mood Indigo

 

What in the world did my digital SLR do here? The next two photos were perfectly normal, for a dreary winter afternoon. It chose to record this image the first shot I took, no change in settings on the camera. I think it is kind of cool, even if the camera trolls were playing tricks 

birthday Present

 

Susan B. Anthony, Galileo and I all celebrate birthdays on the same day, February 15. Not, however, the same year! Neither of them got a gorgeous phalaenopsis orchid from a daughter, son-in-law and grandson. Lucky me, sorry Susan and Galileo! 

frost Feathers

fern frost forms when very cold air is on the outside of a single pane of glass and moderately moist air is on the inside. This was decorating the storm window on one of our  north windows this morning. If there are scratches or imperfections in the glass, or bits of grit, it influences the shape the frost crystals take. Ma Nature forgives dirty windows, I guess. :o)

 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Art Alley Red

 

I just love Art Alley, I can always find just what I need there for a photo. 

shiny Red

 

shiny red hearts, friendly pine tree embrace 

aquilegia canadensis Red

wild columbine or rock bells

harlequinade: play or scene, usually in pantomime, in which Harlequin, a male character, has the principal role. Derived from the Italian commedia del arte, harlequinades came into vogue in early 18th-century England, with a standard plot consisting of a pursuit of the lovers Harlequin and Columbine by the latter’s father, Pantaloon, and his bumpkin servant Pedrolino. In the Victorian era the harlequinade was reduced to a plotless epilogue to the main pantomime, which was often a dramatized fairy tale.

(from Encyclopedia Britannica online) 

rachel Red

 

Macrophotography 

crossbill Red

 

red crossbill male (Loxia curvirostra)

A crossbill's odd bill shape helps it get into tightly closed cones. A bird's biting muscles are stronger than the muscles used to open the bill, so the Red Crossbill places the tips of its slightly open bill under a cone scale and bites down. The crossed tips of the bill push the scale up, exposing the seed inside.

 (from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website)

wren house Red

 

Ok, I confess to playing with Photoshop, this is my birdhouse gourd wren house. Jenny Wren does not normally live in a "red light" district, she is a very proper citizen. 

celebration Red

 

Elks Theater, 6th Street, Rapid City, South Dakota

Exit Stage Left

Congratulations cast and crew of

Stevens High School Drama Department

production of 

R.I.P. Van Winkle!

A Superior play award,  3 outstanding ensemble, 3 outstanding individual performance awards.

A shout-out to Mr. Bill Lytle, playwright, drama teacher, director  for providing the kids with an original script to work with!

South Dakota State One-Act Play Festival at Brandon Valley High School

Feb. 4-6, 2010

RED for Valentine's Week

 

from the Anniversary Garden at Musket Point, Saxe's Landing, Chazy, NY 

well, here it Is

 

4 pm 2/4/10 

Punxutawney Phil prognosticated, Ma Nature produced.

The "6 more weeks of winter" is currently covering the cars and the crossroads and the cows and the watering cans.  

hey! they grow grapefruit in South Dakota???

 

 Another visit to Jolly Lane Greenhouse, my favorite purveyor of plants for more than 30 years. (This is for you, Beth and Becky).

They let winter weary customers come and just smell the flowers and the wonderful earthy scent of a spring garden.  They will happily send you home with lovely plants you didn't know you couldn't live without when you walked in the door.  

:o) 

Punxutawney shadow Rabbit...

 

...also saw his shadow today, sigh...

6 more weeks of winter here, too. 

what do your living room curtains look Like?

No boring damask draperies for this apartment window! It faces Art Alley, just down the way from the bison and fits right in with the scenes around it. Wondering what the inside of the room looks like and who lives here.

it must be an Owl Moon

It has to be an Owl Moon tonight, the full moon of January. Jane Yolen's marvelous book could be happening right outside in our backyard. The full moon is beginning to rise, there is snow on the ground and a courting pair of Great Horned Owls are "singing" to each other. The serenade has been going on since sunset.

the bison are Watching

Lakota artist Don Montileaux has his fine art and ledger art work hanging in galleries, businesses and homes all over the world. He also shares his "storytelling in paint" as public art. These bison live high on a south wall in Art Alley, surveying the passersby who come to visit.

...Lurking

just under the surface, the koi wintering inside at my favorite greenhouse while away the hours until they can go outside again under the summer sun.

today, it's Geology

The Deadwood formation, overlies Precambrian schists with conglomerates, sandstone, mudstone and other goodies deposited in a marine environment. There is a fault zone here, you can see the tilt of the layers as they were pushed up.

