Christmas wishes!

 This will probably be my last post before Christmas.  This is just to thank everyone that follows my little wanderings and wish you all a wonderful and safe and beautiful Christmas season!  Today's photo's were taken this morning at my church here in Spearfish.  Everything is ready for the services this week. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

Going Home, part 2

I finally finished up the best photos from my couple of hours at the old farm in North Dakota.  I have included the link to the flicker set that you can see them all.  For my interested family and friends, let me know if you want any print copies or a soft cover booklet that will contain all of the pictures.  Here is the link to see them at flickr,  The farm.

Here is one of my favorites of the old grain bins.  As a girl, these were my secret hideaway because it was far enough from the house no one could find me except the cats.  Sitting in the shade with a book or just picking flowers around them was one of my escapes (and when you have a family of 8 kids you want all the peace and quiet you can find).

Winter in the Canyon

With our snow fast leaving us in Spearfish, I headed into the hills and Spearfish Canyon to enjoy our warmer day today.  One of my favorite spots is the small dam just south east of Savoy.  Today's calm weather added to the serenity of the location.  The downside is that the days turn dark a little earlier in the depth of the canyon.

The water is so calm a ripple shows up on the open water

A close up below the dam face

Wild horses

I am trying to get caught up on images from the summer and fall.  Here are a couple of the wild horses from T. Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, taken in August during our family reunion.  While they don't appear to "wild", they are one of the several small bands of wild horses that run in the park.
The green grass is nice reminder of warmer days (hard to image how green it still was in August in the Badlands too).

It's Christmas!

One of my favorite times of the year and we have snow!  Tonight the DC Historic Fish Hatchery kicked off the season with luminaries, holiday lights and an open house.  Here are a couple of the shots I took to help you get in the Christmas mood too!

The managers residence

Looking toward the museum

November storm

Today marked our first "real" winter storm just in time to usher November out.  Reports of 8-24 inches in the Spearfish area and lots of wind kept me inside today.  But as the wind died and the sun poked out around 3:30 I couldn't resist and bundled up to take a couple of shots from outside my doorway and front garage area.  These shots may seem redundant but the beauty of living on this hillside and the changing seasons is a wonderful draw for me.  Wish I could get rid of a few of the high line wires and buildings that block my view of Lookout Mt. but can't have everything.

As I ventured around the front of the garage, a lone doe was making her way down from the hill into the little opening on the side of the town house.  These first two are of her.

She catch's me taking her photo

The click startled her and she was a little more wary

The remaining two shots are of Lookout and the twilight sun at 4:15. 

Lookout Mt from my driveway

Setting sun from my front walk

Catching up

With our snow coming today, I thought it would be a good day to catch up some editing.  So from a September jaunt to Bear Butte, here are a couple of my favorites from that afternoon.  In each of these I did some fun editing techniques.  The first, an old tractor and hay bales I used the Orton technique to soften the edges and bring out more color.  The shoot of Bear Butte itself was a little dull so I added some canvas texture to give it a painterly look.