End of July

What does the end of July bring? Well, lots of flowers are blooming all over my yard. 

The hummingbirds and humming bird moths are crazy busy sucking up that nectar.

I put morning glories in several places this year. I put one right outside the porch door and let it climb up a shepherd's hook. 

Most of the flowers in front of the west porch area were variations of blue this summer. Of course, the Morning Glories take the cake!

 

July usually gives us a rest from mowing with a dry spell. Not this year. Mowing has to be done every 5 to 6 days. Maybe that is why I feel so behind on things. Days of wet, days and days of rain. No dry spells for the farmers to make hay.

The sunflowers are blooming too along with my Brown Eyed Susans. This is the first time I've grown them and they are doing so well.

In fact, they have been home to some elusive Crab Spiders. 

They hide under the petals of the flowers and wait for a meal to drop by. They are ambush spiders that don't create webs to catch their prey. 

August will bring the Orb Spiders out in force in the Meadow just east of us. That will be incredible to see again this year [hopefully]. Thousands of Orb Spider webs sparkling in the morning dew.

Air Quality was a huge factor on and off for July. Well, for this summer. Wildfires in the States and Canada are obviously contributing to the horrid atmosphere. However, the mules are pleased to be wandering a clipped pasture. The blueish haze is smoke.

We got a trip in to Cabela's yesterday and drove through driving rain. Hubby looked at the fish in their giant fish tank and was not impressed since he couldn't have any to eat.

On the way home, Steve as always took the scenic way home which includes as many back roads as possible.

This was a shot I took of the ridges above Prairie du Chien as we headed home. Shooting out the back window of a moving car is pretty challenging.

That's smoke too.

Today is much worse as the sun looks brownish and the haze is thick and smells bad.

Challenge Challenge...I like Challenges

My first 'new' challenge I made up was to only use the Lensbaby lens for walking around with Ariel on the evening of the 3rd and the 4th.

We headed past the shady garden and the late evening sun just glowed on the tall phlox. 

We walked out onto the ridge where there was a nice breeze. Ariel wanted to get in some walks while she visited. We'd set Grandpa up with a TV show or two and we headed out for our walk. It was still hot and muggy, but my 21 year old 'kid' walked with purpose.

This is something she has started to do for herself. Walking. What a great idea. I haven't been too motivated these past few weeks so it was a delight to have a companion to walk with.

Below is a Lensbaby shot of a hayfield getting ready for baling. It is being cut wayyyyy late this year due to the fact that this 85 yr old female farmer has to hire out for these jobs. Some jobs she can no longer do in a timely manner.

I've always loved this view though and on the 4th, it was stunning. We even stopped and visited with Olive for a few moments as she was out bottle feeding their new calf.

Ariel and I chatted about nothing important. I'm sure I sounded like an old fuddy duddy just rambling on about farms, skies, plants, bees, flowers, dogs, and life in general. But Ariel and I have been pals since she was 4 years old and started spending overnights with us on the farm.

I think even though I am not biologically her true grandma, I am her grandma [along with her two biological ones]. I'm the different Grandma. Which is cool. I play, I hike, I like the outdoors.

When we came down the driveway towards home. We admired the way the sun was going down in the sky.

I had to try a 'sunset' shot with this odd lens.

So.
This is considered an 'Art' lens. It was probably the cheapest ever lens I've acquired. It takes effort to use it as everything has to be manual. 
I never thought of it as being a landscape lens ... but then... I really loved the shots I found just walking with my granddaughter.

 Ariel had to go home and wanted to beat the incoming rains and storms. When she left, I felt. Well. Honestly? I was like Charlie...
I wanted to pout and look out the window too.

Eventually I decided to try some more challenges after I did my normal housework and cleaned up an accident by hubby. 

Funny thing. When Ariel visits, she has a quiet calming effect on me. I feel more relaxed with her around. There are moments we can sit on the bench on the porch and not say a word...just watch the clouds, the birds, and be content. Her company is comforting. We can just 'be' together and not impose on each other.

She even jumped up before me and assisted her Grandfather with little things.

