violetismycolor

photofriday...the extraordinary

 

 

I was downtown yesterday and saw these cool houses on NW Glisan and thought they were extraordinary. 

Photo Friday: exercise: 3 Little Divers

Here I am, visiting my son in La Jolla, and I came across these 3 Little Divers, waiting for their instructor. 

 

photo friday...old fashioned...

An old fashioned car in an old fashioned parade.

Photo Friday...self portrait...

***you know the drill:  click on the picture to see a full-sized version***

I love how this turned out because you can see my house, a tree, and the cloudy sky reflected along with ME.

photo friday, rough...

For a long time, I haven't participated in my beloved Photo Friday or Illustration Friday.  I am going to try to be more regular in doing it, as I am trying to sharpen both my photographic and my illustrative skills.  

This week's prompt is 'rough'.  I went out in my garden and photographed these gorgeous gaillardias.  Their cone-shaped centers look very rough, but are actually soft, nectar-laden landing pads for bees and butterflies.  And, they are so vibrantly colored!

Remember, you can click on the image to see it in full size.

photo friday: gray...

photo friday...full...

*click for a larger view*

Yeah, that's right...Photo Friday and I am actually participating this week.  I couldn't resist the prompt, which was 'full' and my flowering plum is so FULL of blossoms that it is gorgeous.  Just had to post it. 

photo friday...pink...

I know that I haven't done any Photo Friday thing for forever, but when I saw that the prompt was 'pink' I just couldn't help myself. 

First of all, I just love pink.

Secondly, I have this awesome-cool plant with Dr. Seuss-like pink flowers growing in my kitchen and I just love the chance to show it off. 

I say Dr. Seuss-like because the flowers grow out of the center of the flower below it.  Weird and wonderful.

Actually, they are not flowers at all, officially, but bracts.  Who is the joy-killer that had to assign the word bract to a perfectly good flower-like object?  Some high-flying botanist/fuddy-duddy, not doubt...

Anyway, I went on the web to find out what this marvie plant is, exactly.  It is called a 'crown of thorns' (it does have a thick thorny stem); latin name Euphorbia milii.  It is from Madagascar.

Euphorbus was the Greek physician of King Juba II (approx. 50 BC to 19 AD) of Numidia (now Algeria).  King Juba is the first to have cultivated the plant and he named it after his physician. Odd, since the when you cut the stem, the 'latex' that drips out is poisonous, and was used on poisoned arrows or to stupify fish (I assume one put this stuff in the water with the fish...anyone?).  Anyway, more than you wanted to know but still wonderful stuff.

I have had this plant for about 3 years and it blooms continuously.  Really.  I forget to water it and voila, tortured plant = happy, blooming plant.  This is about the only kind of houseplant that can survive around me.  I kill everything else.  Odd, since my outdoor garden is quite nice and does not consider me an assassin.

Ah well, Pink...

photo friday...complexity...

*click it for a better look*

What lovely complexity in this brickwork at Lewis and Clark College, here in beautiful Portland, Oregon.  I just love that campus and last year, I spent an afternoon just wandering around, taking photos. 

late, late Photo Friday...candid...

*click on the picture for a closer look*

Yes, you're right, I am exactly a week late for last week's photo Friday.  I have been so busy this week that I never got around to it.

This is a great candid photo of Adam and Bonnie.  We ask ourselves, "How did she fall asleep in this position?"  But they're damned cute, no?  Bonnie has her 'Deedee' (her name for the Chinese silk pillow that became her comfort object) and Adam has his Teddy.  Funny thing...both of these came from their Grandmother Calhoun.  Adam's was, of course, intended to be his companion.  But the pillow was to be put onto our sofa and not carried by Bonnie EVERYWHERE (including the grand tour of Europe when she was 3) till it was mere shreds.  Kids get attached to the darnedest things.

They are adorable, though, aren't they?

Photo Friday...orange...

***click on photo for a closer view***

The Photo Friday prompt is 'Orange'.  Well, since I am Dutch, orange made me think of the House of Orange and the Dutch royal family and Orange Tulips.  So, here are some spectacular orange parrot tulips I bought and photographed last year.  They were so gorgeous that I couldn't resist them.

The Illustration Friday prompt this week is 'Heroes', so I am putting on my thinking cap and working on what I can do with that...

Photo Friday...nerdy...

***Click on photo to see it even bigger!!!***

What could be nerdy-er than my collection of history books about the Middle Ages and my obsession with Betty Boop and Felix the Cat? Oh my...

