01/07/24

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog and the first one of 2024!  I like to start off the year with my very favorite railroad, the Cumbres & Toltec in Colorado and New Mexico.  I want to get back there and ride again soon, it's been over 5 years since my last trip and this photo is even older.  I took this back when I was using a Sony point and shoot.  It was a good camera though with a nice built in zoom.  Anyway, in this image they are taking on water at Cumbres Pass before the locomotive heads back to Chama, NM.  They had just been double heading up to the pass and this is the helper locomotive.  I decided to go back to my roots of B&W for this image and I think it worked pretty well with that great sky.

01/06/24

 Today's image is another snowflake that I was able to capture near the end of November.  This is a 5 image stack where I was able to get it all in focus.  You can see some of the rime that was affecting a lot of the flakes during this snow.  We don't often get the very cold weather and snow at the same time needed for the really nice, clean flakes.  When it is warmer they pick up the little pieces of ice as they form.  It provides interest to them at times I think when there is not too much covering them to block out the beautiful details.

01/05/24

 It's Friday!  Normally I would say TGIF, but my vacation ends today.  😒  Anyway, Friday's here on the Blog are about bokeh mainly because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!  I am going to start off 2024's bokeh images with one of my new favorite flowers, Cosmos.  I am looking forward to growing these flowers again this year.  The bokeh was provided by the fern-like leaves in the background.

01/04/24

 Today's image is one I was able to get on a visit last year to the Overland Park Arboretum.  The Arboretum has several different types of Peony flowers and as I was photographing this variety I was photo-bombed by this honeybee.  😁

01/03/24

 It's the first Wildflower Wednesday of 2024 here on the Blog!  I am going to start the year off with one of my favorites that always makes me happy.  This is a Common Sunflower and our state flower of Kansas.  These bloom July though September and can grow to 12 feet high!  When actively growing the leaves and flower heads follow the path of the sun as it moves overhead.

Just a mention as we start the year off, there are pages on the Blog where I have the wildflowers I have seen and photographed here in Kansas listed by color to help identify the ones you may see as they start emerging.

01/02/24

 I thought I would start off the new year and birds with another of my Kestrel hunting photos.  Maybe it will bring me luck in having more opportunities like this to photograph birds.  It was quite cool to be able to see and capture this one while it was hovering and looking for food on a trip to Missouri in November.

01/01/24

 Happy New Year!!  It's a double digit day to start off the year!  😀  Hope this year is a good one for us all.  I thought I would start the day off and the year off with a beautiful sunrise that I photographed in mid December.  This one was so stunning that even one of my employees pointed it out to me because he knew I liked to take photographs.  A beautiful start to that day and hopefully a great start to this year.