Ooh, Shiny! Look at that cool bird! (Edit: see below for addition I just couldn’t resist)

I love bird-watching, and when I'm outdoors I try to find them.  But sometimes, when I'm doing something else, one will catch my eye. This guy was on the roof of an accessory dwelling in the back yard of a friend in Colorado.  What a place for a feeder! We were surprised when a family …

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Photo Challenge…Elemental…Water

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we live nearly surrounded by water.  In Western Washington, anyway, you are rarely more than a mile from some body of water or other. Lake Washington, Puget Sound, the Green River, the Snoqualmie River, and Silver Lake are minutes away.  No two bodies of water or rivers are exactly the …

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Photo Challenge…Textures

It seems counter-intuitive for a plant to be both soft and prickly at the same time.  This Arizona cactus, at progressively-closer views shows two entirely different textures.  Seen from relatively far-away, it looks soft, with rounded curves. Seen closer-up, the big spines look pretty dangerous, and the plant looks like you wouldn't want to get …

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Photo Challenge, Collage. One Natural, One Man-Made

I love living in the Pacific Northwest, where the abundant rain contributes to a profusion of plant life.  Here in the temperate rain forest ecosystem, life grows in many layers.  Green growing things have other growing things on top of them.  Take this tree, for instance, at Rockport State Park, in the foothills of the …

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Photo Challenge..Is it a Table…Or a Bridge?

This particular dinner table is....wait for it...Both!  The people at this table journeyed from miles away to meet with the Honored Guest, a remarkable young man from Romania.  This Gentleman (capitalized because he is the epitome of Gentleman) is known to all of us online, and the friends at this table, along with dozens of …

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Photo Challenge: Delta…Transitions and the Passage of Time

In the Inside Passage, the strait separating Vancouver Island from the mainland of Canada and Alaska, there is an intersection, where the protected waters of the Passage are met by the rougher waters of the North Pacific Ocean, between islands.  You can actually see where the waters meet, because they form a whirlpool with rushing …

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