Ten Little Celebrations – March 2026

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Some different types of celebrations in March…

 

Dad surviving a hospital admission. My sisters and I celebrated that my dad survived an awful hospital experience (bad reaction to drugs he received there, lack of attention to his response to medications and delaying administration of his regular medications). He is back in his memory care residence now and much happier. We have transitioned him to palliative care based on his experience.

Springfield Botanical Gardens. Many of the plants were still in winter form…but there were enough early spring flowers to celebrate the season.

Red-bellied woodpecker. We celebrated when one of the birds came to our feeders. It doesn’t happen often!

Big buds on the red buckeye. The buds on the red buckeye were an early celebration of spring. They were large and they were open with the leaves beginning to expand when there was a hard frost and the celebration turned to sorrow; I am monitoring the plant to see how it recovers.

Earthworm parade. I celebrated that it rained…and the earthworms made a parade across a sidewalk to find new homes.

George Washington Carver National Monument. My husband and I celebrated an early spring day with a day trip to the monument.

Garage door fix. The spring on my garage door opener broke and I was worried that I’d be parking in the driveway for a few days...but a company was able to make the repair the same day we called. I celebrated the quick response!

The Plastic Detox. I viewed the documentary available on Netflix…celebrated that there were indeed babies at the end!

Sunrises. I was in Texas for 5 days….and 4 of those days had wonderful sunrises. I celebrated with my dad in the hospital on 3 days and the last one I was in a hotel! Noticing the beauty at the beginning of the day always lifts my mood.

Baked chicken salad. Days are getting warmer and I find myself wanting salads more than I do in the wintertime. I celebrated combining veggies from the crisper…an apple…diced slices of lemon (including the skin) and green salsa --- with chicken baked in balsamic vinaigrette. Yummy!

Sustaining Elder Care – March 2026

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My dad is going to be 95 this month. We had an adventure with him in the hospital before that could happen. The original problem that was causing abdominal pain resolved on its own within about 24 hours, but the ramification of the ancillary medications (primarily to reduce anxiety) had the effect of increasing his anxiety and keeping him awake and active until he was exhausted. An MRI was ordered after the first anti-anxiety dose, but he could not tolerate the machine for enough time to complete it. The drug reaction prolonged his stay in the hospital, and we are/were amazed that the doctors wanted to continue to dose him; my sisters and I had to insist that they stop giving him the drug and allow him to return to his normal.

I drove down on his first day in the hospital and spent 4 nights with him. My other three sisters coordinated to stay with him during the day. The window in his hospital room faced the east so I had a good view of the sunrise; there was only one cloudy morning…otherwise the sunrises were gorgeous even with the blinds in the way! They did not make up for the collective angst that my sisters and I experienced at the hospital.

My dad received some PT later his stay to regain some mobility he had lost the first days of his hospitalization. We realized by the third day that, for him, going to the hospital was never going to be a net positive and we started the process to transition him to hospice care. It was a decision that my sisters and I all agreed on immediately. He was released from the hospital after being there for 5 days/nights. It didn’t take long after we got to his apartment his memory care facility for him to realize that he was home…and smile.

The transition to hospice started out well with a new bed and wheelchair delivered to his apartment before he returned. We are still tweaking the arrangement – adjusting what the memory care and hospice staff will do to support my dad’s situation. It seems to be going relatively well although we are all still in ‘transition’ and seeking to understand what his needs are. There have been several instances where he seems to be making little jokes and looking mischievous as a kid; it helps that he seems happy with what has happened even though he likely doesn’t understand it all.

Happy New Year 2026

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A new year – and the annual thoughts about beginnings – where do I go from here. I am trying to sustain my lifelong optimism, but it is hard with the continuing world turmoil particularly at the Federal level in the US. It is frustrating that our response to the biggest challenges of our time (climate change, plastic pollution) seems to be lost in the chaos, perhaps more in the US that elsewhere in the world.

