of a bright sunny morning, fresh snowfall, and a local horse neighbor, this dramatic scene unfolds. I applied a slight Orton effect in Photoshop CS5 to give the image a 3-dimensional effect. Isn’t this pinto handsome?!

A craftsman-style bridge is located right down the hill from our cottage. We ventured out to enjoy the peaceful beauty after one of our recent snowfalls, and I took along my little Coolpix camera. I like how the hillside, walking trail, meandering creek, and fence line create striking visual lines in this composition.

And with this challenge’s theme, you know that I have to show you another polar bear picture from our arctic adventure in Churchill, Manitoba! This adorable brute had been cavorting in the fresh snow and proudly wore the evidence of his celebration.

Now that you have seen my contributions to the challenge, please click on the link at the beginning of this post and find some other great Frozen images!

Grizzly Bear Series – Part 2, Stand Up!

We humans get tickled when an animal takes on what we normally consider a human characteristic. Here’s your gigantic word of the day: anthropomorphism. It means the attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena. So when a big old grizzly rises from his usual stance of all four paws and stands up, you know that folks are delighted with the show and snapping their cameras lickety-split!

With a little luck, I was able to capture a few moments when grizzlies stood up for us! This furry one was quite a character and provided many glorious poses for us. (I am assuming that it was a female because I didn’t spot any “equipment”.) She strolled her way from upriver down to the viewing station. Right before she crossed the river, she stood up to see if the coast was clear from other bear threats.

The gal proceeded to thoroughly entertain us for about 20 nonstop minutes. It seemed like over an hour! This is the bear that I featured several months ago in a picture, showing her ready to chow down on a newly caught fish. Shortly after she finished her snack and failed an attempt to catch another fish, she stood up again! This time, the pose was on a rocky island and even included a slight leg raise! And the crowd went wild, LOL…

Are you wondering why bears sometimes stand up on their hind legs? Ah, it helps them get better views and smells! Grizzlies’ eyesight is about the equivalent of humans, but they can smell up to a mile away.

Here’s another bear that we saw fishing on an different day. He was getting ready to pounce on his prey in the shallow water. Check out those claws!

There’s more to show you, dear friends, so please come back to visit later on this week.

Grizzly Bear Series – Part 1

This is the first of a new series of posts that shares more information about our grizzly bear adventure last year! As you may recall, we took a Natural Habitat Adventures tour in late August and traveled up to Canada’s British Columbia province to see grizzly bears in wild. For six incredible days, we were immersed right in the southern part of Tweedsmuir Provincial Park and stayed at the beautiful Tweedsmuir Park Lodge. (If you are a new blog visitor or follower, please go back in my blog archive to see August-October posts about this trip!)

So how did we see and photograph the bears on this wildlife journey? The answer is several ways! We were on the hunt for them by taking float trips down the Atnarko River, standing at a viewing station, and also walking along river footpaths. We also had bears wandering around the grounds of our lodge!

We had expert rowers/guides for the float trips. Each boat had three front-row seats for guests and the rower sat in back. The tour director also rode along in our boat. Our crusty rower/guide grew up in the area and lived in a nearby home. He wasn’t much of a talker, but he was a kind-hearted fellow. We got the distinct impression that he knew all the bears individually and they all knew him too! The float trips were a delight and we were quite fortunate to have great weather for each one of them.

Though each ride was only a couple of miles, it lasted several hours. It was leisurely for us visitors, but the rowers had some pretty difficult maneuvering to get us safely through narrow places. Along the way, we stopped at areas where bears were known to frequent. Of course, we were all on the lookout for them to appear, either up ahead in the distance or else along the riverbank beside us. The bears always knew of our presence, and there was mutual respect about maintaining an unobtrusive distance. Without a doubt, we were always excited when we spotted a bear, but we managed to restrain our revelry! Most of us were equipped with cameras to photograph the wildlife and dramatic scenery. But one lady on our tour kept her nose in a book while we drifted along the river. Go figure!

