Police Horse, another beautiful Belgian horse who’s name is Murphy I found out. There are a lot of pretty horses in this parade, but I take the photos as they are passing by and I choose the best ones to make a painting out of. I don’t usually post photos that have people in them.
But I like this one with the gentlemen on the ground with his hand over his heart as the flag goes by.
I sent this photo to the police department where they are stationed out of. They loved it and said thank you and that is where they told me the horses name is Murphy. Very fitting I think.
Draft Horse in Harness, we were at a small town parade the other day. My favorite part is always the horses. I took a photo of this beautiful team of Belgian horses pulling a wagon and made a couple of paintings. Horses, dogs and cats make for great digital paintings.
I had posted the paintings on one of the social media sites and had a couple of inquiries asking if I do commission work. Well, I looked at my husband and said, ” What a great idea”. So I started a new web page where I can paint other folks photos. I do enjoy it and find it quite fun to make them.
If you are interested, you can visit my web site; Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts , I am still working on adding photos to that site. It is always a work in progress creating a web page.
This photo below has a special meaning for me. We were camped next to a home and in their yard they had this beautiful older dog, shown below in this print, who enjoyed laying out in the sunshine. So I took the pups photo one day and made a painting of it. I was able to send the photo to the owners to their phone. Just to share it with them.
The other day, their neighbor contacted me and told me this dog had just passed away. I am happy that I made this print and was able to share it with them when I did.
Navy Flying High, even the Navy is out training in these super fast planes. These guys go so fast, you can defiantly hear them before you see them.
This pretty plane just coming in for a landing.
I have never been in a plane this small, it looks kind of cramped in there.
I had an interesting job as a child that involved this air plane called an Air Tractor. My uncle flew a plane similar to this and I was the flag person for him. He would give me the coordinates of the field he was going to spray fertilizer on and I would have to hurry up and drive there before he got there.
Then I would have to just stand there as a marker for him, after he flew by I would have to step off the length of his air craft so he could use me as a marker on the next pass. He was quite the pilot.
Now they invented a flag that falls out of the end of the wing, so my job was eliminated. I sure enjoyed it back then.
Modern Marvels in Aircrafts, I have always been fascinated with aircraft, mostly helicopters. But all aircraft are modern marvels to me. The fact that something that large as an airplane or helicopter, that can fly and fly really fast is truly some engineering genius.
So when ever I see or hear aircraft, I grab my camera and hope I can get to where ever they are flying and take a few shots.
Just happened to be in the right place at the right time for these shots. Black Hawk helicopter doing a few flybys and training runs at a small air field we were near.
I took videos as well and I will share those when I get to them.
The Twin Barns at Nisqually, They were built in 1932 and used as dairy barns. Later, the tidelands that the farm had been built upon were returned to an estuarial state and became the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in 1974.
The barns were used as an environmental education center, but were damaged in the 6.8 magnitude 2001 Nisqually Earthquake and have been closed since then. In December 2015, the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge was resdesignated the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge to honor the Nisqually Tribe Leader Billy Frank Jr.
These are probably two of the largest barns I have ever seen. I can just imagine how many bales of hay fit in the lofts of both of these.
Photos Taken with Bridge Camera through the RV window. This photo surprised me as it turned out pretty well for taking it inside of a moving vehicle. I looked out my window and this beautiful lake was right there. Sometimes this little camera surprises me on how well it can work.
I have two cameras that I use for my photography. One of them is this Lumix FZ 1000 bridge camera. The phrase “bridge camera” has been in use at least since the 1980s, and continues to be used with digital cameras. The term was originally used to refer to film cameras which “bridged the gap” between point-and-shoot cameras and SLRs.
It is basically a camera that has a zoom lens built right in. This is the camera I use the most when out for a hike or when traveling. The bad thing about these cameras, they have a small sensor inside. Which means that each pixel is smaller and can capture less light, resulting in poor high-ISO/low-light performance.
