Skywatch

Ho-hum, what a boring photo for Skywatch, but its what the sky looks like this afternoon here in Iowa.

Visit SKYWATCH FRIDAY to see photos from around the world.

Proof

This photo proves that snow fell yesterday and also that our porch screen door has a hole in it that Miss Kitty walks through so she can meow at us.

No Editing Needed

Here's a unedited shot taken early Sunday morning when everything was covered in frost.

    

Barm Charm

Here's a drive-by shot taken a few weeks ago.  I almost didn't see this old barn hidden behind the trees.

Visit Bluff Area Daily for this week's Barn Charm.

Frost Macros

Yesterday morning's frost had a geometric look...

 

Frosty Shots

There was lots of photoworthy frost around this morning...

 I took this next one with the macro lens attached...

More frosty photos to come in the next post.

Snowfall

The recent snowfall brought us about six inches and then, surprisingly, was not followed by strong winds to blow it into drifts.

Cats & Snow

Overnight the forecasted snow arrived.  Most of our cats find an indoor place to sleep this time of year, but not this one.

A few snowflakes were still falling when I took this next shot.  They look like bubbles.

Skywatch

The sky looked photoworthy one evening last week...

Visit Skywatch Friday to see photos from around the world.

Branch Shot

     Here's another tree branch shot I took the same evening as the one in the post before the one before this one:

     Obviously, I haven't been using the camera much lately.  My February file has only sixteen photos in it so far and the month is nearly over.  A snowstorm is supposed to arrive this afternoon and hopefully it will bring along some photo ops.

Barn Charm

Here's a drive-by shot taken about a month ago...

Visit Bluff Area Daily for this week's Barn Charm.

Trees & Sky

Late yesterday afternoon a colorful sky developed so I took the camera outdoors and shot around until my fingers got too cold.

Snowflakes

It was snowing a little bit this morning and I realized I'd not attempted to take any snowflake photos yet this winter.  Here's a close-up shot of some on a shingled roof:

Skywatch

While looking through boxes of old photos this week, I found a sky photo I took in 1989:

Visit Skywatch Friday to find photos from around the world.

Mountain Scenery

     In the summer of 2005 my son was working a college internship in Colorado. Some of us other family members couldn't pass up the opportunity to go visit him and enjoy the mountain scenery.  This photo was taken looking west from south of Boulder:

Here's a drive-by shot taken from Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park:

And, a little further down the road, Longs Peak could be seen in the distance:

Yesterday

     Yesterday my husband had an appointment in town so I rode along.  We've travelled the same route countless times so there was very little hope of seeing anything out of the ordinary.  Here's one shot I took.  There's a creek beyond the field and snowdrifts.

Lincoln's Birthday

Yesterday and just in time for Lincoln's birthday, I found some photos taken in 1988 in Springfield, Illinois.  This is at Lincoln's tomb:  

 We toured the house where Abraham and Mary Lincoln and their children lived:

We also toured the Old Capitol building in downtown Springfield:

Today is also my blog's 6th birthday.

Barn Charm

This barn photo was taken last week...

Visit Bluff Area Daily for this week's Barn Charm.

The Dells

     Another trip we took in my in-laws' motorhome was to the Wisconsin Dells area in the fall of 1983.  We visited the Mid-Continent Railway Museum at North Freedom and took a ride on a train pulled by this steam locomotive:

     We also went on a boat ride through the Dells of the Wisconsin River.  Before going there I had wondered what dells were.  They are rock formations and here is one of them:  

Trip to Chicago

     Two of my kids and I once visited Chicago.  This photo shows the date of July 1, 1997.  We left home early in the morning and arrived there in early afternoon.  I was a little nervous about driving in a big unfamiliar city, but before we left I carefully mapped out the route to the downtown hotel where we had a reservation and we had no problem getting there.  Here's a shot taken in Grant Park, I think:

     We toured the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium, the Art Institute, and the Museum of Science & Industry.  We rode to the top of the John Hancock Building to see what we could see.  From up there we spied Michael Jordan's Restaurant which was where the kids wanted to go for lunch.  We walked over there and had some really good hamburgers.

  

Skywatch

Here's another look at yesterday's early morning sky...

Visit Skywatch Friday

This Morning

Finally, a sunrise that prompted me to grab the camera and rush outdoors to capture it in a photo.  It was this morning before I headed to the barn for chores.

Obviously, I'm not a very early riser.  I've never liked getting up in the dark so I don't do it unless I absolutely have to.  Way in the distance are the car lights of a good early riser probably heading to work.

Another Trip

     For our 5th wedding anniversary, in the summer of 1983, my husband and I took a trip to The Apostle Islands which are located in Lake Superior on the north shore of Wisconsin.  I had read an article about them in Midwest Living magazine and told my husband about it and we decided to go there.  Advance reservations were required for an excursion boat ride so I made a phone call to find out which one was available the day we would be there.  It was the one to Raspberry Island, which has this lighthouse, built in 1862:

     I remember the boat departed from the town of Bayfield.  Here's a shot from somewhere amongst the islands:

     We had only a couple days to be gone so alot of the time was spent driving up there and back again, but all in all it was a fun trip.

Barn Charm

Late afternoon shot of an Amish barnyard taken a couple weeks ago...

Go to Bluff Area Daily for this week's Barn Charm.

Another Trip From the Past

     Easy it is to fall off the blogging wagon.  Over the weekend I went to visit one of the grandkids and had a great time.  Now this morning I'm back here at home wondering what to blog about.  I guess it will be these random photos from a trip we took in 1989---my father and mother-in-law let us use their motorhome and they also milked the cows so we could go to Montana to visit my husband's brother and his family.
     Here's a drive-by shot from somewhere along I-94 in North Dakota as we were heading home to our own cows and hay bales.  It I remember correctly, there was a billboard announcing that we were looking at "The World's Largest Holstein Cow":

     We spent a day in Glacier National Park.  This photo was taken from the cab of the motorhome:

We stopped at the Little Big Horn:

     It was a fun trip.  One of our kids was just five months old.  She wishes she could remember the trip because we never did anything like it again.  It was definitely one of those "once in a lifetime" events.

  

Reminiscing

     On these cold winter days I've been having fun looking at old photos, so I've decided to post one each week under the title of "Reminiscing".  Sometimes it will be travel photos.  I don't feel I've traveled that much, but probably more than some people and less than others.  Whenever we went somewhere I usually took pictures.  (Or my husband took them.)  They sit quietly in albums and boxes waiting to be rummaged through.  

     This one is from the 1980 trip to Colorado.  On the back of the photo I wrote, "Independence Pass, Hwy. 82, Colorado".  If you wonder what I'm holding in my hand, its the cap I'd been wearing.