P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #52 --- the end of another great project year!

I'm always so glad to participate in Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday each year, and this is the completion of another 52-week project.   Thank you, Mr. Weakley, for this challenge and opportunity.

For my final photo, I've chose an image of a tree I photograph fairly often...and many times, it's as my husband is driving by the scene.   That was the case with this....one of 4 shots I took on our drive by.  I'm so glad this landowner has left this tree in the middle of productive farmland.  It's beautiful in the summer...and it's beautiful in the winter when the Blue Mountains in the background are especially blue.

Now it's time to organize the 52 images into a photo book as I always do.

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #51

Snow in December---that hasn't always been the case these last several years.  Our first snow was much heavier in the mountains, which we want.  That's our water source during the warm months. Last summer was extremely dry and extremely hot.  Just 6 or so miles from the edge of town, winter is in full force this year.  I took a drive to photograph some of the scenery, snow-laden trees that seem gigantic compared to a logging truck. (The rust color in the background is the sign of trees killed in an August wildfire that burned 2000 acres in this area.)   Joining with Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday, where there's only one week remaining in the challenge and only one more photo to make up my annual photo book.

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #50

Only two more weeks of P52 for 2015!  The year has zipped by, but that seems to be the norm as I grow older.  So often, I feel like yelling, "Wait!  Slow down, please!"  So far, it hasn't worked.  :-)
I'm going back to a still life for this week of Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday.

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #49

Fewer than 40 miles from my home is the county seat of the NE Oregon county I grew up in.  At one time, it was called "Little Switzerland of America."   I haven't heard that term in recent years, but I know the Wallowa Mountains, also called the Eagle Caps, are amazing mountains, any time of year. This time of year, we want them to be covered in snow, because that is the source of water during the summer months. (Last summer was an extended hot and dry period, and there was very little snow in the mountains.  In the state of Oregon, 631,000 acres burned, but that was 300,000 fewer acres than the previous year.)   Recently, there was a cold snap and some snow.  It made the scenery beautiful for a few days.  On my drive back home, I stopped to record the alpenglow.  Joining with Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday. 

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #48

Our youngest son and his wife spent Thanksgiving with us.  Anytime they visit us during cold weather, we try to take some photos in the snow.  One big reason we "go to snow" is Chloe, their all-black Goldendoodle, an active two-year-old dog they treat much like a child.  As a resident of a small duplex who gets driven to various dog parks each week, she loves the large fenced yard at our house. And she really loves playing in mountain snow (if we don't have any in the valley).  Joining with Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday.

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #47

This old car might be older than I am...and that's old!  It's been buried on a river bank for decades, placed there when old vehicles were used to stabilize river banks in this area.  Several years ago, I began making the short walk from the highway down to the car to photograph it.  Today, it was frosty.  Joining with Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday.

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #46

We had our first snow this week, although it didn't reach the valley floor. We don't have to drive very far to snow, and today the temperature was several degrees below freezing, which "frosts" the trees and shrubs.  Joining with Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday.

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #45

I did it...I used an image from the same maple tree this week as last!  But the fall color of the young Crimson Maple tree is beautiful in its range of oranges and bronze.  (Now the leaves are all gone.)  This is one of those super-lucky shots: morning light on frosty leaves and recorded through my family room window with a telephoto lens.  I'm sure I couldn't duplicate it. ( I used a simple edit from Smart Photo Editor Studio, which darkened the background and accented the light.)  Joining with Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday.

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #44

It seemed as if Fall arrived overnight after a long, hot summer--a dry summer.  The cooler temperatures moved in, and thankfully, so did some rain.  It isn't really enough to make up for the weeks of drought, but it is better than nothing.  At least there will be some moisture in the ground when the freeze comes...and it will come.  Meanwhile, the trees are sporting some beautiful colors. Our young Crimson Maple turns a beautiful bronze in the fall.  I'm linking up with Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday.

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #43

I've photographed this old tire swing in previous years, but the brush has grown up so much that I really have to look for it now.  Then I looked for an appropriate quotation.   Joining with Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday.

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #42

Fall is here!  I'm joining with Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday.  This canopy of golden leaves is provided by one of the two old maple trees in our yard.   The problem:  they eventually fall and must be raked up!

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #41 (with #40)

I'm fortunate to live in a beautiful state.  For much of the northern portion of Oregon, the Columbia River is the border between Oregon and Washington.  The Columbia Gorge is packed with beautiful sights and sites.  One such beauty is near the western end of the Gorge, on the historic highway built around 1920. The highway winds across the face of the mountains, high above the current 4-lane freeway next to the river.  Vista House sits atop Crown Point and is a favorite of visitors.  One beautiful view of Vista House is from Chanticleer Point, as this image shows.  Joining Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday. 

