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.

Montana Outdoor Views

Okay, so I did it again. I grabbed the camera and took photographs from different views around our place.

It amazes me how the skies and colors are always changing.

Of course, I couldn't resist taking some pictures with trees in them. I find them beautiful and strangely like animated characters -- always moving around here with the help of the winds.

Caught some sights of a storm/rain passing over in the distance this evening as well. The local farmers aren't talking about how dry everything is these days. We are even having some chilly nights with near freezing temperatures.

My boys and I are planning on spending some time later this week painting on our neighbor lady's picket fence as shown in the picture above. We are making it all white again and even have to throw on some coats of primer as most of the paint has worn away over the years.

These last photos were from my running outside again as the sun was setting. I put these up on Facebook and a high school friend wrote "and this is why they call Montana Big Sky Country". Yes, Kris it is and I will keep running outside to snap shots of this natural scenic art.

Sunsets Of My Life

"I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead. Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you." November 5, 1994: From the letter in which Reagan announced his Alzheimer's diagnosis — five years after leaving office.

My heart has been very heavy for the past few days now after receiving a phone call from a relative of a person in my past. I was told that her sister has been given 1 year to live, but now I have received another phone message from a call I missed last night that reports a sudden turn for the worse with the doctor's wanting to "pull the plug" on her kidney and that the end will come within the next few days.



This saddens me as she is just 44 years old and the mother of three children -- two of which are grown but one that is still a teenager and has been "floating" for a year now during this period of her mother's illness (surgery and then chemo).

It has set my mind to remembering this special sweet lady. I will always remember her smile and the happiness in her voice no matter what she was going through. It has my heart crying knowing that she has been struggling for so long trying to hold on and that her battle is being lost.



That was the worst part of the care I gave to my in-laws for 6 years knowing I was losing a battle, one that I saw as not winning. Then I was finally able to come to terms towards the end in understanding that they were so tired and their body was giving out even if their spirit was strong to the end. I always tried to keep them comfortable and happy or pleasant in talking to them, getting them to reminisce about things they enjoyed. I find I do that even now in working on the personal care floor at the hospital.



So it is with these thoughts that I tie together recent pictures of sunsets here in Fort Benton, MT. They are true masterpieces and my youngest (Avery) and I could not help but keep saying "wow" while shooting these. I am thankful and hope to have many more sunsets to enjoy with my family. I am still saying a prayer for my friend. Her name is Sherri (she lives in Georgia) -- say a little one for her too if you don't mind.

Sunsets on the Farm

Well, I have taken some time in the evenings to go out for a few strolls down the dirt/gravel roads with my kids to see the sights and watch the sunsets. The colors are magnificent! Even for a small old digital camera, I think the pictures turned out great to post here.

I must pause here to report that this blog site on google has changed their layout for posting things and I am stumbling through getting this one posted. That is what happens when you move and stay off the computer for a week!

My 11 year old, Avery Zefram, has discovered the stars being out in the country for the first time in his life. He likes going out at night and sitting to look at them. He does run in when the coyotes start making their noises, so sounds will be something he has to adjust to as well. I could hear them out my bedroom window when I went to bed last night and then when waking this morning at 6 a.m. I don't remember hearing those sounds when spending my summers in the country in Tennessee growing up, but I do know I loved sitting in the swing at night and viewing the stars just as my child does now.

Another sight I have been photographing is the farm equipment and silos sitting in the fields all around. There is something beautiful about them to me.