She took these shots when I was doing a fly spray wipe and clean up of the mule gals.

In the distance you can see Lil' Richard grazing on the hard to mow hillside. Charlie is watching Sundance who is pawing impatiently.

When the rains moved in, I thought I'd try getting some shots of the garden while it was raining. I could squat under the porch roof and get some shots.

Not shot with the Lensbaby as I needed some reach to get out where it was raining.

Then I switched over and had some fun mixing a Lensbaby shot with a photo that I took of the same spot with my 90mm macro lens.

In essence, I made a double exposure from two different types of photos. I really enjoyed how it turned out.

I then took a double exposure with the Lensbaby ... this was okay...

There is such a subtle difference it is hard to spot. But the one below is made to be softer and more like an impressionist photo. I did that in my old plug in of Topaz Studio 2. 

This last shot was taken on the spur of a moment. I had some flowers I picked and arranged on a large wooden spool.

I don't know why, but I certainly loved the look. 

It reminded me that on these really hot and humid days, I could be practicing some more Still Life images with flowers, vases, and maybe not toys....

I'm digging the Lensbaby because if I get it right, there is nothing else to do to the shot. 

It also gives me a new way of looking at things and a challenge to do it well.

I like Challenges.

Well that was something!

Three days ago, I found myself seated on the rocks at the bottom of my creek, creating a 'space' story against an 'interesting' backdrop. 

The creek bottom was my chosen spot, thanks to its cool rocks and mosses. I like this spot and use it often. I gives me a chance to get away from the house and enjoy some peace and quiet in the forest.
For the past 28 years, this area had water flowing through it. Not deep, just a few inches of water flowing over the rocks.

Now?

Anyway, I was literally able to sit on the rocks and arrange my setup in a dry section. Recent rains have cleared many weeds and rocks from the creek's bed.

24 hours later, the scene had changed.

And then, another day passed...

A boulder was moved along with several logs. It was the result of 3 inches of rain for the day's total along with one downpour that dropped an inch and a half in less than 45 minutes.

Yet, the rain performed its intended role in the Dry Runs. It cascaded through the boulders and 'washed' into the creek.

We call this event:  A Gully Washer

The heavy rain sweeps out the dry runs of old leaves and debris, also cleansing the creek beds.

I can't wait to return and discover the creek's new appearance once the water recedes. Observing the valley's subtle transformations over the past 28 years has been remarkable and it feels like Mother Nature puts on a show just for me. 
[not one other human aside from myself explores this region]

I presume the township will also have considerable work, given the damage the rain caused to our gravel roads. 

Welcome to the start of a new week.

Fogged!

This was my driveway looking up towards the ridge and mailbox and back towards the house in the dense fog on Wednesday.

I think of this tree as the Little  Haiku Tree. It is invisible in the summer when hidden by greenery.

These Grey Dogwood seed pods were ice covered on Wednesday.

Foggy Forest scene.

I'm just loving this mix of weather. I know it looks dreary and awful but I like it when the weather is odd and strange.

I wonder if I lived in a city or a suburb, if I could find enchantment with fog and ice. 

Thursday was fog and rain. I went out in the morning to grab the mail and then later down into the creek bottom. The creek was still covered in knee deep snow except in places where it trickled over the rocks.

I found a large north facing rock outcrop that had frost on the rock face along with moss. This was thanks to Charlie who took a detour and led me past this spot.

The rain started coming down pretty hard while I was in the creek. I'm thankful to have an Olympus weather sealed camera and lens.

The snow had fallen off a log the crosses the creek and I was able to grab some rain drop shots of the moss holding droplets.

The rain got pretty intense so I headed back up the hill towards home.

I met the mules in the another section I'd let them into. They were digging through the snow and eating some of the long grasses that they left this summer.

After their hay and grain, they wander off to find 'goodies' in the forest. This is the first year I've let them do this and I am finding that they will eat the leaves off from weeds and multi flora rose plants that they won't touch in the warmer months.

They are half donkey and donkeys are browsers. So this seems to be a pretty good thing for them.

I had a lot of outer wear to hang up in the basement to dry when I got home.

We may see the sun shine again by Sunday afternoon. Hang in there, decent weather will come again.
However I am grateful that it isn't 99 degrees and smokey. 
So there is that.

When in doubt, make up stories...

I spent the warm rainy day making apple sauce. One of my earlier experiments to make apple butter turned out awful. It was a slow cooker recipe and I must have done something quite awful to make it so bad.

In between cooking, cleaning, and being quiet so the other half could have his naps, I decided to experiment with shooting...what else? Toys. I can be quiet while stuck indoors and my brain is distracted from stressful things.

I used a digital back drop for these shots just for experimenting. Basically, I set the Lego folks on blocks in front of my Smart TV and put up some selected pictures on the screen.

They didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but still, it was fun to try. There were some miserable failures involved. But that is what I like about photography. Try it, adjust, try it again, and perhaps improve.

I was sure at one time that the only true photography was of landscapes, wide open vistas of mountains, lakes, skies, and forests. I don't have open vistas in this area unless I am standing on crop land or a bluff. I turned my attention to the small things in the forest. 

I took a Still Life class on line and discovered the fun of being able to do photography indoors. I didn't find all the subjects I tried exhilarating. But I did discover new ways of enjoying photography.

My first Lego person presented himself in 2017. A child I was babysitting gave me a Lego minifigure. I used it in a Still Life as a joke:

The photo made absolutely no sense what so ever. A cup of coffee with a flower and a Lego person in it and rose petals and baubles tossed around the cup? I really got a kick out of it never the less. My husband thought I'd gone over to the Looney Bin.

Small things in the forest interest me also. The world of tiny is so often missed by those of us looking for the beauty of large.

So I decided to take some time in between rains to run out into the woods by the house and have some fun.

I decided to continue the story of Squatch and Big Foot. They'd heard that they had a brother that was a Yeti and they went searching to find him. Yeti was trying to build a fire. Contrary to popular belief, Yeti does NOT like the cold at all. He'd rather be warm and cuddly near a fire.

Squatch and Big Foot invited them back to Squatch's little stick house.

Yeti was so relieved to have found a fire and his long lost brothers at the same time. As the boys talked, Yeti asked them if they recalled their oldest half brother that was shunned from the family. 

This was new to them, but they said they did recall the family having some arguments when they were little Squatches. They grew up and went their separate ways with their own unique identities.

There was something said about a half brother from another mother that behaved strangely and didn't conform to their standards.

The Three odd brothers decided that they would look for their half brother who had gone missing.

Meanwhile in the forest...
Wait, What?

A space ship?

Chewie crash lands in a forest with his little space cruiser. He sets out to fix the cruiser when something strikes him as very familiar. This feels like a forest he knew long ago.

He finds mushrooms to eat which remind him of the food he used to eat with his little funny Half Brothers. It reminds him of the joyful times he had before the elders found him 'different' and threw him out of the clan.

Chewie takes a bath in the cold creek of his Squatchhood. He is now pretty sure that his space cruiser crash landed in the forest of his youth.

.......

Yep, that's what happens when you decide to let the imagination play out.

I did make some great applesauce without messing it up. Washed windows, did laundry and started to clear warm weather stuff off the porch.

I guess I divide my days between all my chores/farm stuff and daydreaming of what could be...

July is done!

 

July was intense. 

Dry, smokey, moody, dusty.

We had company, we had drought, we had storms and we had intense heat.

We mowed the yard for the first time in July on the 24th. Since then we have had some rains and some parts of our state and the surrounding Midwest had intense storms.

I went on two kayaking trips and decided it was something I would love to do A lot more. I even went on line to learn more via reviews. I'd definitely love to get Charlie to go with me. He would need a lifejacket. After all, I taught him to ride the 4 wheeler with me, so perhaps we can manage a kayak together.

Most of my outdoor activity was in the early morning or late evenings. I managed to ride for a little bit almost each night [except when it was unbearably hot].

August is looming around the corner. What does it have in store for us?

Shorter days and the thought of entering fall? Hot and dry or cooler and wet? Who knows?

I can't stop time, so I will make the best of August and prepare for what follows.