Sunflower field in Green Bluff, Washington
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge: Surrounded by #Green

Welcome to another Sunday Stills monthly color challenge! For me, the month of March symbolizes all things green, with spring and St Patrick’s Day adding to the mix.

Spring in Eastern Washington is a capricious character in 2023. By now I had hoped to be surrounded by green like you see in the featured image of me surrounded by sunflower plants. Instead, as more snow fell late last week, my potted young evergreens are surrounded in white, quite the opposite of my hope for early spring.

“The pine stays green in winter… wisdom in hardship.” ~ Norman Douglas

Potted Evergreens in snow
Green surrounded by white

Surround Yourself in Green

“Green is a prominent color on our planet and can represent growth, healing, and renewal. To most people, green also represents well-being and tranquility.” ~ JENNIFER OKAFOR

Canada Geese
Canada Geese Love a Green Pond

A few years ago, I observed this lucky student who must have needed a rest after the stress of the first week of classes at Sacramento State University. Must be nice to have a hammock handy.

Hammock between two trees
Relaxing in between college classes

Indoor Green with Spring Décor

Some green décor helps me feel surrounded by green in time for St Patrick’s Day this week! Many of us “Sprang Forward” this weekend for daylight saving time. The mornings will be dark again, but the sun is higher in the sky and the evening light will stay longer. As the Earth tilts closer to the spring equinox, the sunrise moves more to the north each day–the front of our house faces due east.

This week, I captured how the morning sun pours in through the transom window above our front door. The sunlight beams right into our kitchen illuminating the counter and stove.

Green vase in transom window
Green vase in transom window
Sunlight in the Kitchen
Sunlight in the Kitchen

You can still see snow from the transom window in the above image. Here is what our backyard looked like on Thursday. Friday we had snowfall all day. Fingers crossed this is the last of the winter blast!

Last winter blast
Winter or Spring?

Early morning sunrise peeks through our young Ponderosa Pine Tree.

Ponderosa at Sunrise
Green might be winning now

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

Oregon Road Trip

Road trips are a wonderful way to capture landscapes–probably my favorite form of photography.

Last week I took a road trip to Hood River, Oregon to help a neighbor purchase a puppy. We stayed overnight at a hotel on the Columbia River Gorge then drove across the Hood River Bridge to Appleton, Washington to check out the pups. My neighbor ended up not liking the puppies (I know, right??) but I needed a change of scenery and didn’t mind the 5-hour drive each way.

March Sunset on Columbia River
March Sunset on Columbia River
Green Hood River Bridge, Oregon
Hood River Bridge Oregon

This image is from last September’s road trip with Marsha, as we drove along the Oregon Coast near Tillamook. Is that a lot of green, or what?

Road to Cape Meares, Oregon
Road to Cape Meares, Oregon

“Wilderness is a necessity… there must be places for human beings to satisfy their souls.” ~ John Muir

Back in Nine Mile Falls

The fine folks at our local auto parts store were featured in the local newspaper, written and photographed by yours truly. You can bet I was surrounded by green and the staff’s cheery faces!

Men wearing green O'Reilly Autoparts store
Auto parts Professionals sporting green uniforms

Locals in Nine Mile Falls know spring is here when water is finally let out of the Nine Mile Falls dam. However, water won’t be released from the dam for another couple of weeks due to late-season snowfall.

Nine Mile Falls
Nine Mile Falls first sign of Spring

“When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, And the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it.” ~William Blake

I was mesmerized the first time I saw the falls in 2021. So much so, I shared the above image with Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday challenge last week as inspiration for poetry. I loved WillowDot’s gorgeous poem included below:

Pure

Water spirits so alive and pure
Dancing in such glory
Mingle with the verdure
Between them they tell the story

Dancing in such glory
Earth and water lushly combine
Between them they tell the story
The mix is spiritual and divine

Earth and water lushly combine
An offering to Nature
The mix is spiritual and divine.
Two elementals true and sure

An offering to Nature
Spirit mists kiss as before
Two elements true and sure
Water spirits so alive and pure

Soon, our neighborhood will be more green than white!

neighborhood blue buildings

“Nature in her green, tranquil woods heals and soothes all afflictions.” ~ John Muir

Inspiring Photo Challenges This Week

Each week I am inspired by my fellow bloggers’ photo challenges. I enjoy incorporating these into my Sunday Stills weekly themes.

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

This Week’s Featured Bloggers

Sunday Stills is a wonderful community of bloggers and photographers who desire to connect with one another. Below are this week’s links from bloggers who shared their GREEN photos. I add these all week as new links are posted.

I can’t wait to see how you interpret the color GREEN this week! Join me next week as we explore the theme “I’d Rather Be….”

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136 comments

  2. I love that you spoke to Spring with your words, even though you still have snow. And green!? It does have a sense of peace for those who love nature. I love the photo of the sun through the ponderosa branch. The road trip was lush and no doubt reflective for you. People who love to drive find so much to see and think about while on the road. Thanks for the reminder… it’s Sunday.

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  3. I do love spring and the rebirth of life. The Celt in me loves green 💚 and the colour always inspires me. I love your photos they speak reams.
    Thank you so much for using my poem it is a favourite of mine,even though it is a new one💜

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  5. Terri, love this post and all the ways you captured green. I live in a community that starts celebrating St. Patrick’s Day early in March every year so I am surrounded by green everywhere I look right now.

