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!!!

The Magic of Black Backgrounds

 Bored. With temps in the -9 F range and wind chills much lower, I decided to stay indoors except for chores. 

I was...

Bored. Bored.

So I decided to look up and learn some more about photographing with an invisible black background. I tried it once before with little success. So I spent Friday evening watching some tutorials and found a photographer from the UK that explained and went through how to do it so easily.

He also took apart an old picture frame to create stunning reflections and used the back part of the frame to hold up an appropriate backdrop for his work. He used a simple flash light to create dramatic photos of macro images. He used feathers, flowers, and other beautiful things. 

I thought I'd try some Christmas stuff.

The set up was super simple. Black paper clipped onto a holder .. you know the back part of the frame that holds the photos up. I put Christmas paper under the photo glass, and used an old cube light and flashlight to set up a couple of dramatic shots of a gnome. I didn't keep the one with the gift, it was not quite what I wanted.

But I liked this one.

I took out my wooden critters that were given to me by a childhood friend and tried two lights. I am fond of the deer and the dachshund so I chose them. I guess they could be brighter, but that was my effort for the day as I am learning quite a bit with this method and making many mistakes.

I got fancy by adding Christmas paper to the back and under the glass for the next shot which worked much better since I wasn't going for the dark mystical look.

I just kept adding and subtracting things to see how they worked. It was quite fun.

I got so busy trying out new things that I just kept making a bigger and bigger mess on my work table that is also housing the Christmas Village


I eventually put everything in its place and set the Village back up then got distracted by creating a new scene about the goings on in the Christmas Village.

It took me a good hour to tidy everything up because I kept stopping to think of something else I could try.

And so I did. My friend Pat gave me this beautiful ribbon she'd made to put on a wreath. I didn't put it on a wreath, I studied it with my camera with whites, high key, and other trials and methods.

I finally settled on this.

I liked the word peace showing up twice in this shot. And felt it was appropriate for right now.

It was a busy day for me. Cleaning house, running warm water out to Little Richard, getting distracted, and studying more videos regarding lights and still life.

As if you haven't guessed, this time of year is my favorite for playing with beautiful and cheerful colors and of course the characters I've acquired for years.

I'd given up the idea of doing it this way until The Happy Whisk [Ivy] commented on how she did her DYI black backgrounds using the inverse square law and her flash -- I think I am correct on that.

I don't have a flash but am enjoying creating an 'invisible' or black background with camera settings and then using LED lights or a simple flashlight to highlight my image.

With another below below zero day, it looks like a fun day to try a shot on my wooden floor in the daylight and use nothing for the background and see what results I can have.

Light manipulation is insanely fun once learned.

I found a tutorial by Lee Hall on YT that finally explained things so I could 'get it'. 
How to get black background easy way for beginners.

I'm going to be checking out his mushroom photography later on so I can learn how to up my game in the forest when it is warmer. I love learning new things.

-15 F this morning. I think that is freaking cold even in Celcius!

Beeee still my beating heart!

 

It was a balmy 20-ish degree F day or a -5ish C day so my Assistant thought we should go snowshoeing at the Reserve. Last week I slugged through the snow, so I decided to use the snowshoes once more. After all, it went so well the day before.

We had parked in a lot near the maintenance shed for the Kickapoo Valley Reserve to get on the trail head.

Charlie and I were trucking along, he was fresh and bouncy and stuck to the tracks someone made while x-country skiing. I broke trail off to the side. 

I heard machinery behind us and looked back. There was a 4 wheeler coming our way. I was a bit confused. In the winter the trail we were on is part of a snowmobile trail and in the summer, they mow through the prairie grasses. However, there is no motorized vehicles allowed at all on these trails.

The 4 wheeler had tracks on it instead of wheels and as the 4 wheeled gizmo pulled up to a stop, I recognized the smile on the dude. This time he wasn't in the Police Truck nor was he in uniform. 

"Hello Jesse," I said when Charlie ran up to him and tried to jump up on the 4 wheeler to hitch a ride. "How are you today?" 

"I'm good! How are you?" He motioned to the 4 wheeler and said, "I just finished putting snow tracks on this 4 wheeler for the winter and thought I'd try them out."

For a moment I was dumbstruck. 

