Today's image is another one from Garden of the Gods. This is the view you can get from the Visitor's Center just across the way from the main entrance. The "Kissing Camels" formation can be seen at the top of the right rock group. The weather was just perfect that day with lovely cloud formations and not too hot.
It's Friday, TGIF! It's also a double digit day. 😁 Today's image is actually from last fall but I had never shared it. I love the bokeh behind that gives it a kind of painted effect. This is a Painted Lady butterfly on Goldenrod.
I was out watering plants last week and was able to capture this little guy. He was sitting on a piece of plastic screening I was using to stop squirrels from digging in one of my pots. It looked like he was comfortably posing for me. 😄
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is one of my favorites and has been blooming like crazy around my area and especially in my gardens. This is Echinacea also known as Cone Flower or, here in Kansas, Black Sampson Echinacea. It usually blooms June through July. This Echinacea provides pain relieving compounds and Native Americans used it for toothaches, sore throats, wounds and burns. I find it very photogenic. Birds like to eat the dried seeds.
While I was in Chama New Mexico one evening I was able to get a few of the best Hummingbird photos I have been able to get in a long time. This Hummingbird came flying in and landed on a branch very close to where I was walking and allowed me to get several images of it.
Happy Monday and happy new week! Time is flying by. Sigh I was given a Stargazer Lily by a friend who has since passed and it makes me think of her when it blooms. There was only one bloom this year for some reason but it was a gorgeous one.
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! Today's image is one I took while on the Cumbres & Toltec train ride a couple weeks ago. This is the train from the Antonito Colorado side stopped at Osier Station where we had lunch. In about the middle of the train ride, you get to stop at Osier Station and have, what is now, a buffet lunch which is actually very good. There is some time then to walk around and take photographs which is nice.
I have a very short video HERE of the train getting ready to load passengers in Chama Yard. It's very steamy. 😁
While I was in Colorado I also visited a few other places for museums and other things. I went to the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. Afterwards we went into Golden to find a place to eat. Before dinner we went for a walk and this is a view of Clear Creek that passes through part of the town. Clear Creek lives up to it's name because if you enlarge the image and look at the water you can see the rocks at the bottom. There is, what looks to be a lovely biking and hiking trail alongside the river that I will have to check out sometime in the future. Just FYI, Golden is home to Coors Beer and has a HUGE factory there.
It's Friday, TGIF! I am trying to grow Blanket Flower once again in a different location. If it does not work again, I am giving up. I can never get them to come back the next year even though they are a perennial. Anyway, I find them quite lovely and photogenic. This image had some lovely bokeh in it so sharing for today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
We stayed in Strasburg Colorado, a town that has quite the railroad history. It also had some great opportunities for wildlife photos I discovered while out for a walk one evening trying to photograph the train station. There was a fairly large group of prairie dogs living in a field near where I was photographing the station. I was able to get this image of several of them. I find them very cute though I am thankful they are not in my area as I don't think I would enjoy them in my yard. 😂😅
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is a Prickly Pear Cactus bloom. I actually photographed this in Colorado in the Garden of the Gods but we have them in Kansas as well. The official name is Plains Prickly Pear and they bloom in May and June and they are found throughout Kansas. They endure drought well due to their pads, they can shrink and swell depending on how much moisture they receive.
While I was in New Mexico and Colorado I was able to see and capture some different wildlife. This is a new one for me, I believe it is a Woodhouse Scrub Jay. I photographed it in the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.
Happy Monday and happy new week! My neighbor's Lilies were putting on a very nice show this year. She encouraged me to photograph them and I was happy to oblige. 😁
It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog! 2 weeks ago already I was riding on the Cumbres & Toltec Railway in New Mexico and Colorado. It was a fantastic ride as always. The image for today is as our locomotive is getting ready to hook up to the train to take us out for our trip. I liked the shadow cast on the ground. The sun angle in the morning makes photography challenging. 😂
I have a video on YouTube HERE of it moving around and hooking up.
While I was out in Colorado, I was able to bike ride through the Garden of the Gods which is something I had wanted to do ever since I got my e-bike back in 2019. I was finally able to do it and it was quite fun. We stopped for photos along the way quite a lot and took a lunch along and ate lunch in the park which was also quite enjoyable. After the bike ride we also hiked one of the trails as well. This image has the "Kissing Camels" in it. This is actually half of a stereo image as I was doing mostly stereo with the great subject matter. 😊
It's Friday, TGIF! Today's image is one I took during much cooler days of Spring. This is one of my Iris which has rather interesting colors. I call it an antique as I think it's a pretty old variety, the top is basically tan and the lower leaves are a maroon color. The bubbly bokeh in the image was perfect for today because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
I was able to see lots of different wildlife and birds while in Colorado and New Mexico. While I was riding the Cumbres & Toltec train I was able to see several Pronghorn Antelope and I was able to get some fairly good shots of them. I was helped in this photo when it stopped and basically posed for me. 😁
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! Today's flower is the Clasping Coneflower. The amount of dark red on the flowers can vary and be quite small. This group had the red coloring very prominent. The flowers usually bloom May through July and they are in the Sunflower family. They are very abundant in clay soils so that's why they are prominent in my area. 😂
While I was in Minnesota a few weeks ago I was able to see and capture one of my favorite birds that I only have seen up there, a Loon. It was in a pond along a road I was taking to dinner the same evening that I saw the Wood Duck, it was a good day for bird photos. It was actually there when we returned and was a bit closer and I was able to get this shot and others which made me quite happy. They have a very interesting call as well. Usually I hear them but don't see them.
Happy Monday and happy new week! It's also a double digit day! 😁 The Echinacea are in bloom right now in my area and I have been enjoying them a lot. I love the whorled pattern in their center and took this image recently of one.
It's Steamy Sunday once again here on the Blog! I just got back from a trip out to my all time favorite railroads once again, the Cumbres & Toltec. The trip goes in and out of Colorado and New Mexico several times. We started on the NM side as we enjoy the trip up to Cumbres Pass as the locomotive has to work hard to accomplish this. The photo for today is of it taking on coal near the restored coaling tower. They demonstrate how the tower works every now and then but it is not in regular use, coal is loaded with a front end loader.
I was on a trip out to New Mexico and Colorado for mostly train related things. I was able to ride my Favorite railroad again, the Cumbres & Toltec, what a great day. Anyway, this is one of the views of the area you travel through. This is looking from New Mexico towards Colorado.
Happy Friday, TGIF and happy 4th of July, Independence Day, to those in the United States! I hope to be able to see some of these tonight, this is from last years show that a homeowner near me puts on every year. It's about better than a town show. The sparks from the fireworks created a bit of a bokeh effect and today is about bokeh as well because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!
I had transplanted about 3 or 4 Common Milkweed plants a few years ago when there was going to be some major road work and they were going to be wiped out. They have been doing well and spread more each year. I was very pleased to see that a Monarch had found them and produced this caterpillar this year. Hope it survives and continues on it's journey.
It's Wildflower Wednesday here on the Blog! One of my favorite wildflowers is in bloom and I have a pretty good patch of them. These are Queen Anne's Lace at a couple different stages. These don't seem to have the prominent red spot that gives them their name in the center. They are in the Parsley family but are also known as Wild Carrot. They usually bloom June through September. I think they are very photogenic flowers.
Happy first day of July! I was able to capture a semi decent image of a beautiful male Wood Duck while I was in Minnesota. It was out on one of the small ponds by the barn when I was headed out to dinner one evening. I wish I had been closer and that the light had been better but will take what I can get. 😁 They have such a beautiful coloration/pattern to them.
