My Year in Photos :)

Good Morning Everyone! :)

I hope you are all well :)

In 2011, I took over 12,000 photos with my Nikon D90 camera! I uploaded them and then didn't have time to go thru and look at all of them. Over the past few weeks I have been looking at them and found so many that I wanted to share with you. Last year I shared 2 previously unpublished photos for each month of the year on my blog and I thought it would be fun to do that again this year! :)  It was really hard to keep it to just 2 photos for every month of the year, but here is my 2011 year in photos.

I hope you enjoy them :)

JANUARY

Click on photos to see larger images :)

Sunset over Willamette Falls New Year's Day 2011 (SOOC)

Sunset ove the Willamette River New Year's Day 2011 (I love how the light just catches parts of the railway tracks) (SOOC)

FEBRUARY

Coastal Range approx. 100 miles away (shot taken thru the window in my Dining Rm.) (SOOC)

The glow of a Wintry Southern Evening Sky shot thru my office window (SOOC)

MARCH

Magnolia's at the Crystal Springs "Rhoddie Gardens" Portland Oregon. (SOOC)

Goose on a Mission (SOOC)

APRIL

Magnolia in my Garden :)

Easter Bonnets in the window of John Helmer Haberdasher, Portland Oregon.

MAY

Red Tulips in my Garden

Beautiful Rose, taken as I was driving around a neighbourhood

JUNE

Lovely Peach Iris in my garden :)

One of my "Babies" I really am crazy in love with my Poppies :) (SOOC)

JULY

Stars and Stripes on the 4th of July to honour at a local Cemetery.

It isn't everyday you see Vultures on the roof of a suburban neighbours house, well, not the feathered variety anyway (He! He!) (SOOC)

AUGUST

Flowers in pots in my front garden :)

Surfers on the Oregon Coast, the one and only day I went to the Oregon coast last year, but it was a great time, I went with my son before he went back to college and we sat and watched these guys for nearly 2 hours :) (SOOC)

SEPTEMBER

Rows of Grape Vines in Napa Valley, in the California Sunshine :) (SOOC)

Grapes on the Vines in Napa Valley, great reminder of our lovely vacation :) (SOOC)

OCTOBER

Then the leaves start to change colours, so prettily :)

Fall Leaves, Lake Oswego, Oregon :)

NOVEMBER

Fall Leaves, Portland Oregon

Fall Leaves West Linn, Oregon

DECEMBER

This sign was originally "the White Stag" sign, then the "Made in Oregon" sign and now it is proudly displaying the University of Oregon colours as they have a campus in that building. It is a huge part of the Portland historical landscape and every year over the Holiday Season the Stag's nose is lit in RED :) (SOOC)

Light display in a restaurant we went to over the holidays to celebrate with our whole family together :)

I tried to do more SOOC (straight out of camera) shots this year and it is an interesting challenge when you are taking the photo to know that you are not going to be colour enhancing or adding bits or taking away anything. It is a fun aspect to photography for me. After spending 2010 learning how to alter photos, it felt more like using a film camera, what you take is what you get kind of thing.

I really am enjoying my photographic journey and I truly appreciate you coming along for the ride, cheers, T. :)

 Don't forget to enter my Blog Giveaway to win this lovely

11 x 14 Photo of The Golden Gate Bridge :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Day! :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

Thankful Thursday :)

Good Afternoon all :)

Again I am joining My Blogger Buddy Annette at So Many Memories blog for "Thankful Thursday".


I LOVE the idea that we, at least for one day a week, stop and think consciously about what we are Thankful for :)

This week I am so Thankful we were able to go on Vacation this year :)

As the rain and cold sets in to the Pacific Northwest I wanted to share a few more of our photos from sunny Napa, California :)

click on photo for larger image :)

one of the popular places to eat in St. Helena the American Culinary Institute

couldn't resist taking a shot of this beautiful palm tree outside the ACI.

