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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Storms Clouds Fort Benton Montana

It amazes me how fast the weather can change. Big white cotton ball like fluffy clouds hanging in the skies for the most part. Blues in so many different shades. I enjoy even taking cloud pictures at times. Yesterday, a huge storm came across the plains very swiftly. It was a big one and thunder and lightening were playing their symphony as well. My daughter and I headed outside -- her because it was cooling down rapidly and me with my camera to capture the moment.
I stayed outside till the big raindrops started hitting pretty hard. Didn't want to ruin my camera.
I tried to capture the storm after it passed over our house but was just over the hill from us. I loved the colors of the ripened wheat field accented by the dark storm clouds...only wish I had captured the shot better, but I had to quit playing and rush to get ready to leave for work.
Same is the situation now for me. Got to get supper cooked and then ready for another 12 hour overnight shift.

Dragonfly Wings

Yesterday I ventured out into the front yard for a while so my son could get the yard mowed. We have mainly garter snakes that like to visit us around the place we live. My kids are like me in having a very strong dislike for these slithering creatures so they request a parent "hang around" when outside.
At first I thought the flying "critters" were bees going for the overgrown clover and bushes up next to the house. Then I realized for the most part dragonflies were in the air. So I grabbed what has become like a best friend lately -- my digital camera. Well, one dragonfly liked having his picture taken. It took over 40 pictures before I captured him and all his detail. I just love the wings. Also, I find their heads to be very fascinating. I found this diagram online of the different body parts of the dragonfly.
This one was much smaller than the other one I blogged about recently. Also, his coloring was very different. Guess I am going to have to do more research and see if there are different species. I did also wonder where these creatures go when storms blow over as one did a little later. Haven't found much online for this answer, but they must "sense" it coming and find places to hide. Can you guess what my next blog will be about? I grabbed my camera for it too.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Stunning Sunsets

Taken Saturday -- July 28, 2012 I have been off work for a few nights in a row this week and have stepped outside just as the sun has been setting a little after 9 p.m. here in Fort Benton, Montana. I am amazed at how each one is so different. Hope you like these photos. It is hard to pick which ones I like the best as I shoot from different places in the front and back yards. I love the ones with the trees in the forefront, but the colors of the sun and surrounding clouds over the wheat fields are equally spectacular.
Taken Friday -- July 27, 2012
Taken Thursday -- July 26, 2012 Even after the sun has gone to bed for the night, the skies are still beautiful in colors as seen in these taken tonight.
Also, I would like to note -- I did not color enhance any of these photos. I left them as taken with my old trusty digital camera. I did choose different settings to see what effect I would get with them though.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Alice and Yellowstone

Found this interesting blog with one of my favorite characters being associated with Yellowstone National Park. Love the artwork that was done in 1884 on this brochure. Check out the blog from the National Park Service here by clicking this link: National Park Service. I think it would make a beautiful poster for framing and wouldn't mind one on my wall.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Rainbows and Dragon Flies

A few weeks back I posted about seeing rainbows on my visit to Kalispell and Whitefish, Montana. They lifted my spirits as I had gone there to attend my uncle's funeral. Last weekend we had thunder and lightening storms hit us right before sun down. I wished this picture could have been more clear but it was very hazy with rain clouds around this rainbow. Something still beautiful about it so I had to share.
I have been working 48 hour schedule weeks back to back and was so glad to be getting off work on Friday at 7 p.m. Storm clouds were brewing again and I actually saw a double rainbow before heading out of Fort Benton but I didn't have a camera with me. Then as the sun was starting to set, I looked out my back window and another rainbow was visiting our little spot.
So now I have a record going on of seeing rainbows for the past three weekends. My family thinks I am nuts running inside to grab my old digital camera all the time. Here is my photo taken today. This beautiful creature flew over my head as I was starting to walk under a tree with my laundry basket in hand to retrieve my dried items on the clothes line. My 12 year old son, Avery Zefram, was flustered with me running back to the house to snap these photos. I do love dragon flies and this one was truly spectacular and ever so big!!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Making Someone Smile

I spent last weekend sewing buttons and buttons on a patchwork throw for a lady in the nursing home part of the hospital/personal care/nursing home where I work mainly overnights. Usually I walk with 3 of our resident ladies in personal care to the upstairs activity room to play Bingo. There is a younger lady who always tries to make conversation with me. It is so apparent that she is lonely. I did a little investigating and found that she had been a special education teacher, had no children of her own, and suffered some type of stroke a few years back leaving her in a wheel chair with some memory problems.
Also, birthdays are celebrated once a month at the facility for residents. Her birthday was last Wednesday. So this gave me the idea to spread a little joy and finish a project. My 14 year old son, Wynston and I strolled into her room on Friday and she was so pleasantly surprised. She kept asking my son, "Did she make this for real?" I saw her yesterday at Bingo and she was all smiles telling me that she slept with the quilt on her the night before. I told her I hoped she had pleasant dreams. Her reply, "Only the best kind." Don't know who is smiling more -- her or me.

Making Flowers

Thought I would post about some blocks I have just finished up. Two of them are the same pattern -- called Distelfink. I did some checking on what a Distelfink is and came up with this information: "A distelfink is a stylized goldfinch, probably based on the European variety. It frequently appears in Pennsylvania Dutch folk art. They represent happiness and good fortune and the Pennsylvania German nation, and they are a common theme in hex signs and in fraktur. The word 'distelfink' (literally 'thistle-finch') is the German name for the European goldfinch."
These two blocks were hand-stitched around the edges. Haven't done very much cross-stitch over the years but I did prefer it to a satin stitch I am using on a different piece. The satin stitch has me wondering if I will ever finish the block, but I am stubborn and can see the end in sight. That one will be posted once it is completed. See the flowers? -- tulips, and many different ones in the fabric pieces.
This next one I completed on the sewing machine on a hot lazy Sunday afternoon. It is called a Lancaster Rose pattern. I know many more of these are in my future as I like how fast it came together. I used to think sewing/quilting was something to do to stay inside when the snow was falling outside, but with the hot temperatures this early in the summer, it may be my year round pleasure for 2012.
Boden
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