Thank You!

I have to say that I am amazed at the number of awards I have won from those folks over at Let’s Be Wild, and from you my readers! Over the time of entering their challenges I have won 16 awards from this site! I wanted to thank my readers for their comments left on the Let’s Be Wild site for these awards!

The last that I featured was their challenge number 24 – Reflections. Today I wanted to share the other awards that I have since won! Again a huge THANK YOU!

Challenge #28 was “Mountains.” Here is the winning photo of the Grand Tetons from Jackson Lake:

The Grand Tetons from across Jackson Lake

The award:

Audience Choice Award – Challenge #28

The next is Challenge #30 – Movement. My photo of rafters won the Audience Choice for this challenge. Here is the winning photo:

Going under!

The award:

Audience Choice Award – Challenge #30

This was followed by Challenge #31 – Scent. My photo of fresh cut grass won the Audience Choice award on this challenge! Here is that winning photo:

Fresh cut grass

The award:

Audience Choice Award – Challenge #31

And, then I was amazed that I won Challenge #32! The subject: Beaches! The photo chosen on this Audience Choice award was the contrasting white sand beach at Honaunau Bay on the island of Hawai’i. It was surrounded by the remains of a lava flow.

A white sand beach at Honaunau Bay on the Island of Hawai’i

And, the award…

Audience Choice Award – Challenge #32

The last challenge I won the Audience Choice award for had “Forest” as the subject. And the photo chosen by the Audience:

Palm tree forest

And the award:

Audience Choice Award – Challenge #34

Many thanks to everyone who commented on my posts not only here, but at the Wild Weekly Photo Challenge!

Hugs to all, and have a great Tuesday! Thank you again for your comments, and for allowing me to win these awards! And, most of all thank you for following me, visiting me, and for liking my site!

Read Full Post »

Can You Find… – A Wild Weekly Photo Contest!

The subject of this week’s photo contest, put on by the folks over at LetsBeWild is “Camouflage.” This had me wondering if I had any photos of anything that was camouflaged. It turns out that I do have some photos that are perfect for this challenge!

Sometimes you take a photo and it is only after you review the photo that you discover that you captured something you could not see through your viewfinder! This was the case with this photo.

Find the crabs!

Walking along the shore line I snapped this photo. Later I realized there is a Hawaiian Sea Turtle in the photo!

Find the turtle!

How many fish can you see in this photo?

How many fish do you see?

This shot is of an amazing looking flowering tree at the place we stayed in Hawai’i. After taking this photo I realized that there was a praying mantis in the photo. Can you find it?

Find the praying mantis!

Can you find the hermit crab?

Find the hermit crab!

The colors of birds sometimes blend in perfectly with the background. Such is the case with this sandpiper!

Find the sandpiper!

Did you find everything? If you did, please leave your comment for me on the LetsBeWild website. Just look for the link to my post! You can get there by clicking here! Be sure to check out some of the other amazing posts!

Have a great weekend! And thanks for visiting today!

Read Full Post »

Take a Hike! – A Wild Weekly Photo Challenge

It is a fairly cool morning as we head out for a hike outside the town of Red River New Mexico. We drive for a bit until we come upon a small sign on the side of the road that designates a hiking trail. Parking the car, we grab bottles of water and our cameras.

This looks like a good trail.

The trail begins

“Where will this take us?” we wondered.

The smell of the forest could only be described as green. Little butterflies flit around settling on the leaves of nearby plants.

A butterfly in the forest

We come to a bend in the trail that allows us to see the mountain views that surround us.

The mountains surround us

The trail takes us down a gradual slope where it opens up to a stream where lovely golden flowers raise their faces to the sun!

We find water and wildflowers

And the trail takes us further into the forest.

The trail takes us further

We stop for photo opportunities.

My husband on the trail

We come across the stream again and we cross the water.

Crossing a stream

Lovely flowers surround us. No wonder the butterflies abound in this place!

Pretty flowers

It is time to go back. What a lovely hike we have just had. Now it is time to sit and take a break!

Sitting down at the end of the hike!

Thank you to the folks at LetsBeWild for their photo challenge #33 – Hiking! Please feel free to leave me a comment on their site! You can get there by clicking here!

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a great Friday!

Read Full Post »

Life’s a Beach! – A Wild Weekly Photo Challenge

Today we spend some time on the beach! Yes, those folks over at Let’s Be Wild have chosen this as this weeks subject! They are correct when they say that beaches come in all shapes and sizes and textures as you will see! Ready to go?

