Autumn Has Arrived – The fawns are growing up, the leaves are changing color, soon to be falling all around us as winter temperatures begin to settle in.
September and October are my favorite months of the year. I have been posting photos of our trip from last winter and I can’t hardly believe the next winter is apon us already.
We went for a hike the other day and came across this gentlemen painting the landscape in front of him. I am always amazed to see someone do this, to be able to just paint what the eye sees.
This is the landscape he is looking at. A place I have been coming to visit since I was about 4 years old. I never get tired of it.
Fourth Largest Lake – Lake Superior is the fourth largest lake in the world by water volume.
The average underwater visibility of Lake Superior is 27 feet, making it easily the cleanest and clearest of the Great Lakes. Underwater visibility in places reaches 100 feet. Lake Superior has been described as “the most oligotrophic lake in the world.”
Lake Superior freezes at least in part every year and less frequently in its entirety. The last year that it froze completely was in February 1994. It almost froze completely in March 2003
We took this photo in January of 2022. That was a cold year and snow will be coming soon again.
Being Immersed in Nature – Whether it is a walk in the forest or hearing birds chirping in a luscious forest, there is something so remarkable and beautiful about being immersed in nature. It’s easy to be swept away with today’s technology and fast-paced living, but no matter where you are, nature always has a way of bringing peace of mind and grounding a person.
So, as you venture out to see the fall foliage, it’s important to be mindful of how we take care of nature as we enjoy the great outdoors and how we take care of our selves, physically and spiritually.
The noise around us can be upsetting, the news seems to get worse everyday of war and rumors of war.
See how nature, trees, flowers, grass-grows in silence;
See the stars, moon and sun how they move in silence;
We need silence to be able to touch our hearts and souls.
Before and After Art Work – I talked a bit last week about imagination and photography. How I look at a photo and decide weather it is a keeper or not. Because I take a lot of photos and not always is the lighting right or the scene itself may be to busy with background noise like telephone poles and buildings.
It is always up to the artist on what makes a photo to them. For example, this first photo below, I had the exposure correct for the train itself but the background is completely blown out. Now one can take multiple photos and then stack them to put the entire scene together.
Or work a little magic in post processing, what ever is most suitable for the situation.
What I noticed first when I look at this photo is the reflection of blue along the side of the engine and that is when my mind starts seeing a different photo. There is a process to changing a photo to art work in photoshop, I won’t go into it because I just start working and every photo is different.
The main part is to get rid of the wires and telephone pole and the gentleman working on switching the track next to the train. Adding a blue sky from a different photo of mine and then let my imagination begin to fill in the area to what I see.
And this is the result below. Now I still create art the old fashion way with photoshop and lots of cutting, pasting, coloring, paint brushes, the whole thing.
Technology is changing even more now with something called AI, artificial intelligent with photography. Where you don’t have to do all the little steps like I do, there are programs where you just type in what you want and the computer will create it. I am not a fan of that, even though it is still art work in the end.
What ever your style, art work is an individual decision. Sometimes if you think your photo doesn’t look so good at first glance. Don’t just throw it away, look closer at it and let your imagination go.
Don’t just go by first impressions, because hidden behind every thing we see is something more beautiful and precious then one might expect.
Animated video below; it only works if you visit the website. They don’t show up in reader format.
Shelby Copper Mining – Ely was settled in the fall of 1878 when the Selby Copper Mining & Smelting Company established a small smelter at the site. A post office was established in November of that year.
At the time there wasn’t much interest in copper mining, and Ely remained a camp of little significance well into the 1880s. The settlement was little more than a stage station and post office – no business district had developed.
Ely finally got the boost it needed in 1887, when the state legislature designated Ely as White Pine County’s seat of government.
By 1900 the copper deposits near Ely were attracting new attention. In 1902 approximately $500,000 in copper was produced in the district. In 1903 many of the claims were consolidated under the ownership of the White Pine Copper Company. A second company, The Giroux Consolidated Mining Company, made promising copper ore discoveries in one its shafts.
In late 1905 construction started on the 140-mile Nevada Northern Railway, linking Ely to Cobre on the Southern Pacific main line.
With the railroad on the way, smelters being constructed, and millions of tons of ore in reserve, Ely became a boom town in 1906.
This is what the mining area looks like today. With the technology of todays mining equipment, this area looks like a piece of art from above. With the different layers and colors. Precise piling of material as they dig into the earth.
Standard Gauge Short Line – The Nevada Northern Railway was built over a century ago to service what would become one of the largest copper mines in North America.
Today, several of the original coal-fired standard-gauge steam locomotives that were ordered and delivered new to the railroad over 110 years ago are still in operation! The Nevada Northern Railway is the best-preserved example of a standard-gauge short-line left in North America.
Rail Towns – Ely’s importance as a rail town during the 1900s is showcased on the Nevada Northern Railway, which offers a twisty ride in an open-air car through the mountains of the Egan Range. Originally built to transport copper from nearby mines, today this National Historic Landmark is one of the last operating steam locomotives of its kind.
We were here back in May of this year and it did snow a few days which made the mountains in the background look so nice behind this locomotive.
