Tag: Photo Challenge

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #409 – Best Ever Images

Posted in Birds, Butterflies, Photography, WildlifeTagged , , , , , , , , , 29 Comments

We are happy to welcome Steve Hyde as our guest host for this week’s challenge. In honor of World Photography Week he is challenging us to share five pictures that show our love of photography – Our Best Ever Images.

Choosing five images from thousands of photos was not an easy task. I finally narrowed it down to the following images.

This is one of my favorite bird images of all time. There is a tree in our neighborhood next to a small pond where I often see birds hanging out. Several years ago I captured this Wood Stork and Egret perched on one of the limbs of the tree.

I have many Butterfly images that I have posted in the past. I dug through my archives and found this image of a Monarch Butterfly on a pink flower with a Black-Eyed Susans in the background.

Monarch Butterfly with Black Eyed Susans in the background

Up until a couple of years ago we always had a boat. We spent many happy hours with our children and grandchildren riding through the salt marsh in the saltwater rivers and creeks exploring the uninhabited islands and sandbars. One of of favorite places to go was through the narrow, winding creeks that the locals call the Mosquito Ditch.

The Mosquito Ditch

I love to take wildlife photos. This pod of Orcas in Alaska is one of my favorites because we almost didn’t see any Oracas on our trip. We had taken two other wildlife cruises in other parts of Alaska and saw many different kinds of wildlife but we still hadn’t seen any Orcas. Our last opportunity to take another wildlife cruise was in Valdez. The scenery and wildlife was spectacular. All of a sudden this pod of Orcas surfaced right beside the boat. I was ready with my camera and was able to capture a few photos before they went on their way. This is one of my all time favorites because it almost didn’t happen.

Pod of Orcas in Alaska

My final image is my favorite landscape. I chose it because it brings back happy memories of our trip to St. Lucia to celebrate our 30th anniversary many years ago. Seeing this view each day from our villa was magical.

Pitons, St. Lucia

I enjoyed seeing all of your wonderful Over the Top responses to Egidio’s challenge last week. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge.

Many thanks to guest hose Steve Hyde for this week’s fun challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to his post Lens-Artists #408: Best Ever Images.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, August 22 at noon eastern time when Ritva will be hosting the challenge.

You can keep up with all of our challenges by subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #408 – Over the Top

Posted in PhotographyTagged , , , , 44 Comments

Egidio asks us to show things we see as Over the Top. He defines Over the Top as “something too extreme, too dramatic, or more than what is expected and needed.” I’m featuring a few Over the Top ships I’ve seen during my travels.

Mega Yacht in Barbados

Enormous container ship traveling through the Panama Canal.

Cruise Ship docked side by side in St. Kitts.

Over the top gigantic cruise ship

Would you go down this over the top water slide on top of a cruise ship?

I enjoyed seeing all of your wonderful Celebrations in response to Patti’s challenge last week. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge.

Many thanks to Egidio for this week’s challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to his post Lens-Artists #408: Over the Top.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, August 15 at noon eastern time when guest host Steve Hyde will be hosting the challenge.

You can keep up with all of our challenges by subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #407 – A Celebration Journey

Posted in Celebration, PhotographyTagged , , 61 Comments

Patti challenge is to share celebrations from near and far.

Today I am celebrating my return to blogging after having a total knee replacement two weeks ago! I’m doing well but still have a lot of Physical Therapy in my future.

Fifteen years ago Henry and I celebrated great results from a different kind of health issue. After nine long months of grueling cancer treatments, my doctor told me my cancer was gone! So what did we do to celebrate? Go on a cross country RV Celebration Journey of course!

Surviving cancer made me realize how important it is to live in the moment, enjoy the little things, and celebrate life every day. We met many kind people and at the end of each day we made a toast to the gift of another day.

We toured Vicksburg National Military Park

I fed a Texas Longhorn

We toured Palo Duro Canyon in Texas

We ate steak at the Big Texan in Amarillo

We drove to the top of Sandia Crest with my brother and his wife in Albuquerque

We Wandered around the Garden of the Gods in Colorado

We hiked in the snow in Rocky Mountain National

We wandered around Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota

We walked across the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Minnesota

I’m still celebrating every day!

I enjoyed all of your responses to Anne’s challenge Summer Daze. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge.

Many thanks to Patti for this week’s challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to her post Lens-Artists #407: Celebrations around the World.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, August 8 at noon eastern time when Egidio will be hosting the challenge.