This particular cliff face borders part of the Deadwood gulch area that the miners were trying to reach. If they approached from the north, the only way in was down the side of the cliff. There are accounts of having to lower supplies, including wagons and horses over the cliffside using heavy block and tackle! How is that for determination during a gold rush?

fuzzy and very Curious

If you stop your car by the side of the road, their intense curiosity draws them over to investigate, just like iron filings to a magnet! They were just moseying along in the late afternoon sun, I remember when they arrived in the world on a cold winter day just about a year ago. A new batch should appear in the field across the road about the time the mountain bluebirds arrive back in the same pasture.

a curious Question

Why do they always say "like water off a duck's back" ? It looks like "water off a duck's belly" would work just as well to me.

a horse of a different Color

The Iron Horse came in to the passenger station directly across the street from the Inn... the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad served the citizens of Deadwood, South Dakota, the Depot is where they disembarked from the train. The entire town of Deadwood is a now National Historic Landmark, much of the historic preservation work is done with money from the legalized gambling in the old gold town. The restoration of the Depot is a project that my husband did research and design work for several years ago.

This creature is carved out of the block of stone that forms the lintel over the front door, it is not an add-on. You just don't see this kind of masonry work now days . My husband, the architect, loves a design challenge, so far no clients have asked for carved stone horses or gargoyles as a building details.

catching the last Rays

This cottonwood tree catches the very last rays of the sun every afternoon before it sets behind the Hills. And just like clockwork, every afternoon this band of starlings perches here to enjoy the last of the sunlight before they head to bed for their long winter night's snooze.They preen and chat quietly for about ten minutes, bidding each other good night and then off they go, returning again the next afternoon. I know they can be a nuisance in the wrong place, but is kind of friendly like to see them there when I get home from school every day.

drinking Problems

There are drinking problems, and then there are drinking problems! 

When you are 16' tall, an 18" tongue can be a real help if you are thirsty! Must have an interesting blueprint. :o) 

me and my Shadow

the shadows are lengthening, today has 2 minutes and 3 seconds more of daylight than yesterday, spring is creeping up.

a long, cold drink of Water

from Rapid Creek at 44N 103W

a fire in the Forest

Just as I arrived home tonight Ma Nature threw this fiery sunset up on the western horizon, back-lighting the big Ponderosa pine across the street. It lasted only a few moments, nice punctuation mark at the end of the day.

thank you, grocery Stores...

 for selling daffodils in January! 

a role model for the Planet ?

 Art Alley, Rapid City, SD

We should probably all find our inner Elmo, the world would be a more light-hearted place, don't you think?

midsummer Coverlet

Ma Nature is a weaver, a spinner, a quilter, an artist. She created this quilt to lay over the hills on July evenings. Her color palette tends to the purples and lavenders of bee balm, crown vetch, leadplant and coneflower. She selected the greens of prairie grasses and the silver of artemesia and sage for contrast, with a punctuation of black-eyed susans here and there. Currently, she has chosen tan, brown and white, with the detail of two horses, to blanket the same place. 

bird's eye View

Such a neat study in brown is the lady mallard's back.

did anybody else have one of those Days...

that made the thought of sitting on a park bench feeding the pigeons a very appealing prospect for the afternoon?

mystery Machine

Question: What is this Thing?

tropical Fruit

A comment I ran across somewhere, regarding current trends in winter gear ...

"Color serves a practical purpose, you know, you can spot someone up on the slopes...If you are stuck on a glacier, it helps to be dressed like a mango."  

Love it!

where are you d'Artagnan?

Athos, Porthos and Aramis

Burt imitates Beatrix Potter

Back to summer for a few moments...my absolute favorite picture of my brother's dog Burton ...check the totally accidental similarity to an illustration from Peter Rabbit, by the inimitable Beatrix Potter! I only saw it when I got the photo on the computer screen and it looked familiar, somehow. Her stories were bedtime reading for my daughters time after time after time.

camoDuck

Does camoDuck think she is hiding in the snow? I think she'd better ditch the Sunkist orange accessories if she is going to pull off the ruse.

peeping Tom

or more correctly, peeping Thomasina looking in the window as we looked out. This cheeky creature is up on my deck railing, right along with the juncos, the blue jays and the goldfinches.

#9 the Odd Couple

This lovely couple seems to be "in a relationship" according to their Facebook page!

I ain't Fat...

I is FLUFFY!

Lucifer the Lazy and Kermit the Frog

What creature does "sleep" better than a cat?

Main Entry:	sleep
Part of Speech:	noun
Definition:	suspension of consciousness
Synonyms:	bedtime, catnap, coma, dormancy, doze, dream, dullness, few z's, forty winks, hibernation, lethargy, nap, nod, repose, rest, sack time, sandman, shuteye, siesta, slumber, slumberland, snooze, torpidity, torpor, trance

from www.dictionary.com/thesaurus

don't you wish you Had....

cool orange tootsies like that ??? 

where's Waldo

Back to warm summer days for a moment. Can you find him, little spotted sandpiper, along the shoreline, who is probably foraging along the beaches on his wintering grounds in the Caribbean.

goosey goosey Gander

Goosey, goosey gander,

Whither dost thou wander?

Upstairs and downstairs, 

And in my lady's chamber.

(From an old English nursery rhyme)

Check out www.rhymes.org.uk...a fun site that lists the "secret history" of a number of favorite nursery rhymes.

 

out to Lunch

Lord and Lady Mallard lunching at the Savoy, or is it the Ritz?