Trunk

My friend, Debbie, has so much cool stuff at her house! Last week I photographed some of her art work and managed to sneak in a few shots of some of her garage sale treasures. So far. there has been not much time for photography during our Kansas trip, so here are three I took last week of Debbie’s antique trunk..

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La Ventana Natural Arch

On our way to Kansas, we made a point to stop at Grants, New Mexico to see La Ventana Natural Arch, the second largest in New Mexico.  After a scenic 18 mile drive off the main highway, we came upon the arch and took a short walk to get as close to it as we could. Rain threatened most of the drive there, but the sun stayed out long enough for us to see the arch and some of the beautiful views of the sandstone cliffs and El Malpais Lava Field.

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Such a Fine Sight to See

We are on a road trip to visit with my husband’s father in Kansas and then on to Vail, Colorado to attend the wedding of the son of a dear friend. Lots of driving- and we will end up in a beautiful place with close friends!

Being Eagles fans (their Hell Freezes Over concert was one of my favorite concerts ever!), we HAD to stop at Winslow, Arizona to stand on the famous corner featured in Take It Easy.  It cracked me up that, when I posted an iPhone shot of the corner on Facebook and Instagram, most of the comments consisted of quotes from the song lyrics!

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Officers’ Row

On our visits to Mammoth Hot Springs at Yellowstone, I’m always captivated by the architecture of the buildings on Officers’ Row, especially the roofs.   Here are a few photos I managed to take on this last visit.

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All were edited with Kim Klassen’s kk_chill texture; the top photo also has a layer of kk_forreal.

Linking up with Friday Finds.

Still Life Adventures

I almost didn’t post today- we JUST got back from Yellowstone and are beyond tired! I did manage to put together several fall still lifes for BeStill 52  in the few relatively quiet moments during our visit ((you saw one of them on Friday). I gathered some leaves with the boys, and added some pinecones and bits from my daughter’s flower arrangement. Here are two versions of the same photo, the first with Kim Klassen’s daysofold preset (modified) and the second with darkday.

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And here’s a peek at what happens when you try to set up a still life with a three-year-old in the room.

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Fall Leaves

After bemoaning the fact that I can find no signs of Fall at home, I am so happy to report that Fall has begun here at Yellowstone! I haven’t had a chance to get out to capture the landscape, so I created a little fall still life during Henry’s “quiet time” yesterday.

20141002-DSC_4556_melinda_anderson-EditLinking up with Friday Finds.

From My Phone

We’re at Yellowstone taking care of the grandboys, who have grown SO much since we saw them in May (photos to be posted soon)!

I’m sharing a few iPhone photos from our travels. All were edited with Snapseed, and some of the plane photos also have a gradient added to the sky in Lightroom.

We flew over the Grand Canyon!

Photo Sep 30- 12 19 07 PMPhoto Sep 30- 12 17 57 PMAnd here is somewhere in Utah :

Photo Sep 30- 12 36 14 PM-EditOn the drive from Montana to Yellowstone, we stopped in Livingston for dinner. It’s an old town with great old buildings; someday I want to explore it with my camera.  The sky was dark, and the light was golden, and as we walked into the Mexican restaurant, we spotted a rainbow.Photo Sep 30- 6 19 40 PM

Photo Sep 30- 6 20 52 PM (1)Connecting today with Barb’s App-Happy Wednesday.

An apple, a sunflower, a cup- and more!

I finally got back to some still life last week, inspired by my new mug that I picked up at the grocery store.

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A week or so ago, I entered 6 photos in the county fair.  I haven’t done anything like this since high school, when I entered my crocheting.  And the big news is that I earned 4 first place ribbons and one second place! Here is one of the winners, Sunflower Mystery (you might recognize it):

Photo Sep 27- 2 19 48 PMThe other 3 first place winners were Feathered Gold (the owl feather), Point Arena Lighthouse (from a couple years ago), and Rodeo Dreams (a photo of Henry standing on the fence watching a rodeo). Dusty Jeans got a second place.  A photo I took of prairie sunflowers did not place.  And. . . I came home with 14 bucks for my efforts! We won’t mention that the printing and matting cost more than that.  But I will re-use the mats.

It was raining cats and dogs- and, evidently, hawks while we were out at the fair on Saturday.  We drove back through flooded streets while thunder crashed around us- and found this guy in the backyard.

20140927-DSC_4321_melinda_anderson-2I took this shot through the sliding glass door (which was covered with raindrops)- when I opened the door, he flew up the hill and disappeared.