"Wow, that looks like a fun transformation. I'll trade you for my 17 year old 4 wheeler at home." 

He laughed. And then we both stood quietly listening to the light breeze in the trees. 

"Gosh I love that sound," he said.

"Nothing like it," I agreed. "If I could be out in this 24 hrs a day, I would."

He nodded and then gestured towards my snowshoes. "I didn't think we had deep enough snow for those yet."

"Ahhh, we do. I have over 6 inches at home and had a blast yesterday snowshoeing through my woods. I thought the ice crust and the heavy snow would be perfect for snowshoeing along the trails today."

"So it is going good then?" 

[Oh that grin and smile. AND no, I couldn't see the color of his eyes because he had some rather cool shades on and I regretted not having cool shades on myself]

"Yes it is, I'm going to take a peek at the ice caves over the hill today. I intend to cover about 4 miles of hiking. It's a good day for it. Saturday will be awful."

He nodded and we both fell silent and watched Charlie who was trying to figure out how to climb up on the 4 wheeler for a ride. I walked over and picked him up. 

"Okay then. Have a great hike, " he said and started up his snow machine. 

I waved and turned to go with Charlie under my arm. 

I heard him head back down the trail and I started grinning like an idiot. "Charlie, Charlie, was that a coincidence? It had to be. Dang, he is still quite handsome." 

I laughed out loud and thought of how I'd have told Rich about this. Rich would just laugh and remind me that HE was the absolute best-est handsome-ist man I'd ever met. And I would agree with all my heart.

I did note on the card that he'd given me last Friday that he was a Land Manager and Police Officer for the Reserve. That made sense. Still. I felt a bit girlish and atwitter. 
Maybe it was just nice that he recognized me from last week and that he thought he'd better check on that crazy -a$$ed old lady and her dog that liked to wander the Reserve in the winter.

I tossed tall dark and handsome out of my head and continued on my trek.

I walked for a mile into the woods looking for the blue tags that used to mark the 'winter trail' to The Valley of Ice. But those are no longer in existence. The previous management had markers on trees to guide people to find the ice caves aka rock shelters.

I'd been there often enough that I knew how to come through the forest right on top of cave #1. So we backtracked to the old Cedar tree and headed down the steep hill. I paused for a bit as I watched a coyote run out of the shelter and head towards the river.

I'm always mindful that I am hiking in wild animal habitat. I wasn't afraid. I just carefully picked my way down to where I could peer into Number One. This is the same cave/shelter that I met my good friend Jason the Geologist on a New Years Eve of 2021.

I didn't see any evidence of the coyote making a den in there, but there was an ice curtain forming.

I went back up to the very old equine trail above the cave and followed it around to cave #2. I peered down and decided not to climb over all the downed trees this trip. I skipped cave #3. It isn't well known and isn't on the map. 

We weren't worn out or even cold at this point so we went past the maintenance shed and hiked down to Bridge 18 which is a covered bridge over the river.

I'd wanted to get a 'snow' shot of the hand-hewn bench with the covered bridge behind it. 

It is now the cover of my blogger header.

We went up on the bridge and checked the views of the river. 

I am just a curious person. I love to watch the river as it changes through the winter months. I like to see how different the forest looks in the stark landscape compared to the lush greens of summer.

I probably take shots of this area every time I hike or bike through it.

Charlie and I found a nice dry spot out of the light breeze to sit and have snacks. He had dog treats, I had an energy bar.

The temps were dropping as we hiked back up to the ridge and to the parking area. It was a good day. 

Decorate Stuff

Just a random shots of some ornaments on my Christmas Tree Chair and scenes from the chair itself. The ornaments on the tree itself are all equine themed.

I will often change things around when the mood strikes me.

 The Winged Pegasus.

On the chair itself...

I have a few more but just got distracted by other fun ideas.

Sometimes characters just show up and I just have to make a go of it.

You never know who is going 

to sit on the chair next.

I finally started to set up my Lego Winter Village.
Seems mini-me and mini-Charlie are about to 
meet Bad Santa!

Just for fun.

This is not the Christmas Chair but a scene on one of the cabinets I built earlier this year.

Nothing much going on here other than snow, cold, and more snow and more cold.

I was plowed out twice this week! And we have been snowshoeing.

PS: my kids used to call Decorations ... Decorate. Thus the way I define it!