41/365

"Coming Through the Rye"

This statue was created by Frederick Remington.  I've loved his work for many years but had never seen this one before.  It actually took my breath away and I had to make an image of it.  

How awesome it would be to own one of these, but they're pricey and ownership is probably not an option for me, so I'll just have to enjoy the photo.

Thankful for:

the chicken piccata dinner I had while having dinner with friends

40/365

Still Life

A couple of years ago I tried my hand at still life with the few items I had around my house, which wasn't much since I had just moved into a smaller space and had seriously purged my belongings. 

It was fun, it gave me something to do and I learned a little more about lighting.

I'm grateful today for:

my sewing machine

39/365

American Sign Language

On my way home today I stopped at one of the local parks to find a photo opportunity.  It's been raining for the past 2.5 days (thank God) but this afternoon the sun came out and it warmed up enough to entice me into this playground. 

The equipments seems to be fairly new and as I walked around I saw this Sign Language board.  How awesome is it!!!  What a great leaning opportunity not only for the kiddos but for the parents/adults.

Kudos to whomever designed this playground.

My heart is thankful for:

2.5 days of badly needed rain

38/365

Stained Glass Window

The First Baptist Church in Abilene is a very large church and it has a huge balcony.  While up there I remembered to "turn around" and I saw this beautiful sight.  

The red-carpeted stairs lead the eye right to the beautiful stained glass window.  

Thankful today for:

the chance to spend some time with the grandkids

37/365

Still Life

I had the chance to get into a large Baptist Church in downtown Abilene today.  There were about 5 of us who took advantage of the opportunity.  

The sanctuary is beautiful but as I was walking around the building, I came across this scene in the entryway.  

Today I'm thankful for:

the good weather and warm temps in the middle of winter

36/365

Cement Plant

As I was driving around the outskirts of town today, I came across this cement plant.  I love the architectural aspect of this structure and the beautiful blue sky behind it.

My grateful heart is happy today because:

there's plenty of food in my fridge

35/365

Troy, NY Victorian Stroll

I made this image several years ago.  I love it.  The reenactors are always so happy to pose, and show off their skills in their Victorian clothes and attitudes.

Troy is one of the only towns in the area to hold their Stroll during daylight hours, so it's really appealing to families and photographers.  

I miss these events.

My thankful heart rejoices today for:

the sun has been shining all day

34/365

Underside of a Water Tower

This underside of a water tower isn't a very exciting image, but I saw it while I was driving around looking for some photo ops.  This beautiful day comes at the end of 3.5 really horrible/cold/icy days during which I was captive in my house because of the icy roads.

It was awesome being able to be outside again and it was warm enough that I didn't need a jacket.  

Today my thankful heart is thankful for:

getting ready to meet some friends for dinner

33/365

Winter

A few years ago when I relocated to central Texas from upstate NY, one of my major thoughts was that I'd never have to deal with winter/snow/freezing temperatures again.

Well, the joke's on me.  I had no idea that parts of Texas would deal with such intense winter conditions.  I sometimes compare our temps with those in Fairbanks, AK, and sadly, we're often colder (it's only for a short time but still.....)

So our garbage is collected every Monday and Thursday mornings.  This trash can has been at the curb since Monday.  It's Thursday morning and there hasn't been a collection yet.  I'm not complaining, just stating a fact.  When I went out there this morning, I saw the icicles hanging from the lid and had to get a pic before I destroyed the beauty of them.  If someone had designed this, they couldn't have done a more beautiful job.  

The driveway and streets aren't icy anymore but the grass and trash can haven't thawed yet.

My thankful for today:

Homemade soup in the fridge for dinner tonight

32/365

Some of My Favorite Books

I love books.  I used to own a lot of them, then I decided to clean out so the kids wouldn't be overwhelmed when the time came.  But....I kept some of my favorites:  novels, Christian books and these books about my passion.  

They range from being very old to very new.  Now that I've reminded myself of the titles, I guess I should read through some of them again, otherwise I should just get rid of them.  

