Bright Sun in Bluebird Blue Skies

Yesterday I was looking for great fall color, when I saw a bucolic country scene, and I snapped a few pictures.

When I came home I looked at my pictures and I saw the sun. I have no idea how I "got" the aura around the sun, but I do know the pictures are special.  I wonder if I can take a picture of the sun  like this again?

The cows however don't seem to know that the sun is shining or the skies are clear and bluebird blue. The joys of living in the country.

Musings from the Naked Lady Trail

Back in the day, the Basque shepherds would move their sheep up-country or down-country (depending on the season) on the Naked Lady Trail. My home is near the old Naked Lady Trail so I've learned a little bit of the Basque Lore of the area. 

Aspen trees are sometimes called "newspaper trees" because the bark is white and easy to carve. The old Basque shepherds would "write" where they were moving the sheep by carving a date and direction on the bark of the aspens so other shepherds knew where to find the flock. There were many sheep trails, but the Naked Lady Trail was notorious. Instead of telling where the flock was going, the artistic shepherds  carved naked ladies on the trees. I've seen one of the ladies on a venerable aspen (that has since succumbed to very old age).  Sadly, the the trail is no longer in operation but old-timers know where the trail was. If I tell one of those old timers I live by the NLT they know exactly where I live.

Another interesting tree in the area is the Rocky Mountain Maple. During the summer, this maple tree is just another tree on the mountainside. But in the fall, the green maple leaves change to red and the mountains are dotted with bright red highlights. Over the years we've been told that the red splashes of color came from the Mountain Mahogany, this year we finally learned the name of this bright red tree.

 

Autumn Abstractions

I have always wanted to be an artist, but sadly no talent in that area exists. However, with the help of an app called Brushtroke, I can transform my pictures into abstract works of art. It's great fun and if I don't like the result, I can delete it and start anew. Here are few of my artistic attempts with the marvelous fall colors and the cloudy skies I saw this past week. 

Aspens and Pine

Clouds Over the Palisade

Golden Delight

Dazzled and Dappled

Fall in the Rocky Mountains happens with haste.

 The display of color and light is illusive as it drifts away on a zephyr

The vibrant leaves form dappled designs on the forest floor

They dance and sing in the autumn breeze. 

Mere humans can never make patterns this perfect 

Mother Nature dazzles us with the delights of the season.

 

Tetons in a Haze

Yesterday we took a ride to the Tetons. The whole Park was shrouded with bad air from the fires in the West...but an ethereal beauty shone thru.

Jackson Lake was still as a mirror and the reflections were fantastic

And Mt. Moran appeared thru the mist...always beautiful.

 

Season's Changing, Part 3

 As we get closer to the equinox, the autumn colors are getting more vibrant. The green leaves are becoming sparser and the value of the light is changing.

A young stand of aspens turning yellow from green

Mama and baby are enjoying the last sweet summer berries...the morning light is muted a different shade from the summer

The pure yellow leaf is a thing of beauty

An aspen forest is one huge organism. We've lived in an aspen forest for two decades, and it is fascinating to see how seemingly individual trees work together to keep the forest healthy.

And when a gentle breeze blows the leaves quake. Soon, this set of leaves will fall to the ground and the forest will sleep for the winter.

Piggy in a Blanket

OK...you all knew this was coming considering I make blankets and piggies...so here is a pig in a blanket.

I've been working on this blanket about 2 months, much longer than usual, because I got sidetracked making piggies and hedgehogs and teddy bears. The critters are just too much fun. My next project is Christmas ornaments. (You have to plan ahead.)

 

Magnum

Remember when Magnum was hot!

 

19 Years Ago

Nineteen years ago, the world changed, and not for the better. A HUGE terrorist attack was launched against the United States. Not only were lives destroyed; our way of life became under threat. We must not forget that the terrorists were Muslims. Keep that in mind when you vote this year. Vote for folks who uphold our way of life. As you know, I do not do politics in my blog, that's the purview of the other DrC, but it does not mean that I don't think about politics. Vote wisely this year.

Remains of the World Trade Center, September 11, 2001

Change of Season

 There's an old-wife's tale that says Fall begins after Labor Day. Labor Day was Monday...today is Tuesday and it snowed last night! Has Fall started early or was this snow just a fluke? We'll find out in the near future.

I looked out the window this morning and was greeted with white stuff.

We knew it was going to be cold overnight, but we did not expect snow! 

Most of the snow on the valley floor was melted by noon, but there's still snow on the mountains.

Helena Hedgehog

My friend Pam asked if I would make her a hedgehog...so Helena was made. 

She was put in the mail today. 

 

Libby Turns 17

During the academic year of 2003-04, we moved to Texas to teach at a branch campus of Texas A&M. The other DrC used our pickup truck to commute to school, but because our schedules were so different, I needed a vehicle too. To that end, I bought the cutest car I had ever seen, a 2003 Jeep Liberty. I named her Libby Loo, or Libby for short.

Today, Libby celebrates her 17th anniversary with us. She's still cute as a button. In addition, she's been reliable. While she might be 17 years old, she's still a "baby" mileage wise.

This morning, when I started my walk, I looked at her odometer, and it read a palindromic number, 71,017 miles. (Palindromes are just a little bit magical, imho) That's less than 4,200 miles per year. I thought it was apt that her mileage ended with "17" on her 17th anniversary.

Happy Birthday Libby.