On the island of Hawai’i the island is mostly surrounded with black lava. Interspersed with the lava one does come across light colored sand that makes for an interesting contrast!

A white sand beach at Honaunau Bay on the Island of Hawai’i

On the southern coast we had to stop to see this amazing black sand beach! Just in case you did not know, the black sand sticks to your feet a bit more than just a regular beach! The colors in the water is dark due to the lava beds beneath the surface.

The Black Sand Beach on the Island of Hawai’i

At the northern end of the island we stopped at Spencer Beach. This beach is quite a contrast to the black sand beach with the waters gleaming in an array of greens and blues! The rocks in the foreground are one of the many fishing traps made by King Kamehameha’s people.

Spencer Beach

Here is a close up shot of the sand on the beach were we stayed in Kailua-Kona. If you look closely you will notice sea shells and broken pieces of coral!

What makes up the beach where we stayed

One of the local birds stopped to take a rest on the beach. With the rough sand this bird still looked comfortable!

A bird resting on the beach

Heading to Cabo San Lucas, the beach in this photo can only be reached by boat!

The beach at Cabo San Lucas

There are long stretches of beach there which this photo shows!

Another beach at Cabo

Down in Puerto Vallarta many streams run off from the mountains and find their way to the ocean. We came across many of these and here is a shot of one of the folks with me jumping the stream!

Jumping a stream on the beach at Puerta Vallarta

In my own backyard is South Lake Tahoe. In the area of Emerald Bay is the Vikings Holm which has a huge expanse of beach between the house and the water. Here is a winter shot of that beach covered in snow! There were some adventurous folks who made the treacherous trip down the mountain to get to this beach for a walk!

A snow covered beach

Be sure to check out some of the other entries! Please feel free to leave me a comment on their site by clicking here!

I hope you enjoyed spending some time on the beach with me! Now go out and have a lovely Thursday and thanks for taking the time to stop by!

Read Full Post »

Memories of Scents – A Wild Weekly Photo Challenge!

Our sense of smell is major in our lives. An odor, fragrance, or a scent can in an instant bring back a memory of a place, an event, or even a person! There is a certain scent that I sometimes find in a place that reminds me of the building my Grandma lived in. Or of her cooking. The sweet fragrance of a honeysuckle reminds me of where I lived as a child in the spring when that flower was in full bloom. Looking at photos too, can remind you of a scent or a fragrance or an odor! So, while I’m participating in this week’s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge #31 on Scent, I challenge you to experience the scents that my photos depict!

There is nothing more magnificent that the lovely gentle, or strong scents that can come from a beautiful rose! See if you can smell this one!

The smell of a rose!

Can you smell the fresh cut grass?

Fresh cut grass

Or how about the pungent aroma that surrounds these horses?

A bit horsey!

There is definitely nothing quite like the smell of a Bay when the tide goes out.

Coyote Point

I love the smell of a campfire! How about you? Can you smell it?

A crackling fire

The smell of sulfur rising off of a caldera still lingers in my memory and I am reminded of it when I look at my photos of the Kilauea volcano.

The sulfur smell of a volcano

I love the crisp clean smell of the air after it rains.

The smell after it rains

And I do love the salty smell of the ocean as it ebbs and flows along a beach!

The smell of the ocean

I do have to head inside though to share this one with you! There is something that is just plain comforting about the smell of a freshly baked apple pie. Can you smell the apples and the cinnamon?

Apple Pie

Of all of the above photos, which one could you “smell” the best? Please let me know by leaving me a comment on the LetsBeWild Challenge. You can get there by clicking here! Just look for my black and white kitty gravatar and my name, Barb!

Now go and have a wonderful Thursday, and thanks for stopping by today!

Read Full Post »

Movement – A Wild Weekly Photo Challenge!

This week the folks at LetsBeWild.com have created a challenge based on “Movement.” Movement happens all around us and to capture it with a photo and stop the action is amazing! Here are some recent photos of movement!

Recently, I went with my friend EB in search of wildflowers. We found ourselves by the South Fork of the American River where I was able to catch rafters going into the rapids!

Going under!

My husband and I drove to Long Beach headed for a cruise, and I captured this shot of a farmer working in the fields. You can see he is on the move from the dust trailing after him.