(I was across the country in New York last week, so I'm posting my P52 image for Week 40 now.)

On a visit to our oldest son in Brooklyn, my husband and I were able to spend time in the DUMBO area (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass).  Near sunset, the view across the East River at Midtown Manhattan was impressive.  The clouds cooperated beautifully, as well!

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #39

Another year is winding down...I always feel that when obvious signs of fall are everywhere.  One thing I've discovered in the years I've been serious about my photography is that there is great beauty in the death and decay of plants and structures.  Such is certainly the case with the giant sunflowers which bloomed so beautifully in a corner of my back yard.  Now they exhibit a different kind of beauty, one I've chosen to share on Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday.

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #37

When we go to "the big city" of Portland, we have to drive almost the width of the state.  Most of our trip is on I-84, which runs through the Columbia River Gorge.   The river divides the states of Oregon and Washington.  Before the interstate, there was Highway 30, which took a convoluted route through the Gorge.  It climbed high above the river, twisting and turning.  Now, much of that route is maintained as a historic highway, with traditional white guardrails on the sides (visible at lower right).  One high point of the route is Rowena Crest, which affords amazing views of the Columbia, both east and west.  One of those views is my choice for Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday this week.  This particular view is looking back at the way we had come, a view travelers can see only from the old highway "on top."

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #36

Linking up with Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #35 --Header,Heeler, and Steer

Three consecutive Friday evenings each summer, I sit on a metal fence and photograph team ropers from around the area.  An image from one of the ropings.  Joining with Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday.

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #34

Photography is a pain in the neck!   Literally.  I started seeing a chiropractor last week for a miserable stiff neck and tight upper back.  When the doctor asked me what might have caused it, I said I didn't know.  "Stress?" he asked.  I laughed. After all, I'm starting my 13th year of retirement from teaching school. Two days later, I had an answer for him: photography.  It came to me when I was working on some still life images, items on a relatively low table in front of the only window I use for light.  I was bent over, looking through the viewfinder when it struck me:  this is what is causing my neck issues!   And I can now remember when it started.  It was July 31, when I spent 20 minutes craning my neck backwards to photograph the Blue Moon.  Three treatments later, I'm still not totally loosened up, but I'm thinking carefully about my posture when I use my camera, and I'm working out a plan to raise the table used for my still life shots.

Joining in with Kent Weakley's P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday. 

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #33

I'm halfway through a year-long class working with still life.  This past week's assignment was "hanging bottles."  My work involved hanging bottles inside and outside.  This is my favorite.
Joining with Kent Weakley's P52 and Sweet Shot Tuesday.

Edited with Smart Photo Editor Studio (new program) 

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #32

I am enamored of the "rusty crusty" vehicles I can find; for several years, I have photographed them and edited the images to make photo art.  My latest find is sitting in a dry field miles out in the country.  I think it's been there for decades, judging by its age, license plate and sad condition.  It's a 1928 Ford truck with a 1947 license plate.  The owner of the field told me that his grandfather bought the truck new.  I have a wide range of  images of the truck and its various parts, after spending nearly 45 minutes with the truck one evening right before sundown.  I've settled on this particular image for Week 32 of Kent Weakley's P52 and Sweet Shot Tuesday. 

P52 Sweet Shot Tuesday #31

In the rural US, we have a "fire season" every summer and fall.  Some are minor, but in recent years, fighting wildlands fires has become very big business.  Much of the loss in standing timber can be blamed on poor management of state and federal forests, where thinning the trees and removing the "fuel" buildup under the trees has been fought by environmentalists.  This year, the fires are burning all kinds of lands, not just timber.  The drought, brought on by the lack of mountain snowpack during the winter and scant rainfall during the summer, has turned the West into a powder keg, susceptible to fire.  The photo I've chosen for Kent Weakley's P52 this week is not very good quality,  but it represents a frightening chapter in the existence of our rural area:  an out-of-control wildfire.

The fire began Saturday, cause yet unknown, and was 35 acres when the first firefighters arrived on the scene.  This morning (Monday), the fire had burned 1200 acres of timber and grass, and it increased by another 200 acres today.  Now there are 228 firefighters, 2 helicopters, and 13 "engines" (bulldozers, etc.).

In the evenings, the heavy smoke turns the sun blood-red, making it an evil eye in the sky.