FULL CIRCLE OF LIFE -still cold here!

I thought spring had finally sprung. This shot was done with my new digital SLR -a tiny new beginning for a plant. (All the shots in this sequence were taken with my new digital SLR)
BE SURE TO CLICK ON THESE PICTURES FOR AN EXTRA LARGE VIEW
The sun was out-summer seemed just a few weeks away. Tiny wildflowers bloomed in my yard
The beautiful postcard mountains seemed to be getting more and more nice from one of my favorite view-spots. It was warm and easy to walk around that day.
And then it snowed and snowed, and snowed again. HUGE snowflakes in March.
And then it froze and snowed and froze again. Then it all melted and I have been hearing that it is going to get cold again! Sorry about lack of more and new content in my website, there is not a whole lot to photograph when the weather is like this but there are some benefits to it and as I often say ...there is always something interesting to photograph
Frozen tiny plants taken in my yard. They could be found in nearly any lawn and are a kind of weed probably brought over by bird feeders. They iced over quickly and started a chain of pictures that illustrates to me, in small way how life has and will go full circle..

With Photoshop I added a couple of filters to make the image seem frozen into the ground or a pond entirely but not exactly for that effect. I adjusted color temperature, hue, saturation and other controls until I got where I wanted.
And this is what I wanted. Green plants turned into what seems like the surface of what makes there existence possible--the sun. The plants, me, my camera, the computer your looking at this on--is all made of stardust once circulated through incredibly hot and extreme atomic pressure. We are stardust, and will it be again?

"LAVA LIFE" This is the seconed version I did useing Gradient map filters with some
adjustments.

The Dalles sunset again, I have many versions varied on this shot. We have a very quick sunset and sunrise--due to this and the mountains--my view is out of a postcard and drives me to take far more pictures then I should!


This is how our mornings here in The Dalles usually start out in the winter and fall seasons. The layer of frost was not limited to the frozen rooftops--green plants that have been clearly fooled over and over again get frosted each cold morning so far. And more cold is still expected--it's March the 14th!

IF we EVER have summer here again--I can't wait to be able to bring you spiders from California where my dad lives and before or after that--the ones that come back. Also-with a more powerful camera--photographs of SPIDERS and INSECTS are going to be the most incredible yet. It's the 15 of March and still as cold as the pictures above. I plan in trip in
less then 3 weeks from now to California to see my Dad and step mom. I hope to have better luck and more interesting NEW pictures on that trip.

I WELCOME ANY COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS-
Everyone has there own view of what is a nice picture and what is not. I welcome anything such as constructive criticism as well as compliments. Keep them coming, I very much appreciate the number of compliments I have received. Being a relatively new photographer it is very good to be noticed.