Posts Tagged ‘photography’
Cracking Cones
With spring-like weather showing up way too soon, we have changes going on that are very un-February-like.
The moisture of the melting snow rises in the morning to create a mystical haze in front of the pines in the distance.
The remains of the melting plowed snow on the edge of the driveway are smeared with the dirt that got scraped up by the blade.
Most uncharacteristic of February is the clicking sounds of pine cones popping open in the warm sunshine.
My poor brain is wrestling over reveling in the luxury of the gentle weather at the same time as fretting over the complications this odd warmth could bring about.
In the moments between mental wrangling, the craziness offers plenty of opportunities for me to busy myself taking pictures of scenes that catch my eye.
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Honorable Mention
There were many, many pictures taken over the weekend, most of which didn’t even make it into the photo contest. Some that were entered into the contest were overshadowed by those the panel of judges selected as winners. Today, I’d like to feature one such image from the most enthusiastic photographer in the contest.
Honorable Mention, Category: Nature by Abby S. (12yrs)
I’m a little partial toward it because I also submitted a view of the same frozen lake for the Nature category. Abby and I share a similar perspective when it comes to photography.
Even though the saying holds true that what happens at the lake stays at the lake, there are a few tidbits that are bound to leak. I figure that if I get out front of any rumors that may spring up, I have a better chance of controlling the narrative.
No one can blame me for drinking all the orange juice. And those cheese puff balls that only lasted a short time never once passed my lips.
One particularly noteworthy situation that I adored sprung up when Elysa showed off the fraying thumbs of her fancy knitted mittens. We’d hardly returned indoors when I found my sister, Mary, hand-spinning some yarn for use to repair those knitted thumbs. Faster than made sense to me, Elysa was showing off that her mittens looked as good as new. Way to go, Mary!
For four days, it seemed as though there was constant activity but it never once seemed like too much. With very little pre-planning, wildly entertaining games seemed to blossom out of nowhere.
I had never seen most of the games and found them to be equally enjoyable whether I was in the middle of the actions or calmly observing from a safe distance. Off the top of my head, here are a few wonderfully descriptive titles:
Ouisi- Trash Pandas
- Tripoley
- Sushi Go Party
- Happy Salmon
- Cribbage
- Code Names
- Pokemon
- Twister (outdoors)
- Golf (with playing cards)
If we weren’t playing games or editing photos, we were eating. Smoked bbq meatballs, white chicken chili with cornbread, breakfasts with gooey caramel rolls, spicy biscuits and gravy, fruit salad, pizza from Coops, scrumptious salads, and dessert treats that shall not be named so no one has to think about those calories.
Additional honorable mentions go to Tim for his seamless ability to light pilot lights that inexplicably needed lighting, for tightening a loose toilet seat, cleaning the kitchen to exceptional levels, and for helping Nick on a run to the liquor store that included a stop at a hardware store for a wing nut I needed.
To top off all that fun, conversations flowed amiably in a wide variety of directions that included precious memories, humorous stories, and thoughtful considerations.
Now I miss everyone almost more than I can stand. Stopping all that brilliant sweet family fun so abruptly is not an easy thing to do. It’s really hard to explain to Asher where everyone disappeared to now that we are home where it’s just me, Cyndie, and him.
Hey, family… let’s not wait so long to plan another sleep-over gathering event next time!
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Contest Winners
Hays Hayward Weekend Photo Contest Winners!
First Place, Category: Laughter by John H. (adult)
Second Place, Category: Laughter by Heidi S. (14yrs)
First Place, Category: Food by Kolten M. (14yrs)
Second Place, Category: Food by Henry S. (12yrs)
First Place, Category: Still Life by Kolten M. (14yrs)
Second Place, Category: Still Life by Henry S. (12yrs)
First Place, Category: Wildwood by Elysa H. (adult)
Second Place, Category: Wildwood by Latisha M. (adult)
First Place-Tie, Category: Nature by Heidi S. (14yrs)
First Place-Tie, Category: Nature by Julian H. (adult)
Second Place, Category: Nature by Henry S. (12yrs)
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Snowscape Again!
I got what I wanted! I’ve pared down the photos to seven from the many more pictures we couldn’t resist taking of the glorious snowy scenes that greeted us yesterday morning. What a difference a day makes.
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The snow won’t be around for long. By the end of the day yesterday, I bet we lost half of what fell. The driveway was clear and dry just a few hours after I plowed. Even though the air temperature never rose above freezing, the mid-February sun was at a high enough angle to have a big impact on surfaces.