Sunrise is also a symbolic beginning of more than just the day. This time of year, it is very easy to be up in time to see it…and take a few moments to savor the beauty of it and the natural world….making an effort to imagine a positive path of the future of human endeavors and our home planet.  

Road Trip to Lewisville – December 2025

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My road trip to Lewisville in December was just two days. When I left home at 5:30 AM it was dark, cold, windy, and wet. The sun wasn’t up until my second stop of the trip – at the  Big Cabin Loves off I-44. I took two pictures to celebrate the light and that the rain had cleared - even if the wind had not and was making for a more challenging drive.

I listened to Christmas music as I drove….and tried to notice birds (there seemed to be more gulls and crows than usual…not as many vultures as on previous drives…perhaps the wind caused the activity change). There was a truck with a big bale of hay wrapped in plastic (bits of plastic flying off…I’d rather have bits of hay than plastic!). As I drove over Lake Eufala, there were sycamore leaves blowing across the highway – big enough that I could easily to id them.

I made the longest stop at the Texas Welcome Center – eating a grilled chicken wrap that I bought at one of my previous stops. I checked the beautyberry and noticed that there were still a lot of leaves on the oaks, unlike where I live in Missouri where the trees are bare. I picked up another bur oak acorn…and realized most of that oak’s leaves were on the ground.

My sister had left some home baked goodies on the bookcase in my dad’s room. I left her a bag of special teabags (in paper/cardboard packaging) and enjoyed walking around the room noting the seasonal decorations my sisters had added. I remember the fabric tree from many years…and wondered what its history is; maybe one of my sisters knows.

As I walked with my dad in the hallways, I took pictures of the decorations added in the shared areas of the facility.

The hotel was a short drive away and I was on the 4th floor this time…on the side toward the water retention pond and the great blue heron was there again; I took a picture through the window.  I also noticed that the Bradford Pear trees were very colorful.

The next morning, I took some pictures of the sunrise over the highway.

My dad had some medical appointments later in the day, so I didn’t encourage him to exercise as I usually do. One of my sisters arrived just as I was leaving so I got to visit with her a little before I headed toward home.

I stopped in Prague OK for lunch – the town where one of my grandmother’s was born and grew up. She would not recognize it today! The café was excellent and I might stop there again….think about our family history.

I made it home just as the sunset – which was my goal. This is the hardest month to do that because the days are so short!

Road Trip to Lewisville – November 2025

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My dad moved from Dallas to Lewisville TX, so my monthly road trips have shifted to visit the him at his memory care place in Lewisville. I made my usual stop at the Texas Welcome Center pm US75 along the way – noticing that the leaves have fallen from the beautyberry. I noticed an insect on the berries; it was a cold day so the insect did not move….easy to photograph.

It was the first time for me to visit the memory care facility since my dad moved there. They were holding their Thanksgiving dinner that afternoon – the Friday before Thanksgiving. The day was warm enough that Dad and I walked outside in the enclosed courtyard beforehand. I noticed the decorative patterns on the roof of one of the pavilions.

The dinner itself was tasty, and Dad enjoyed it thoroughly because everything was cut up already – easy for him to eat; there was ice cream for dessert. A live band provided country music – a little loud for me but great for him and the other residents. He stayed for the whole show!

The next morning, I was up and looked out the window a little after sunrise. My hotel window overlooked a storm water pond; on the other side of the pond was a Costco…and then a cluster of overpasses – an intersection of big highways. I was just far enough away that the highway noise did not overwhelm the white noise of the heating/air conditioning fan. A great blue heron was at the edge of the pond. Next time I will bring a better camera and maybe walk around the pond.

I was with my dad for a second Thanksgiving meal on that Saturday – with the assisted living side of the facility. It was similar but my sister had to cut up his turkey and ham. The music was a little different and he wanted to leave before the end. The loudness of the music made it impossible to have a conversation with our 6-person family group…but I did enjoy the pecan pie at the end.

