seeing blue

http://www.realmonstrosities.com/2012/01/blues.html
http://shootingmyuniverse.blogspot.com/2012/01/horizon-returns-home.html
http://bluejaybarrens.blogspot.com/2012/01/lost-trademark.html
http://flowerhillfarm.blogspot.com/2011/12/essential-ethereal-time-transformation.html
http://seagullsteve.blogspot.com/2011/12/steepy-mountain-yields.html
http://shootingmyuniverse.blogspot.com/2011/12/forgotten-photo-friday-night-shot-of.html

best photos from 2011

Jim Goldstein has an annual Blog Project. I don't participate as I don't consider myself a photographer in the artistic sense; I take pictures mainly to quickly document what I find. Here's my collection of other bloggers/amazing photographers who have participated this year:
http://jwallphoto.blogspot.com/2011/12/best-10-of-2011.html
http://jimcoda.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/best-photos-of-2011/
http://blog.patulrichphotography.com/2011/12/favorite-photographs-of-2011.html
http://www.thefreequark.com/2011/12/best-2011-pics-or-favorite-pics-of-2011/

And, of course, here's a link to the man who started it all:
http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2011/12/19/blog-project-your-best-photos-from-2011/

watery reflections

I am sometimes amazed how the English language can state something realistically descriptive and can also hint at something metaphorical.

http://wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2011/12/under-summery-blue-sky.html
http://biobabbler.blogspot.com/2011/12/photo-quiz-answer-and-winners.html
http://blog.patulrichphotography.com/2011/12/reflecting-on-2011-and-sanderling-for.html
http://hwyfly.blogspot.com/2011/12/do-you-know.html

Santa hats on insects and related, part 2

I think this may become an annual collection. To see last year's, click here.

http://thebuggeek.com/2011/12/24/ho-ho-hoppers/
http://beetlesinthebush.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/santa-jaws/
http://jwallphoto.blogspot.com/2011/12/surprise-in-willows.html
http://membracid.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/happy-roachy-hanukkah/

lichen on vehicles

http://phyteclub.org/2011/12/22/green-roofs-theyre-not-just-for-houses-anymore/
http://aeshnacaerulea.blogspot.com/2011/12/attack-of-mechanised-symbionts.html

winter solstice

http://riverdaze.blogspot.com/2011/12/ring-out-wild-sky.html
http://matthewwills.com/2011/12/22/solstice/
http://thecommonmilkweed.blogspot.com/2011/12/happy-winter-solstice.html
http://flowerhillfarm.blogspot.com/2011/12/spinning-tilting-towards-winter.html
http://sierrafoothillgarden.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/winter-solstice-in-the-sierra-foothill-garden/
http://www.patriciaklichen.com/2011/12/happy-solstice.html
http://tmousecmouse.blogspot.com/2011/12/novel-ecosystems-copout-or-valid-shift.html
http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/2011/12/music-video-chiron-beta-prime-jonathan.html

link dumplings

Folks after my own heart:
http://cameratrappingcampus.blogspot.com/search/label/link%20dump
http://natureblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/blog-stew-with-link-dumplings.html

snow geese

http://rockpaperlizard.blogspot.com/2012/02/richmond-snow-goosery-and.html
http://www.thefreequark.com/2012/01/the-cripples-or-why-i-hate-wing-shooting/
http://treeinthedoorvideo.blogspot.com/2012/01/snowgeese.html
http://wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2012/01/confusion-of-snow-geese.html
http://dailycalifornia.blogspot.com/2011/12/sky-filled-with-snow-geese.html
http://rockpaperlizard.blogspot.com/2011/12/waiting-for-real-snow.html
http://seagullsteve.blogspot.com/2011/12/central-standard.html
http://ecobirder.blogspot.com/2011/11/snow-geese-at-dawn.html
http://zettsett.blogspot.com/2011/11/sacramento-national-wildlife-reuge.html

lunar eclipse

http://camissonia.blogspot.com/2012/01/total-lunar-eclipse-manzanita-mania-and.html
http://dipperanch.blogspot.com/2011/12/de-lovely.html
http://snailseyeview.blogspot.com/2011/12/missed-it-by-that-much.html
https://frishmanphoto.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/cold-desert-eclipse/
http://jwallphoto.blogspot.com/2011/12/moonset-seal-rocks.html
http://hwyfly.blogspot.com/2011/12/try-again-in-3-years.html
http://biobabbler.blogspot.com/2011/12/lunar-eclipse-baby.html
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2011.html#LE2011Dec10T

Christmas trees

http://matthewwills.com/2011/12/09/let-my-people-go/
http://flightplot.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/christmas-trees/
http://www.patriciaklichen.com/2011/12/christmas-trees-real-or-fake.html

depression

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2011/10/adventures-in-depression.html
http://www.norcalkatie.com/2011/11/sideways-light.html
http://www.norcalkatie.com/2011/10/love-bomb-for-kate.html

winter has arrived

About the week before Thanksgiving, I noticed several bloggers posted snow from their areas. I failed to make note of it. Now, it seems winter has arrived in earnest:

http://natureblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/snow-on-back-order.html
http://baron-troutbirder.blogspot.com/2011/12/winter-arrived-last-night.html
http://seabrookeleckie.com/2011/12/04/sunday-snapshots-first-snow/
http://jwallphoto.blogspot.com/2011/12/frost.html
http://swanscot.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/winters-finally-here/

manure spreaders

Quite literally.