Photo Friday...rare...

***Click on photo for a larger view***

What could be more rare than a purple house?  I saw this house yesterday when I was driving to the post office and just had to go back with my camera. 

Photo Friday...symbol...

For Photo Friday, (***click for a larger view***) I decided to use a stained glass window from the little town of Luss in Scotland, home of my husband's ancestors.  This window has the family crest, so very symbolic.  My children loved this when they were in Scotland.

Fitting also, because sadly, today is the day that our dog, who has bone cancer is going to be sent to heaven.  We are all incredibly sad to lose him, but we don't want him to be in pain, anymore.

Photo Friday...green...

Finally, a PF submission after weeks of not-getting-my-act-together.  I went outside and photographed my garden and, while it is lovely (and green), it was BORING.  I went inside and tried to find everything green.  The dish soap in front of my kitchen window glistened and called to me.  Et, voila! A lovely, green statement...

Photo Friday...soft...

***you know the drill...click on the photo for a larger version*** This picture was taken last year at the Colgate Parents' Weekend...the morning was all shrouded in a soft mist.  This is what came to mind when I saw that the Photo Friday prompt was 'soft'.  Kind of cool. Now, I have to come up with something good for the IF prompt for this week, 'Daring' ... this one is damn tough....

Photo Friday...plastic

***click on photo for a better view***

I just had to photograph these cute little plastic figures from my office for this morning's photo challenge.  These were toys collected from KinderEggs, which I used to buy from the Dutch Store here in town.  You can no longer buy KinderEggs in the U.S. because our government fears that we are too stupid to know that we are not supposed to eat the chocolate from around the (hard-to-open) plastic egg inside, and we may therefor eat the chocolate, plastic egg, and toys inside and THAT would be a choking hazard.  Yes, Please Protect Us From Our Own Stupidity...do I sound bitter?  Well, yes I am.  I had to go 6000 miles away, to Britain, to again have the joy of a KinderEgg on my travels. 

photo friday...faces...

*click on photo to enlarge* or go to my Photo Album here, and see both my photos for this theme.

Yes, I finally got my act together on this week's photo theme...I went through my archives and found this one.  Taken on Earth Day 2003 in Portland, I just loved the way people painted themselves up. 

Photo Friday...rural...

This is my photo friday submission for 'rural'...it was taken in southern Oregon last May...Your can see it larger either by clicking the photo at left or going to my photo album page.

Ross headed off to Black Butte with a friend for the weekend.  He'll be skiing and bike-riding and playing Magic and D&D...the normal, nerdy 17 year-old stuff.  He left last night with a pocket full of cash ... necessary to rent skis and buy a lift ticket and (oh yeah) buy lots of food.  He can really pack it away.

I had coffee with lovely fellow-blogger Margaret, in town for her daughter's gymnastics meet.  We had plenty to say to each other and I recognized her right away from her blog's photos.  Actually, her daughter was the one I recognized first.  What fun we had!

Bonnie informs me that she is headed off to New York City next weekend, with a group of friends, to see The Gates.  She is very excited about it and I am very interested in her reaction.  It seems that one either loves it or hates it.  I think that it looks warm in a cold, bare-branched, winter park...but that is only from the pictures I have seen in the New York Times and on TV.

John and I are going to go out to see 'Sideways' tonight.  I am hoping that it will live up to the hype, but am skeptical, at best.  I will try to keep an open mind. We talked about seeing 'The Aviator', especially after seeing the Spruce Goose last weekend, but at 3 hours long...we hesitated on that one.  The shows either start at 4:30 pm or 7:30 pm...one is too early (since we will not yet have had dinner) and the other is too late (since we old-fogies like to get to bed earlier than that).  We just may have to wait till it comes out on video...

Oregon continues to steal California's sunshine.  It was sunny and 57 degrees today.  We haven't had a rainy day all week.  In fact, we've barely had any rainy days all fall and winter.  California, meanwhile, seems to be drenched and threatening to fall into the ocean.  Hope all of you down there are holding on for dear life!

photo friday...luscious...

***click on image for a better look at the lusciousness***

This was my pick for 'Luscious'. For a Dutch-American girl like me, nothing is more luscious than tulips en-masse. I took this photo last year at the flower stand in front of Pioneer Courthouse Square in here in Portland. What a great way to cheer oneself up on a gray Portland day but to buy a fistful of tulips.