It was a happy accident that we timed our vacation schedule to coincide with the opening day of the local bear viewing station. Surrounded by an electric fence and located a few hundred yards down from the boat launching site, this viewing area was built out on a small hill overlooking the river.

Armed conservation officers strictly controlled access to the area. This spot was ideal for frequent bear sightings and the slight aerial perspective was perfect for photography. Both hubby and I got some great pictures from here. And no, I wasn’t swimming with the bears when I took this picture from the river’s perspective. I was in a boat!

We also ventured out on foot a couple of times with our tour director on paths along the river. We had two bear sightings during these strolls, one close and one faraway. There was no picture taking for the close one because we had to safely keep our distance. Our group was up high on a steep embankment and the bear was located down below us.

Stay tuned for bear stories and pictures in the days ahead!

Coming Up for Air

Isn’t this a beautiful sunset? Hubby spotted it a couple of days ago and alerted me. I quickly went out on the front porch and captured the moment.

I’m sorry that I can’t do a long post right now. The new job started this week and I am going through a period of readjustment and befuddlement.

Thank you for all of the sweet comments on my bird pictures. Your encouraging remarks always rock my world!

Photographing Our Feathered Friends

Many of us are getting tired of all the snow and cold weather that has been visiting us in the U.S. But we can pass the time more quickly and enjoyably by feeding our feathered friends! In return for our largesse, we can see wildlife up close and also grab a little photography practice time.

Our feeder is positioned about 15 feet from my home office window, and hubby keeps it regularly filled up with sunflower seeds. It took several weeks before the birds finally discovered it, but we have routine visitors now. Our guests include sparrow, downy woodpecker, chickadee, and titmouse.

The birds in our neighborhood generally do not linger very long at the feeder. They grab their morsels and quickly fly! So it is a challenge to capture their photographic images. I have my camera set up on a tripod, and I place the end of the lens as close as possible next to the window glass. My trusty 18-200 mm zoom lens with vibration reduction is in service. A fast shutter speed is essential and also a shallow depth of field. The recent snowfall has made a perfect, uncluttered background. With overcast skies, a high ISO setting is necessary, though it adds unfavorable digital noise (i.e., graininess) to the images. I have been shooting in the “camera raw” image format so that I can have better processing control over highlights and shadows. (I know how much Miz Sally loves it when I talk camera, LOL!)

Chickadees are difficult to photograph because they practically vibrate with energy. They are faster than my shutter finger most of the time.

The sparrows had quite a picnic feast on the ground when the big snowfall arrived a week ago. This fellow looks like he’s ready to fight if you try to take away the seed in his beak!

A titmouse is very willing to give a handsome pose like this one.

And it is always thrilling to see an adorable downy woodpecker swoop in for a meal. It’s funny to see the other birds scamper whenever he flies in!

With any kind of wildlife photography, it is essential to take lots of pictures so that you can capture a few good poses. I hope you feed your local birds and have lots of fun taking their portraits too. It’s inexpensive entertainment!

Back to Work!

My little work hiatus didn’t last too long. I got an offer to do some additional contractor work with my former employer. They need my procedure development expertise for their fossil power plant operations. I wasn’t seeking employment and was already settling back down into cozy retirement mode. But I don’t like to turn down good offers that come my way, certainly not in these economic times!

As before, I am going to be telecommuting from home and working part-time. This stint may last the entire year. Will my blogging continue despite this diversion? Oh yes!

A Look Back in Time

How about a little frivolity today to take a look back in time? I love this video, giving a streetcar perspective of San Francisco’s Market Street in 1905. I hope you enjoy it too! My goodness, how life has changed…

Who Won the Giveaway Prize?

Thank you for all of your good wishes as I celebrate my 3-year blogging anniversary! Marty was up to his tricks this morning and hopped right to the job of picking a giveaway winner.

So who won the beautiful pottery mug,
handmade in Seagrove, North Carolina?!

Debbie of Ms. Paxie Panicker!

Congratulations, Miz Debbie! I know that you will love this folk art piece and enjoy using it while you visit with blogging friends.