Afterwards I enjoyed several hours with my sister and her daughters/grandchildren. It was a treat to see them!

The next morning, I looked out the window a bit earlier – before sunrise. I left the hotel about 7:30 AM and drove around to the closest parking lot to the storm water pond. There were two cormorants there.

The memory care facility had decorated with a lot of pumpkins for the holiday. I photographed one of the displays on my way in to see my dad. At 8 AM he had finished his breakfast and was working on his cup of coffee! I’m glad I ate at the hotel rather than planning to eat with him!

I opted to go back via I35 going north. It was an adventure and about 15 minutes longer than the other route – but a lot less stressful. For the next few months, I am planning to continue that alternate route to get home. I already identified a café I want to try in Prague OK (along the route); my paternal grandmother grew up on a farm near Prague.

Out on Lake Michigan

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We had signed up for birding out on Lake Michigan on the last day of the Urban Birding Festival in Chicago. We had to be at the dock by 5 AM so we were leaving our hotel about 4:30…checking out and loading everything into our car. Both of us were feeling a bit sleep deprived.

Everyone that had signed up for the trip appeared and we were heading out of the harbor by 5:30 AM. The boat was a fishing boat. It wasn’t a windy morning, but I appreciated the extra handholds that the rod holders provided when I tried to move around. I sat most of the time!

Everyone that had signed up for the trip appeared and we were heading out of the harbor by 5:30 AM. The boat was a fishing boat. It wasn’t a windy morning, but I appreciated the extra handholds that the rod holders provided when I tried to move around. I sat most of the time!

We saw the sunrise on the lake. We passed several of the water intakes for the city that are a ways out into the lake and often host colonies of cormorants.

The guides were throwing chum (fish, bread, popcorn) to the birds from the back of the boat. There were more Herring Gulls than Ring-billed Gulls already. We saw a few terns. The hope was for some rarer birds – like a Parasitic Jaeger. That didn’t show up so I focused on observing gulls at various stages of development and how they used their tail feathers to control their flight/landing behind the boat.

The rocking of the boat was calming…at least while I was sitting…not so much when I was moving around.

The skyline of Chicago was always present…although we were at least 15 miles out on the lake. The air around the city was hazy. The air in the city and on the lake was humid and the air quality was yellow (small particulates). It is a big city and there are a lot of cars.

The surprise of the trip was seeing a Monarch butterfly – flying south – when we were between 10 and 15 miles from shore. I had assumed that they took the land route south from Canada…but some of them obviously don’t.

Zooming – January 2025

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January was a busy month but not one that included any big photography opportunities! My selections for zoomed images this month have some themes: sunrise/sunset, snow, birds, and lights. They are mostly from Missouri (although there are two that are left over from my trip to New Mexico in December that I didn’t post about until January). Enjoy the photographic mosaic.

2024 in Review - Photography

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Picking two pictures per month of 2024 was challenging….but a joy. The activity reminded me of times in Texas and at home…the solar eclipse…short trips to Arkansas and longer ones to the Texas gulf coast and New Mexico. They are all taken outdoors. I am celebrating 2024 through these images!

Bosque del Apache Fly Out

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Arriving at the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in the early morning when it is still dark…quiet…the birds just beginning to wake up. The sandhill cranes are dark ovoid silhouettes on the water that shimmers with the pre-sunrise light.

Ribbons of snow geese begin flying in. They seem to be up and about before the cranes in the cold (temperature in the 20s and ice on the ponds). The water begins to look like gold foil. Something startles the geese and they rise up from the water…before settling down again. The cranes sleep on although they might be beginning to stir. The noise of the geese overwhelms their noises.

We moved to the other roost pond and the cranes there are already beginning to “talk” – stepping up onto the ice from the water where they stood – close together – overnight. They begin to line up for flying out to find breakfast…leaving in small groups.

Some of the cranes sleep on while others stretch their wings…and head out.