Working in the fields

A bit further down the road we came upon Harris Ranch. As the temperatures in the valley get pretty hot, they need to cool down the cows. This is how they do it!

Cooling down the cows

We arrived at the cruise ship and walked around the decks. There was a pool area for kids that had some amazing slides and this unusual water feature that they could run around!

A water feature on the cruise ship

From the deck of the ship I was able to catch this amazing shot of a pelican in flight.

Flying away!

After the cruise we met with a friend and went to the San Diego Zoo. When we were at the elephant enclosure we found one of the elephants giving itself a dust bath!

Taking a dust bath

Heading over to where the Rhinos were, this Rhino was in the water and was entertaining itself with a ball that was in the water with it.

A Rhino playing with a ball

One of the newest critters at the Zoo is the White Pelican. I just happened to catch this lovely and colorful bird giving itself a bath!

Bathing White Pelican

In the area where the ducks were swimming, I spied this pair of turtles enjoying a leisurely swim. They were swimmin in synch with each other which you can see by their outstretched toes on their back feet!

Swimming turtles

Then at the camel enclosure, one camel was at rest, and this fellow was busy enjoying an afternoon snack!

Something to chew on

I hope that you enjoyed this “Movement” photos! If you did, then would you please leave me a comment on the LetsBeWild site? You can find me there by scrolling down the page. Look for my gravatar of Madison, my black and white kitty. Click on the reply button and leave me a message! I will respond! To get there click here!

There are some great entries there already so be sure to check them out! Thanks for stopping by today and for commenting too! Have a wonderful Saturday!

Read Full Post »

Birds of a Feather – A Wild Weekly Photo Challenge!

Those amazing folks over at Let’s Be Wild have chosen the subject “Birds of a Feather” as this week’s challenge! Having just spent 4 1/2 hours at the San Diego Zoo with Russel from Russel Ray Photos, along with his partner Jim and my husband Paul, I was able to put together some photos of lovely birds! Not all are from the zoo, though…Let’s go and check out these lovelies and some not so lovely but still amazing birds!

One of the most colorful and beautiful birds that we observed at the zoo is the Mandarin Duck. They are brilliant in color and they are quite a sight to see!

Mandarin duck taking a break from swimming

The next really colorful birds are truly amazing! I was able to catch three flamingos lined up in a row napping!

A trio of flamingos sleeping

We saw a lot of babies at the zoo, and here is a cute little duckling out for a Friday afternoon swim! This photo is what my friend Penny would call an awww photo!

A baby swims

And the birds were nesting too! Here is a pair of cormorants with mother bird on the nest and father bird standing along her side!

Nesting cormorants

The newest bird at the zoo is the White Pelican. It is such an amazing bird that I will do a post featuring this bird at a future date! Be sure to check out the colors on this “white” bird.

A white pelican loaded with color

The herons were pretty amazing too! Here is one on the lookout followed by another shot of a different one.  The second photo reminds me of a flasher, and that is because of the way it is holding its wings!

A gray heron

This heron is flashing!

I have no idea what type of bird this next one is, but it is looking right at me!  I see a lovely regal lady wearing a hat and with the most beautiful eyes.  What do you think?  Thanks to Russel Ray for identifying the bird below!  It is a Harpy Eagle!

Pretty bird!

Then we came across the condors! They are amazing birds, and I was able to catch this one as he stretched its wings!  Check out the fur collar!  You might want to double click on this photo to really see the detail in the face!

The condor spreads its wings

From the deck of the cruise ship we were on, I was able to catch a pelican as it flew by!  This is indeed a lucky shot!

Flying high!

The above photo looks to be a bit grainy but it is actually the air that was really hazy!

The funniest thing I saw was on the deck of the ship in the pool area for the kids. I was lucky to find the deck empty of people and was photographing the seagulls on the deck rails. When I turned around, there were three gulls sitting at the edge of a water slide. Then one jumped in to take a bath! The entire series of photos will be another post, but here is a shot of this bird enjoying its bath!

A gull taking a bath on a Carnival Cruise

I hope that you enjoyed these lovely birds! Please look for the link to my post at the LetsBeWild Photo Challenge! Please feel free to leave a comment on their site for me!

I hope that you have an excellent Monday! Thanks for stopping by today!

Read Full Post »

Mountains – A Wild Weekly Photo Challenge!

