Is it done yet?

Is the Christmas music off the radios and commercials yet? I don't really want to peek out and check. But that is futile.

Next is all of the New Year's stuff. What's your word for the new Year? Out with the old year. Get ready for weight loss ads, exercise ads, ads that make you think that by changing a date will make this suddenly all better and move forward?

I'm not ready for a change into 2026. I'm not letting go of 2025 yet. There are my reasons. I'm just not ready to say goodbye to 2025. There is so much of this year I still want to hold close.

The Flu A robbed me. I'll never forgive it for wasting so many days for me. I did spend some time watching photography 'how to's' out of sheer boredom. 

I turned off social media because. Well, that is a no brainer.

All those wonderful gatherings of happy families around huge trees with multiples of family gathering all looking happy.

I put on my Grinch heart and shut off my phone. I watched Die Hard.

I put on my favorite music.

I decided to experiment and make experiments in between naps and uncontrolled hacking.

I found beauty in a missed focus
and decided I did an intentional

abstract.

I studied pretty dried flowers
under different colors

and light.

I dumped out my lake glass jar
and found fossils I'd forgotten

I had.

The smallness of the shell intrigued me. So tiny, so exquisite. 

I'd found these so many years ago 

when I lived near Lake Michigan.

How have I kept these all these years?

 

Such beautiful little mysteries at my finger tips 

waiting to be seen.

No 2025, I am not done with you yet. We haven't settled our differences. I still need to talk to you 
about it 

and ask if you could give me just one more moment from earlier this summer.

I know you can't, no one can. 
Silly me.

Instead, I will keep learning and discovering little things for right now.

And still be surprised by the beautify of things on foggy dull days.

Carry on.

Was I a bad girl??? and update

Time out-----!

this sore throat and

fever is a killer.

I'll be heading to 

Urgent care ASAP.

Have a Christmas

I tested positive for influenza A.

Merry fricking Xmas to me!

 

Whoopsie Saturday

 

So, I decided to join up with a 'hiking' group and at least get some ideas of all the neat hiking trails that are near and around LaCrosse. This hike was actually in the middle of the city limits but through a park and a nature preserve that had been made by a generous land owner.

I'm in the middle of the pack on the first photo. I got to meet some nice folks. Most are casual walkers and not hard core hikers. One lady made that comment as she noticed that I was wearing Yak Traks and apparently looked as if I were prepared for a long journey. [I just keep a backpack full of gear in case it is needed]. Most of the walk was paved, but the snowy trails were iced and slippery.

I nodded and said I did a lot of solo hiking, so always hiked with a backpack.

We went to a private preserve called Hugelheim. It was a nature preserve developed by a fellow named Paul E. Stry. The loose translation of the name means house on a hill in a forest.

The excitement happened back at the parking lot. I was in my car and looking up a place and waiting for the others to leave....when BAM.
I got hit by one of the other hiker's. Uffdah. The lady pictured in the blue coat in the first shot backed into me hard.

I jumped out and at first nothing looked damaged but scratches. My tail light was still intact but I could see a broken clip in the right rear quarter panel. 

She was all crazy like and apologizing that her back up camera must have been dirty. I just looked at her. [In my mind I thought, WTF how can someone be that stupid not to check around when they back up!]

We exchanged phone numbers and I went over to the dealership and they suggested to go get an estimate as it looked like the rear quarter panel clips had been broken. I know these cars and that means the whole back section comes in one piece and they pop that off and put in a new one. Uffdah.

The scratches may be able to be buffed out.

I hung my head before going home. I wasn't angry I was just totally bummed. But life happens, I guess, and the last thing I want to do is make new friends and immediately be pissed off at them.

My drive home was quiet and now I know that I can take Charlie on the next hike. Dogs on leash are allowed. He'd enjoy it.

Let's top that off with waking up with a nagging tickle in the throat that feels suspiciously like a sore throat.

I'll attribute that to spending 9 hours in the courtroom with 80+ people on Tuesday.

I'm supposed to care for my friend's littles this week while she and hubby go to chemo treatments. I am hoping this is not a cold.

My conclusion is that group hiking is not really my thing, however I am learning about all these fantastic and free places to go to and explore afterwards on my own.

