Frosted Cemetery

Today I am going to do something

different.

I am not going to talk much.

On the day we had the hoarfrost in our community, one of the places I knew I wanted to head

to was our little country cemetery.

It is beautiful in the spring, summer and fall.

I knew the hoarfrost would add a different kind of winter magic to it as well.

Here are the photos I took that day.

I hope you see the beauty that I did in this serene setting.

God provides beauty in unusual places....

May you appreciate nature and life......

*Last reminder!: Today is Jan. 31st...the LAST day you can enter a photo to the free Photography Contest. January's theme is "Something Rusty". Please enter your photo by midnight tonight to the address listed in these rules. Best of Luck to all the entries!

I will be showing all the entries in an upcoming blogpost and announcing the winner of the first month's contest by Feb. 15th....stay tuned!!!

More Hoarfrost: Part TWO

This is the second part of a two part series

of

the beautiful hoarfrost we had in our area.

(Go back a blogpost to catch Part ONE if you haven't seen it yet).

I loved the trees alongside the roads!

So lit up with frost:

Each tree could have been decorated for Christmas:

More spikey plants!:

More frosted pines!:

Dark skies against frosted woods:

All begging for photos to be taken:




Even Autumn's leaves....
which thought they had done being beautiful months ago....

Not so!
They are STILL beautiful!:
I hope your day
is as
beautiful today
in some small way....

*P.S. Don't forget...only ONE more day to enter the free January 2010 photo contest! The month's theme is "Something Rusty"...submit your photo entry per the rules HERE to the address indicated in the rules by Jan.31st at midnight EST.

More Hoarfrost!!!!--Part One

Remember last week when I went to Kenosha and they got hoarfrost there?

And remember I was whining and complaining that I didn't have enough time to really go out and get a bunch of photos of it?

Well, the Heavens heard me and took pity.

This week, I woke up later than usual.

As I was brushing my teeth I opened up our bathroom blinds and saw that overnight, our fog had frozen into hoarfrost on all the trees here!

I rushed!!!!

I begged my husband to rush.

Because the sun was already out, melting it all....

But I knew, if we could drive up higher in the hills by our house, there would still be beautiful scenery to be had.

I was so lucky to be right about that.

So here is Part One of a two part series on some of the photos I was lucky enough to get of that beautiful morning.

A road that follows our lake:

The frosted hills!:

Along the shore.

The sun was making the hoarfrost bare branches sparkle.

See the animal tracks, too?:

The hill trees were already losing some of the hoarfrost in the sun...but the one closest to the camera was still thick with it:

Sparkle, sparkle everywhere!:



Wonderful, leftover autumn leaves, thick with it!:

It was like someone sprinkled powdered sugar over the entire area:





And then the sun lit it up as a special treat:

Each and every pine needle and branch:

And you just had to drive down the road

to see the wonder:

Tomorrow, I will have more photos for you

of

the wonderful

winter hoarfrost

experience in the U.P.

that morning.

Have a great day today!!!

Discover something beautiful

where

you

live.

*If you haven't entered the FREE January 2010 PHOTO CONTEST yet, you still have a few days to get out there and capture "SOMETHING RUSTY"....the contest ends at midnight on Jan. 31st. See the rules here. You don't have to be a blogger to enter....c'mon, take a risk..you'll be glad you did!!! What ELSE do you have to do this winter???

Winter This and That....

When we headed out to get those waterfall and ice formation photos

(see yesterday's post and the day before, below this post)

we went for quite a long drive.

Part of the fun of looking for photos on drives is that you never know what you may run into

that will be a photo opportunity.

It is like a huge treasure hunt!

For instance,

LOOK

what

I

saw!:

Oooooo, his BLUE EYES!!!

Did you SEE THEM????

NO?

Okay, here is another chance:

My husband, (silly man!) didn't want me to get his picture.

You see, his little pen was right beside a house.

There were cars at the house.

Which meant his mommy and daddy were probably at home.

Not expecting some crazy lady to pull up

and

aim a camera at their beautiful baby boy.

But, you know ME!!!!!....

OF COURSE I WAS GOING TO!

I mean....

did I mention his blue eyes yet????:

It took me a while to get over my crush on him.

Seriously.

I was still trying to snap pictures of him from the car window

as my husband pulled away....

nervously looking at the house to see if they were looking out their windows yet...

or

calling the police.....

We didn't get arrested, so I guess they didn't notice.

I wouldn't have cared...because I would have shown them the pictures

and I am sure the officers would have understood.

As soon as they saw his BLUE EYES!!!!

So anyway, we drove on and before long, there was pretty scenery to be had:

A train trestle over a river...

I loved it.

