Monday, March 31, 2014

3/31/14

Last day of March, I think it's going out as a lion.  The wind is incredible again.  Very tired of this and we are horribly dry even without it.  Hope we get the rain that is predicted.  At least Spring has finally sprung.  The Crocus are blooming and the Daffodils are just beginning.  Here is a macro image of one of the Crocus in my garden.


Sunday, March 30, 2014

3/30/14

My favorite subject today, steam trains.  :-)  This is one of the trains on the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad heading out of Antonito, Colorado on the way to Chama, New Mexico.  The scenery starts out quite flat and soon becomes quite mountainous.  The water tank is one of the old Denver & Rio Grande tanks that are still in use on the line.


Saturday, March 29, 2014

3/29/14

We haven't had any colorful sunsets lately, at least none that I have been able to observe.  Hope to see one again soon.  This is a sunset from last August that I thought the cloud patterns were interesting in. 


Friday, March 28, 2014

3/28/14

I had bought a Gerber Daisy plant a few weeks ago as I love their flowers.  I was playing around with some images I took of it and here is one of them.


Thursday, March 27, 2014

3/27/14

It is actually fairly warm out today though still quite windy.  The Crocus are up and blooming, lovely to see.  This is a photo from this Fall of a leaf that I loved how the light was hitting it and really defining the details in it.  I am also partial to the contrast in colors.  :-)


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

3/26/14

I am in the mood for a butterfly today.  This is a Heliconius Butterfly that I observed at the Sioux Falls South Dakota Butterfly House a while back.  I played around with the image as well to make the butterfly stand out more.


Tuesday, March 25, 2014

3/25/14

I don't usually post this kind of train photo here on the blog.  I took this in Pennsylvania at the historic Rockville Bridge which is the largest stone masonry arch bridge in the world.  I was photographing just the bridge but then got lucky when a train started across it as well.  Norfolk Southern still uses this bridge and crosses it very slowly.  I would guess to keep vibrations to a minimum so as not to cause damage.  This image has a slight HDR effect added to it.  I also cropped it to a bit panoramic view.


Monday, March 24, 2014

3/24/14

We had snow today most of the morning and into the afternoon.  Didn't even get a good picture out of it though because by the time it stopped it was already melting.  What good was that.  This is a photo from earlier this year when we had quite a bit of snow and a female Cardinal was resting on the railing in between trips to the feeder.



Sunday, March 23, 2014

3/23/14

After we went to the Watch & Clock Museum we headed up alongside the river to Harrisburg, PA.  We traveled right beside Three Mile Island.  These are 2 of the 4 cooling towers that are still active, the other 2 are shut down and partially dismantled.  I played with the image a bit to give it a more dramatic feel as it's that kind of place.


Saturday, March 22, 2014

3/22/14

While I was in Pennsylvania we went to the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, PA.  I found it more interesting than I thought I would.  Displays were very nice and some interesting clocks and watches.  These are a couple that I particularly liked as they are different to the usual Felix the Cat type clocks I always see.  They were in a novelty clock section of the museum.


Friday, March 21, 2014

3/21/14

This is a lovely Columbine, the state flower of Colorado, that I photographed last summer and played a bit with the image.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

3/20/14

Happy First Day of Spring everyone!  Hope it feels like it where you are!  It's not too bad here in Pennsylvania today, has really been feeling like winter the last few days.  This is a photo from last spring and hopefully will be a sight we will see soon.  This was a Honey Bee that was looking for pollen around some Grape Hyacinths.


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

3/19/14

This is another view of the Elk I was able to photograph and observe in Yellowstone.  He was just slowly walking out of these woods that had been burned in the past.  He didn't seem to have a care and wasn't concerned about me or the other car that stopped to photograph him.


Tuesday, March 18, 2014

3/18/14

A Fall image of a lovely male Cardinal sitting in the Walnut tree in the backyard.  Spring is only a couple of days away but doesn't seem much like it where we are at the moment.



Monday, March 17, 2014

3/17/14

Happy St. Patrick's Day.  Don't have a related shot for that even though I took one.  Ah well.  This is a monochrome of a part of the Rocky Mountain range in the Rocky Mountain National Park from this past summer.


