In case anyone wants to take a break from the news, here are all the sidebar images from February.
In no particular order. Click on any image to see the full-size.
Just enjoy the beauty, or also chime in with thoughts about a daily image in the sidebar.
rikyrah
Great pictures
Dorothy A. Winsor
Lovely, lovely, lovely!
YY_Sima Qian
Beautiful photos!
Josie
They are all so wonderful. I find that I am drawn to the ones containing water and of course the birds.
NotMax
Blast from the past, What This Country Needs is Foo.
:)
Almost Retired
Excellent! My favorite is #3 – Dogs in Burkas.
Baud
I find these extremely controversial and disturbing.
Just kidding. Awesome photos.
WaterGirl
As I look at the images, I am reminded of a conversation when I worked at the University. Our IT group had an open office space, and one of the people we supported was in there chatting about something, and for some reason she asked what my favorite color was.
I paused, and was thinking about it, and 4 or 5 of the people who worked for me all started shouting at the same time. BLUE! Your favorite color is blue! How can you not know that? I had chosen pale blue for the office walls, I had artwork up (that all had blue in it), and on and on.
Anyway, it was pretty funny! And I see that I choose a lot of photos with water (no surprise!) and the color blue. I can try to break that up more. :-)
Drunkenhausfrau
What a great way to start my day. Thank you! Thank you to all who shared these beautiful photos! It’s been another week of chaos and cruelty, so reminding us all that beauty and kindness exist is performing first aid for our souls.
narya
I kinda want to do a needlework piece of that bird by Albatrossity.
Another Scott
@Drunkenhausfrau: +1
You said it well.
Thanks everyone.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Raoul Paste
@Drunkenhausfrau: “ first aid for our souls”
What a nice phrase
Ohio Mom
I am so angry so much of the time, I needed this. Thank you.
Blue is also my favorite color and I am a sucker for a snow scene.
Spanky
@WaterGirl:
Nah! And to continue the blue theme, I was out filling the bird feeders this morning when I heard distant honking. A flight of geese at high cruising altitude heading north on a stiff tailwind, dark against the springblue sky.
Spring is coming.
martha
@narya: I want to paint that photo!
WaterGirl
@Almost Retired: That would be the title, for sure!
YY_Sima Qian
Well, this is a great way to end the day for me, going to bed in a tranquil mood. Not checking X or this here site tonight!
mrmoshpotato
Teleport me to that boardwalk.
Thirty degree drop overnight. And crazy wind yesterday.
KSinMA
Beautiful!
WaterGirl
@YY_Sima Qian: Sleep well.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato:
I think that’s an amazing photo.
It feels like it’s right in front of me and I could walk across it.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
These are great pictures! I especially like the one by BigJimSlade from 2/13. The clouds scraping the mountains is such a cool, pretty sight
BlueGuitarist
@WaterGirl:
Thanks so much for posting this!
You will not be shocked that my favorite color is Blue.
Matt McIrvin
@WaterGirl: Someone just did a “favorite color” poll on Mastodon, just listing simple primaries and secondaries, and it was interesting what a winner blue was. Everyone seems to like blue. I said blue but didn’t think it would be such a big winner.
(And, of course, because of historical accidents of the 2000 election, blue is now associated with the Democratic Party. That’s unusual–in most countries, blue is associated with center-right parties, and red with the left. But I think Cold War antipathy to Communism made that latter association a non-starter here.)
pieceofpeace
Lovely photos and enjoy seeing the daily sidebar ones. A lot. Even for a moment, they can cause my mind’s attention to calm, or invigorate or create. Or a blank spot moment. And I purposely give them a long look before delving into further reading. Thank you
Favorite colors are orange and red (yikes!?), although California’s blue skies draw ongoing appreciation.
zhena gogolia
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Yes, that is.
Eunicecycle
Thanks for this, WaterGirl. So peaceful.
schrodingers_cat
Nice photos!
@way2blue is it okay if I use your 2/20 image as a reference for a watercolor? I will give you credit if I share it on social media.
LAC
Soothing and beautiful! Thank you.
Professor Bigfoot
Thank you, WG— that was downright soothing.
Here’s hoping everyone can eke out a few laughs today.
BeautifulPlimage
Hi WaterGirl, posting these each day was a great idea and I’ve been really enjoying them. Thank you for all you do for this place.
I do like seeing all in one place!
WaterGirl
@BlueGuitarist: You will not be shocked to find that I like water. :-)
WaterGirl
@pieceofpeace: Do you click on them in the sidebar to see a larger version of the image? I do sometimes, for a moment of calm and a deep breath.
