That time of year for interesting weather nearly every day. Makes for fun cloud watching though!
Category: Musings
Morning Hoar Frost
This morning started off with fog rolling in and enveloping much of our area with crystalline hoar frost.
The back yard aspens were in greater contrast when covered with the briar-like formations but they quickly melted away with the rising sun.
The pines also sported their own armor of white spikes as well. Interestingly, there must have been a slight breeze or wind as the frost only formed in the direction of that air movement and other parts of trees and structures had no frost at all.
It did make for a very interesting winter wonderland scape while it lasted.
Sunset Over Cheyenne
My husband and I pulled over on the side of a road overlooking the city of Cheyenne, WY on our way home from errands as the sun was setting.
We are blessed with many beautiful sunrises and sunsets here on the high plains, but every once in a while, we get a really spectacular one. Tonight was a really lovely display with the city lights stretched below us and the Rockies in the far horizon, backlit by the sun’s final rays.
The Littlest Snowflake
I’ve always envied photographers who can capture such tiny forms such as individual snowflakes. I didn’t have much in the way of expectations, but I still gave it an effort and managed to get 1 good picture out of probably 15 other attempts. I could probably manage far better with some stabilization like a tripod or a surface to rest my camera on so I may try to use that next time. Still, not bad, overall.
That such beauty stands out from such a tiny form. It boggles my mind that this is what comprises the snow we make snowmen from and walk on.
Moon Shot
This was actually a fun shot that happened by accident. I’d been trying to snap a picture of the moon earlier in the evening to capture the beautiful clouds at dusk, but I was failing, miserably. In the time that my husband and I had a conversation in the driveway about my aperture and SLR settings, it was dark and I’d lost all the beautiful evening light. But, as luck would have it, I just aimed my lens upwards, sucked in a breath, and took this picture in sheer frustration. And lo and behold, it was the best one of the lot that night.
Winter Visitor
As spring fades into summer here in Wyoming, our home was visited by Winter. No, we haven’t experienced a shift in climate, but instead a friendly visitor who began tip-toeing through our property over the winter months. Being all white and often blending with the snow then, I named him/her Winter. This furry feline neighbor (from where we do not know) took a hiatus recently but came back a while ago.
I first did a double-take when I saw a paw sticking up out of a flower pot in the back yard. Winter was back. Granted, he/she has been a menace on occasion to the backyard birds we feed year round, but overall our furry visitor doesn’t do any harm otherwise.
We tend to attract local animals somehow. In addition to Winter, we’ve also been visited by other neighborhood cats who are allowed to roam (or perhaps are feral). So long as no damage is done, we welcome the visits.
Heading Into Town
This route into Cheyenne, WY is generally just another day of the same view we see on occasion when running errands heading back into town. It struck me from the passenger seat last week how it might look in black and white. It’s always interesting how the things we see daily can be so striking through a different filter.
The Quiet
The wide-sweeping sky from tonight’s quiet walk about the neighborhood. Soft post-sunset colors, the cadence of your feet on a dirt road and a slow wind through the trees is a balm to the soul the only nature can offer.
Fog Crystals
Hoarfrost isn’t a weather event I’ve ever seen before personally. But, the small ice crystals that coated our property the other day after a fog rolled in during single digit temperatures seemed to fit the bill, on a smaller scale. They weren’t the long, spike-like formations I’ve seen in more extreme pictures, but it was still impressive to see covering everything in sight. The photo here was a close-up of the edge of the railing on our back deck.
Cold Aspen
The last day of 2017 was cold and austere in our backyard. The skies were a slate, gray and the ground remained snow-covered. There is beauty still in how the aspen trees stand out against this foreboding winter background and their contrast added to the scene.
Life by Lens and Laptop 