But for something quick and easy it works just fine and for the most part the photos are pretty clear when there is enough sun light. This camera is already outdated and there are new bridge cameras on the market that I may be trading in for some day.
For example, this photo was taken on a cloudy day with this camera. Settings are 1/2500 sec shutter speed, ISO 500, f8, 146mm lens. It is not a sharp photo at all, but not bad for a cloudy day with this Panasonic camera.
This photo below is better, there is a little more sunshine. Camera settings are; f4.5, 1/4000 ss, ISO 125. More of the details are visible in this photo of the birds feathers. Post processing will help to sharpen the photo just a bit. This bridge camera has 20 megapixels, with 1 ” sensor.
The difference is clear when changing to a full frame camera that has a bigger sensor on it. My Nikon is a FX-format full-frame CMOS image sensor with 45.7 megapixels. Technology is quite something when it comes to cameras these days.
Sony actually has a camera that has 61 megapixels, but it does coast a mere $4000 dollars. 🙂
Beautiful Scenic Drive in WA, continuing across White Pass the views are amazing. Traces of snow here and there along the way.
A wall made out of rocks to help stop rocks from rolling across the highway as they slide down the mountain sides. We did drive by a huge pile of glass on the side of the road. One can only imagine a rock might have hit a car window. I was watching for that after I saw the glass.
You can see Mount Rainier from this drive as well.
White Pass Scenic Byway travels along US-12 from I-5 (between Chehalis and Castle Rock) to Naches exploring the majestic Cascade Mountains and central Washington. The road travels to an elevation of 4,500 feet, revealing expansive mountain views, some tree-covered, some jagged rock and some snow-capped. Add in lush forest, sparkling lakes and streams and you have a picture perfect drive.
But, we were going to cross at the end of May last year and during this time of year White Pass can have rain/snow and or ice storms everyday anytime of day. So I was checking the weather every day as we got closer not wanting to drive the pass if the temperatures were going to be at freezing with rain.
We had 2 choices to get over to Olympia from Yakima, Hwy 12 white pass or the other hwy going out of Yakima which is hwy 410. Well I always zoom in on the map when making our routes and the photo on the right is Hwy 410, See how the road zig zag’s at Naches Peak, we really did not want to do that in an RV. 🙂
I can’t imagine planning this trip with a paper map, even though I drove a Semi for a couple of years, many years ago and had to use a paper map back then. That says how old I am. Don’t tell anyone. 🙂
Needless to say, the weather was perfect for crossing over this mountain. It is a scenic road worth taking and it has plenty of places to pull off and take photos. Along with plenty of campgrounds along the route. We did not stop on this trip, so all the photos here are taken through the RV window.
Trucks tend to hug the center line going through this tunnel.
Plymouth Washington, another fun place we found to camp at right along the Columbia river bordering Washington and Oregon. We stopped for gas just before the park back in May as you can see the sign says $4.65 for regular. Our cat and smaller dog always jump up into the window when we stop so they can look around and sit in the sun when it is cold outside.
We looked on the map and saw that there is a lock and dam on this river called the McNary Lock and Dam. This dam is built on the Columbia river which is full of Pacific Salmon.
So we noticed there is a bike path going all the way to the dam, so we headed that way. We came across this giant tunnel that you have to ride through to get to the dam. It looked pretty spooky at first because it is quite long and pitch black in their when you first enter it.
I will have a video of it next week, I am always ahead on photos and the videos come out later. Come to find out this tunnel used to have train tracks in it as the trains would have to pass through here.
But they changed that and rerouted the train to go over the hill instead of through it.
The interesting thing about this dam is that they built a salmon run so the salmon can still go up stream during spawning. It runs up hill and around the dam back into the lake on the other side.
They also built a viewing area inside of a building so you can go in there and watch the salmon swim by. It is like a little tunnel in there for them with lights on you can see them.
If you look close you can see the outline of a huge salmon swimming by the window.