The Nevada Northern Railway arrived in 1906 . Now, this well preserved short-line railway draws visitors from all over the world to ride on its queens of steam and historic diesel engines.
The first day we went down to see the locomotive it just happened to be down by the shop getting fine tuned for the weekend rides. It runs all year long, taking passengers on a short trip around the area. There is nothing like hearing the whistle of a steam engine and the rhythm of the engine chugging along
I placed a video below straight from my library, so I am not sure if it will work here on word press, usually I put videos on from my you tube channel, but I thought I would try it this way. If you would like to see more of my videos on my You Tube channel, here is a link to that; Adventures Outdoors, by Sandra J
Murals, art galleries and a sculpture garden decorate the historic downtown. Rugged mountains rise up in all directions with amazing year-round recreation opportunities in places like Great Basin National Park, Cave Lake State Park, Ward Charcoal Ovens State Park and Ward Mountain Recreation Area.
Four Season Mountain Town – Ely Nevada is a remote mountain town where history, art and outdoor adventure thrive. Ely was founded in the 1870s as a stagecoach stop and trading post called Murray Station, but it would become one of the country’s major copper mining regions.
When I was researching this little town the first thing that popped up was that it has a working steam locomotive. So we had to stop because I just love trains, especially the older ones.
More train photos coming next week, have a great weekend.
On our way to Ely was my first sighting of an elk crossing the road. The only elk I saw on this trip.
Spring Valley Nevada – If you drive east of Pioche Nevada you will find a very interesting place with a history that one might not think about these days.
This area is still considered desert, but here in spring valley the water flows continuously from natural springs. It is said to have at least 150 springs through out the valley.
But the interesting thing about this area is how folks made a living here. They tried growing crops like wheat, barley and oats. But the freezing temperatures, grasshoppers and animals would ruin their harvest. But a few people realized a new crop could be had in the form of ICE.
This valley would flood every summer during the monsoon rains and then freeze. So the settlers made special tools to cut the ice into blocks. They built ice houses under ground and sold the ice blocks the next summer to the town folks and kept a lot for themselves to keep their food cold all summer.
People have always found a way to survive and provide for their families. Good hard working folks learning to live off of the land that is provided to them.
The Journey Continues – As you may know from my blog post, we travelled the SW last winter. We spent 4 months of that winter in the south from Texas to Arizona and headed north from there. But during those 4 months it was all desert. Dry dry desert and not green anywhere.
By April we had finally reached Nevada where our first sight of green grass and dandelions was a very special treat for me. Some people don’t care for dandelions, but after 4 months of seeing only dirt, the beautiful color of yellow amongst the green grass was a sight for sore eyes.
We stopped at a little town called Pioche NV, a quaint little town nestled at the base of the Highland Peak Mountains. A mining town from back in the day that has a wonderful community of folks who are very nice and a small RV park right in town that was free to park at.
We stayed here for a week and enjoyed visiting their museum and driving up into the mountain.
Highland peak sits at an elevation of 9,337 feet. To say the least it was a narrow dirt road all the way to the top, but the view was worth the journey.
Miles and Miles – This is the time of year I like to get a new calendar and add items from this year to the new year coming up. For example I came across the month and year we bought this jeep and it made me think of all the places we have been with it.
We got it 8 years ago, there are no fancy bells or whistles on it, it has crank down windows, not electric. I do like the older vehicles, where one can still fix things them self without having to take it to a shop if needed.
What I See – A look inside of my imagination. Photography is a way to express ones imagination, it isn’t always about just taking a regular photo of landscapes or wildlife to me.
When I look at one of my photos, I can picture something more, I picture a world with more color, a giant moon, things that dreams are made of and I create it with photoshop from combining 2 or 3 of my own photos into one.
My camera is my paint brush and the world is my canvas. Have a wonderful day.
Cathedral Gorge Maze – This area is full of walkways though the clay spires that you can walk in just like a maze. You can see towards the back of this photo there are little green trees on the valley floor. These are actually juniper trees, they are the only kind that will grow in this area.
A lot of the trails going into this area are short trails or they just keep getting so small you can’t go any farther.
This photo below is me walking through the narrow passageway with a camera up over my head. Some areas you have to turn sideways and suck in your gut if possible. 😉
Next Stop Cathedral Gorge State Park – Made of bentonite clay. We just happened to stumble apon this state park as we arrived in Nevada. A must see place if you are ever in the area.
A beautiful landscape of spires and buff-colored cliffs. The beauty enjoyed today had violent beginnings, starting with explosive volcanic activity that, with each eruption, deposited layers of ash hundreds of feet thick.
after the eruptions ceased, block faulting, a fracture in the bedrock that allows the two sides to move opposite each other, shaped the mountains and valleys prevalent in Nevada today. This faulting formed a depression, now known as Meadow Valley.
Over time the depression filled with water creating a freshwater lake. Continual rains eroded the exposed ash and pumice left from the volcanic activity, and the streams carried the eroded sediment into the newly formed lake.
The formations, made of silt, clay and volcanic ash, are the remnants of that lake. As the landscape changed and more block faulting occurred, water drained from the lake exposing the volcanic ash sediments to the wind and rain, causing erosion of the soft material called bentonite clay.