The day before our trip out to the woods we got more hoarfrost!

(Pictures will be forthcoming in another blogpost, not to worry!)

and

I got a photo of this plant, all frosted up, nice and pretty!:

Then, a funny thing happened on our way out in the forest.

As we were winding our way down a barely-plowed logging road, I turned to

my husband and said:

"Honey, do you often see partridge in the middle of winter?"

And:

He is blurry I know.

The trees are clear, but the bird is blurry.

But I had to hop out quick to try and take him, and of course he ran for cover.

But we were laughing so hard in knowing I had JUST asked about seeing any and there he was!

I know.

I am an awesome "Bird Whisperer".



Before we left home, we had a gigantic icicle hanging on our house too:

Where was I?

Boy, today, it is hard for me to stay on track, right?

Winter does that to me.

Back to my story.

When old blue eyes was discovered (yes, I am back to talking about him, I can't help myself),

he was in the horse pen with an older horse too:

He looked old, and tired (see his red eyes?) but still, I had to take his picture.

Because I love any animal that is outside in our winter!


Like HIM.

Did I mention HIM yet?:

You never know what winter will provide for you here.

Like this AWESOME winter sky at the end of the day:



Or this bright sunny day scene:

I hope you loved the tour with me.


And, if you really want me to, I could maybe give you directions on how to find blue eyes on your own......

But you will have to nudge me over, because I will probably be there again, aiming my camera at him.

Just ignore my husband beeping the horn and waving at us to get back into the car before the owner's call the cops...

*Please remember to enter the PHOTO CONTEST by Jan. 31st,midnight....this month's theme is "SOMETHING RUSTY"...read about the RULES here....it is a free contest and you don't even have to be a blogger to enter!

Ice and Snow Formations!

This time of year in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.)

of Michigan, most of the rivers are usually frozen over.

It is always nice to find open water, especially with ice and snow formations in the rivers and lakes.

Yesterday, I posted some of the ice formations on Bond Falls, and I have included some of them again today, as well.

But first, here are some shots of a river with some great snow and ice "canyons" on them:

Notice the animal tracks on the lower left of this shot. We weren't the only ones that had come to see this pretty view!:

This looks like you are looking down on a huge ice glacier canyon, but I just used my zoom to get closer to the river snow and ice formations:

This is another shot of an ice shelf, similar to the one I showed you yesterday.

I just fell in love with it:

And here is one I showed you yesterday, only this time I opted for a black and white shot...ice can be very dramatic in black and white!:

Gorgeous, sparkly, crystal clear ice!:

A closeup of the ice stalagmites from yesterday's shots of Bond Falls:





A black and white theatrical display of waterfall ice!:




Similar shot in color:

Frozen ice froth:

Now you tell ME.

Isn't this a frozen

Harry Potter Wizard Hat???:

I just can't help myself.

I had to take MORE shots of those lovely

ice stalagmites!:

I am so glad to have been able to get out in our winter wonderland

on such a gorgeous day

to

be able to capture these shots for you.

And I hope you have the opportunity to get out and enjoy the true beauty of winter

wherever you live too!!!

* Please don't forget to enter the January 2010 PHOTO CONTEST by Jan. 31st, midnight EST.....you still have time to find "Something Rusty" to enter. See the RULES here...no cost to enter!

Winter Waterfalls!

Even though I have a fractured foot

I managed to get into the woods!

I had a special place in mind where I figured if the road was plowed, we could get to where I wanted to go.

Luckily, the road was plowed and we got to a small set of waterfalls

that I had been waiting to capture in the snow and ice.

I made my husband help me hobble to the best viewing of the falls

so that I could get some shots of it.

He is such a trooper!

Help me, he did and we got to get several shots of some amazing ice formations.

It was a gorgeous day, sunny and in the 30's.

But just LOOK at what we were blessed with:

Wonderful ice shelfs and open waterfalls with water rusing over the edge!


I love open water and snow in the same scene. Add a waterfall and some ice formations, and well, heck...it just doesn't get better than that!:

There is a little bridge that goes over the top of the falls, but we couldn't walk on it due to my foot. Maybe next year!:

I could do macros of the ice formations forever...they are so different everywhere you look!:

Lovely, lovely waterfalls and ice and snow!:



And for black and white photos? A dream!:

Doesn't it look like Snufalofagus is dipping into the water in this shot?:

Bridge over winter heaven:







Oooooo....more ice!:

So pretty:

And stalagmites and a crystal ice shelf??!

Be still my heart:

I was so glad I begged my husband to take me there.....

and so grateful he did.

We both had a great time.

I got so many macros of the ice formations, I will have more photos of them for you tomorrow!