Andrea Smart

A section of cherry tree twig covered in different types of lichen and some dark green moss (on the bottom). On the upper right, there is some pale, sea-green oakmoss lichen. In the middle is the grayish-white outward-looking rosette lichen with its little black discs. Down to the left is some bright yellow sunburst lichen, along with some pale bluish green shield lichen.

This #HotStickSaturday offering is still part of a cherry tree. Some of my favorite outward-looking rosette lichen with other species and some moss! #Lichen #Fungi #FungiFriends #LichenSubscribe #Macro #Nature #Photography #PNW #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice

The flowing surface of this creek is reflecting the blue sky, black-looking branches, and bright green leaves on the trees above it. The fluid dynamics of it make all these colors swirl and wiggle like a crazy tie-dye shirt.

My eye is always drawn to the patterns reflected on #flowing #water like this #creek last spring. #BlueSkyArtShow #Nature’sTieDye #NatureIsArt #Photography #PNW #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice #KeepGoing

Yes, that’s what I do too! This is also the time of year I start trying to take photos to enter in our local state fair photography contest. Sometimes, one of the 5 angles is just right. We shall see…

😄 Probably much nicer than Caesar! But yes, in the film era, I used to debate with myself - do I really want to waste film on this? Now, I sometimes take 5 pictures of the same patch of moss because I’m trying to get the right angle…

It’s absolutely embarrassing how many pictures I’ve taken since the dawn of digital cameras. I remember having to keep it to 24 on a roll!

This is exactly what happened. And I will go back tomorrow and take more pictures!

I know! I love that branch. I’ve already taken 300+ pictures of cherry blossoms in the last week, and I noticed that these were all smiling in the same direction!

A dark brown tree branch covered in very pale pink cherry blossoms with dark pink centers against a cloudy sky with blurred out, more distant branches. The background almost looks like white marble with gray inclusions.

Sorry for the profusion of #blossoms. I just can’t stop myself from snapping pics. #FlowersOnFriday #BloomScrolling #Spring #NatureIsArt #PNW #Photography #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice #NatureTherapy #Don’tGiveUp

Wow! What a find!

Sunlight filters down through water rushing over a large rock in a creek bottom. The rock has a few orange-ish stripes going diagonally across it, and the sunlight through the water makes alternating bright golden and darker shadow ripples.

Another sunlight-through-water picture. Dazzles my eyeballs. #Water #Sunlight #NatureArt #Photography #PNW #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice #KeepGoing

A cluster of pinkish-white cherry blossoms dripping with rain. Moss-covered, blurred out tree branches behind it on the backdrop of an overcast sky.

Blossoms drinking in the rain. A moment of respite in a mad world. #Spring #Blossoms #BloomScrolling #PNW #NatureIsArt #Rain #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice #MentalHealthBreak

Thank you!

A pinkish, wing-shaped cloud flares up into a pale, twilight blue sky with gray clouds along the horizon at the beach. The pink reflects off the ocean water too. The sunset is actually off screen to the right, which is why the sky is lighter in that direction, but the real show was this cloud over here.

Sending a moment of peace out for everyone who needs it this #TidesOutTuesday. #PacificOcean #Beach #HI #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice #Don’tGiveUp

A few early pale pink cherry blossoms against a deep blue sky with some other branches blurred in the background. The center blossom is open, the one to the right of it is just opening, and the ones below and to the left are still just dark pink buds.

It’s late. The frogs are singing under the moon, which will be eclipsed in a few hours. I’ve been sick and haven’t posted in a couple of days. Honestly, current events have me down to too. Here’s a late #BlueSkyMonday, tho. #BloomScrolling #Spring #Blossoms #Trees #HangInThere

Thanks for the shout out! Alt text for the 3rd picture: a macro shot of light green moss sporophyte stalks holding shiny crystal dew drops. The sporophytes have reddish brown tips. Looks like a fairyland!