The cottonwood tree on the other side of the pond looks like it has lost some central limbs since the last time I was here (pre-Covid).

And still there are sleepy heads.

I maximize the zoom on my camera…and photograph a sparrow on the other side the pond…feathers fluffed against the cold.

The cranes stretch out their necks before they fly out….and sometimes slip a bit on the ice as they try to take off from the slippery surface. It is not always a graceful lift-off.

I took some vegetation pictures…the remnants from last summer.

A few mornings later…we were back for another fly out. It was in the 20s again and we couldn’t stay as long. All the cranes in the group seemed more awake and vocal….maybe more anxious to leave the pond!

Dallas and Back – October

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I made my monthly trek to Dallas and back late last week. It was a cold morning as I left Missouri…getting away well before 6 and my nav system routing be around a nighttime road closure before I even made it to the highway! It was almost sunrise by the time I made my first rest stop. The color in the sky changed even in the short time I was in the building getting a protein shake for breakfast.

The color was mostly faded when I stopped the second time although it was still within the hour after sunrise.

The drive was uneventful although it seems like there is more active construction on some parts of my route than a month ago. Perhaps they are trying to reach a milestone before winter weather or maybe previous work had been hampered by very high temperatures in southern Oklahoma and Texas.

I visited with my dad and then headed to the hotel to relax…recover from getting up a little earlier than usual and driving for almost 7 hours.

The next morning, I was up and ready for a breakfast at the hotel at 6:30 then arrived to visit my dad shortly after 8 AM. We took a walk around the block. The weather was coolish (he wore a quilted vest over his long-sleeved shirt) and the sun was bright. Some of the houses had fall/Halloween decorations. The bald cypress trees I had noticed last time I walked with him were beginning to lose their needles. They will be ‘bald’ soon!

I was on the road heading home shortly after 10. The drive between the assisted living residence in Dallas and the border between Texas and Oklahoma is the most stressful part of the route – the speed limit is 70 mph for most of the way and people are trying to go that fast and beyond even when the traffic is too heavy to allow that safely.

I got home by about 5:30 and my husband informed me that we might be about to see the aurora after it got dark. We went out about 8…and there it was…faint but definitely some color in the Missouri sky!

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – August 2024

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I hadn’t visited Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge since last March – since I shifted my visits to my dad to 2-day road trips…seeing him in the afternoon after a 7 hour drive and the next morning before a 7 hour drive. There has been no time to make the side trip to Hagerman. But this month, I went for more days and made time for a Hagerman stop on the way home. I arrived about 45 minutes past sunrise.

There were still lotuses blooming in one of the ponds…a Great Egret and a Great Blue Heron (with a dragonfly in the air) were in the same pond.

There was a juvenile (still had some white splotches) Little Blue Heron on one of the larger ponds that I photographed it with a Great Egret and a Snowy Egret for size comparison.

One of my photos of a Great Egret had a cormorant taking off in the background. Not far away there was a cormorant that was obviously a Neotropic Cormorant. The range map for this species shows that they might be breeding at Hagerman…but are not there year-round.

The pumpjacks in this picture were both active.

There was a small pond that had a lot of birds (herons and egrets). I took a regular image then two panoramic versions.

The light was just right for blue water…the magic of the hour after sunrise.

In the pollinator garden near the visitor center (which wouldn’t open until 9…after I continued toward home), I saw a milkweed pod already releasing its seeds with milkweed bugs in various stages of development.

Sunflowers are always photogenic…and one of them had a Green Metallic Sweat Bee!

I am not sure what kind of seed pods these are…but the shapes are full of curves.

There were volunteers working in the garden….and turning on sprinklers. The trumpet vine was almost completely desiccated. It has been very hot and dry this August there.

It was a good stop…a nature fix before the 6 more hours of driving to get home.

Solar Eclipse – Part 1

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We traveled from our home near Springfield MO to Poplar Bluff MO for the solar eclipse on April 8th. There was a flurry of activity on the day before the event to finalize our destination; the weather forecast was the key driver for us to choose Poplar Bluff (along with Whitely Park being a good location that was not included as part of the event planning by the city).

We left our house at 5:30 AM to pick up our daughter and son-in-law before heading east; it wasn’t long before sunrise. I took some pictures of it through the windshield of the car (my husband did all the driving).

We did not encounter any heavy traffic during our morning drive…got to the park 2 hours before the first contact…plenty of time for set up and looking around the park. We set up on an asphalt parking lot that never completely filled up so we spilled over onto the two spaces on either side of where we were parked next to a fenced soccer field.

I walked around to look at a few low growing plants…

And trees that were just beginning to leaf out. I realized that the trees did no have enough foliage to make projected crescent patterns onto the ground as happened when we were in Loup City, Nebraska for the August 2017 solar eclipse.

On the ground – I noted roots of a sycamore, seed pods of sweet gums (from last year and green ones from this year) and a clump of green (probably a weed) surrounded by brown thatch.

There were birds about:

Two purple martin houses that were beginning to be populated. One had a pair of house sparrows too; I wondered how long it would take for the purple martins to evict them.

A starling in the grass – keeping an eye on the sky.

And a group of robins in a tree without leaves but lots of twigs that made it hard to get a good image.

I took most of my eclipse pictures with my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HX) on a tripod with a solar filter taped to the camera body to cover the lens until totality). I had eclipse glasses that I wore to look at the sun with my eyes and put over the camera on my iPhone to take one picture. I’ll post my eclipse pictures on Sunday along with some my husband took…stay tuned for that.

Road trip with my daughter

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My ‘new normal’ of making 2-day road trips to Dallas to see my dad was very different with my daughter coming with me. I’ve always liked making road trips with her because we get some long uninterrupted time to talk; this time it was 6-7 hours on the road each way. In the aftermath, I am thinking about ways it was different from my road trips on my own.

  • We were on the road about an hour later than usual; she is not quite as much a morning person as I am. I picked her up at her house just before 7 AM. It was a few minutes before sunrise – and I took a picture through the windshield of my car of the color behind the emerging foliage of her back yard.

  • We took my dad on a walk outdoors (cloudy but dry….warm enough to not need a jacket). It was my first time doing that but, now that the weather is warmer, a walk will be included in my visits unless it is raining. He was trying a new walker with 4 wheels instead of 2, so I was glad there were two of us just is case it didn’t work well for him – but he liked it and seemed to maneuver with it very well.

  • I got a suite rather than a single room at my usual hotel. It worked well for us.

  • She suggested another walk after we got to the hotel which I hadn’t done before…I’ll add that into my routine from now on as well.

  • The music for the drive was more varied…still mostly instrumental but we included some artists she suggested mixed with my usual selections.

  • I didn’t do any reading at the hotel as I usually do…we were still enjoying our conversation too much!

  • We stopped for lunch on the way home (she found the restaurant as we were nearing lunch time). When I am on my own, I make a quick rest stop around lunch time and then arrive home very hungry.

Our next road trip together will be for the upcoming solar eclipse. This time my husband will be with us…and do all the driving!

Fennessey Ranch

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Our last field trip at the Whooping Crane Festival began with another early morning because we had to drive to the place (taking the ferry to cross from the barrier island). We arrived just a few minutes before the gate at Fennessey Ranch was opened for our tour group (not the first in line but not the last either).

I took a few pictures in the soft morning light: prickly pear cactus with brambles and a bird house, the layered reflected color of sunrise with the moon, and then some mourning doves in a nearby tree just as the sunlight hit them.

We waited a bit for the trailers with haybales for seats to arrive; we would tour the ranch in the trailers pulled by a pickup truck.

A few minutes into the tour there was a song sparrow in sunlight surround by mossy limbs.