Those last 3 shots are the only ones I took on Saturday while walking with the group.

I could have really spent a lot of time where the group photo was done.

The best part is that I am learning all about these amazing area.

Update.

Fever of 101.8 tested negative for COVID.

This sucks.

Good Weather!

So the weather was good for

For studying photography 

[which is a great hobby with

no creative boundaries]

Thursday morning was filled with fog and rain as the afternoon wore on, the temperatures started to drop quickly.

They went from 40 to 30 in two hours with winds gusting to 50 mph. Thankfully, we are in a hollow here so we are getting the wind but not to the extent those on the ridge are getting. 

Oddly enough, my shovels, and skis blew down on the porch. A water bucket I had out there took off for parts unknown.

I assume I'll find it in a few days.

So I decided to work with High key photos before returning to experimenting with macro images.

I saw a photographer I follow on Flickr use a broken ornament as her subject for a macro shot. The shot was so beautiful and so well done, that I stopped and studied it. 

Instead of breaking anything, I picked some weeds when I did chores to practice macro while avoiding the cruel weather.

Wednesday while hiking I picked up 'Old Man's Beard' seeds. Okay they are actually a wild Clematis that grows in the forests not an old man's beard.

The shape has always fascinated me, so I put it in a plastic bag and brought it home to study.

Old Man's Beard aka
Clematis vitalba

Here is a piece of Yarrow I got from the garden next to the porch. I can't believe that the dried flowers held up with the snowfall and all the weather we've had.

I placed the dried yarrow on top of a wooden block on my laptop keyboard and brought up a fractal I'd made years ago as the back drop.

Behind the scenes, it looked like this.

I don't have an iPad, but I do know of folks who place their flowers on top of or use an iPad photo to make a backdrop for macro photography. Ingenious really as you can control the brightness behind the flower.

I don't have anything like that. It worked for this shot and was handy as an experiment. I've done this with toys and had great results.

The shot below is the remnants of the Flea Bane flower in the winter. I put crinkled up foil behind the plant and a red ribbon below it.

Meanwhile in the Christmas Village, Mini-Me and Charlie spot something going on. Looks like a couple of Boo Monsters grabbed a snow mobile and 'eye' spy the Grinch hiding behind a tree and the Vampire Lady from Halloween on the balcony.

Huh. The Christmas Village has so much to see and so much going on!

Perfect weather

The temperatures were insanely warm on Wednesday, so much so that I wore a spring jacket while Charlie and I took a nice long hike.
I knew the weather was going to change on Wednesday evening and be awful on Thursday, so I made the executive decision to

not do laundry
not vaccum

not dust

leave my messes alone and

go out for fresh air 

and snow.

I chose to stay on a flat and familiar trail nearby. I had considered going to one of the State Parks but I opted for the shorter drive.

In the summer this is a paved trail for bicyclists and hikers, equine are to ride off the blacktop to the side.
In the winter, the trail is groomed. No bikes allowed, but those who walk are supposed to stay off to the side so skiers can use the groomed area.

I chose not to take my snowshoes. When the temps are nearly 40 F, the snow will clump up under the snowshoes like a huge snowball. It makes snowshoeing rather unenjoyable. 

Charlie was in his element. He followed the proper trail and ran ahead stopping to stick his nose into the snow and smell for mice and other things.

We went to the bluffs where I go each year. There is no trail but one can walk below the bluffs near the river. Here again, we found damage from the August Storm that took down so many trees in the area.

The marks in the snow were made by myself and Charlie and other critters.

No human tracks were found here.

Perhaps you can see why I continue to work out at the gym. Balance and agility are things I hope to keep for quite a while yet. The color is off in the shot below, the snow I don't believe wasn't that blue! But it was chilly next to the bluff!

This is with my back to the river looking up the bluffs and hillside. After looking at the rocks and the little bits of ice we found we went up the hillside to find a log in the sun and have our lunch.

Ice. The nice kind that is pretty to look at.

We had plenty of time so I headed down to what I call Star Valley ponds and decided to see how iced over it was. 
It surely was iced over. 