A branch fell out of a tree during the last storm. Here it is, - damp, dark purplish-brown wood lying in the dark brown bark on the park path. The stick is covered in pale sea-green oakmoss lichen, some cartilage lichen and tufts of bright, happy, Kelly-green moss.

A larger #HotStickSaturday entry than usual. It’s covered in #Oakmoss #lichen and fluffy #moss. #ISeeMoss #LichenSubscribe #ISeeMoss #PNW #Nature #Photography #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice #MentalHealthBreak

A vibrant, kelly green, 1-centimeter ball of moss growing on a concrete curb. It’s sparkling in the sunlight from all the tiny crystal, orb shaped dewdrops on it.

An adorable #round tuft of #moss with tiny spheres of sparkly #dewdrops. #BlueSkyArtShow #Macro #Photography #NatureIsArt #ISeeMoss #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice #Don’tGiveUp

Tonight’s #sunset with a chorus of tiny Pacific tree #frogs as the soundtrack. We’ll try again tomorrow. #NatureSounds #PNW #NatureTherapy #Trees #NatureIsArt #PacificTreeFrogs #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice #YouMatter

Ew.

A great blue heron is in the process of taking off across the rocky tide pools of Seal Rock, OR. Ripples flow out from where our friend is lifting a foot out of the water, and its wings are stretched out wide brown seaweed covers the rock in front of the heron, and other rocks in the background have brown and dark green seaweed on them. You can tell it’s a bit foggy on the beach here, but the morning sun was trying to burn it away.

Caught this friend about to take #flight last summer at some #OregonCoast #TidePools. #Februarty #Birds #GreatBlueHeron #LooksLikeADinosaur #PNW #Nature #Photography #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice #Don’tGiveUp

I’ve also never seen a dragon (sadly? fortunately?), but still, my first thought on seeing this was, “Ooo, dragon scales.” I wonder why that is? It’s probably all of the fictional or artistic dragon depictions I’ve seen in the past, and the lichen patterns reached into my brain and pulled it out.

A lumpy, 4-centimeter section of a maple tree trunk covered in a species of disc lichen with brownish centers and white rims. The discs are packed together tightly, so they kind of made me think of dragon scales for some weird reason. A bit of pale, bluish-green shield lichen is on the left edge, and a couple of small sprigs of tiny, pale sea green oakmoss lichen is on the far right.

For some reason, the #lichen on this late #ThickTrunkTuesday offering has me thinking about #dragon scales. #LichenSubscribe #Fungi #FungiFriends #Trees #Nature #Photography #PNW #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice #Don’tGiveUp

It’s very warming!

Ahhh! That is a lot of snow! March is coming…

And at least now I don’t have a nerf sword stuck to my hand. 🙄

Oh! It was from July? I was thinking Spring was quite advanced there! It’s chilly and rainy here, but we do have a few little blossoms coming out!

Beautiful!

This is a naturally monochrome, backlit shot of 3 of those round, spiky sweetgum tree seed pods against a light gray, rainy sky. One drop of rain clings to the same twig on the right, and additional branches are blurred out on the left.

A #few backlit sweetgum tree balls for #MonoMonday #Februarty #Trees #PNW #NatureIsArt #Photography #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice #RainyDay #Don’tGiveUp

Thanks! I’d totally love to be able to shrink down and take a walk in there.

A macro photograph of dewdrop-covered moss at eye-level. The foreground and background are blurred, but the narrow focus enlarges the little crystal orbs of dew on the stalks of moss that carry the spores. The tips of the sporophytes are reddish brown. The stalks are a light, yellowish green and the base of the moss is a darker green. I wanna walk through this scene as a fairy!

These tiny #moss #macro shots feel like a #fairy land. #Dewdrops make me crazy. In a good way. #Februarty #Stunday #ISeeMoss #PNW #NatureIsArt #Photography #green #Sparkly #GoOutside #Breathe #Notice #Don’tGiveUp