Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone has a happy and (sweet;-) Halloween!

Pumpkin Head

Austin Rowing Club's Pumpkin Head Regatta is this weekend. This is one of my shots from the venue last year. Just a gorgeous day in a really fun city.

Nuts to Squirrels

Must be fall in my yard; you can NOT walk barefoot!

Thundering Herd

I think I am having withdrawal from the wildlife preserve. I am afraid to go down there to see the damage from the fires this summer. Until then, this is one from an earlier trip.

Free Range

Such a cutie, hard to believe he will grow up to be a longhorn. One of the free range herd in The Wichita Wildlife Preserve, one of my favorite photo haunts.

Play Misty for Me

October is my favorite month at the beach. Usually there are beautiful deep blue skies, but there are also days with nighttime storms leaving a misty cloudy morning, lovely for early morning walks. Today's cloudy Oklahoma weather puts me in mind of just such a day a few years ago in Destin.

Here Comes the Sun

I love sunflower backs. I grew these in the yard this summer. One of the few things that enjoyed temps over 100!

Red Dirt Field

Fall is all about lighting and shadows. My friends and I started our plein air day on the side of the road near my house at this freshly plowed field. When the farmer showed up to plant his winter wheat he looked a more than a little chagrined to see three women with easels blocking his entry. He became more sociable when he wound his way back on his tractor, explaining to us how difficult this year has been for the farmers in Oklahoma.

Inspiration

This inspires me, shot in Albuquerque at sunset.
- Attitude is a choice. You can either make excuses or get results, you can't do both.

Returning to Work

It was about this time last year that I began working toward my refresher course in nursing. Having completed that, I am ready to move forward in nursing, but I do not want to stop creating art. To that end, I will try to post more on my blog. I have a lot of photos that I want to share. This is one I took at sunrise down at the river just before the Head of the Oklahoma. It was a beautiful weekend for rowing and the facility looks striking.

Roadside Gold

These jewels are almost gone now, but they have the ability to make me want to stop my car when they are in bloom.

Road Shot

Another shot from the side of the road in Southern Utah. The colors changed constantly with the play of sunshine and shadow.

Hoo Doos

The scale of this park, the sheer amount of these geological statuary is staggering. We also saw one of the most bizarre animal behaviors ever while there. Cliff swallows, who were engaged in a most delightful display of flight held on to each others legs (at least I guess that is what they were doing) and started spinning. The first two were joined by a third and just as another joined on they broke apart before hitting the earth. If I hadn't seen it, I would not have believed it.

Roadside Shot

This was taken from the side of the road (I am the queen of the shoulder shot), technically not the million dollar highway, but just west of there near Bryce.

Million Dollar View



This is another view from the million dollar highway in southern Utah. I think it is undervalued...

Head of the Charles

In honor of the Head of the Charles this weekend, this is a shot taken last June when my daughter was at the Charles River Rowing Camp. It had been cloudy most of the day, but the clouds began breaking up and I was able to take some shots with nice light. My daughter is back on the Charles, this time racing for her junior team. Go OKC Riversport!!!

Million Dollar Highway

A view from the million dollar highway in southern Utah. You drive along this highway and you think, okay, well it's nice, but the vistas are just as good along any other stretch...and then you see it. The road takes a hairpin curve and you look out onto a scene which somehow combines Zion and Bryce and even the Grand Canyon. The winding road continues for another 20 miles or so with small towns dotting the way. It is off the beaten path, but well worth the effort.

The Canyon

Looking at my Grand Canyon photos, it is hard to decide which ones to include. Each vista is unique and each beautiful. I do think that there is more variation to the terrain on the North Rim. It is by far my favorite, and not just because it is less crowded. There is definitely more vegetation on the Northern side.

Grandest of Canyons

I have not been adding to my blog and I miss it, so I am going to begin again and try to get caught up. It is the case that I can probably put on a photo a day for the rest of my life and still not have all my photos up,  ...but I'll give it a try.

Portrait of the Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is so imposing a place that I have trouble taking it all in. I prefer to photograph it in smaller "chunks". This was a beautiful clear day, but very cold and very windy (even for Oklahoma standards).