You can keep up with all of our challenges by subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift

Terri’s Flower Hour #40: Can you guess these flowers starting with G, H and I?

Posted in Flowers, Nature, Photography, WildflowersTagged , , , , 38 Comments

Let’s have some fun with Terri’s Floral ABC’s theme of flowers featuring GHI. Can you guess guess the flowers in these three photos? You can check your answers at the end of this post.

G

H

I

Sharing with Terri’s Flower Hour #40

Also shared with Dan’s Crayola Box Color Challenge Purple

G: Gardenia, E: H: Hibiscus, I: Wild Iris

Please Note: I will be taking care of some medical issues this week and may not be able to respond to your comments right away. Please be assured I appreciate all of your visits and all of your comments.

Every Day is a Gift

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #405 – 13 years of RV Adventures

Posted in Birds, Photography, Road Trip, RVing, WildlifeTagged , , , , , 65 Comments

Welcome back to the Lens-Artists challenge after our two week summer break! Ann-Christine:’s challenge is to show adventures from one destination only or from more than one place. She tells us: “Personally, I think every day is an adventure, but indeed some feel a bit more vivid and easier to describe.”

I am focusing on a few memorable highlights of our 13 years of RV adventures. Every day on the road was an adventure. I’ve posted many times about visiting National Parks and about our Alaska RV adventures so for this post I am featuring just a few of our other most memorable adventures.

Our first trip was a two month adventure traveling west to explore some of our western National Parks. Our second day on the road a bedroom window blew out of the camper as we were driving along the Interstate through Mississippi. It was a challenge working out how to get it replaced but that just added to the adventure. You can see photos of the National Parks we visited at Looking Back on our First RV Trip.

Our 3 months traveling from Georgia to the Pacific coast in 2007 began with several days of snow and icy road conditions in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Montana. We even had to spend the night in a motel in Minnesota. I posted about it at Stormy RV Trip. We were grateful to have survived the storms and were able to have many adventures the rest of the trip. I’ll never forget the thrill of walking on a short trail behind our campsite in Cape Disappointment state Park in Washington to discover a beautiful Pacific Ocean beach at the end of the trail. The featured image is a view from that walk on the beach.

View from the beach behind our campsite at Cape Disappointment State Park, Washington

The adventures continued as we drove south along the Pacific Coast on U.S. Highway 101. Whenever there was a scenic view with a parking area we pulled over to take in the spectacular views. We camped in several places in Oregon and northern California with many adventures at each location.

Harbor Seals in Oregon

One year we met our daughter’s family at Itasca State Park in Minnesota to explore the headwaters of the Mississippi River with them. One night after we walked across the headwaters we all watched the sunset over Lake Itasca.

Son in Law and Grandson at sunset at Lake Itasca

Some of our most memorable adventures were in what I call the drive through places because many travelers travel as fast as they can on their way to another destination. We had fun camping in the Winterset City campground in Iowa to search for all of the Bridges of Madison County and the birthplace of John Wayne.

Roseman Covered Bridge, Winterset, Iowa

Watching the Lonesome Dove miniseries for about the third time gave us the idea for a Lonesome Dove Cattle Trail, Gulf Coast, Cajun Country, Whooping Crane, Bluebonnet and Brisket Tour. Yes, we did all of those things! Surprisingly, the most viewed post on my blog is Starting the Lonesome Dove Cattle Trail.

Mustang Island State Park, Texas
Blondie with Texas Bluebonnets

Every once in a while we stumbled upon a campground in an out of the way place with a spectacular view right from our campsite. Even better was watching wildlife while relaxing in our chair.

Sangre de Cristo Mountains as seen from San Luis State Park
Watching a Blue Heron from our campsite at Mississippi River State Park, Arkansas
Hawk in a tree behind our campsite in Big Cypress Preserve, Florida
Morning Sky over the Mississippi River in Missouri

The more we traveled the more we discovered incredible beauty every where we went. We started slowing down so we could enjoy the many interesting places along the way. No matter where we were, the people we met were friendly and helpful. Although our RV days are over we still enjoy traveling and enjoying each journey.

Thank you so much to everyone who responded to my challenge two weeks ago. You showed us some creative and fun images of Subjects that start with the letter B.

Many thanks to Ann-Christine for this week’s challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to her post Lens-Artists #405: Adventures.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, July 25 at noon eastern time when Anne will be hosting the challenge.

I will be having some personal medical events going on this week and may not be able to respond to your comments right away. Please be assured I appreciate all of your visits and all of your comments.

You can keep up with all of our challenges by subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift