Father's Day

I don't normally celebrate much on Father's Day. I lost both my Father and Father in law withing months of each other in 2005. 

Here is my father the year before he died. I had to walk away and take this shot with a long lens so he couldn't hear the camera click. He did not like photos of himself as 'aged'. 

From our trip in 2001 to Hawai'i. What I didn't realize at the time is that I only had a few years left with him. He was my charge on that trip. It was two weeks of sometimes Utter Frustration or unexpected wonderful fun.
I look back now and think of what fantastic memories I have of that trip.

My Father in Law, Lonnie was also a hoot. He hated having any pictures taken of him also. I imagine it was because he had to wear oxygen in the last few years of his life.

He loved fishing and we would take him as often as he would go.

He adored his great grandkids. This photo was a sneak shot while he was occupied with Ariel.

Father ~ Daughter Time. This is my husband with his daughter sitting on a lakeside pier on a summer afternoon. They were watching the kids play in the shallow water.

A photo of my youngest son with his son Sterling right after he was born.

Here is to the dad's the good ones, the bad ones, the so-so ones. The ones who are Dad's to pets instead of children. Those dads who have adopted, those dads who love their charges.

...and those dads we miss.

I make a special note of this today because a have a close friend who's father is now in the hospital with Covid. He told his daughter that Covid was a not real, it was fake, he wouldn't get it. He complied with her request regarding masks. He refused the vaccination. It was a hoax after all and no big deal.

Her mom did get the vaccine. The mom took care of the dad while he deteriorated and DID not get Covid-19. To me? This says, get the damn vaccine. I don't care what you think but this became super personal to me last night. I know this man and adore his funny quirks and have missed visiting with him over the past year and a half. 
As my close friend said: Please, please, please get the vaccination. 

I do not mean for this to be a commentary on Covid or politics. Only a tough revelation that struck close to my heart.

This did not have to be. A family suddenly stricken with illness on a day they would be celebrating together.

Tainter Land Fun

Infrared shots of Tainter Creek

There is a stream called Tainter Creek. The land around it is unique in that Tainter Creek runs through some very steep hillsides. 

Much of the low land in the valley is DNR land. The roads are called Tainter East, Tainter West, Tainter Road, Tainter Hollow. I just refer to it as Tainter Land. There are nicknames given to portions of the little valleys that only the locals know. Hippy Hollow. 
Party Bridge.

The stream is popular with catch and release trout fisher people. In all the years I've been in Tainter Land though, I've only met one fisherman. 
It is a favorite place of mine to go early in the spring to look for wildflowers emerging.

I hunt for the ephemerals that come up each year. Trout Lilies, Virginia Bluebells, and Dutchman's Breeches explode to display their wonders for a short time before they disappear again.

Baby Dragon discovers
Virginia Bluebells emerging!
So much joy!

Yes it was a toy day. 
My hiking pal, Bill got a huge laugh out of this shot.

When you carry superheroes
in your pocket
you can stand in the middle
of the road!

We were very surprised as we walked along the creek to see that a house had been built on the edge of the creek. It is on stilts because in a heavy rain this area becomes submerged.

It looks like a pretty nice little get away!

When I got home I found that my Guard Pony was laying down on the job.
He and the goat were enjoying the sunny hillside.

Lil Richard sleeping on the job!

He and Sven are my automatic weed eaters, yard mowers, that mow and fertilize at the same time. 

Looks like a nice weekend is in store for us. My honey do list is long and includes fencing and working on brush piles. No burning in our area the fire danger is really high and the humidity is very low.

Welcome April!

I've been a bit out of sorts lately. Let's go ahead and blame it on hours and hours of cutting down brush/Elderberry trees and piling brush. I even participated in a weak attack of a burdock patch. 

I don't know my limits sometimes. I think, just a bit more...just a bit more! Then there was the old tree that blew over on the line fence. Hand sawing and more fixing in the cold winds is hard on these gnarly old hands.

So I decided to NOT do any brush work for two days [it was too windy any way]. I read two books and did some hiking in the creek with Charlie. 

Our state just opened up vaccinations for all ages. That means I can sign up on Monday! There is an option for J&J locally here in town, I'm hoping to get it and be One and Done. 

I am all for still being socially distanced and using precautions. But with both of us vaccinated, I will feel a bit safer going to an open air gym this summer, hiking with more friends, and even visiting.  People who are not immediate family and don't get vaccinated or use any precautions will not stay with us in our house. 
I think I lost a friendship over that ruling. 

My thoughts on that? Well, they were the only folks that came and stayed anyway except for the occasional visit from my son. So not much will change.

I cannot impose my will on others. Oh wait, OF course I try to! That is human nature.

Found things yesterday.

Elfin cups:

Tree reflections at the fence line between my west neighbor and I.

Sleeping Dragon:

The dragon is in a spot I recently cleared. There is a small rock outcropping that I cleaned up last fall and pulled all the noxious weeds and buckthorn sprouts. I've seeded it to grass and plan on putting ferns and perhaps some wild ephemerals in the area. I'm going to try and make it my little 'get away' spot close to the house.

Cell phone shots of on top of the rocks and below the rocks. I used hay chaff to cover the grass seed.

The mules won't be able to get in here, I'm putting up a single hotwire to keep them out. 
This is very close to the house too. I'm going to get a few chunks of wood as stools so I can come out here and read in the summer. Well, that is the thought.

My deep shaded woodland experiment. 

Well there it is. Happy April 1st. 
I'm taking some long time friends who used to be neighbors on the Ma & Pa's hike today.

I am looking forward to it. I used to babysit her children. Now the oldest is taking driver's ED! 

Time flies.

Curiosity overrides...

I listened to a doctor on the radio expressing his ideas regarding anxiety and depression in our world today. I sort of half assed listened as I was driving to go get my new glasses.

But a few points that he did talk about in the interview was how the curious mind beats down anxiety and depression. I thought Peeshaw...Pfft, he doesn't know what he is talking about. 

But then I thought about the general idea of Curiosity. Why in the middle of a Pandemic while living with my significant other did I constantly fight the blues? Sure I know it is the result of being a CareGiver. But some days the Blues were simply an unforgiving weight. Should I give in or fight it? 

Fight.

I needed a new purpose. 

I needed to do some wandering with a purpose. 

Like...what is this called? 

I know it is moss, but what about moss? What about Moss Life cycles?
I began a search and decided to order a book on moss and a book on lichen.

Suddenly, I found myself very Curious. I'd spent so much time in the woods hunting Fungi, wild plants, and insects, but never really paid any attention to things like Lichen. As far as I was concerned they were fungi. I was SO wrong!

Why did I get the feeling of calm and satisfaction while wandering the woodlands looking for interesting tiny things to photograph and go home to identify and take notes on? Why did using the skills of a Naturalist keep me sane?

[By the way, the new glasses are incredible! I can see things clearly for the first time in months in the distance again! Wow!]

Powdery Sunburst Lichen
Such a pretty name for such a tiny thing. This was found on the trunk of an oak tree.

Common Antler Lichen on top of 

Sinewy Bushy Lichen.

All found on a twig in the forest.

I laid the twig on a log of moss for the photo. 

Researchers don't know why we get such a high over learning. I do. My mind is taking a break from the problems I face every day at home. It is directing all of its energy into trying to figure out how to recognize different plants. 

It is true. My anxiety and blahs, disappear when hunting interesting things in the forest. 

I knew that by setting out to examine another aspect of the forest around me, it would lead to calm days and clear thinking. 

I think I knew this before and that is why I wander about so much in the forest. It gives my brain time to chill out and relax.

The scientists say that when the brain is engaged in curious learning the pleasure part of the brain is LIT up. 
Maybe that is why I am so reluctant to step through the door after being outside.

This is one of my favorite photos of moss. The white specs are grains of sand. I used the microscopic mode on my Tough TG6 camera to capture this.
I have no idea what these are called. From what I understand there are 12 thousand species of moss. Most moss ID depends on a microscope.

So I will be happy to continue to find beautiful mosses and lichen because I am curious and little things like this make me happy.

I may even figure out what kind or species of moss this is one day.

Let's stand up and applaud curiosity. 

Finally a Project to do

 

It has been a while since I was motivated to do a book. Now I don't do this for profit. I am doing it for my own personal reasons.

I could have picked Shutterfly to do this, but I am already well versed in the Blurb book layout and how to work with text and photos along with overlays.

Blurb is pricey, but allows a more creative work. Also, I can download the Booksmart program and work on it without being on line. My very first book I did back in 2007 featured my dog Morris and his toys. It was a book for the grand kids.

With our extremely slow internet connection, it took hours to upload a tiny book. But it was worth it to see the grands enjoy their own personal adventure with Morris and his toys.

A friend at Flickr named Nikki, urged me to do a photo book on nature. She sent emails and she made phone calls. But I'll never forget the call I got in late 2008. She said, "Val I'm in trouble. I've been diagnosed with cancer for the 4th time. My mule Dyna will need a home." My husband drove to Wyoming in June of 2009 to meet Nikki's sister and bring Dyna the crazy mule to our farm to live in retirement.

Nikki's request was on my mind and I embarked on a photo journey. She passed away in April so she never got to see what her constant urging had spawned.

I spent from March to November documenting and photographing every wildflower and plant I could find within walking distance of my house. Morris and Badger my mule, accompanied me. It truly was a labor of love. The Enchanted Forest.

In 2011, I decided to do something similar in documenting and photographing the winter in our area. I called it The Sleeping Forest. I discovered that the forest does NOT sleep in the winter. 

I'm glad I did those books, I look back fondly now and page through them recalling those days of walking through the forest. I recall the note taking and fun I had pursuing the wildflowers and plants. I learned so much about the land that surrounds me. The only thing it did, was make me more curious than ever.

Another Flickr friend has been nagging me all through this Pandemic. "Val, make a book of your photos. Do something with them!" I became friends with BJ through Flickr also. She and I talk to each other every Sunday afternoon. Our ranges of subjects are always all over the place. 

One of the great influences for this book is the poet Mary Oliver. Her poetry and prose have been  constant companion through this last year.

Sometimes,
walking for hours through the woods,
I don't know what I am looking for,
maybe for something 
shy and beautiful to come
frisking out of the undergrowth.

~~Mary Oliver
1945-1985: Poem for the Anniversary

I'm not exactly sure how it will all turn out. But I feel it is a good direction for me right now.
A project.

In all things of nature...

The Mystical world of Infrared. 

Sometimes I take hikes and meander about on the least popular trails on KVR. 

These trails are unappreciated and often missed because they don't offer ice caves and magnificent wonders of the world.

One can imagine Tree Ents moving about on the bluffs with their gnarly twisted roots that seem to be able to hang on rocks with no effort.

Yet they can resist flash floods and high winds....

to teeter above...

ever watchful from the bluffs...

...

and guide you along a wonderous world of 

something else...

These are places that stop you in your tracks and humble you deep inside. If it doesn't, then you are not a living cognizant creature.

I took Bill along this trail.

I cannot tell you the joy I took in showing him this world of pines/bluffs/trails and snow.
He kept stopping in his tracks and saying:

"Oh wow. Oh Wow!"

Over and over again. 

He mourned over the fact that he'd lived in our area for nearly 26 years and had never explored this region.

Yes, his job, his family and bringing up children had been his priority. And now...

I could show him the magical landscape around him. 

As we parted ways at our vehicles, he asked me this.

"How did I not know about this before?"

My answer was fairly simple. I replied, "You didn't have time for it before."

In all things of nature

There is something of the marvelous.

~~ Aristotle

Review or not to Review

Basically 2020 will be year that historians will write about. If nothing else, it will be interesting to read about.

And we may hear things in the Future...like "My Grandmom lived through the Great Pandemic of 2020!" or some such thing. 

I have made it to the end of the year. That much is certain. Well, it will be more certain if I get past midnight.

For me, it will be the year that I began to seriously question people's priorities and friendships. The year I 'un' friended so many on FB. The year I kept count of many things. 

The Great Toilet Paper shortage. The year of the mask? Or the year of the anti mask? 
The year when most people started to understand just how fragile our lives can be. Or the year that some people said the Hell with It All. 

The craziest political year in the history of the United States?

So I'm not going to go on and detail 2020, but I may just toss out some photos I did this year.

Nope, I don't think I will write much of a review.

2020 happened. I'm not going to say 2021 will be awesome or great or...a new start and a blank slate.

But I will approach each day with a feeling of hope.

For without hope, we have nothing.

"Someone I once loved gave me a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand that this too,
was a gift." ~~~ Mary Oliver

I think that sums up the year quite perfectly.

Chionophile

Chionophile: Any animal that thrives in winter conditions, especially one that thrives in snow.

Chee--on--ooo-file.

This term refers to those who absolutely adore winter also. I am one of those.

Winter is my time. I love...underline that and put it in italics...I love winter.

I am lucky that I live in a region where getting out of that cold wind is an option simply by hiking.
Yesterday was my first foray out in a week. Hubby was okay with watching some Amazon or Netflix while I went out to wander. 

I didn't tell him the temps were only 2 degrees F or that the wind chills were far below 0. I dressed and headed out.

On the east end of the valley the creek runs faster with a higher volume of water. The overhanging grasses are splashed by bits of water and humidity from the warm springs....and make....

Ice Fingers

Further upstream where the water flow is much slower, the creek did a flash freeze when the temperatures dropped from 45 degrees to 6 degrees over a period of 6 hours.

Even the little water falls froze. The water that seeped over the ice froze in what almost can be described as ice waves.

I found the leaves below to be very interesting. I haven't figured out exactly why it looks like this. Perhaps because the leaves soak up sunlight and heat and melt a bit around the edges changing the consistency of the ice?

I think winter is the best.

Interesting tracks...

Interesting ice formations along the creek or any small stream for that matter.

And the beauty of Ice Walls.

December 11th...

December 25th...

I rest my case.

I am a true blue Chionophile and proud of it.

Today I took a long hike downstream with Charlie.

We had an incredible adventure and found the Blue Ice.

I just do love winter.