Collecting favorite books is just TOO easy.

My thankful heart today gives thanks for:

my favorite books

 

31/365    

A Knitted Baby Blanket

I love to knit and crochet.  This baby blanket is knitted.  Although it looks grey in the pic, it's really a beautiful deep slate blue.

I always need to be doing something creative while watching TV, so this kind of project is perfect especially once I get the feel for the pattern.  

Several years ago I kept making one baby blanket after another until I had, hmmm maybe 10-12 in reserve.  When I moved I had to give some of them to charities because I didn't want to take all of them with me.  I kept about 6 of my favorites and now I only have three left. Right now I don't know anyone having a baby, so this one and the other two will have to stay in storage for a while longer.

My "thankful" for today:

a dependable car

30/365

Chalk Butterfly

This is an older image from my files, but I reworked it and think it's really cute.  I love the colors the artist used.  It's so fun to see street art, whether on the sidewalk or sides of buildings.  There are so many good artists wandering around. 

I'm so glad I saw this.

Today I'm thankful for:

good friends

29/365

Corner of the Building

Following along with the theme of textures/shadows that I mentioned in the previous post, this brick building corner is a great texture image.  Again, not an especially exciting image for most people, but I love the color grey, I love brick buildings, and there are two shadows across the facade of the building.

As far as selling an image like this, there's just no telling what a buyer is looking for.  I used to be more choosey about the images I offered for sale, but after seeing what people buy (and who knows what they do with the images~~that's not my concern really) I'm more willing to add scenes like this just on the off chance that someone will want it.  

Today I'm thankful for:

all 5 of my grown children being healthy and content

28/365

Yellow Ribbed Siding

I'm sure this isn't a very exciting image for most people but the other day as I was walking around town trying to find some new photo ops (in an area where I think I've photographed at least 30 times in the past couple of years), I came up with the idea to look for textures and shadows.  

This is ribbed siding on the side of a business and I guess the #8 is the address of the business.

It satisfies both texture and shadow so it's a win/win.  

I put my full-res images on a couple of photo sales sites, so I'm actually pretty excited about this image since it would make a great background.  

What can I give thanks for today?

A safe dry place to live in which I feel comforted and peaceful.

27/365

Oxygen Tanks 

These oxygen tanks are behind a protective chain link fence.  There were hundreds of tanks of various sizes and colors stored at this business.

I've seen this place many times before but never thought about making an image of the tanks, and now that I finally did I wonder why I never did before. 

26/365

Numbers

Address numbers on the outside wall of a business downtown.  The sun was at the perfect height (about 3 hours before sunset) to create these beautiful, perfect shadows.  The fact that the numbers are not perfectly aligned makes the image even better I think.

25/365

Shadows

I was walking around downtown today at just the right time of day to capture this beautiful tree shadow on the wall of a business.

I had my grown-up camera with me so it was really fun and easy to get just the right composition.

24/365

Painted Mason Jar

Several years ago I was at a craft fair when I saw this beautifully hand-painted small Mason Jar.  I had no idea what I would do with it, but I bought two because they're so pretty.

I have one displayed on the mantle and I occasionally stuff one or two dollar bills in it, so I guess it's become just a pretty piggy-bank.

23/365

"Waymaker" by Ann Voskamp

I belong to a bookgroup that meets monthly.  We take turns choosing the books.  This is the choice for January picked by another member. I borrowed this copy.

I've read many books that have been super-well-written and fun to read, but I have to say that I don't think I've read one where the writing has been This Compelling, nor the subject matter so Humbling.

It's a brand new book, copyright 2022.  If it wasn't so expensive I'd buy multiple copies and give one to everyone I know.  In lieu of that, I'll just recommend it.

22/365

Hiking Boots

When I lived at the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains some friends and I used to hike once a week and these are the boots I used.  

Now I live in a place that is flat and ugly and the only thing I use them for is mowing the lawn.  They're very comfortable and they keep the prickers from attacking.  