I found this so interesting, because I have never seen a salmon before until now.
The Land of Irrigation, Idaho and Oregon by far has the most beautiful pasture land I have ever seen. We cam across a lot of pastures that were being watered by high pressure irrigation systems, not only for their crops but also on the pastures even with animals like horses and cows in the pastures with the sprinklers going.
Here is the link to my video for yesterdays post on my You Tube Channel, I do like making videos of where we have been along with taking photos. Link; Idaho’s Grand Canyon Here
I grew up raising horses and my pastures never looked liked these. They are so lush and green and not one manure brown spot anywhere to be seen and no weeds anywhere as well. I was quite impressed.
What Crop is This in Idaho, About 95% of this product grown in the United States comes from Washington, Idaho and Oregon.
The 2020 USDA report shows 9,268 acres in Idaho, more than 17.1 million pounds of it harvested, and a crop value of nearly $100 million.
Do you know what this is? I had no idea when we first saw all these sticks in the field, so I had to look it up my self.
Hoppin’ Hops: Idaho at the Center of Beer Culture. These are hop fields.
What are hops?
Hops are the green cone-shaped flowers, or “inflorescence,” of the Humulus lupulus plant. They’re a climbing perennial with a distinct jackpot for craft brewers. Hidden inside each cone are tiny yellow pods or glands called lupulin—the source of bitterness, aroma, and flavor in beer.
In addition to beer, hops are used in herbal teas and in soft drinks. These soft drinks include Julmust (a carbonated beverage similar to soda that is popular in Sweden during December), Malta (a Latin American soft drink) and kvass. Hops can be eaten; the young shoots of the bine are edible and can be cooked like asparagus.
Exploring Idaho ,back to the end of last winters trip. I get carried away with putting photos on that I am taking now, but I still have 3 states to go from the previous trip. So Idaho is next, a state that we have never been to.
As we first entered into the state at the SW corner, you can see that the view goes on for ever. This first photo shows some water in the background which is the snake river. We camped there for about a week. This was back in May of 2022, so the temperatures were not all that warm yet.
We were making a slow trek towards Washington and Montana, knowing we were going to go over White Pass. White Pass (elev. 4,500 feet (1,372 m)) is a mountain pass in the northwest United States, in the Cascade Range of Washington, southeast of Mount Rainier and north of Goat Rocks. We did not want to get there to soon because they can have snow and ice storms everyday at any time of day. We were waiting for it to warm up a little at the pass.
As we were camping here for a week, we found on the map a place called Bruneau Canyon, a short drive from where we were staying. Well this road makes it look like a very long drive. 🙂
This area below in the photo had a sign at the start of the road that said, WARNING; This road crosses US Air Force bombing range for the next 12 miles, Objects may fall from air craft.
Well, nothing fell on us. But we did see a runway off in the distance surrounded by fence.
Anyway, back to the story. We made it to the canyon. This canyon is referred to as Idaho’s Mini Grand Canyon. It is quite something to see. Almost as if the earth split open for miles and a river flowing down at the bottom.
A Parallel Realm, A parallel realm where everything operates according to His will.
Night photography is a challenge but fun as well, going out in the dark of the night and looking up into the heavens. My camera picks up more than what my eye can see most of the time.
I went out yesterday morning, as I new there is a full moon out right now, to see what possible photo I might find to take that would be a little different. I was walking back to my jeep and this puddle of water caught my eye as the moon is reflecting in it.
So I set up my camera with an aperture setting of f/22 and a long exposure of 10 sec shutter speed. f22 point sources of light become these bright, multi-pointed stars. The result is below, it was an empty parking lot with some buildings in the background as well. Something a little different.
This photo below I was using my bridge camera and it only has an Aperture of f8, so I was not able to get the star effect of the moon over this parking lot, which is actually a truck stop we spent the night at when we were out west.
A parallel realm where everything operates according to His will.