I found photography from the trailer even more difficult than the bus at King Ranch. We did see wild turkeys and a bobcat…..but I wasn’t able to get a good line of sight with my camera. The bobcat was very hard to spot until it moved!

 I did get some good shots of two crested caracaras high in a tree. Were they a mating pair? The birds tend to be solitary except with their mate and offspring. Since I was almost under the birds…I took a picture of the talons.

There were a few wildflowers blooming.

One of the places we stopped included some sandhill cranes in the distance. There were feral hogs near them, and the birds flew off when the hogs got too close. The ranch does sponsor hunts of feral hogs…hopefully lowering their numbers.

The ranch has nine linear miles of river frontage on the Mission River. We stopped at a place where there is a blind and feeder. Only cardinals came to the feeder the morning we were there.

I opted to photograph more wildflowers and a post emerging from the water with what looks like barnacles (I forgot to ask if the river was tidal).

I also looked at the bank on the opposite side…lots of vegetation to the river’s edge in most places although there were places where cattle probably came down to the river. The bank on our side of the river was much steeper. It would be interesting to see the flood model for the ranch.

The Fennessy ranch field trip was a good winding down for our festival attendance. I learned that hayrides on trailers behind pickups over bumpy roads are hard on my back…probably won’t do that again. We headed toward home.  I was looking forward to Czech pastries in West, Texas on the second morning of the road trip back to Missouri.

Whooping Crane Boat Tour

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We were at the dock for the 7 AM departure of our boat on the third day of the Whooping Crane Festival.

I took a few pictures before we boarded – the moon over the harbor area.

Our destination was the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge where Whooping Cranes feed in the marshy/shallow areas…only visible via boat and it took over an hour to get there from Port Aransas. We passed familiar areas early on and saw a group of American white pelicans, morning light with moon setting over the shore, roseate spoonbills and white ibis in the distance, and the Aransas Pass Lydia Ann Lighthouse.

Then we entered an area that was different than our previous tours and more open water…with occasional platforms with cormorants and great blue herons hunkered in the chilly morning wind. There was a tall bridge as well.

Then there started to be a lot of small islands full of birds: Cormorants, great blue herons and brown pelicans. One area seemed to have a lot of great blue herons and I wondered if the island was their roost.  There were also groups of laughing gulls. (Click on the small images to see a larger version.)

And then we started seeing Whooping Cranes. Even at a distance – they are easy to identify because they are so large…and so white. The young are rusty looking – particularly their heads. Many sightings were of 3 birds: 2 adult birds and a colt; it must have been a good year for increasing the whooping crane population!

There were other birds to see too between whooping crane sightings – roseate spoonbills, green-winged teals, willets, American avocets, more great blue herons, buffleheads, cormorants, an osprey, and reddish egret (that took off as a wave covered the spit of shells the bird was standing on).

I took some closeups of some shells…out of the water at low tide.

I also realized how wakes of boats impact the shoreline…why there are often blocks on the shore to reduce the erosion wakes can cause. It doesn’t take a big or fast-moving boat to cause damaging wakes in smaller channels.

And then we took a break as we headed back to Port Aransas – no more photos until the jetty with the usual brown pelicans.

We got back to the dock with plenty of time before our afternoon field trip for lunch; we then headed back to the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center.

Road Trip to the Texas Gulf Coast

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We had registered for the Whooping Crane Festival months ago…and managed to attend it between my mother’s death and her funeral. Being out in nature at a birding festival was a healing activity. It helped that my husband did all the driving. We made the drive from our home in Missouri to Port Aransas TX over 2 days. We started out before sunrise…

The clouds gradually dissipated into whisps before the sky cleared entirely.

I enjoyed trying to take pictures as we went through Dallas…not something I get to do very often because I am usually driving.

We stopped near Austin for the night. We got to Port Aransas early enough for lunch and to visit Roberts Point Park. There were groups of brown pelicans and cormorants easily viewed from the park.  I liked the pelicans at rest…images in high key.

