Lookin’ Up

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A lot of things have been pulling me down lately – way down. So I decided it’s time to LOOK UP! Sending this out to my readers just in case a few of you need the same advice.

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Big White Flakes of Spring

It really is spring!  You can see it in the air!  It’s in all those big white things that are swirling madly through the air and sticking to all the trees, the yards, and the cars.

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My Southern Illinois (USA) neighborhood yesterday, March 25, 2013.

 

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Color of Your Choice

RED SMILEY - with text -super redThe color of my choice this week is RED!  I’m really into red right now because that’s the color I’ve chosen to accent my kitchen. My kitchen is primarily blue and white. Actually the walls are half blue and half white, but almost all the cabinets and appliances are white.  I love that, but then the whole picture needs one more color to give it that certain spark. At one time I used yellow, and that was gorgeous. During a three-year period, I accented with black. That was rather dramatic, and I enjoyed it. But it is time for a change now, and I’m in the process. The top three photos show my kitchen window, an assortment of utensils, and my new red toaster and coffee pot. The last two items were gifts from my sister when she learned that I was going red. Below those is a shot of my Ritz Crackers box, because I LOVE Ritz!  And last, but certainly not least, is my Blue Spruce in the snow — with a little red makeup.

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RITZ 

RED TREE, SNOW CROPPED

Take part in the fun. Visit Cee’s blog for the details. http://www.ceephotography.com/2013/03/05/cees-fun-foto-challenge-color-of-your-choice-pick-one-color/

Jake Sprinter’s Sunday Challenge — ‘Captivating’

Jakes challenge this week is “Captivating.” http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/sunday-post-captivating/

I took the following photo of my neighbor’s tree during our last big snow storm this year. For some reason I find it delightful and can sit and look at it for a long time —  enjoying the texture, the shape, and the ‘whiteness’ of it. I guess you could say I find it “captivating.”

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Macro Monday — My Buddy, Big Blue

I’ve never taken part in “Macro Monday” previously.  In fact, I just found out about it a couple weeks ago.  But I just can’t resist participating with a couple close-ups of my beautiful Blue Spruce Tree.  I do love this tree and have raised it from the time it was about 5 feet tall.  It had been stuck in an old wooden barrel beneath a large tree and was struggling to lean over sideways to get sunshine. I rescued it and gave it a home in my front yard. With a good strong metal pole to support it for the next couple of years, it straightened itself out and reached for the sun in a perfectly vertical direction. It now proudly stands somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 feet tall and 45 feet around.

Every spring I am thrilled anew at the process of brand new life that bursts forth from every branch of this beautiful masterpiece of God’s creation.This past spring, I photographed every step of it’s new growth — from first bud stage to full plumage — and created a slide show with those photos.  I’ll share a couple of those shots here for Macro Monday.

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Thanks to Lisa Chaos for offering this photo challenge. You can find out the details and take part as well by visiting her site:  http://lisaschaos.com/

 

 

Jake Sprinter’s Sunday Challenge: Peaceful

My tree, my yard, my snow, my favorite color.
Snow brings its own special kind of peace, doesn’t it?

BLUE TREE - EDITED FOR BLOGJoin in by visiting Jake’s site here: http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/sunday-post-peaceful/

Jake Sprinter’s Sunday Challenge: Surroundings

To join in, visit Jake at this link: http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/sunday-post-surroundings/

 

Hometown Autumn

Well, I’ve promised a slide show of my Smoky Mountain trip photos, but I don’t have all of them ready yet.  But in the meantime, I walked out my front door a couple days ago, and all this beauty just exploded right before my eyes.  I had to capture it, and now I’m sharing it with you in a slide show from closer to home.

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Playing Tag with the Moon and Trees

I couldn’t resist that full moon tonight, so for about an hour I played camera tag with the moon and the trees.  I’ve generally not had much success with photos of the moon with my very old digital camera, but some of these weren’t too bad. The slide show shares the best 6 of the shots.  It was interesting to see how everything changed as the sky grew darker and I captured the moon through different trees.

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