Lightning Photography, the other morning I woke up to the sound of thunder and rain. I got up and looked outside and off to the east I saw a lot of lightning. So I quick checked the weather station as to where the storm was from my location.
It was way off to the east so I quickly grabbed my camera gear and headed out to find a spot to set up my camera. I was almost to late, I was able to get a short video and about 8 photos as the storm raced across the morning sky.
I actually only used my Go Pro camera for this series of photos. I attached the go pro to the front bumper on my jeep. There is actually a hitch on the front of the jeep that sticks up high and I attached the go pro to the end of it and went back inside the jeep and watched the lightning show.
My settings for these shots are; 20 second intervals with a 15 sec shutter speed and ISO of 100.
I then took all the good photos I had and stacked them on top each other to get the final results of the photo below. It combined all the lightning strikes together.
Natural Southern Charm on the rot iron fence. Warm humid weather and iron fences can create some artistic floral designs. In the sense of moss and ivy growing all over it. I think it looks artistic my self.
Fun fact, I used the term rot iron and had to look up what it means. Because there is rot iron and cast iron. I am not sure exactly what this gate is made of but it looks cool.
Wrought Iron is iron that has been heated and then worked with tools. Cast Iron is iron that has been melted, poured into a mold, and allowed to solidify. The fundamental distinction between cast iron and wrought iron is in how they are produced
Merrehope is a stately, 20-room Neoclassical Revival mansion, restored and furnished by the town of Meridian Restorations Foundation, Inc. It features unusual woodwork and a handsome stairway, columns. and mantels.
I love exploring places like this during our travels. The architecture alone is quite beautiful I think. We did not go into this home at the time of our visit. But we did get a chance to visit with one of the tour guides as he was just pulling up to the house when we were looking around.
He mentioned Christmas time is their most popular time as it is decorated from head to toe inside. But the sad news is, the state of Mississippi won’t give any money to keep this estate up, as far as grants and such.
He was telling us that it does cost a lot to keep it maintained, like painting it and finding folks to just mow the lawn in the summer months. It is all volunteers that keep it going now. It is the last home of its kind standing in the area.
He also mentioned that they rarely see young folk come by anymore to learn the history of the home. He said they are just not interested in stuff like this. I do thank the kind gentleman for taking time to talk to us here. A beautiful place for sure.
Close the Door on 2022 and let the new year begin. Happy New Year
Video below of my rendition of celebrating a new year. Immersed in nature at sunset. Or click here; New Year Celebration with Nature
May your new year be filled with love, family, friends and new adventures. Where ever they may take you, get out and explore. Live as if tomorrow may never come and as if today will last forever. Live in the moment and take in every bit of the great outdoors when you can.
Wormsloe Mile Long Entrance avenue lined with live oaks is a classic image from the moonlight and magnolias Old South. Found here in Savannah GA.
In the 1890s, Wymberley Jones De Renne laid out the live oak avenue, to celebrate the birth of his son.
A breathtaking avenue sheltered by live oaks and Spanish moss leads to the tabby ruins of Wormsloe, the colonial estate of Noble Jones (1702–1775). Jones was a humble carpenter who arrived in Georgia in 1733 with James Oglethorpe and the first group of settlers from England.
If you enjoy seeing Live Oak trees, make sure to visit this beautiful place. Wormsloe occupies the southern portion of the Isle of Hope, a peninsula four miles long and as much as a mile wide near Savannah Ga.
The name live oak came from the fact that they remain green and “alive” throughout the winter when other oak trees are dormant and leafless.
While many species of oak trees are found throughout the world’s temperate zones, live oaks are native only from Virginia south to Florida and west to central Texas, especially thriving in the heat and humidity.
Mixture of Unexpected Colors from nature to man made. We are camping at a spot in Georgia that has a mixture of color during this month of December. This little bug landed on a board that was covered with raindrops. I do not know what kind of bug it is, but I found the colors to be interesting with its orange stripes and red legs.