There was a snowy egret on the rocks showing off his yellow socks. When I looked at my pictures on my larger monitor, I noticed that there are yellow strips on the back of the legs!

There were large ships visible in the channel.

We also visited the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center…quickly realizing that we’d have to return when we had more time.

There were black-necked stilts – with their striking black and white bodies, straight black bill, and pink legs.

Blue winged teals flashing iridescent color as they preened.

A very sedentary alligator was lolling below the  boardwalk (although with its eye open).

A common gallinule was feeding nearby.

A group of American white pelicans were preening in the shallows.

A larger group was on the shore.

Green winged teals preening in the shallow water…or lazing on the shore.

White ibis were in the area…sometimes feeding together and sometimes in small groups.

We were there in the early afternoon, and it surprised me that the light made the water color and shadows so artsy for this grouping for birds – snoozing and preening. At this moment they must have all felt very secure.

Just before we left, I tried to get a picture of the whooping cranes that were feeding in the distance  – an adult and colt (with brownish feathers on the head and parts of the body). These are the birds we came to the area to see. All the other birds are a big bonus!

We headed for our first field trip…a Mustang Island boat tour (the topic of tomorrow’s post).

Zooming – January 2024

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January was a very light month for photography; I was recovering from the stress of being away from home and made 2 short trips to Carrollton very focused on helping my parents adjust to their new home and preparing to sell the house they had lived in for over 30 years. Even with fewer images to select from – I savor the 9 selected as the best for the month: birds and snow and sunrises….and a surprised flower (taken near the end of December just as the first hard freeze was sending the Carrollton TX area into winter). Enjoy the January 2024 slideshow!

Last Sunrise of 2023

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I was in my parents’ house alone on the last day of 2023. They had already moved to assisted living (more on that in the monthly ‘ramping up elder care’ post coming soon) and the first round of distribution of the furniture had occurred: to their new home, to the rest of the family. It felt odd to be there without them and without the jumble of possessions that had been there for over 30 years. The beauty of the sunrise changed the trajectory of my mood for the better!

I loved the color caught in the line of trees visible from the backyard. I took several zoomed images. I think the last one is my favorite.

It occurred to me that the prettiest sunrises are not the ones the occur on a clear morning…it takes some clouds to catch/reflect the light. Maybe that is a good analogy for life too – that complexity and challenge make life better!

My Favorite Photographs from 2023

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Photography is something I enjoy frequently (one of those hobbies that pop up almost daily!). I’ve picked 2 photos from each month of 2023 for this post. Picking favorites is always a bit of a challenge; looking at the collection as I write this post I realize some were chosen for the light

  • A heron in morning light

  • A backlit dandelion

  • High key image of iris…and then a turkey using the same technique

…some for the subject

  • The busy fox squirrel

  • Two insects in one flower

  • The egret struggling to control a fish

  • The feet of the American Coot

…some because they prompted a strong memory of the place.

  • Driftwood at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge

  • Sculpture in the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House Garden in St. Louis

  • Metal iris and sunrise at my parents’ house

  • Geese on the snow and ice in my neighborhood in Missouri

  • Cairn as the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden in Springfield, MO

  • A flower blooming in December at Josey Ranch Park in Carrollton, TX

Enjoy the mosaic of images (click to see a larger version).

Texas Sky

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The back of my parents’ house faces south. I’ve taken a few minutes to photograph the sky several times recently. I appreciate the trees close enough to make interesting horizons for sunrise and sunset pictures…sparse enough to show plenty of color.

The sunset was one that happened early in the month. My parents and watched it from the garden room…and I stepped outside to take a picture.

The next two were taken just after 8:30 in the morning….after a lot of the morning flights had taken off and the moon was still up.

I photographed a sunrise too. I used to try to hide the power lines but opted to feature them inn this image. There are still leaves on some of the trees (silhouettes); fall chores happen in December in this part of Texas!