Professor Bigfoot
Oh, announcement: I’m officially declaring Cooper to be 100% back to his old self, the sweet idiot. Chased the ball for 20 minutes this morning with not a sign of trouble. <WHEW!> MANY thanks to all for your good wishes on his behalf, the rotter (yeah, I’m the one who spoilt him, it’s my own fault, but i’m stuck, y’all LOL).
HeleninEire
Great photos. Every photo I take comes out blurry. Every single one.
Today is a big day. I begin the countdown to retirement. March 1, 2026 and I am hanging up my calculator.
Everyone says it’s gonna fly by, but I dunno. I think it’s gonna drag. Luckily I like my job…just not enough to continue once my pension is vested.
One. More. Year.
stinger
Each one of these is gorgeous. Thanks to all the photographers, and to WG for putting them out each day and for collecting them here.
Matt McIrvin
@Professor Bigfoot: Hooray!
Kelly
Spring is here! I’m a meteorological seasons guy. Seasons are about the weather not the stars. Astronomers should stay in their lane.
FelonyGovt
Thank you so much for this, it’s so welcome, especially right now.
I will go through my photos- I have a few you might like (won’t bombard you, though).
WaterGirl
@Matt McIrvin: Interesting to know that blue is so popular.
WaterGirl
@Professor Bigfoot: That’s such good news!
@HeleninEire: Big news! It’s getting real. :-)
@FelonyGovt: When is your surgery? Any day now, right? Thinking of you often.
WaterGirl
PSA: Don’t forget the Elle Reeve zoom this afternoon. Send me email if you want the link. (same as before if you attended the first one.)
zhena gogolia
@Professor Bigfoot: Good news!
NeenerNeener
I know this was asked before but I didn’t see an answer: what kind of bird is that in Albatrossity’s photo? I’m wondering if they exist in Virginia and what I would have to put in my feeder if so.
zhena gogolia
@NeenerNeener: It’s so cute, isn’t it?
WaterGirl
@NeenerNeener: You can read all about it in the Albatrossity OTR thread that the bird was first posted in.
edit: Sorry! I looked up the post, copied the link, and then didn’t paste it into the thread!
Post with the chunky bird you like.
H.E.Wolf
These are all so beautiful. Thank you for starting this inspired – and inspiring – tradition!
Josie
My six year old granddaughter is autistic. I sit with her after her parents go to work and then take her to her wonderful special school. I am looking forward to sharing these pictures with her in the morniings next week. She loves pictures of nature and animals.
WaterGirl
@NeenerNeener: @zhena gogolia:
i went to the trouble of looking for the post, then forgot to include the link earlier. duh.
Just added it to #46.
WaterGirl
@Josie: I will try to remember to use a couple of animals this week.
When you say next week, do you mean the week that starts in 2 days? Or the week following that?
NeenerNeener
@WaterGirl:
Thanks! I tried just looking through his old On The Road posts and couldn’t find that particular picture.
Albatrossity
@NeenerNeener: That is a Yellow-rumped Warbler in winter plumage. You probably have them in your yard, but they don’t eat seeds, so they don’t come to feeders. Give them a birdbath, however, and they become downright comfy.
NeenerNeener
@WaterGirl: Damn. It looks like southern Virginia is just flyover country for the Yellow-Rumped Warbler, on their way to somewhere else.
FelonyGovt
@WaterGirl: Surgery is this Tuesday. Nervous, but it’s definitely time.
TheOtherHank
I haven’t done too many OTR submissions, but I made the respite pic! I’m so proud
Albatrossity
@NeenerNeener: No, they should be there in the winter. Here’s the map of ebird sightings for that species in Virginia so far this year.
WaterGirl
@NeenerNeener: If you click on the photo, it tells you the name of the file in the url. So I looked up the filename, say “chunky birds 1” and then used the search feature at the top of the sidebar to search for chunky birds.
And the forgot to paste it in! :-)
WaterGirl
@FelonyGovt: Hoping maybe as the days get closer you’ll be like the pregnant woman I knew who was nervous, nervous, nervous and then as the birth date gets closer she switched to “just get this thing out of me!”
frosty
These were all beautiful; thanks for doing this and keep it up. We have a lot of great photographers who’ve posted a ton of great images over the years. Kudos to all!
Josie
@WaterGirl:
The week starting in two days. Thanks.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
Live all the photos! The puppets are my favorites! So adorable.
Elizabelle
I love the doggos swathed in blankets. They know they look good.
Lotta good photos. I like this daily feature; it helps a lot to see the photo at top and bottom right of the site.
bluefoot
@WaterGirl:
Having the sidebar photos has been great. I didn’t realize I could click on them for a larger photo. Thank you!!
Tehanu
Great pix.
WaterGirl
@bluefoot: Yes! I do that all the time. :-)