Friday, November 30, 2018

11/30/18

It's the last day of November and the pressure is on to Christmas with buying gifts.  Sigh.  My image today is a summery one because the day started out blah again and I am tired of blah days.  This is from Tamarack Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota from this past June.  I captured these 2 dragonflies in 2 different images and stacked them together to show both in focus in Photoshop.  I wish I had done a shot or 2 more to get the leaves in between them in focus as well but I was lucky they stayed still for even 2 shots.  


Thursday, November 29, 2018

11/29/18

It's been cloudy off and on so I felt like something bright today.  I actually took this image with my old phone, a Note 4.  I rediscovered it the other day when I was copying images from the phone to my computer in preparation for getting a new phone.  It wasn't until I was looking at the image on my computer that I noticed the Sunflower on the left has a buddy hanging from it.  These Sunflowers were volunteers in one of my gardens this year.


Wednesday, November 28, 2018

11/28/18

I was in St Joseph Missouri for Thanksgiving.  My in-laws have a lovely Hawthorn tree which gets these red berries that the birds and squirrels seem to love.  There weren't many left but I managed to capture this male Cardinal sitting among the berries looking rather picturesque.


11/27/18

Yikes, I have been busy lately and totally forgot a day.  Sorry about that.
This image is from the Great Bend Air Show.  The airplane is an SNJ Navy Trainer, another of which was flying in the show, sitting in front of an original hanger.  This hanger used to house the B-29s that were used to train pilots in Kansas.  2 B-29s were at this show but as I mentioned, I unfortunately did not get to see them fly.


Monday, November 26, 2018

11/26/18

Well, what wacky weather.  64F on Saturday, then yesterday a blizzard, today a snow day with temps only at about 30F.  So weird.  My image today is of part of a huge old Oak tree that we have acquired over on the new land.  I thought the silhouetted branches looked lovely against the sky with the November full moon rising behind.


Sunday, November 25, 2018

11/25/18

Well we went from some lovely 60 degree weather yesterday to blizzard like conditions today.  UGH.  My image is from a much warmer day in May when I was riding the Cumbres & Toltec Railway.  We were heading up the grade from the New Mexico side and it was fun to experience the locomotive working hard.  We are at Windy Point in this image just about to head into Cumbres Pass.


Saturday, November 24, 2018

11/24/18

Another of my autumn photos from this year for you.  This is again at the large scale railroad I get to play at looking lovely this autumn.  This view is as you go around the back side and head into the tunnel.  It was highlighted with some lovely trees in autumn color.


Friday, November 23, 2018

11/23/18

I hope everyone stayed safe if you went out Black Friday shopping today.  Today's image is one of my favorite flowers that I shot at the Chama station in New mexico before my train ride.  These are pink Columbines with Aspen tree bokeh.


Thursday, November 22, 2018

11/22/18

Happy Thanksgiving to all in the US, happy day to everyone else.  This is an image of a pond on the outskirts of town that people fish in at times.  It was looking quite lovely this autumn and I like how the colors reflected in the water as well.


Wednesday, November 21, 2018

11/21/18

I'm remembering our colorful autumn again.  Here is a shot of the trestle at the large scale railroad I get to play at outside of Topeka Kansas.  The trees were putting on quite a show in the afternoon sun.  The Poplar trees turn such a lovely golden color and remind me of Aspens.


Tuesday, November 20, 2018

11/20/18

My image today is from the Great Bend Air Show I went to this year.  This is a Navy SNJ which was a WWII training aircraft and exactly like the Army Air Corp T6 Texan I was able to fly in a few years back, just different paint schemes and designations.  Here it was performing some stunt flying with smoke.  I liked how the smoke trail was captured in this image.  


Monday, November 19, 2018

11/19/18

I had 4 pairs of Cardinals in my backyard a week ago.  I captured this male sitting in the Trumpet Vine looking like he was looking at me with a rather punk hairdo.  


Sunday, November 18, 2018

11/18/18

Today's image goes back to a much warmer day this past May when I was chasing the Cumbres & Toltec trains.  This is the one coming from the Colorado side.  It is just beginning to enter the switchback up to Cumbres Pass where it will gain quite a bit of feet in elevation.  It is already gaining here and you can tell that it is working a bit hard by the smoke.


Saturday, November 17, 2018

11/17/18

It's blah and dreary today so I decided on something bright and it was a type of photo they were looking for over on Google Plus so helped me decide.  Google Plus is going away next August so trying to find a new place to play.  I am not all that fond of Social Media and G+ is the only one I have ever been active in so trying to decide the right place to go to have the same kind of experience.  Anyway, these are some colorful Tulips that I shot in Wamego Kansas at their Tulip festival.


Friday, November 16, 2018

11/16/18

Today's image is another of the lovely leaves with a bubbly bokeh background of the Red Maple I discovered this autumn on the outskirts of the new land.  It really put on quite the show of color.


Thursday, November 15, 2018

11/15/18

We went from the colorful scene I posted yesterday very quickly to this scene one week ago today.  You can still see some color in the trees in the background.  This was the perfect snow, I loved the way it clung to the trees and made a winter wonderland in autumn and it also did not stick on the roads.  We got about 4 inches of it and it was still falling at this point.  I shot this image at the pond on my new land.