They wait on the patio for the grass to get long enough to mow, and for most of the summer that doesn't happen too often. 

I hold out hope that someday I'll get the chance to use them for hiking again.

21/365

The Interior of the Rotunda of the Capitol Building in Austin, Texas.

 The Texas State Capitol Building is 2nd in size only to the United States Capitol Building in Washington, DC.  It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

20/365

Metal Dragonfly

A friend of mine was talking to the property manager of an RV park and while I was waiting, I looked around and saw this house.  It was an ordinary, not very interesting house, but obviously it was a home that someone was proud of.  The side of the house was decorated with about 8 or 9 of these metal dragonflies.  

This was the most interesting one of them all.  It was late afternoon and the light was so pretty and the shadows really added to the effect.  I didn't think about it at the time, but I'm also partial to the color green, so all-in-all this turned out to be a Great Grab Shot.  

Yay for the fact that I had my SLR with me and didn't have to capture this image with my phone camera. which I'm sure would have worked ok, but then I would've been wishing I had the SLR. 

19/365

The Wooten

The Hotel Wooten Apartments is located downtown.  It was constructed in 1930 and was originally just a hotel, but then converted into one and two bedroom apartments in 1963.  

It didn't do well financially while a hotel, but has been at almost full capacity since being converted into apartments.   The building was listed as a Texas Historical Landmark in 2008. 

18/365

The Mill Wine Bar

The Mill, once the home of the Texas Mill and Elevator Company (which opened in 1910), is now a wine bar which serves wine, craft beers and food.  It is an event venue in south downtown Abilene, Texas.

From what I hear, the food is great.  Someday maybe I'll find out for myself.  Until then, I'll have to believe the positive gossip I hear about it.

17/365

Railroad Sign

In the south part of downtown it's practically deserted in late afternoon.  I had the area totally to myself.  I don't think I've ever photographed this sign from this perspective, but I really like it.  

It appears that the warehouse/factory just to the right of the staircase railings hasn't been in use for many, many years, but the building is still intact and has provided me with many photo ops.  The sign and the railroad cars have always been available too.  

16/365

Artwork on the Outside Wall of a Reception Venue

I've photographed this artwork many times before, but I usually isolate the art so you can't see any of the surrounding area.  Today I decided to include some of the reception venue to give the building a little more perspective. 

It was a warm overcast day, so the colors really popped.  The artist, Cal, has done many other artworks on buildings in town.  I like his work.

15/365

Ceiling Fan and Flower Print

I decided to take a short lie-down this afternoon and I was mulling over what to take a photo of for my daily post.  I looked up and thought, "well, why not?"

It's not a very exciting image, but I enjoy having a ceiling fan even though I don't use it much and I totally LOVE the grey, white and black flower artwork.

14/365

Church Building Just Before Dusk

I saw this building about ½ hour before sunset and thought the light was so beautiful.  

I only had my phone camera with me and although it's fine as a small image, I probably can't enlarge it very much without it looking pixelated.  I need to start carrying my Big-Girl-Camera with me all the time. I did that for a while a few years ago, and more often than not I didn't find anything to photograph while I was out, so I stopped taking it with me.  

Maybe I need to rethink that habit.  

12/365

Rotunda at the Texas State Capitol Building in Austin, Texas

11/365

People on line to enter chambers on the second day of Legislative Day at the Texas State Capitol Building in Austin, Texas. 

I took this image with my cell phone's pano function.  I've never tried that before and someone I was talking with showed me a photo she took, so of course, I had to try it.  The pano function elongated the roundness of the floor we were on.  I just think it's so interesting.

10/365

Abandoned Home

Well....it's day 10 of the new year and I've already outdone my posts of last year, when I actually only posted one image in January of the new year and the second image was months later.  

Anyway, I've seen this house before.  It's been like this for at least 3 years and maybe longer.  Wonder what happened to the owners?  Did they pass on?  Did they just get sick of supporting the home financially?  Did they move out of the area?

