After the Long Winters Nap, the lush blanket that covers the earth we walk on is coming alive with so many colors and new life every where I look. I look for the tinniest little plants along the path in the woods. Plants that I have never seen before because they are so small.
The dandelions are seeding out already with their little umbrellas that will carry them to start new plants. I watched someone make dandelion honey the other day. It looked very easy. I may have to give it a try.
Shooting Stars & Milky Way, this month has been quite the show in the heavens. There are so many shooting stars and the moon is not out as the Milky Way passes over, so the night skies are lit up even with out a camera. If you get a chance head on out and take a gander.
I took these photos last Wednesday, I knew I would be able to see the Milky Way between 3 am and 5:50 am. So I wanted to try some light painting also. I parked my Jeep at the South end of my driveway and set my alarm clock. I opened the door at 3 and I could see the Milky Way just to the front of my Jeep. So by the time I got my camera set up it was right over top of it.
Light painting is when you take a light source and just shine it on your subject when the surrounding it dark. Your camera then picks up what ever you shine the light on. So much fun.
Now this photo below was taken from a go pro camera facing North. The two lines across the photo are shooting stars flying pass my camera. To get this photo below, I used the night lapse mode on the go pro and shot about 70 photos and stacked them on top of each other in a program called StarStaX. This is how the stars travel when you look north.
I will be putting a video together this week to show you the results in video mode.
Colors to Brighten Your Day, I put two post on yesterday, oops. So here are a variety of colorful flowers on my front porch. We still had frost this morning so I have to put these plants inside every night. But I think we have turned the corner on frosty mornings.
Rivers of Living Water, Will Flow from Within. It is a wonderful time of year to stroll though the forest, it is not to hot and the mosquitos are not out yet here. I have found a couple wood ticks on me already. (video below)
The moss is heavy on the trees, with a beautiful green color that matches the surrounding forest.
Changing Colors at Sunset, a colorful sunset to end the day with. It was pretty cold again last night but I have noticed the sunsets are becoming more colorful again. It was 28 degrees last night, so I had to go out and cover a couple plants in the yard. After this weekend it will start warming up again.
Bold Splash of Colors, well I finally have some wild flowers blooming in the yard. Yes, the dandelions are always the first flowers I see. But I can’t complain because it is nice to see the color. I had to add a couple more splashes of purple today as well.
I did buy some hanging flower baskets yesterday, so I will see what kind of photos I can get with those. The sun might come out tomorrow, but it will be below freezing again tonight. So I have to cover a couple plants outside.
The Most Visible Wavelength – Purple is the most powerful visible wavelength out of all of the colors in the rainbow. Purple can symbolize many things, but to sum it up in a few words, purple represents strength.
The spring wild flowers have not arrived yet, but I bought this little plant the other day, it was a tiny little plant for one dollar. I did not know anything about them, I went out to the porch today and the most aromatic floral scent was coming from this little plant that had decided to bloom over night.
It is called the Hyacinth. A very strong, easy to grow plant, but. Yes there is a but to this beautiful flower, it does have a toxic substance on the bulb below the soil. You should ware gloves when handling it and keep it away from any pets or children.
It draws you in with its floral aroma and the striking beauty of its colors, but always be aware of what is dressed in such beauty. It is a lesson in life for me to not just agree with everything I hear, but to find the facts and truth myself to make my own decisions.
As the Earth Turns Green, that sounds like it could be the Title to a Soap Opera. 🙂 I love when everything starts to wake up after a long winter nap. The greens are so vibrant, truly named forest green for a reason.
My First Photo of Milky Way, I have been studying on how to locate the milky way for a photo the last few weeks and how to set my camera to be able to capture it. Well, yesterday morning I finally got a photo. It was pretty cold out, but the night sky was amazing. Is was also the highlight of meteor showers as well. I saw plenty of those as well. I put a video below of the stars passing by from my back yard as well.
Now this video was taken with a Go Pro, which doesn’t take as clear a video as with a camera. So you might have to lower the lights behind you to really see all the shooting stars.
The Little Red Squirrel, they have been gone for a couple of weeks when the weather was nice. But, we have had some snow the last couple of days, so they are back again. Looking for a little pick me up snack I think. I love the red stripe they have, very showy when the sun is out.
He appears to not be happy that he has a little snow on the roof of his house. Yes, I have seen him go into this bird feeder many times.
Looks like a little bracelet on its hand and if Mr. Ohh is seeing this, I will have to say; ” No, it is not little hand cuffs.” 🙂 I am guessing that is what he might see.
The Beaches are Back, well, at least the beaches in the north country. It is still a bit cold but so nice to see the snow and ice gone. We did get some snow a couple times already this week, but it melts by the afternoon. I was watching the water dripping from the corner of a roof into a bucket and decided to film it in slow motion. That short clip is below.
Night Time Photography Begins, I am looking forward to an exciting year of photographing the night skies. I started over the weekend. April begins the warmer evenings and clearer skies to get out enjoy. Also, starting on the 16th of April, the annual Lyrid meteor shower began.
Each year that meteor shower kicks off when the Earth travels through what remains of the tail of the comet called Thatcher. The Thatcher comet only comes around once every 400 years, but it’s left the solar system strewn with debris from its tail. When that debris hits the earth’s atmosphere, we see streaks of light in the sky called shooting stars. April 22nd should be the peak of the meteor shower.
These photos were taken with a Go Pro 7 camera, I set it to night lapse starting about 9 pm and picked up the camera at 2 am. The stars are all moving from left to right in the photo, and you can see lines going the opposite way which are shooting stars. This photo below is a combination of 100 photos stacked on top each other so you can see how the stars move across the sky where I am standing. The bright light is the moon.
This photo below is a combination of 72 photos stacked on top each other from midnight to about 2 am. If you notice there are streaks of purple and pink in the midst of stars. They are different colors when you get a good photo of them.
A New Train to My Collection, I do love trains. There is just something about them, the power and the sound amazes me. The amount of weight they can pull and just the size of these giant locomotives, I am in awe of the construction of them. And they are really pretty when they are all cleaned up. So I have added this nice orange colored one to my collection.
The Red ones are always pretty when they pass by in the winter.
Now, I took this one a while ago. It look kind of plain in this photo. It was a very gray day and snowing heavily. But, I like to create art work via the computer. I can not paint or draw but an app called Photoshop allows me to let my imagination run wild and create what my mind imagines.
So, I took the photo above and put a new sky on it below. The sky part of the photo is a photo I took also at my sister’s farm. On a cold winters day, it is fun to create artwork of your own.
Art in the Park at Sunrise, A lot of parks are featuring artwork at times, such as statues made by local artist. I do like this one, it seems to be reaching to the heavens. I can not create a piece of art such as a statue, I do not posses that talent. But I do enjoying creating art with photography. So many different styles of art all created with imagination and the beauty that we see in our minds eye.
The First Flower Buds on a Tree, it has been a rainy couple of days, so taking photos seemed out of reach. But, when the rain stopped for a moment, I could see the first signs of flowering buds on a tree across the driveway so I got my camera and took a few shots. So nice to see and all of a sudden one day I will look out the window and there will be leaves on all the trees. I love that when it happens.
I have no idea what kind of tree this is. There are only a handful of them with these buds on them. I will wait and see what comes next, unless anyone knows what they are. 🙂
What Might This Be, I have always been one to stop and look at everything since I was a child. Photography has made it even more fun to look at all the little things that we tend to walk right by without a second glance. How close can I get? What does this look like really close? That is what I am thinking.
Now granted, there always seems to be something that makes me stop and take a second glance. On this particular day, as you might guess, the sparkles of light reflecting off the frost caught my eye right away. I love it when this happens. It can take me along time to take a walk outdoors, because He shows me daily that life is to be enjoyed, to slow down and see, really see everything around us.
Even; Shingles on a Roof
But it is the Light that always stops me and enables me to take a deep breath and just smile.
Lake Superior Ice 2021, I wanted to finish this week off with the last of my winter snow photos of Lake Superior. It is actually raining here today. So all this ice you see in these photos is but a memory now. These photos were all taken with a drone at the end of February. There were quite a few nights of -18 F to create this much ice on this giant lake.
Lake Superior is not only the largest of the great lakes, it also has the largest surface area of any fresh water lake in the world. It contains 3000 cubic miles of water. That is enough water to fill all the other great lakes plus 3 additional Lake Erie’s.
It is hard to describe the size of the ice heaves, shoves or I call the big ones cliffs out in the middle, that you see in these photos.
Lake ice formation is dynamic. Even when a lake is completely frozen, the ice is not stagnant. It expands and contracts as it warms and cools. Differences in day and night temperatures can be large enough to cause the ice to crack. As the air temperature drops at night, lake ice cools and contracts. Since the ice is stuck to the shoreline, the entire sheet cannot contract as a whole, so cracks develop in the ice.
When the ice warms during the day, it expands. This expansion can cause a collision between both sides of the crack, which can cause the ice to buckle up at that pressure point.
This picture below, I am standing over in the shadow of the trees and I cannot see over the ice chunks closest to the beach. They are that tall.
This is my view from the shoreline so you can see how tall this first row of ice is.
So I can only imagine how tall these ice formations are, farther out into the water. By the look of the shadow I can Imagine I am just a tiny speck if I were standing near it.
This is a close up of the ice in the center of the first photo above.
And here is the grand finale. Lake Superior 2021, this photo is facing East looking along the shoreline.
And this one is facing West. That is a lot of ice and when you see that much ice you know it was really cold.
Where is Wall Doe (Deer), boy did we get dumped on yesterday with some snow. Over a foot of snow in just 6 hours and than it was all over. The deer came out for a little snack, but I could hardly see them it was so heavy at times.
I did get the plowing done before the snow ended and it got dark. Luckily it isn’t that cold this time. So it wasn’t so bad until the snow plow comes by later and heaps it all up at the end of the driveway. But I will just have to put the ole jeep in 4 wheel drive and have some fun.
Oh, and I did get a photo of the illusive partridge. I took the photo through a window. That is the only way not to spook it.
Light Snow to End the Week, what a beautiful week it has been weather wise. Even the snow was just right, not to much but just enough to see it lightly falling around the birds perched in the trees.
Look here, one tiny branch with a red bud on it. I love seeing the first new bud on a tree, after its long winters nap.
The Value of a Moment – Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it has already become a memory. As far back as I can remember, I have never been one to hurry through life. I was and still am never in a hurry to get anywhere or to accomplish something.
Just ask my husband, he is a hard working man, who is focused and loves to build things to make a better life for us. He knows first hand that my focus gets distracted easily. It is like saying “Squirrel” to a Dog, if you know what I mean.
This photo below is a perfect example. I was headed to a specific place and when we got past a grove of trees I looked out my window and had to stop. I had to get out and just look at what was before me. The clouds caught my eye right away, the white streaks in front of such a blue sky was amazing. This is Lake Superior covered in ice and snow drifts. It looked like whip cream every where.
I am turning 60 years old this year and when I think back on my time here on this earth. What I remember the most are these little moments. I remember making snow angels in the winter, laying in the grass and looking up at the stars on a warm summers night. Feeling the wind on my face as I sit on a beach staring out over the ocean. The smell of the first rain in the spring.
But these are not just memories, they are in the forefront of my mind all the time. I have never stopped searching for these moments that show me what life is really about, for me. They are the gifts given to us to remind us that life is meant to be enjoyed.
This photo below is a moment in time that no one else has seen but us, until today. This is a drone shot of Lake Superior, frozen in time, rising ice breaks along the edge of the lake, as far as you can see. The beauty of creation.
Where am I going with this thought you might be wondering? Well, I worked some hard jobs during my younger years as well, I stood on cement floors for 12 hours a day at a factory for many years. It was very hard work, but I don’t remanence about those days at all.
The same as I don’t get caught up in the politics that surround us now a days. I am aware of what is going on, but I don’t have time to focus to much on that, it is a distraction that takes me away from the One who matters most, to me. The only One who said ” Let there be Light“, ” I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye”
Through His eyes is how I see, the value of a Moment
Memories of the Farm, We went for a drive the other day. The sun was out and the chickadees were singing on this beautiful February Morning. I grew up on a farm and raised horses for many years. One of the things I like to see in the country is the old red barns.
We came across this one covered in snow. I can just picture, back in the day when this old barn was new. Painted a beautiful red, oh how it must have stood out when the snow blanketed the roof top.
I had a barn just like this one. The same shape and red, mine faced the sun just as this one is. I used to open up the big hay loft door that you see in this photo above the ground, I would open it up on a sunny day in winter and sit on the edge and enjoy the warmth of the sun caressing my skin.
These are the days I remember the most, living the simple life, enjoying the little things. I still enjoy doing the same thing, except now I sit on my porch, still facing the sun and just listening to the sounds of nature.
Living each day in the moment, for our days go by so fast. My photos remind me of wonderful days gone by and also remind me that the best moments in life are now, for tomorrow we do not know.
She is Getting Chipmunk Cheeks and she is always sticking her tongue out at me. She isn’t very shy anymore. I was standing pretty close to her, so this photo came out pretty clear. I just seem to click the shot right in time with her tongue. Pretty good timing 😏
She is Getting Chipmunk Cheeks
Oh when you smilin’, when you smilin’ The whole world, smiles with you Yes, when you laughin’, when you laughin’ Yes, the sun come shinin’ through; by Louis Armstrong
Water Falls in the Winter, I hope everyone had a good weekend. It has been some strange weather everywhere. It warmed up a bit here so I headed to the water falls to see what they looked like and took a few photos.
This photo below was taken last summer just to show you what is coming soon. 💕
Colorful Lights of Winter, this first shot was at just the right angle to see the colorful lens flare. Which almost looks like light from a prism, this is a new technique when I looked it up, using prisms to create colorful light refractions. I might have to get some prisms and try something new. 🤔
And a short video of blowing snow here where I am after a light snow fall, posted at the bottom of the page.
Below is a Photo of the flower, Queen Anne’s Lace, this is what it looks like in the winter.
A Winters Sunset, I don’t see to many colorful sunsets this time of year. It depends on how overcast the sky’s are by nightfall. But when I look out the window and see a touch of orange in the sky, I bundle up and head out to take a photo just so I don’t miss it. Sights like this are few and far between this time of year.
Creating Bokeh Lights in Photos, I love taking photos to create the circles of light that they refer to as Bokeh. It is where you put the light behind your subject and zoom in. It right up there next to sparkles for me.
Just a Little Ice Formations at the Lake this month. When the sky’s are blue the ice is blue. The reflection of light. Everything is in winter hibernation, even me when it is this cold out.
Shades of Winter Blues, there are so many shades of blue in the winter. Blue happens to be my favorite color and then green. Must be why I like the forest, lakes and oceans. Amazing how each season has an abundance of color for our eyes to see.
Blue is the rarest color in nature and most often not the result of pigment. Most things in the natural world that appear blue come from the refracting of light through structures designed to reflect this color.
And he made the vail [of] blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubim’s thereon
She is Looking Right at Me, I opened the door to go outside and happen to have my camera. She did not run away right off like she usually does. She just stood there looking at me, so I took a couple of photos as she was licking her lips of the fresh bird seed.
I think she is telling me to bring some more food.
And when I told her No, she stuck her tongue out at me.
Eyes Glow in Different Colors, I have mentioned that it is really cold here, so I have a lot of time on my hands. This allows you to see how my thought pattern works in the mornings. I was taking photos of my dogs this morning with the flash on and that is when I noticed thy have different color glowing eyes. So I had to look up why.
Eyes that glow in the pitch-black night make for many a scary tale. But the glowing eyes is what makes them see better at night. That light-reflecting surface, is called tapetum lucidum.
When light enters the eye, it’s supposed to hit a photoreceptor that transmits the information to the brain. But sometimes the light doesn’t hit the photoreceptor, so the tapetum lucidum acts as a mirror to bounce it back for a second chance.
And not all eyes animals’ glow the same color. There are varying amounts of pigment within the retina, and that can affect the color, along with age.
Now it did say cats eyes glow also, I took a lot of photos of my cat with the flash on and I could not get the glow to come out. Juts the look of disdain and stop flashing my eyes, look from her.
Most animals that have a tapetum lucidum in their eyes are mammals, nocturnal animals.
Some species of birds – such as owls – have eyes that appear to glow.
But birds do not have a tapetum lucidum layer in their eyes. But their eyes are beautiful just the same.
