Winter is an alien world

A section of the Deschutes River swirls around islands of ice following unseasonably cold weather in Olympia, Washington. (f/22, 8/10 second, 200mm, on tripod)

Another Hungry Mouth...

Seedpods found by my sweetie - the were closed when she brought them inside, then opened up like hungry mouths. Anyone know what they are? She said there was no tree nearby with similar seeds.

Nature, abstracted

This may help explain my somewhat skewed view of the world. This is an unretouched photo of a tree taken through the upstairs window of my 86-year-old home. The windows are old, warbly single-pane glass, but I didn't realize they were this bad! Actually, the effect is emphasized by the zoom lens, with a rather interesting, almost impressionistic effect. Which I like.

Licorice Ferns

Clinging to the trunk of a Big Leaf Maple near McLane Creek in West Olympia.

First fruits of spring

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), one of the first fruits of spring. Captured in the wild at dawn.

Red Huckleberry

a small sign of spring...

Autumn from the Inside Out

Walking along a nature trail recently, I found myself looking out over a river through multicolored maple leaves. It's been a great year for fall color, with surprisingly little rain and no hard freezes yet, both of which tend to mute colors or strip the leaves from the trees. And that means good shooting for photographers! I love the layered look of this photo, as the eye follows the branch out toward the light and the multicolored leaves.

It' ain't easy bein' green

The Pacific Chorus Frog is the official amphibian of Washington State! This critter was found when picking blueberries. The scale of the blueberry leaf should give you a sense of his diminutive stature. Usually they are heard more often than seen, but I managed to track this one down for a brief photo sessions. A few more photos of this frog can be seen here.

Moonrise

Taken from my front porch. Sometimes a great scene just comes and finds you where you're at.

...Make Lemonade

Before you say anything...yes, I know that lemonade is made from lemons. But this equally yellow flower brought to mind that saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." The lemons in my back lawn are dandelions. I don't really mind them and I don't work on making my lawn picture-perfect. Or rather, I guess I consider the oddities of my lawn the very things that do make the yard picture-perfect. The weeds, the moss, the white petals falling from the Gravenstein tree. Because really, who wants to look at photos of a uniform green lawn?