Wednesday, November 14, 2018

11/14/18

Hope you are having a happy Hump Day Wednesday.  This is an image I captured out on Fort Riley a couple of weeks ago when the autumn colors were at their peak.  I loved how the sun was highlighting the tops of them.  The colors are gone now after our snows and bitter temps but it was beautiful while it lasted.


Tuesday, November 13, 2018

11/13/18

With the bitter cold weather we have been having, everything is killed off now.  I decided to share the color version of the monochrome Clematis I shared a little bit ago.  It really gives a pop of color.


Monday, November 12, 2018

11/12/18

I posted an image of the Mulberry tree in it's golden glory last week and this image is what it and other trees looked like on Thursday afternoon.  We were having a lovely clingy snow and you can still see some of the golden leaves peaking out from it.  It was very beautiful in our area until later on Friday when the wind blew most of it down.  Yesterday it was pretty much gone but overnight we received another inch or so and we are white again.  I am about done with winter and it hasn't even actually begun.




Sunday, November 11, 2018

11/11/18

This is our train sitting in Chama New Mexico at the Cumbres & Toltec Railway station.  It is getting ready to pull out and move our cars around for us to board, you can see the steam coming from the wheel cylinders.  Soon we would board and begin the journey to Antonito Colorado as we wind our way through the mountains in and out of New Mexico eleven times.


Saturday, November 10, 2018

11/10/18

Our lovely autumn is coming rapidly to a close, it feels like January today with temps in the 20s F right now.  We had a lovely snow on Thursday and then the winds kicked up on Friday so I didn't manage to get this shot when I wanted but I still managed to capture some of the snow in the trees.  This is a 2 shot panoramic image of Homer's Pond in junction City Kansas.  It is best viewed full size by clicking on it.


Friday, November 9, 2018

11/9/18

I took this image on Saturday and this yesterday it was all covered in white as we just had our first major snow of the year with about 4 inches of the white stuff.  This is one of my Echinaceas or Cone Flowers that had still been blooming up until yesterday.  Tonight we get bitter cold so I am sure nothing will be blooming anymore till spring.  I will miss it.


Thursday, November 8, 2018

11/8/18

Well, our sights of this beautiful autumn will probably only live on in photos after today and tomorrow.  Snow today and temps in the teens tomorrow night.  It was beautiful while it lasted.  I have never seen this tree so colorful.  This is a Mulberry I believe though it does not bare fruit, it's leaves look just like the fruited ones though.  It has kept it leaves much longer than the fruited ones and they turned a lovely golden and orangey color this year.  I captured this in the very late afternoon with the sun really showing them off.  This tree is on the west side of my yard and I am looking back north east in this image.


Wednesday, November 7, 2018

11/7/18

Well we had our nice autumn and now winter is coming.  Only highs is the 40s and 30s the next few days.  Yikes.  Thinking back today to a much warmer and lovely day out on Konza Prairie.  I captured this Meadowlark surveying and singing from it's perch on a Lead Plant.  


Tuesday, November 6, 2018

11/6/18

Today's image is another of the sights of our beautiful autumn I was capturing last week.  It is going away quickly because it is freezing now and the winds are back.  I captured this image of the Union Pacific railroad tracks as they head south out of Junction City framed by lovely tree colors.


Monday, November 5, 2018

11/5/18

I haven't shared one of these for a while and someone on G Plus was looking for these kinds of shots today.  I decided on this one that I shot out at Konza Prairie this past summer because it was appropriate for the season with the colors.  This is a Fritillary I captured on some Butterfly Milkweed this past June.


Sunday, November 4, 2018

11/4/18

Hope all of those who visit this blog from North America and participate in DST remembered to set your clocks back.  For today's image, I decided to share another image of the locomotive I get to help fire on 4 days out of the year.  This is ex Soo Line Switch engine 353 on the turntable at Rollag Minnesota getting ready to head out for the day pulling passengers around the grounds at the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion.  I got to experience this when I was acting as fire person one morning this past show.  Another check mark off my railroading experiences.  😊



Saturday, November 3, 2018

11/3/18

I am continuing on with our beautiful autumn today.  The winds that knock the leaves off have arrived today so they are falling rapidly and the color will be gone but it has been so enjoyable while it lasted.  This is a lovely rural scene I was treated to on my way into Manhattan Kansas a couple of Wednesdays ago.


Friday, November 2, 2018

11/2/18

I am sharing some more leaves and bokeh today.  These are what I think is, Wild Honeysuckle leaves and berries.  They grow wild in many areas and the berries give nice color.  I believe the type of Honeysuckle is Amur due to the pointed leaf tip shape.  I liked the lovely colorful autumn bokeh behind them, set off the green leaves nicely.


Thursday, November 1, 2018

11/1/18

Our autumn here is still quite beautiful and colorful though a lot of the trees are losing their leaves.  My garden railway has disappeared under them.  It's been so enjoyable to see all the beautiful color that you would normally have to travel to find.  Someone mentioned yesterday they thought it was due to the late rain that came that allowed them to get so vibrant.  I just wonder if it is because the high winds we usually have that blow them all off have not come yet.  Whatever it is, it's beautiful.  This is the Kansas River looking back west towards Junction City Kansas on K-18 Highway.  I loved all the deep reds and pops of orange.