Day Eighty-Four: The Pineapple Mint Begins to Show Flower Buds

Pineapple mint purchased in May to entice the local hummingbirds.  Finally a vibrant bud

appears, 2mm in length.  Just could not get the bud in focus with the Canon in macro setting.  Do like other features of this shot:  leaf veins and hairs, striking color.   

Looking forward to when the plant is covered in blooms and hummers abound.

The first flower bud blossoms out, 5 days later. 

Day Eighty-Three: Orange Collage after Dennis Hopper

This was such a fun project, developed over the month of June.  Hopper's collage is at least twice as large as mine so I had to choose which elements to include.

Wish I could see his piece in real life; mine has a

lot of dimensionality; expect his does as well.   

Hopper collage from the book, Collage, the Making of 
Modern Art. 2004.

My collage, after Dennis Hopper.

Day Eighty-Two: At Otto's

Day Eighty-One: On My Way Home I Saw a Mountain

Northbound, in the air, this mountain appeared in the east before we saw Mount Hood.

So lovely to be back in the PNW. 

Taken with iPhone out the airplane window

Day Eighty: Green and Right Angles

Day Seventy-Nine: The Canon G10 Steps Right Up

This point & shoot is eleven years old, fits in my pocket and sometimes it blows me away.  

Day Seventy-Eight: What It Says On the Label

Discount Mini Mart

Nick Nack Nook

Pickled Beets

Day Seventy-Seven: On the Multnomah University Campus for HazMat Training :)

Above-Ground Tree Roots....Interesting

This seems to be common with Maples.  

Trees have shallow roots. The vast majority of a tree’s roots are located in the top 12 to 18 inches of soil.  As the tree roots grow, some of the larger roots near the soil surface may emerge from the ground. While many individuals regard surface roots as unwelcome, they are normal for many trees. 

It’s usually best to ignore surface roots as much as possible. (Granted, mowing around surface roots can be tricky.) Covering the area around the tree with 1 to 2 inches of soil provides only temporary relief. The tree roots will continue to grow and will probably reappear in a few years. Placing 4 or more inches of soil around a tree may damage or destroy it by depriving some of the tree’s roots of oxygen.  

 Source:  https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/faq/there-are-several-large-surface-roots-around-my-maple-tree-can-i-safely-cover-these-roots-soil

Day Seventy-Six: My Crayons Melted

They must have been in a hot delivery van.  In some cases, one crayon melted into the empty wrapping of another, already melted-out color.  Got a refund. 

Water soluble crayons for a rivers-themed project. 

Day Seventy-Five: I Became Fascinated by Clouds

These clouds, seen yesterday, look as though they are 

spinning out slender arms in all directions. 

One of these clouds came with an 
accompanying line of smaller clouds, 

in formation like ducklings following a parent. 

Others were fanning out and trailing streaks of cloud. 

  The temperature was in the mid-nineties (a record-breaker).  

Later, at home, I checked and these might be cirrus clouds.

Fall streaks form when snowflakes and ice crystals fall from cirrus clouds. The change in wind with height and how quickly these ice crystals fall determine the shapes and sizes the fall streaks attain. Since ice crystals fall much more slowly than raindrops, fall streaks tend to be stretched out horizontally as well as vertically. Cirrus streaks may be nearly straight, shaped like a comma, or seemingly all tangled together. 

 http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/cld/cldtyp/hgh/crs.rxml

Photos taken with an iPhone near Sherwood OR.

Day Seventy-Four: Reflection and Silhouette

Day Seventy-Three: Light a Candle

Continuing to play with light. 

Day Seventy-Two: People in the Garden

Day Seventy-One: Oregon Gardens Up Close

Give me greens, give me browns, spider webs and bark. 

Day Seventy: Magenta and Yellow in the Garden

This was tricky to balance.  The yellow flowers 
are so bright and the magenta flowers came out 
pretty dark.  Which species is taking the lead here?

Day Sixty-Nine: Mid-Morning at the Refuge

The refuge is a place of color and reflection in early summer.

The warm palette...

...and the cool.

Day Sixty-Eight: Clearly Canadian