I love it when I find myself in the mountains and usually have more photos of where I am in the mountains than of the mountains themselves. This week’s photo challenge at LetsBeWild.com has “Mountains” as the subject! Wandering through the archives I wanted to share these lovely mountain photos with you! Are you ready to explore some amazing views?

Our first stop is Yosemite National Park. I loved the grandeur of the mountains rising up above Yosemite Valley. Here is El Capitan with Half Dome in the background.

Yosemite

In contrast to the green beauty of Yosemite, outside of the painted desert, we came upon these mountains with some amazing ribbons of color.

Mountains rising up as we head into the Painted Desert

In my own backyard is the Sierra Nevada range. On a road trip in winter, my friend and I stopped along the side of the road admiring the vast expanse of the mountain range.

A view of the Sierra Nevada Range

Heading way far north in the little town of Leavenworth in Washington State, I could not help but admire the lovely peaks surrounding us. Here is one view that I really loved!

A mountain view from Leavenworth, WA

A post on mountains definitely needs to include the Grand Tetons! And grand they are! Here is a shot looking across Jackson Lake at these beauties!

The Grand Tetons from across Jackson Lake

Yellowstone was mostly flat, but there are mountains rising above the Grand Prismatic Pool that still held the remains of winter.

The mountain behind the Grand Prismatic Pool in Yellowstone

Please take some time to check out some of the other entries at the Let’s Be Wild site and please do leave me a comment on their site! You can get there by clicking here!

I hope that you have a wonderful Thursday! The weekend is almost here! Enjoy and thank you for visiting!

Read Full Post »

A Walk in the Clouds – A Wild Weekly Photo Challenge!

Those amazing folks over at Let’s Be Wild are doing a photo challenge on clouds this week. Now I ask you, if you take photos, how many cloud photos do you have? I have many! Some would say too many!

So how about a walk in the clouds? Are you ready for a trip through some truly amazing sights? Well then, if you are game, let’s head out!

Flying at 38,000 feet can make you feel like you are in space, especially when the view from the airplane’s window looks like this!

Am I in space?

Lowering down on that same trip afforded this amazing view of a storm over the ocean!

A storm cloud over the pacific

Rising up high in the air, thunderheads can be majestic.

A massive thunderhead

Or they can be fanciful. Do you see the happy dog in this photo?

Happy Dog!

Here is the foothills, as the sky darkens and a storm moves in, the world changes.

Storm clouds over the vineyard

And there is nothing like the clouds parting, the sun peeking through, the rain coming down, and a rainbow forming!

A break in the storm and a rainbow pops!

When I see what you will see in this next photo, I always feel like God is shining down on the world.That is a “God” like view, isn’t it?

Well, thanks for coming along with me on this walk through the clouds! Please do take some time to check out some of the other challenge photos by clicking here!

Have a great Thursday!

Read Full Post »

The World Overlooked – A Wild Weekly Photo Challenge

With the hustle and bustle of everyday life going on around us, oftentimes people are too busy to take the time to see the macrocosm of life that surrounds them. This week’s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge is “Overlooked.”

For those that do not take the time, and for those that do, here are some views of this world that one might overlook!

Nothing makes me happier than seeing the bees busy buzzing around. I was lucky to catch this bee collecting pollen from my broccoli.

Capturing a bee in broccoli

Wandering around Fort Yellowstone we came upon this grove of trees and I was looking up at the boughs of the tree, a flutter caught my eye. What fluttered was this lovely creature!

An owl hidden in a tree

Also from Yellowstone, as we made our way along a trail to see some of the incredible geothermal sights, I found a tree that held the remains of a buffalo that had a pretty good itchy spot!

Buffalo hair stuck to a tree

While visiting my friend M at her house here in town, I grabbed my camera to catch the lovely details of some moss!

Seed pods on moss

One day at work I spied this little creature that has amazing details to see, only if you stop and look closely…

Finding the beauty in a mosquito hawk

Back at home in my garden I find recently planted seeds beginning to emerge from the ground.

An emerging seedling

For a future post, I will be featuring the beauty found in weeds. While taking those photos, I came across this lone feather.

A dropped feather

I hope that you have enjoyed your time cruising through a world often overlooked! Please check out some what some of the other folks are featuring in this photo challenge by clicking here!

Thank you for stopping by today, and I hope that you have a great weekend!

Read Full Post »