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  6. I didn’t realize how much I missed seeing green until I saw all of your photos! I love your smile standing in front of all of those sunflowers. So warm and happy! You’ve inspired me to hang on a bit longer…spring will arrive eventually. That’s a beautiful inspirational photo to go with Willow’s poem. Happy St. Patrick’s day to you this week!!

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    • Thank you so much, Shelley! My post arrived an hour early this morning instead of the “new” 7am Pacific DST–whatever–the notifications came pouring in–who needs to sleep after losing an hour? Spring is slow but it will be here for us northerners very soon! Happy St Patty’s Day and I’m off to read your post!

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  8. The falls pic is awesome – love the green it shows. The pic out the window with the bright green vase is excellent.

    With green being so predominant in nature and with spring starting to spring forth (although Cincinnati received a smidgen of snow this morning), a your choice for March is perfect. Interesting that green being so evident in nature, yet green for clothes and decorating is trendy.

    Lucky for me, I’ve done a beach walk about green – so I invite your readers to stop by. https://beachwalkreflections.wordpress.com/2021/03/18/52-green/

    Hope all is well.

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    • Thank you, Frank! When that sunlight floods in from the window, it is stunning–I remembered that green vase and placed it up there last week–surely a sign of spring in the house! Hope spring arrives for you soon!

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  14. Gorgeous greens, Terri. The road to Cape Meares is amazing. Did you take that on our trip? I don’t remember anything that glorious! I love the falls and Willow Dot’s poem. Isn’t she something with words?

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  17. When that snow finally ends, green will be everywhere, Terri. Beautiful photos. That green drive through Oregon is why I love it here, my favorite color everywhere. You can smell it and taste it. And a gorgeous poem from Willow for your gorgeous photo. Wow. Enjoy the last of winter and get ready to glory in green.

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    • Thank you, Graham! No more snow on that lantern, still a bit in our backyard, but rain is on the way with temps in the upper 40s. We are already walking through muddy spots in the driveway. The puppies were perfect, my neighbor was just obnoxious–she felt their pedigree didn’t meet her impossible standards, some breeders are like that–too long of a story to tell 😦

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  22. I truly love this quote “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

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  25. That Oregon Coast road image is my favorite and reminds me of last summers CA coastal drive. Sounds like a great puppy road trip down to Hood River. Isn’t that a perk to being retired…you can up and leave spontaneously. Lol. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I hope your cold snowy weather ends soon.

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  30. Well of course Terri – what color OTHER than green could be highlighted during the week of St. Pat’s ?! Terrific examples – especially loved the trees this week! Hope the snow melts soon!!!

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  43. Terri,
    Excellent choice for SPD Week! I love your picture at the top and the green vase in the transom window. You live in a region covered in green (when there’s no snow, LOL), and I thank you for sharing. My contribution is one of my favorite green photos, taken at Watson Falls in Crater Lake, OR. The many shades of green make for interesting contrasts. Happy St. Patrick’s Day–I will enjoy a green beer! Joe

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  44. We’re looking forward to the greens of spring here too Terri. No snow in London, thankfully, but we do feel like we’re a couple of weeks behind where we should be in mid-March. So I loved seeing all your greens, especially that road to Cape Meares 🙂
    As you know, when we can’t wait for spring to arrive we take ourselves off somewhere warm, this year Colombia. So I’m taking you to one of the greenest places we visited there, and double-dipping with Jo’s Monday Walks: https://www.toonsarah-travels.blog/a-steep-walk-in-the-valle-cocora/

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  50. The hummingbird lantern is so beautiful, Terri. And your Hood River trip looks like a perfect photo opportunity. A change of scenery is always good.

    Fortunately, we have plenty of evergreens here, so don’t lose the colour green during the winter. But I see why you’re getting fed up with all the white stuff now. Looking at the photo of the hammock made me feel very relaxed. It reminded me of lazy summer afternoons.

    I hope the green wins out over the whites soon. And enjoy the lighter evenings. Our clocks don’t spring forward in the UK until the last Sunday in March.

    You’ll see my entry in my Wordless Wednesday post.

    Enjoy your week.

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    • Thanks, Hugh! The change of scenery was a much-needed dose of spring, in spite of the reason for going. Green is winning, snow is melting, spring is here! Our clock changes didn’t affect the morning light, thank goodness. “See” you soon!

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  58. Your greens are very cheery Terri and I love the colours in that waterfall and the road trip with Marsha. I’ve been away for a week or so and haven’t managed to join you this week.

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  70. I enjoyed your sharin’ of the green Terri. We need a little boost with Winter deciding to hang on for dear life, though Spring is on our doorstep. All your greens look so lush and inviting. We had snow squalls that caused whiteout conditions and resulted in a 150-car pileup. It was 130 miles from me, but my area had snow squalls as well. I walked in 10F real feel and 20 mph winds yesterday and it was pretty brutal today as well.

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    • I’m sorry to hear winter is still slapping the Midwest around, Linda! I was in my first snow squall this winter…wild! My hats off to you walking in 10F! Thank you, I’m glad my bit of green gave you a boost. Here’s hoping spring lands quickly there!

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      • Our 150 car pile-up from the squall made all the news stations – today was like a real Spring day, but back to rain two days and wintry mix … walking is one step forward, two steps back these days!

        Liked by 1 person

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