Sunday, March 16, 2014

3/16/14

Time for a train!  :-)  This is an engine for the Mid Central Railway in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.  It's an 1891 Baldwin Mogul locomotive at the water tank.  A very nicely restored locomotive.




Saturday, March 15, 2014

3/15/14

This is another of natures abstracts.  Ice on the window of our back door one day when it was in the single digits.

Friday, March 14, 2014

3/14/14

Happy Pi Day!  Geeks will get that.  :-)  Anyway, this is a sight I am looking forward to soon.  A lovely Iris I photographed last spring/summer.  A unique color to me, had never seen one like this before.  I was especially drawn to the way the sunlight was hitting it and I embellished that a bit.  Traveling tomorrow so not sure when I will post.  Hopefully won't forget again.  :-)


Thursday, March 13, 2014

3/13/14

This is an image I took in Rocky Mountain National Park this past summer.  We were on a hike to Alberta Falls the first evening we were there.  I decided to try a long exposure image and I also put a bit of an HDR effect on this. 


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

3/12/14

The Bald Eagles have been around for the winter.  I was told about a place where I might be able to see several so on Saturday we went for a drive there and I was rewarded with seeing 6 of them!  There were these 4 in the tree and then 2 others in 2 other trees.  So well worth the drive out to see them.  Days like this I wish I had a fancy wildlife lens.  


Tuesday, March 11, 2014

3/11/14

An older image I was playing with that was taken on our trip out to the Grand Canyon.  I loved the old cedar trees there, they had such interesting forms and twists in them.  This is an example.




Monday, March 10, 2014

3/10/14

It's actually almost 80 degrees out today so i feel OK with posting a snow photo!  :-)  This is a little Sparrow, I believe, taking refuge under the railing of the deck while going back and forth for seed during the last major snow we had.


Sunday, March 9, 2014

3/9/14

This is an older image that I found while I was looking for something the other day.  It's the Daylight locomotive doing a photo run by during an excursion we were on in Michigan back in 2009.  The Daylight is a quite beautiful locomotive with some streamlining additions to it and color added.  I believe it's currently undergoing an overhaul which is required every few years in the US to be able to operate for the public.


Saturday, March 8, 2014

3/8/14

I haven't posted a sunset for a while.  Found this one from back in early August that had some quite nice cloud formations.


Friday, March 7, 2014

3/7/14

This is an image from our trip this past summer to Rocky Mountain National Park.  I saw these flowers at a stop along Trail Ridge Road which is at a very high altitude.  These were lovely little flowers called Alpine Forget-Me-Nots.




3/6/14

Ack, I was doing so well and then missed a day again.  Sorry.  This is a lovely Buckeye butterfly that was on the Sedum this summer.  Looking forward to sights like this again this year.


Wednesday, March 5, 2014

3/5/14

This was an experiment in light and mood.  I liked the results so decided to share.  This is a photo of Dunloup Falls in West Virginia that was taken during the day but started out a bit dark so I played with it to make it more moody.


Tuesday, March 4, 2014

3/4/14

This is an older shot but one I quite like so am going to share.  I took this back when we went out to the Grand Canyon in New Mexico I believe.  It was along the infamous Route 66 and I believe that this was a museum commemorating the Route.  It was closed at the time.  I liked all the old style elements in it especially those gas pumps.  I put a bit of an HDR effect on it and quite liked the result.


Monday, March 3, 2014

3/3/14

Quite cold out today.  Feels like January and not March.  This is a shot from a few weeks ago of a male Cardinal feeding on a Trumpet Vine seed pod.  Had no idea they would eat those.



Sunday, March 2, 2014

3/2/14

Well, the snow storm predicted was a bust which is just fine with me.  Mainly got some sleet out of it.  It's horribly cold though so they were right about that unfortunately.  Here's an image of a nice warm steam train that I gave an antique look to.  It's the restored locomotive of Abilene, KS Smokey Valley Railway, ATSF 3415.


Saturday, March 1, 2014

3/1/14

Waiting for the winter storm to start, yuck.  What good is it on a weekend too.  :-)  Thinking of summer with a shot from Yellowstone National Park of a little Chipmunk I saw feeding in the brush on the way to view some mud pots.