Vintage Seed and Nursery Catalog Graphics

We had our sixth snowfall of the winter season last night! It has already melted, but that doesn’t stop the weatherman from predicting additional waves of fresh snow coming our way soon. The holidays are over and we all could use a little pick-me-up as we get firmly settled into January. Seed and nursery catalogs are arriving in our mailboxes right now and we’re thankful for that! They are a great reminder that cheerier weather is really not that far away.

So let’s do a little daydreaming! How about combating the dreary doldrums with an exploration of beautiful vintage catalog covers! I have found a treasure trove of these covers RIGHT HERE from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.

It is the source for the positively exquisite examples shown in this post and also in my recent post about planting daffodil bulbs. I cleaned up these up a little bit with Photoshop. But the original graphics are in such great shape that they could be used without any editing too.

Based on the copyright information provided, you should not use the images for commercial purposes. But you can use them to for your own personal craft projects or your blog!

I hope you have fun exploring and that these darling graphics brighten your day!

P.S. You may right-click and save the vintage graphics in this post.

Grey Havens Snowfall

It seems that we have been a bit preoccupied this week, and my blogging time has been adversely affected! Between trips to the fitness center, house issues, and car issues, time has been slipping away from me.

Our hot water system became inoperable yesterday and it had to be hurriedly fixed. A flow control valve failure was the culprit, thanks to extraordinary hard water from our local water utility company. We’re going to have to get a whole-house treatment system soon or else we will have continual maintenance issues with our tankless hot water system beyond the warranty period. Sigh…

I am happy to report that I finally have my little red Outback home again after its 26-day stay at the auto body shop! It looks good as new again. Hooray!

On Wednesday, we had our fifth snowfall of the winter season. One of the nice things about east Tennessee is that we have rather mild winters. We usually only get only a couple of snowfalls, so this year is not typical. At least the ones we do get average just a couple of inches and disappear within a day or two. This latest one was completely melted within a day. But now they are predicting more snow off and on all weekend!

It was so pretty on Wednesday morning, I couldn’t resist taking a few snapshots where our cottage is located! I took these with my little point-and-shoot Nikon Coolpix. We live in a rural, valley area with picturesque rolling hills. In fact, we only live about two miles from our former country cottage! This is a view of the ridgeline next to our subdivision.

The main entrance sign to the subdivision is quite handsome, with its rustic, craftsman design. You head down this road and then turn left into the subdivision after reaching the distant woods. Up on the left-hand side is the hill where our cottage and the other villa homes are located.

Once you turn into the entrance, you travel across this lovely covered bridge that goes over a meandering creek. A paved walking trail is also in this area. You can see from the pictures that the Christmas decorations are still up!

Further up the road is the charming clubhouse. Hubby and I are not swimmers, so we don’t use the community pool (located on the backside of this view). But we have attended several neighborhood gatherings in the clubhouse. It is comfortably equipped with a kitchen, restrooms, and furniture.

Looking up the hill on the right of this clubhouse viewpoint, you can spot a portion of our cottage through the winter tree landscape. It is almost impossible to see in the summer when there is a canopy of vegetation.

After coming through a portion of the subdivision, you make your way up a hill to the villas. We live in one of nine villa homes that have been built so far. Eventually, there will be about 50 homes in this section.

Winding around a circular drive, you will soon come to our cozy Grey Havens cottage! Won’t you stop and come in for some hot chocolate, tea, or coffee?! We’d love to visit with you!

I hoped that you enjoyed this little tour! If you haven’t done so already, please read the anniversary post below and sign up for the giveaway prize. Thank you for entering, everyone!

3-Year Blogging Anniversary Celebration!

Good golly miss molly, it’s hard to believe that it’s been THREE years since I started this little blog! It has been so much fun! And I cherish all of the blogging friends I have made along the way. Thank you for cheering me on!

I don’t have that enormous dolly or original left knee anymore, but my smile remains the same. (OK, I’ll admit that the smile doesn’t usually appear until after my arthritis medicine, Tylenol, and morning coffee have kicked in.) I didn’t have many treasures in my hard scrabbled childhood years, but that just made them all the more special. I remember being so proud of that dolly, and you can clearly see it on my face! Cherished items bring an extra joy to your heart, don’t they?