Curiously though, I saw where x-county skiers had crossed the ice. 

Infrared Shot

By the time we got back to the car, I figured we'd have a really nice long hike in. The footing got a bit mushier as it warmed up.

I ran into someone I knew from the gym but hadn't seen since 2020.

He and his pheasant hunting lab were out walking and looking for some birds. 

We caught up with each others' lives and then moved on.

I kept my infrared camera out and snapped a few shots. 

Kickapoo River at bridge 15

Pine forest and shadows.

Heading back.

Follow the leader!
cell phone...

I was rather surprised that it was about 2pm when we got to the car. Charlie made himself comfortable in his car seat and we headed home.

Another fine day at the Reserve.

Today, it is wicked and wild. Who pissed of Mother 
Nature??

 

Meanwhile in The Christmas Village

I survived the 9 hours of Jury Selection! 100 people were summoned, 80 showed. 14 were finally picked after a long day.

I am not discussing the case as it was disturbing. 

I know there is evil in this world and one does not even have to watch the nightly news to discover it. 

Instead I am going to turn to my Christmas Village tonight....

I put up my Christmas Lego Village and came up with a fun idea. I'm trying to take a photo a day of the Mini-me and Mini-Charlie walking about the village and taking photos of things going on.

The story is that the Mayor of the Village hired Mini-me to take photos of the Village for his Tourism Brochure that he wants published next year.

Whoops! I wonder if the Mayor will be happy with this one! [UM, that IS the Mayor in the outhouse!]

And of course the Village offers a groomed cross country skiing trail complete with very friendly polar bears.

The elves let me in on their secret of how they get SO much work done in such a short time. Why not have a Merry Alien to help decorate tall trees and move large packages!

I bet you thought it was all magical!

There is a skating rink in the Village that they are thinking of expanding for next year!
Um I wonder if the snowperson was afraid Charlie would leave him with some yellow snow!

Mini-me and Charlie went to observe the local band playing and singing Christmas Carols in the town square.

[Do you see who showed up to the Caroling???]

You know. Life as a Mini-me is so much simpler and joyful. 

Works in progress.

Shooting macro and shooting feathers of all things!!!

In my mind I can hear the song 'It's a Small World after All' in the back of my mind.

I learned about doing reflective water droplets by watching another tutorial. I decided to try a pigeon feather and use that red piece of wrapping paper with snowflakes on it for this project.

I was pretty excited to see the snowflakes of the paper show up in the droplets. You should see the little happy dance I did! The process sounded much more difficult but really it wasn't. 

Table. Camera on Tripod. Xmas paper behind feather that I sprayed with a mister or a spray bottle. Set up a flashlight taped to a cup aimed at the paper.

Focus. Bingo. 

These were my very first tries and I was excited about them. I decided to try it again but with a Christmas card behind the feather. I found some nicer feathers and used the face mister to add the droplets. I used Playdoh to hold the feather upright on the table. 

I used a Christmas card to bounce light off from and then grabbed some of those multicolor curly cue ribbons in that I have and dropped them behind the feather. Apparently this can be done with a cell phone or any camera that you have.

I think I found a new love for creating abstracts and color in the small size.

What I started with. The colors in the background are curly ribbons reflecting light.

This is where the 'magic' happened. It looks pretty lame right???

Two shots I ended up with.

Ribbons behind the feather.

Christmas Card behind the feather.

Oh just smack me now. I can't wait to do more!

I always thought that photos like this needed fancy equipment and an art studio. Funny what can happen with a lot of experimentation and play.

A couple of more...

 

Really, it wasn't done in a studio or even in a special place. I shoved my Christmas Lego Village to the side and set this up on my work/display table with the living room brightly lit by the Christmas Chair and the lights behind the Village.

I am so enthralled by the abstract beauty that I found in my lens that I kept saying .... to no one...

OHHHHH AHHH

Look at that!

Oh MY word!

But if I don't reply or stop by your blogs this week it is because I have been summoned for Jury duty on a 4 day trial. If I am picked, I won't have access to the internet or my cell phone for most of the time.

I do not mind serving, I've done it before and found it quite interesting to do. If I am passed by, I'll see you all tomorrow!!!