After the car didn’t start, I took the baby out for a walk around the neighborhood. I haven’t put her in her Ergo backpack for a while but I figured it would be better to keep her close to my body in the cold weather. We walked around the block taking pictures. I’m not sure she was really that happy with her position on my back since she kept wiggling every time I stopped to take a picture. That didn’t help with camera shake much, but, you know, I enjoy her company as much as I enjoy photography (most of the time anyway.) I think these images are really lovely. Some of the nicest I’ve taken recently. I even met a neighbor while I was walking, a woman who introduced herself to me and told me she nominated the neighborhood as a historic site. I was impressed and was grateful to meet a nice neighbor while I was walking. When I got home my husband realized the car problem was probably from the broken electronic key, which it was. Yay, no expensive mechanics today! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. The day before Christmas Eve I went out with my little girl for a walk at our local park. I absolutely love walking with my daughter and searching for the ever present beauty in the natural world. The fact is that the beauty is everywhere, it’s just easier to see in nature. Grasses and trees and flowers and such give off a powerful energy that attracts us to them. We all like natural places, most people do anyway, and it is because they are so supportive to our healthy, clear energy and to our spirit. I’m so dedicated to nature photography and I’m so abundantly happy that I bought my first DSLR so that I could really capture it. 

There where huge flocks of Canadian Geese resting on the sloping hillside down into the water. When I walked over the rise in the hill I saw them, all dumbstruck I started to shoot. Then a couple with a little white dog came running and yapping. In a flash the geese rose up in unison, squawking and flapping toward the water until they finally came to rest in the safety of the lake. After seeing such a great force of birds and the little droppings they leave, I’m beginning to understand why there is an entire industry of Boarder Collie Canadian Geese removal systems. The Geese do have a right to their migration, but they definitely put on quite an impressive show. 

Winter is a beautiful time, but it is also a very cold time. Cold weather makes it hard to get out and go shooting. Today, the weather was extremely intense with 50 mph winds, but I have a shock pile of images I’ve put together over the last ten days that I’m finally posting today. I think from now own I will have to address this project on a weekly basis. 

This is a gorgeous shot of the Mississippi River from a park near my house. 

This is a close up of some tinsel that I shot at Shnukes . Shnukes is a local grocery store. Yes. I took my camera to the grocery store. It saved me the money of buying stuff to bring home to my studio to shoot. 

This is another shot of an orchid from the florist at Shnukes. Orchids are like 20 bucks. That’s 20 bucks I saved. 

This is from someone’s front lawn. These kind of dry little flowers are still blooming this time of year. It’s kind of amazing. I did a little extra Photoshopy work here. 

This is a cool shot of rain drops on branches. 

This is another cool shot of the river. You can kind of see how low it is. I hope this cold weather turns into lots of rain. 

This picture of a wet dandelion turned out really pretty in black and white. 

This is another beached, broken old river boat.

These pealing tree trunks are quite beautiful especially over looking the river. 

I dreamed of it in downy white

Of yellow, blue, and gold

I passed the broken tomes of night

And letters that you wrote

Come my comfort softly

Speak it in a rhyme

Words he whispered sweetly

On the aftermath of time 

The weather has finally turned cold. Yes, cold. The chill is a little overwhelming after several weeks of late summer warmth. If we are lucky, it is going to rain soon and rain a lot. I felt guilty enjoying the warm, dry days of the last several weeks. At least now it is cold enough to make me forget about the melting ice caps. Well, the world is supposed to end in a less than two weeks so I guess we don’t have to worry too much about polar ice caps, pollution, or the low water level in the Mississippi River.

If solar flairs are going to make the poles shift, and we’re all going to die, I just hope it happens fast. I don’t want to start eating dogs while burning my furniture in the sink. All of the pleasantries aside, this is my latest installment of my 365 Day project. As I write this I really have no idea what photos I’m going to post. It’s a big surprise!

I’ve been thinking a lot about writing the last few days, and that is why the blog has been barren. I’ve been working with a program called The Creation Method, which has been pretty awesome but in some ways has left me stranded as a fiction writer. Yes, I write fiction. To my own surprise, the book outline that came out of my chaotic brain was clearly fiction. And I’m sorry, but I’m not going to post my daily fiction writing on a blog. I suppose my amazing audience will just have to settle for my 365 Day project and the rumor that I am writing a fiction book. (Which I probably shouldn’t have said anything about.) I have this superstition that if I talk about stuff like that I won’t actually do it. It’s like self-fulfilling, self-sabotage or something. Probably why I am not qualified to actually write a personal development book, even though I’m a huge fan of the subject.

I was so enchanted by the miniature train show at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, I just had to share another adorable photo of this train set.

This was a beautiful, bright red hibiscus from the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Holiday Show.

My husband and daughter and I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden yesterday to see the Holiday Train show. It was absolutely adorable! I loved the little miniature figurines and all the little trains driving around the exquisitely decorated holiday room. I had been considering putting together some props in my studio, but when I walked into the Holiday Show I was like, “wow, this is way better than anything I could put together.” For anyone who likes Christmas decorations, poinsettias, begonias, or miniatures, I completely recommend going to see this show. It is pretty enchanting, especially for little kids. It did cost $4 extra to get into the show, but I think it was definitely worth it.

The weather has been unseasonably warm and dry in the Midwest, and we’ve been in the midst of a drought for months. And today was about 75 degrees and absolutely beautiful. I almost feel guilty enjoying the gorgeous weather when the Mississippi River is so low river barges may not be able to get through the shallow waters, and global warming is melting the polar ice caps 10 time faster than they were 30 years ago. But dang, it sure was a beautiful day. I went walking around this afternoon like it was summer time. The sun casts its golden glow on the bright orange leaves at sunset creating these bursts of inspiring colors that fill the soul with light and joy.

Let’s just hope it rains soon.

Unforeseen events have caused a temporary lapse in my 365 Day project posts. In other words, I’ve been really ill and haven’t had the energy to care about making blog posts. It has been very unpowerblogger of me, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles I suppose. However, I am happy to share these photographs from a recent trip to Forest Park and the St. Louis Zoo. My telephoto lens certainly rocks the wildlife photos. I love the picture of the prairie dog in the Featured Image.  While I was there, a roving band of rogue peacocks came strutting up to the prairie dog enclosure to steal the poor little mammal’s food. They didn’t even put up a fight, and all they were left with was this blade of grass.