http://dailyyarnsnmore.blogspot.com/2011/12/dont-get-stuck-behind-manure-spreader.html
http://massanuttengametrails.blogspot.com/2011/11/back-in-civilization.html

beetles bonking bottles

It amazes me the time lag it takes from when other people post versus the ones who actually did the research...

http://bunyipco.blogspot.com/2011/12/beetles-on-bottle.html
http://skepticalmoth.southernfriedscience.com/2011/09/sexy-sexy-beer-bottles/

parks

http://66squarefeet.blogspot.com/2011/12/highbridge-park.html
http://thecommonmilkweed.blogspot.com/2011/11/malabar-farm-state-park-thanksgiving.html
http://jwallphoto.blogspot.com/2011/11/walk-in-park.html

razor, barbed wire

When we visited my family in the Central Valley this past holiday, Andy took a short run around the couple blocks or so in the neighborhood. While my adoptive kin own large, fancy, enviable houses, Andy noticed razor wire strung along the fence of a daycare center and the homeless people who were very friendly to him. My family joked during lunch that the place he found was a "preparatory" school for what life would be like in prison. Looking back it's not that funny. It's sad. Then, later that evening I listened to stories from cousins about their experiences of loud domestic fights they heard from neighbors, such that police evacuated them in the middle of the night at gunpoint. Homelessness, razor wire around daycares, gunpoint evacuations? This doesn't seem like the US, does it? Do we put up irritating fences to keep people in or to keep them out?

http://hwyfly.blogspot.com/2011/12/little-fence-for-big-horses.html
http://dawn-dancingintherain.blogspot.com/2011/11/on-vision-and-mind.html
http://themaxefiles.blogspot.com/2011/11/urban-prison-3-hemming-us-in.html

And as an extension of these thoughts...
http://66squarefeet.blogspot.com/2011/12/mimi-needs-little-help.html
http://talesfromthecoast.blogspot.com/2011/12/things-happen.html

it's a matter of perspective/perception

http://gowestferalwoman.blogspot.com/2011/11/thankful.html
http://natureinquiries.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/winter-campfire-ahtilas-the-house/

Happy Thanksgiving!

I really love the sentimental and the creative nature blogs out there. May many blessings be with you where ever you are.

http://hwyfly.blogspot.com/2011/11/home-from-holiday.html
http://ozarktrailguide.blogspot.com/2011/11/happy-thanksgiving-im-thankful-for-this.html
http://seagullsteve.blogspot.com/2011/11/pelagic-hell.html
http://talesfromthecoast.blogspot.com/2011/11/thanks.html
http://thedragonflywoman.com/2011/11/25/thankful-entomologist/
http://northwestnaturalmoments.blogspot.com/2011/11/wild-turkeys-giving-thanks-for-simple.html
http://gallimaufrylife.blogspot.com/2011/11/thankfulness-over-knoll.html
http://bluejaybarrens.blogspot.com/2011/11/turkey-feast-and-guest.html
http://thedragonflywoman.com/2011/11/24/happy-thanksgiving/
http://ecobirder.blogspot.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-by-lucy-larcom.html
http://shootingmyuniverse.blogspot.com/2011/11/happy-thanksgiving.html
http://snailseyeview.blogspot.com/2011/11/happy-thanksgiving.html
http://flwrjane-smallbutcharming.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-like-to-be-in-america.html
http://myrmecos.net/2011/11/24/ants-overeat-too/

commentary on (over)consumption

http://phyteclub.org/2011/11/23/consume-rhymes-with-doom/
http://gallimaufrylife.blogspot.com/2011/11/heres-something-i-never-thought-would.html

snowy owls

Is it just me, or does seeing a white owl remind you of Hedwig and her reproachful looks from Harry Potter? I have another owl list o' links.

http://www.audublog.org/?p=6791
http://baron-troutbirder.blogspot.com/2012/02/owls.html
http://www.thefreequark.com/2012/02/wildlife-photography-ethics-matter/
http://seagullsteve.blogspot.com/2012/01/winter-tour-part-ii-ocean-shores.html
http://blog.patulrichphotography.com/search/label/snowy%20owl
http://billofthebirds.blogspot.com/search/label/snowy%20owl
http://hannibalsanimals.blogspot.com/2011/11/snowy-owl.html
http://jkissnhug.blogspot.com/2011/11/snowy-owl-harrison-twp.html

non-snowys:
http://kadirbekci53.blogspot.com/2011/11/doga-ve-insan.html
http://jkissnhug.blogspot.com/2011/11/barred-owl-on-bittersweet-photo-by.html