the clean-up Crew

I filled the birdfeeder, the clean up crew was there to take care of the spilled sunflower seeds. Ma and the Terrible Twins are shedding and starting to acquire winter coats, but not as quickly as some others. Some of the whitetails are quite gray already, this family is still summer colored.

stars upon Thars

Bee's bliss...borage

it is a curious Thing

Why would a house at 103W longitude have a sailfish for a weathervane when the nearest saltwater is 1600 miles away???

a big Fan

Hey, Andy...President McKinley is a big CU Buffs fan!

it's all in the Details

Pennington County Courthouse, Rapid City, SD

^{Egg and dart moldings like this were first found on the Erechtheion, a temple found on the north side of the Acropolis in ancient Athens, and subsequently  in classical Roman architecture and on into modern times.}

^{The Pennington County courthouse was designed and built using classical style architecture popular for monumental public buildings in the 1920s.} 

9/11/11

Remembered

Those lost, and those who lost their lives trying to save others.

The victims and the firefighters, the peace officers and the first responders.

it sounded like elephants Breathing...

but it was a herd of hot air balloons approaching from the west!

over the deck

coming in for a landing

touchdown

putting things away for next time

What a gorgeous sight on a September Saturday morning! These folks landed in a field about 1000 yards from our house. 
A bunch of us neighbors headed out in clothes quickly thrown on, barefooted and hair uncombed to watch them land. I grabbed a camera but not my glasses, I wasn't even sure what my pictures looked like till I got home.

Thank you, Balloonists for a perfect start to the day!

ps. Beth and Becka, that is the corner of Moon Meadows and Sheridan Lake Rd.

sticky, sticky, Sticky

Commonly known as Curlycup gumweed, a native flower of dry prairie places. Know to both modern herbalists  and to Native people as a medicinal herb, it was used for everything from a poultice for poison ivy to a treatment for breathing problems to a remedy for saddle sores on horses and skin rashes on humans. The downward curving bracts exude a sticky resin, hence its common name. A September bloomer and an obvious friend to bees.

um, did you Think...

...I couldn't see you hiding behind the speed limit sign?

the morning Porch

This little yellow house is completely covered in ivy. I hope they never have to paint and pull it all off the walls. It just invited someone to sit, have a cup of coffee and read the morning paper when I drove by on my way to school. I would have been way late for school if someone had offered me that coffee today.

still life with Keys

Sometimes when you don't have a book in the car, and you are waiting in the car for your children to stop lollygagging around, you have to do something to amuse yourself. I had the camera, I had my car keys, I had a fence.

the balcony Scene

Just because you live on the top floor of an apartment building doesn't mean you can't be a gardener! The folks who live in this 3rd floor eyrie have a balcony that looks like this every summer. It is worth a detour on the way somewhere just to enjoy the abundance of it.

winding Down

Summer veggies starting to wind down, soon time for the pumpkins and yummy winter squash at the Farmer's Market.

painting by Ma Nature

Picture yourself in a boat on a river

With tangerine trees and marmalade skies

(Lennon and McCartney, 1974)

hey, Fella....

looks like you found yourself an umbrella!

in the grand spectrum of Things

from the window, through the aquarium, to the kitchen wall

school's Open !

ready for Day 2 !

not Irene...

Hermosa, SD

but a late afternoon thundershower on the prairie

follow the yellow brick Road

It is headed right back to those school days, we have had inservice this week, our kiddos come on Monday.

hot summer Colors...

...for a hot summer Day.