We expect to be on the road before noon today on our way to Hayward for the weekend. Our newest horse volunteer will tend to the herd while we are gone. Here’s hoping they don’t give her a hard time. The mares were unusually rambunctious yesterday at feeding times.
Thankfully, they understand our routine enough to calm down quickly after a few mouthfuls of feed. The hanging buckets have been a good change in almost entirely eliminating their tendency to chase each other around like a game of musical chairs.
Tomorrow, I post from the lake place! Maybe I’ll take a picture or two.
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Low Sun
These days the stroll up to the house after feeding the horses is happening when the low angle of the sun is casting long shadows. The leaf shadows look like outlines of science-fiction creatures.
So, I shot ‘em.
With my phone camera.
Then I noticed an even longer shadow creature:
For a second, I imagined I was that tall. It was dizzying.
No skiing, snowshoeing, plowing, shoveling, or igloo building happening around here this winter. Pictures of shadows in low sunlight were my winter entertainment yesterday afternoon.
Weird.
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Ice Growth
With overnight temperatures hovering close to freezing during this January thaw, we are waking to interesting conditions outside. The most notable surface has been the asphalt driveway. Yesterday, instead of the smooth glaze that occurred the day before, we experienced alien-looking ice formations peppering the pavement. It made walking interesting because some areas were simply wet while others were surprisingly slippery.
As so often happens, capturing the full visual impact of the ice shapes by way of a photograph is a no match for the naked eye but that rarely stops one from trying.
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After just a few hours, the driveway surface changes to just being wet. I’ve read that our winter weather is becoming much more like what happens in places 500-600 miles (800-965 km) south of here. This sure isn’t the winter weather I remember from back when I was a kid.
Above is a view of our place’s appearance on January 25 this year. I don’t like the non-winter-like weather but I am counting our blessings that we have, up to this point, been free of climate-related wildfires or floods. Our growing season is getting longer, we are saving money on heating the house, and I haven’t had to shovel or plow much snow. All good, no? Well, we are always at risk of getting hit with extreme downpours, high winds, hail, and tornados since storms are becoming more intense.
Some strange ice growth on the driveway in the morning is hardly problematic. We find it rather interesting, although it’s hard to do it justice in photos.
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Glazed Asphalt
The smooth black surface of our driveway is great for melting snow that remains after plowing. It’s not so great when moisture condenses overnight and freezes. We need to get a sign that warns, “Slippery When Glazed!”
Luckily, the warmth visiting our region as the day progressed made that glaze disappear entirely. We lost more snow on Sunday than yesterday but the trend is obvious and feeds itself. Each day we get above freezing will advance the evaporation to greater degrees (pun intended).
On a day over the previous weekend when the clouds weren’t as opaque, I captured this view directly overhead:
A cloud gazers delight. Do you see the dolphin? I’m intrigued by the contrast of shadowed clouds compared to the ones glowing bright white. I wonder what it looked like from the window of an airplane flying close to the same elevation.
Not much sky watching happening when walking on our driveway in the morning hours. Waddling along like penguins are we.
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Still Life
I’m not always looking at the sky for photo subjects. This solitary leaf on the thinly snow-covered driveway made for a good still-life image.
Back indoors, I spotted the collection of zippers on my layers of winter wear in the mirror.
In the barn, we are down to the last bag of feed, which is in glaring contrast to the stack of feed that usually covers that pallet.
I sent this picture to our handler at This Old Horse to remind her we were due for delivery and since she was coming on Wednesday for a hoof trimming appointment, the timing would be just right. Cyndie was gone overnight Saturday and offered to tend to the horses in the evening yesterday since I was watching NFL playoff games. When Cyndie noticed the last bag, she took a picture and sent it to our TOH handler, as well.
Oops. How’s that for classic husband and wife failure to communicate with each other about this kind of thing? I meant to tell Cyndie that I’d checked in but I was too late. When I told her, she said she had done the same thing: taken a picture of the last bag and texted our handler. The reply informed Cyndie that I had already sent the same picture.
Great minds think alike, though, eh?
For good measure, I’ll throw in one of my classic filled-frame close-ups featuring the texture of tree bark from our woods.
In reality, there was very little that was still around our place yesterday with winds blowing between 12-20 mph most of the day. That’s the way warmer air arrives in January, on winds blowing in from the south.
I should be able to keep my complaints to a minimum, thank you very much.
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Relative Something 