In celebration of my 3-year anniversary, I have a special treasure to give away to a lucky blogging friend: a handmade pottery mug! The blue, grey, and brown colors dance on this gorgeous work of folk art. With its attractive shape, textured skirt, and generous handle, you will look forward to filling it up each morning with your favorite hot beverage!

This mug was made by David and Deborah Garner of Turn & Burn Pottery in Seagrove, North Carolina. We had a great visit with David during our early December trip, and we could have spent all day talking with him! We made a special stop at this particular studio because David specializes in creating horsehair raku pottery. It was a hard decision to pick out which pieces in their showroom to take home with us. We wish we could have adopted them all! But we finally selected a horsehair raku vase for each of us, and I chose a traditional stoneware mug for this giveaway.

Each work of art by the Garner’s has a bible reference noted on the bottom and a smiling Christian fish symbol.  The mug’s inscription is John 14:1. 

Without further ado, here’s how you can enter to win this beautiful pottery mug:

1. Leave a comment on this post to get one entry.
2. If you also follow my blog, please leave a second comment to get two additional entries.
3. Entries outside the U.S. will be accepted. However, only those from bloggers with active web sites will be eligible.

The last day to enter is Saturday, January 8. Marty will announce the winner on Sunday. Good luck and thank you for being my blogging friend!

January – A Look Ahead

A new year! A fresh start! And happy 3-year anniversary to my dear little blog! It’s hard to believe how much has happened over such a short period of time. Please look for a bloggy giveaway post next week. Marty will announce a special gift to commemorate the event!

A year ago, I took some very significant steps with this humble web site. First of all, I taught myself how to widen the main template column. (If you want to do the same, I put together a nifty tutorial and the link is on my sidebar.) The purpose of this effort was so that I could share a bigger format of my photographs. With all the trips we took last year and the chronology of our homebuilding, aren’t you glad that I made that improvement? I hope so! I also created featured my own blog backgrounds and custom graphics for my monthly “look ahead” posts. The custom decorating will continue this year too!

Another online improvement I did last year was to start using Flickr for photo storage. I load up my better, higher resolution photo images there and then link them to my blog posts. I’ll be signing up for the pro version this month. Some of you may have noticed that I have a convenient link on my sidebar to my Flickr images. You are welcome to go over there anytime and see slide shows of various photo sets that I have organized.

As a side note, I was a bit surprised to see a huge spike in my web viewing statistics last month. After a little investigating, I discovered that Colonial Williamsburg Facebook page had a link to my post about their nontraditional Christmas decorations! I was quite honored that they discovered my blog and sent web traffic my way! You can read about it HERE.

Now that the winter months have settled in and the holiday season’s flurry of activities are over, I will be spending some creative time in my studio room. I have a few sewing projects planned and will share the results with you. Though the room isn’t fully decorated, I’ll be sharing some pictures here of this lovely space. As soon as you see it, I imagine that you will want to come on over and join in on “play time”! As dear Miz Jenny can attest, we love to meet and entertain blogging friends!

My consulting contract expired last month and did not get renewed. So I am happily back to the footloose-and-free retirement life again! It is nice to have that extra time back. We’ll be resuming our visits to a local fitness center, and I am renewing my commitment to get fitter and down to a healthier weight.

We have already been discussing and planning our 2011 journeys! We put down deposits for a Canadian Maritimes tour in September to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. We’ll also be making reservations soon for a special photographic tour of Alaska in July. We’re looking forward to a year of more traveling adventures and new photo opportunities!

This month I will be featuring blog posts with photos of past journeys, including grizzly bears in British Columbia and breathtaking scenery in western USA. I’ll also be sharing photos of treasured pottery pieces that we took home last month from Seagrove, North Carolina. So grab you a cup of coffee or hot chocolate and come visit me and Marty during our special 3-year anniversary month!