Wind and water erode rocks and soils at a rapid rate and vegetation cannot grow on the outcroppings. The vegetation-free slopes stand in stark contrast to the valley floor where primrose and Indian ricegrass hold small sand dunes in place.
These mountains of clay are so unique, if you tap on the side of them they sound hollow inside.
Trees of the South – Trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife. During the process of photosynthesis, trees take in carbon dioxide and produce the oxygen we breathe.
I do love photographing and studying trees. They are designed with a purpose and each one is so unique.
Utah’s Red Rock Country – Of all the common colorful minerals found in Earth’s crust, few are as abundant, dynamic, and multi-colored as iron. Depending on how it combines with other elements, iron can form a veritable rainbow of colors. When iron combines with oxygen it becomes iron oxide, and its degree of oxidation largely determines its color.
Hence the multi colors found at Zion National Park, we only drove the scenic route at Zion, but if we ever get back there one must take the hiking route into the canyon where you will find pools of emerald colored water and lush garden plants. Amazing the world we live on.
Zion Canyon Red Cliffs – It started out as Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909, but was granted national park status by the U.S. Congress in 1919.
The highlight of Zion National Park is an expansive canyon. Averaging 2,000 feet deep,
As we were leaving Arizona last April we crossed into Utah for a week as we were making our way to Nevada. Not realizing we were so close to Zion national park until we found a campground just south of this national treasure and looked at the map and noticed it was just a short drive to get there.
So we headed out early one morning and entered the park at the east end. Traffic was minimal and the scenery is just gorgeous.
We stopped at a few places along the drive through the park where you can get out and do some hiking and see some of the beautiful rock formations and caves.
These two photos below are taken with the drone from above this beautiful area showing you the top of Zion National Park. Drones are not allowed in the park, but we were on the outside of the park when we took this photo.
It is like a glimpse of the past, can you imagine being the first people to come across this land, what a sight it is.
Glen Canyon Bridge – Just east of the Grand Canyon. It is like a miniature version of the grand canyon as the Colorado river flows through the red rocks of Northern Arizona.
The bridge’s central arch is 680 feet over the Colorado River, and at the time of its construction it was the tallest bridge in the world.
We went over this bridge back in April as we were heading out of Arizona. We stayed at a campground in Utah for one week and then headed to Nevada.
Fall Harvest – Well, fall harvest of photos. My tomato plants are full of green tomatoes that have been turning red very slowly. But I have been taking photos of the beautiful blooms drenched in the morning dew, like dressed in diamonds in the morning light.
So this fall I may harvest more photos than actual food. Either way I do enjoy gardening.
Desert Flowers – When we were in Arizona a few months ago, some of the cactus finally started to bloom. I don’t know what these are but the Gila woodpecker sure enjoyed them.
We have a bit of color starting to show up in my neck of the woods this week, I do love the month of September, for me it is usually the start of fall colors and this year it has begun. Hope everyone gets out and enjoys nature’s color wheel called Autumn.
Photography is about using your imagination, it’s about creating ideas that speak to people and create interest from a viewer’s standpoint.
What do these photos say to you, what do you see?
Photography has helped me to see things differently, it has opened my imagination to another level. When I see movement, light and colors as I am out looking at the world around me. I think about how to capture these moments within a photo. What angle to shoot at, how to stop motion, how to create art out of what I see and bring my imagination to life.
For example these photos, I was sitting outside enjoying a beautiful warm day looking at my bird bath that has a water fountain in it. The water looked as if it is dancing, almost like it has come to life in movement.
So I took a few photos and video to help your imagination see something completely different then what you might expect to see today. Video below or click on this link; Dancing Waters.
Just Look Up – Sometimes we can get to focused on only what is right in front of us and miss the big picture of what surrounds us.
The never ending, what seems to be bad news, pushed on us from all angles can be overwhelming at times. But for me, there is always one constant, one source of Light that shines every minute of every day that is breathtaking, encouraging and beyond anything our minds and hearts can comprehend at times.
Just look up and see the beauty of creation, see how small we really are and how important life is. Day or night the Light is there, within the stars, the clouds. It is always there.
Her Favorite Time of Year – Her eyes almost match the background. Our little cat is 7 years old this year. We were not looking to have a cat as a part of our family. This one was a stray and found as a kitten in the middle of winter years ago.
I could not say no to her and she has grown into a wonderful cat who gets along with dogs very well and loves to travel with us. But her favorite thing to do is go outside and sit on the porch railing and watch the birds and enjoy the sunshine on these cooler fall mornings.
I forgot to put the video on yesterday of the Blue Jays until later in the morning. So here is the link to it again, which includes footage of the White Squirrel as well. Blue Jay and White Squirrel
Frogs – Two frogs in my area that I know of and see regularly. The first being the Tree Frog. Such unusual eyes they have and very sticky feet. They can cling to anything, I only see these in the fall and usually hiding under something.
This frog below is called a Peeper, it is most visible in the spring as they emerge from their winter hibernation. I love the sound these frogs make in the spring, music to my ears as it means the snow is gone.
