SUNNY YELLOW!

 My most recent photos seem to have a colors scheme.  It was not planned, but could it be a result of the joy found in having sunshine at last?

Color me yellow-happy!

Before arriving at Granite Falls, Pat and I did some farm-road scoping.

This great barn with the aging yellow edges had a side-kick:

In the pasture at the feet of the barn:

Earlier this season, Mother Nature displayed a different combo of blooms with the same complimentary colors.  Not buttercups, but I was on my tummy to make this photo just the same: 

 Closer to home; in fact, in our own backyard is an entire orchestra of iris.  They are all the same instrument: yellow.  This was made as the sun set behind it:

How accommodating this fat little goldfinch was to arrive in our garden when yellow was on my mind: 

My

GRANITE FALLS

Earlier this week I invited Pat for a ramble to a place I haven't been for many years, and to where Pat has never been:  Granite Falls.

This is part of the Stilliguamish River that rumbles through a narrow chasm.  It is not a "falls" of great height, but a long cascade over immense granite walls and boulders.

Looking down-river, in sun and shadow:

 Looking up-river to a singularly-tenacious fir tree atop the granite wall: 

Example of the granite and lovely green river:

The granite gorge is fairly  narrow, so we were making photos in the unfortunate situation of stark sun and shade.  

I was working with a new filter, and was quite pleased with the results; experimenting with metering  and settings to make pics of the extreme contrasts that we saw, plus trying to capture "slow" water:

Along the trail to the river, I cannot keep from making photos of Northwest growth: 

I have no idea what this pee-wee growth is - some kind of fungus? - but it was so blush-bright and tiny that it grabbed my attention; I nearly stepped on it. It was no larger than my little fingernail: 

Infant Goats'--beard?  I am not sure.  I don't think I have ever seen Goats'-beard before it is mature:

Quintessential Northwest: flora grows ANY-place!  This tiny fern - about the size of a salad plate - found a foothold in a seam of granite:

A less delicate fern, but still such an art form:

More ferns, as tree coverings:

And back-lit:

Under an arched old root, backwaters reflect the forest growth.   This is not slime, but moving, fresh water:

Here the sun was backlighting young maple leaves, but it was the silhouetted old growth stump that added to the photo op for me:

NICE HABIT: HEADING SOUTH!

Hooray for my 3 "girl"(we are young at heart)  cousins, and hooray for our being able to have our 4th annual Cousin Capers at one cousin's home in St. George, Utah!  Even if we can go 10 more years, we will never get enough of this stunning area.  Each year we have chosen different hikes and destinations.

This year, our first hike was in the "White Rocks"wilderness area in Snow Canyon.

Early on  the trail: 

Going ever upwards.  I loved making this photo of the dark, dead tree against the crinkled white rock, showing opposites of textures and colors: 

Higher yet:

Valiant blooms:

Lucky were we to catch this echinopsis, which blooms only at night, and very rarely:

To me, the dead and dried "blooms" have beauty too:

Red rocks adjoin the White Rocks in stunning duet, and again, I wanted to make a photo with a dead and brittle tree: 

We spent a day up at Pine Valley.  This area is desert also, but the panorama looks refreshing:

Another hike was in the Chuckwalla wilderness area.  This is a perfect example of the terrain, where any kind of a "trail" is hard to find:

We spent our long day scrambling over areas like this:

And we were rewarded with exceptionally varied scenes, close at hand: (next 4 pics)

Lucky me!  I could take my morning walk  from my cousin's front door right in Snow Canyon.  

My walks were in the cool of each morning, and the rising sun made highlights and shadows of different views:

It rained one day, but was not a negative, as I still got photos in the morning: