Day 68. Happy Valentine.

As I got home from work yesterday, a shocking scene greeted me - a cleaned off dining room table with just a Valentine's day gift and card for me sitting all pretty in the center.   The shocking part was the dining room table sans stuff.  Most of the year our table holds all manner of bills, miscellaneous mail advertisements, magazines, stuff I unpack after traveling but aren't sure what to do with, stuff for an upcoming travel that I'm not quite ready to pack, gifts for that birthday a month from now, you get the idea.  It's our junk drawer. 

Plus the cats like to walk on it, which rightly appalls those with good judgement, and which means I don't really want to eat on it since it needs a good cleaning and disinfecting first.  But we like having dinner in the basement, so really what's the harm?  (And we do clean very VERY thoroughly for the one or two meals a year we do actually have at the table.)  

Back to Valentine's day.  My husband wasn't home from work yet, but it was a nice surprise to see a gift from my sweetie waiting for me.  I had just come from the grocery store where there was a line of ten or eleven guys picking up last minute flowers.  My guy planned ahead.  Kudos to him.

Here was what greeted me:

 

 

I wasn't particularly happy with any of the shots I got. (Gift was great, I just didn't manage to photograph it well.)  

 

I should have setup my tripod, but instead I just took a bunch of shots from a variety of angles then messed around with filter effects in photoshop, hence the kind of weird look.  But I wanted to post something to give my husband credit for a great Valentine's Day.  (He got me a beautiful ring, totally awesome.  I got him a ten pack of socks and the movie, Skyfall, but the Blue Ray, DVD, bonus pack version - cause I love him - he's worth the extra $5.   Plus the way he keeps wearing holey socks, that pack of socks will last as long as my ring.) 

 

It's true love.

 

See on,

Julee

 

Day 67. God Bless America.

I am not sure I have ever taken a picture of the American flag before.  But last night as I was driving home, I passed a Perkins restaurant and their huge flag looked just gorgeous.  The night sky and the wind was a perfect combination. 

How did I do? 

I took about 15 shots, and frankly was disappointed in most.  Who would have thought it was so hard to capture a nice shot of a flag blowing in the wind.  But to get just the right flutter, wow, most pictures just did not look as good as the view of the flag in person.

But I still don't think my end result was too bad.

See on.
Julee

Day 66. Wheels.

These wagon wheels, or replica, decorative wheels more likely, caught my eye.  I liked them against the brick background of a local house.

Not terribly exciting, but a decent photo I think.  I captured it before the sun came out, but it is out now, so I'm headed back out to enjoy.

Here's hoping my next picture contains beautiful rays of sun, or at least shadows. 
See on,
Julee

Day 65. Blowing snow.

Every year, for at least two weeks, grayness takes over and stalls out in the skies above us.  For me, and many others I think, this is a painful time of year.  Winter blues are definitely real, and boy does it get tough to remain bright and cheery when weeks go by without seeing the sun.

(At least I was blessed with a week in Florida two weeks ago where I was able to see the sun and enjoy moderate temperatures, but apparently the happy effects from sun disappear quickly.  I have a happy light at work, and I think it's time to start using it again.)  The weatherman said we will see sun this week, so fingers crossed.  And at least the temperatures are actually quite comfortable, in the twenties for the most part. 

Here are a couple of photos of the blowing snow that I captured today.  The blizzard warning continues on, and with a foot of snow, no plows out, and closed interstates, I worked from safety from home.  This meant the glorious freedom to take a short walk and get some photos over the noon hour. 

There is a elementary school, now used to pre-school only I believe, half a block from my house.  When the wind would blow, it created an interesting pattern off the roof.  I took a whole series of photos, and none really captures the blowing snow exactly like I was seeing it, but this was the closest shot.  Plus the overhanging snow is neat.

This is one of the many icicles hanging off our house.  Photo taken right from the back porch.  I like that you can see the fine snow flakes that were blowing around at the time I took the picture.

See on.
Julee

Day 64. After the blizzard.

Just to clarify, I live in one of the plains states (South Dakota).  And while we are in the midst of a blizzard, we did not get the 2 1/2 feet that the east coast received during their blizzard a couple of days ago.  So blizzardwise, ours was not terribly impressive.

But we did get a foot of snow, 45 mph winds, and our interstates are shut down too, so it was still a good storm.

During a lull in the snow today, I took a walk to seek out some snowy pictures.  It was rather a tough walk, and I surely got my daily exercise even though I walked less than two miles.  (There was very little traffic out so I trudged my way in what tire tracks there were in the street.)

I am actually quite pleased by what I captured today.  The snow covered pumpkin leaf bags looked a bit out of season.  And it totally reminded me that my husband and I didn't pick up the small bit of leaves that fell last fall - so they'll be waiting for us in the spring.  But while snow covered, I thought the pumpkin on the right had a mischievous look about him, a bit like he thought the snow was fun.

Then this poor, little, plastic snowman, doesn't he look like mother nature tried to beat him down, but he's having none of that?

I have to drive on one of the aforementioned interestates to get to work tomorrow, so I am guessing I can sleep in a bit while we wait for the snow plows to get through and law enforcement to declare the roads open.

See on.
Julee

Day 63. Effect of the drought.

On my drive home from work about a month ago, I saw this small patch of unharvested corn.  During harvest I remember all of the talk centering on the poor quality of corn this season due to the drought that effected about 90% of the county's corn and soybean regions, and the low yields farmers would be seeing as a result.  My understanding was that low yields would lead to some corn not being harvested, having something to do with crop insurance and decisions made by insurance adjustors.  However, for months of looking now, this is the only corn I was able to find.

It's a little sad.  And it reminds me of what a tough year our farmers had.  Here's hoping for a better season in 2013!

 

 

 

See on,

Julee

Day 62. Blue tree.

I got into Fargo around 5 pm and it was still light.  I got up to my hotel room and from my window I saw what looked like purple blossoms on some trees.  They were about two city blocks away so I couldn't see them perfectly.  But there was a lot of the color purple

This maybe wouldn't have been so odd had it been springtime.  But it was the coldest of cold winter days. (It was -10 when I arrived.). There were no blossoming trees.

But these colored trees were so big I didn't think they could be fake.  By the time I got back to my car and drove to the trees it was getting dark. When i got close I could see the trees were just very elaborately decorated with blue lights. 

I did not take time to compose a great photo. It was too darn cold.  I pulled the car over, rolled down the window, and took a picture.

But it was something unique, and I loved the light given off.

See on.
Julee