The houses around it are nice and well taken care of.  No one complains about this eye-sore?  No one cares?  No one wants to be the snitch?

No way to know since I'm not from that neighborhood and don't know anyone to ask.  This is sad though.  It looks like it was a cute house once-upon-a-time.  

9/365

Bee's Wax Candle

I'm trying to minimize the non-essential possessions in my home, because:

1)  the less-is-more philosophy is giving me a lot of peace

&

2)  I don't want my kids to have to Figure-Out-What-To-Do-With-Mom's-Stuff when the time comes.

My environment isn't austere and never will be.  I think a home should be inviting and comforting, not only to the people who live there, but to all who enter for whatever reason.

I love these statues.  The candle is a bee's wax candle that a friend made.  Her husband is a honey farmer and she always has plenty of bee's wax and she kindly gave me several candles the last time I visited.  It's really time to burn it, but I keep forgetting, so right now it's another calming piece of decor in my living room.  

8/365

The Toybox

The toys in the basket are a few that I brought with me when I moved and a few that I purchased at Goodwill after I got here. 

The grandkids don't come here too often, but when they do they head right for the toys.  It's so much fun watching them re-discover the items in the basket.  The toys aren't as creative as the ones they have at home, but when they're done the living room looks like a hurricane swept through.

7/365   Spider Plant

I love indoor plants.  There are a couple that I manage to not only keep alive, but keep healthy.  This is one of them.  

My roommate has three cats who are very persistent at swatting at anything hanging, so I need to keep this one in my bedroom.  I also need to keep my bedroom door shut so they can't get to the plant.  

I'd love to get more plants, but it's basically just throwing money away while the cats are here.

I guess I'll just have to take joy from this one.

6/365

Seen From the Airport Window

I've seen more pretty sun rises and sun sets in the winter in Alaska than I've ever seen anywhere else. This was approximately 3:30 pm.  I love the muted colors of the sky and the snow on the runway.

5/365

Clouds and Blue Sky

Just step outside the door.

4/365

Lunar Ring

As I was looking for the Northern Lights during my last night in a northern location I noticed this ring around the moon.  The sky seemed pretty cloudy and I didn't see any "lights", but this ring was very prominent.  I've never seen such a phenomena before.  

It was a perfect ring around the moon.  I took several photos, one being the complete ring, but I like this one where the moon and the ring are intercepted by the trees.  

This happens where there are ice crystals in the air that reflect the moon's light.  According to the little research I did, it's a pretty common sight.  Considering I've never seen it before, it must not be too common in the lower 48 since this is the first time in my life I've seen such a beautiful sight. 

It didn't last long and a short while later the sky looked

 clear and the ring was gone.

I was in the "right place at the right time" and was so glad I was.

3/365

Northern Lights

I took this image with my new cell phone.  It was tricky~~it was cold and it was difficult to hold the phone steady until it took the pic.  It automatically went into night mode so it was a couple of seconds before the camera clicked.  

The interesting thing is that to the naked eye the sky just looked dark and there was a slight "cloudy" look to the area where the northern lights are, it didn't look green at all, so until someone told me, I thought it was just a clump of clouds.  The camera picked out the color. 

I only found that out about a week ago.  Who knows how many times I missed the lights, not realizing what that "cloudy" area really was.  I have one more night to see the lights and there's no telling if it will be too cloudy or if there will even be a light show.  It changes second-by-second. 

I'm happy I got the images I did.  

2/365

Almost A Full Moon

While looking at the sky for the Aurora Borealis, I turned toward the south and saw this beautiful sight.  I noticed the moon being ⅔ full and was surprised at how quickly the moon waxes and wanes.  

Just a few days ago, Dec 29th, the moon was only ½ full.

Tonight the sky was cloudless and the stars were bright.   The trees are lit by some motion lights in the driveway.  This is another image taken with my phone camera. I'm so impressed with the quality of the images.  That doesn't mean I'll give up my grown-up camera, but there's a saying in photographic circles:

"The best camera you have is the one you have with you". 

(the double watermark was an accident and it's late and I didn't feel like doing the image over)

Hello  2023

1/365

Hand Made Baby Blocks

There might be a new grandbaby in the relatively 

near future (not yet though).  

My last unmarried child married in 2022.   

These blocks are the entire alphabet with a pic for each letter. They take a long time to make so as soon as they announced the wedding date I decided to get a head start on them and have them ready.

There's also a grandson who's getting married later this year, so I guess I should get started on another set. Even though they're time-consuming, I'm happy to make them because it helps me stay busy in the evening when there aren't any meetings to attend.  

28/365

Museum of the North

This museum is seen on the campus of Alaska University at Fairbanks, Alaska.  It's a beautiful structure and it gives me the feeling it was constructed with the large white blocks to mimic the Alaskan heritage of igloos.  I haven't been able to document that idea, but that's what it makes me think of when I look at it.

This building is a cultural center, a museum and a learning environment.

 The sun sets around 4 pm in the winter and this image was made close to that time.  The light was beautiful and the sky was such a pretty blue. 

27/365

Tulip or Amarillis?

This is part of the decor where I'm visiting.  It was purchased as what looks like a wrapped bulb of some sort with the guarantee that it would bloom around Christmas.  And bloom it did.

It's a beautiful red flower and is a great part 

of the house decor.

26/365    Portrait in Winter

So...when you live in a cold climate and you want your portrait made during the winter, you just bite the bullet and work outside, even if the temperature is only 0 degrees F.  I was not the photographer on this job but I managed to get a couple of images while they were working.

25/365

Golden Heart Plaza, Downtown Fairbanks, Alaska

I was in the park today with a friend who was shooting a photo session.  Needless to say, it was a fast session because it was only 0 degrees F, so there wasn't much I could do to help.

I spent some time looking around to see what I could photograph, when I saw this scene which I actually found quite compelling since I love photographing bare tree branches.

The plaza is on the banks of the Chena River, so this is looking across the river at the buildings on the other side.  It would have been great had I had a subject standing near one of the trees, especially if they were wearing a bright color like red or yellow, but alas, for me it was just the 

scenic.  

In spite of the cold it was fun having something different to photograph other than the town where I live. 

24/365

White Birch and Hammocks

I came upon this scene today at a friend's home.  I only had my cell phone with me. I hope to go back with my big-girl camera.  I'd love to make this into a canvas to hang in my home.

I can probably name it something like:

"Dreaming of Spring"

"Summer Dreams"

"Waiting to Relax"

or something like that.  

23/365   Night Scene

I very recently got a new phone.  

During all the times I've visited Fairbanks I've never seen the Northern Lights.  I hope to see them this trip, so tonight I went outside around 10:45 pm (it gets pitch dark around 4 pm during the winter).  There were no "lights" then, probably because of the heavy cloud cover, but I wanted to try the phone camera in the dark to see how it well it photographed at night.  

This is looking south.  It's amazing.  The image can't be blown up too large because it would be too grainy, but what a great job it does for small pics.

22/365

The Vessel

This is a honeycomb sculpture-style structure seen on the High Line in Manhattan, NYC.  The image was made shortly after it was opened in 2019, and sadly, before 3 suicides closed it permanently to the public.  All of the components were manufactured in Italy and then transported to America for construction.

 21/365   Decor in an Air bnb space

What a nice idea for decor in the kitchen of an Air bnb.  It's the little homey touches that make a space welcoming, not only in a public space, but even in your own home.  

 20/365   Trio of wine goblets in black and white

Seen in the kitchen space of an AirBnB.  Not only for use if desired, but also for decor.  

 19/365   Snowy Mailboxes    

It's cold here, very cold.  When I made this image it was -32, but fortunately there was no wind.  The snow was crunchy, a sound I love even though I don't love snow, the air was crisp and it was the middle of the 4 hours of daylight so the light was really lovely.  

Now that it's Dec 22, daylight will last longer each day until it's light for 23 hours/day.  What a difference.