This rv campground is also a mixture of trailer houses and spots for your rv. But they made it very colorful by painting all the trailer homes bright colors. Definitely a southern feel to it. We are in the midst of the cold weather down here in Georgia as well as all over the country.
Rhythmic Sounds of Steam Engine, video below. The steam locomotives have a rhythmic sound as they sit idling at a station as this one does below, the #81 in Ely Nevada. I marvel at the engineering of such things as this.
You can see the video by visiting my home page. The videos don’t show up in reader just to let you know.
May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
I heard this song the other day by Alan Jackson, I found the lyrics to be very fitting.
The older I get The more I think You only get a minute, better live while you’re in it ‘Cause it’s gone in a blink And the older I get The truer it is It’s the people you love, not the money and stuff That makes you rich (video below)The Older I Get Video Here
The older I get The longer I pray I don’t know why, I guess that I’ve Got more to say And the older I get The more thankful I feel For the life I’ve had and all the life I’m living still
The Back Roads in Nevada, we did a lot of exploring when we were camping in Nevada last winter. Every corner we turned was a surprising new landscape to see, something most unexpected at times.
We headed out one morning from the little town of Pioche and saw mountains off in the distance. As the drive started it was flat barren land and not much to look at.
We drove to the base of Horse thief Mountain and as we turned around the last bend these beautiful rock cliffs were surrounding us on all sides.
This part of Nevada has lots of natural springs where water is coming out of the ground on its own and flowing down some of the dirt roads. As you can see here we were driving the back country as fresh water just flowed down the road.
We also came across some old gold mines off on some of these roads, I looked it up and Nevada still has nearly 180,000 active mines. We will be visiting this area again one day.
Here in Georgia cotton is being harvested and baled up. Plus it is Pecan harvest time here as well.
Georgia ranked 2nd in the U.S. in cotton planted acres and 4th in number of bales produced. ● Cotton is the most widely grown row crop in Georgia. ● Georgia had 1.29 million cotton acres planted and produced an average yield of 675 lb/A. ● Georgia produced 1.8 million bales of cotton. ● Market value of production reached $406.08 million in.
Texas is the #1 producer of cotton, about 40% of the product grown there.
We camped at a spot here in Georgia where the owner had dozens of pecan trees around the campground. They had already been harvested but there were still hundreds of them on the ground and he said we can have all we wanted of those. So we picked a grocery bag full of them to take with us. They are so good.
This campground is near Glenville Georgia and if you are ever in that area they have a pecan factory right in town where folks can sell there pecans no matter what size bag you bring in, they will buy them. But they also roast them here and cover them with chocolate, Carmel. You name it they make it and sell it at a little store in front of the factory.
This is a cotton ball, when it is ripe it splits open and the cotton emerges.
South for the Winter, we are still finding areas with green leaves on them here in December. This was one of our campsites down in southern Illinois last month.
We have made it far enough south to see the moss hanging on the most beautiful trees called live oak trees.
Along with it is harvest season for two things here in the south. Can you guess what this is below? I will post it tomorrow.
The Lone Wolf Print I talked about this a few post back, about how you can refurbish some of your photos that may not turn out that well, into digital paintings if you want to save them.
This is the original photo below and it is a photo of a wolf in a nature park that I took. Oh, I only make paintings from photos that I have taken, it means a lot more to me as I create a piece of art work.
But this photo is not that good, the lighting was bad, but he is in his natural environment of lots of trees and thick brush. But I did like his expression, how he is looking at something in the grass. Then it comes down to changing the background and adding textures with the help of photoshop.
Now art work is an acquired taste of what each individual likes. For example, I have been to a few art galleries of famous painters with art exhibits of paintings I just don’t get. Like this photo I copied off of the internet of a painting by Vincent Van Gogh. It is wonderful art, with colors and movement. I can appreciate it for sure and it is done by hand not on a computer. Much more work involved at a level that I cannot create at all.