One of the popular spots to eat in St. Helena for tourists and locals alike, great outdoor burger place. Taylors has Onion rings to die for :)

Taylors :)

Hurley's is my Fav. restaurant in Napa Valley, consistently good food and service :)

Patio is beautifully surrounded by these lovely flowers :)

and Heart shaped cookies :)

my Fav. cocktail at Hurley's :)

If you are in Yountville you have to check out Thomas Kellers Bouchon Bakery :)

More Macaroons Yum! :)

photos of the lake at Chateau Montelena

What can I say, we can't really get Palm Trees to grow in P.Town, so I like to have photos of them :)

Here is the beautiful Swan on the Lake at Chateau Montelena :)

Don't forget to pop over and visit Annette at So Many Memories to see what she is Thankful for today :)

What are you Grateful for Today???

Hope you all had a wonderful Day! :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

Vacationing in Napa Valley, California! Part One :)

Hi Everyone, I really hope your week is off to a wonderful beginning. :)

I wanted to share a little of the fun we had on our recent vacation to Napa Valley. I Hope you Enjoy it too! :)


I LOVE Napa Valley and of course with every vacation area I fall in love with, I really hope one day I get the opportunity to live there, even for a little while :) (Good luck with that one, says the little crazy guy sitting on my shoulder)  :(

The short flight from Portland to Sacramento is so easy; even the airports were no problem and it was a Friday afternoon. I was so excited. YAY!

I really LOVE taking photos out of the airplane windows with my zoom lens (Hello silly, you know there are double paned windows on this plane and the outside is covered in who knows what, I don't care, it is ZOOM or nothing (He! He!)

Click on photos to see larger images

Our plane coming into land at sunny Sacramento airport :)

Floor to ceiling towers of old cases in the baggage claim area of SAC airport, really cool :)

We rented a car for the next stage of our trip, an hour and a half drive. Once we left the fairly flat terrain surrounding Sacramento we wound our way thru Mountains roads, where we passed lots of cows, beautiful hanging moss, and a couple of gorgeous lakes (Lake Berryessa and Lake Hennessey).

Lovely Hanging Moss

Beautiful Lake Hennessey as the sun is setting :)

Another shot of Lake Hennessey.

With experience we know that as we arrive at Lake Hennessey we are not far from Rutherford and the Silverado Trail that will take us to our favourite place to stay in Napa Valley.

If you ever plan a trip to Napa Valley be sure to stay at The Wine Country Inn

I can't reccommend it highly enough. These people know their stuff and really know how to make you feel like you are on vacation straight away. The Inn is set in a beautiful quiet spot surrounded by lovely gardens, vines (of course, this is Napa :) and gorgeous vistas.

View from our balcony. Where we eat breakfast every morning (provided by the Inn :)

Another view from our balcony.

Courtyard

Patio where we sat most evenings eating the amazing appetizers the Inn provided and sampling the wines from the wineries that are invited in for the guests to enjoy! (a different one every evening) 

And the pool, what can I say about this?!?! It was relaxing, amazing, peaceful and I spent a lot of time here, PERFECT!!!

This guy came to the pool everyday for a chat, very friendly those Californian birds :)

Flowers beneath our balcony.

Ornamental Grass in one of the many garden settings around the Inn

The beautiful Agapanthus plant or Lily of the Nile :)

More lovely flowers from the Wine Country Inn's gardens :)

I was so excited when I saw this blossom :)

We decide to drive around the mountains a little more than we have before, of course Mt. St. Helena

 where the Author Robert Louis Stevenson lived for a while high up in an old mining camp. I am fascinated by the story of his life :)


As we drove around we came across this "Air Mail" box, I just had to share it with you, isn't it a crack up :)

"Air Mail" box :)

Then as we looked back at Mt. St. Helena we saw the beautiful outline of the ridge line against the evening sky, the light was ever changing and I took the next few photos from a couple of locations.

It was absolutely perfect :)

I really hope you enjoyed a little taste of Napa Valley, stay tuned for Part Two (What more????) Yep, wine and some fun restaurants :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.