Rain-soaked

We had a storm today. I mean- we had a STORM! To put it in perspective, this was NOT a hurricane- but it was similar to a very strong monsoon storm, though monsoon season is over. This afternoon at about 1:45, the rain started- and the thunder- and the lightning- and the hail- and finally the wind. I was just about to begin my genealogy meeting on ZOOM this afternoon, when the storm intensified, and a couple of the gals lost power and disappeared from the zoom screen. I had just started our check-in (where we talk about our genealogy progress since the last meeting), when our electricity went out. This was a problem for everyone, since I was the one doing the presentation and then playing a video! The storm continued, Lonnie got out flashlights (it was pretty dark), and I ran outside to capture cushions being tossed about by the wind. After about 15-20 minutes, to my surprise, our power came back on- though the storm continued.

I was able to go back on zoom, and my friends were still there waiting for the meeting to continue! All went on without incident, though it rained and thundered and blew outside.

After dinner, I went outside to our street, which was covered in mud that had washed down the hill from the house construction site across from us. This is a shot of the street below at sunset, after the rain and flooding had stopped. Everything is water-saturated, but the only sign of all the drama from earlier is the tipped-over porta-potty from the house construction down below. Normally, I would clone that out in Photoshop- but I chose to leave it as evidence of the crazy weather from this afternoon!

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Winter Evening

I had never been in snow until I went skiing in high school. For me, snow has always been something you visit, not live in. When our daughter was in her early twenties, she moved to Montana and later Wyoming. We spent quite a few Thanksgivings and Christmases with her family when they lived at Yellowstone, so I could see first hand what it was like to have real winters! And of course, now they live in Alaska. . .

But when we moved to Prescott, we got to have the experience of having snow at our own home- and I do love it. Our usual snowfall only lasts a few days and it’s really light. But this year and also two years ago, we had heavy, everything STOPS, snow- unplowed roads, no mail, no garbage pickup, and no way to get out- nothing to do but stay home and keep snow off the satellite dish. Thank goodness we had plenty of food and no power outages!

The best part of snow for me is how it totally transforms our drab neighborhood into a Christmas card! This image is from last week- shot from our driveway as night was falling.

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Overnight Transformation

On Thanksgiving night, a huge storm blew in- and in the morning we woke up to this view from our front porch:

It continued to snow for most of the day, blanketing everything in 8-10 inches of the beautiful white stuff. It has been frustrating to not be steady enough on my feet yet to walk around with my camera in the snow- but on Saturday, we did take a drive around Prescott. I was able to capture some decent shots with my iPhone from the car or standing beside the car- and I’ll be posting those later.

 

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Toy House

I love to take photographs when it is snowy! The world is covered in a white blanket which eliminates details and simplifies the shapes, creating a toy village effect, at least in my mind. I am a fan of simple compositions in art and photography, and I think I got this shot of the house across the street down to about as simple as I could make it!

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White World

It was a white world out there yesterday morning! I knew it was supposed to snow during the night (and then maybe rain later), so when I woke up at 5:00, I didn’t try to go back to sleep. I ventured outside before the sun came up- trying to take photos in the DARK (not too successfully)- and kept going out until it was light enough to shoot without a tripod. The photo below is an iPhone shot- just as good as my Nikon photos, I think. I added a few touches in Photoshop.

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Sunset Chiaroscuro

The play of light and shadow reminded me of the term, chiaroscuro, that I learned in art classes in college. It’s not Renaissance art- just another shot from my driveway- but pretty light all the same. I added an oil paint filter at low opacity to complete the look.

 

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Sunset and Smoke

A little impression of our sunset view last night- smoke and pink sky. Multiple exposure layered with a view of the moon from the other direction and an added texture. The fire continues to grow as I write this. We are far enough away to feel safe, but it is scary how fast it is growing.

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From the driveway. . .

A sad view indeed . . .

The Goodwin fire has been burning since Saturday, I think- and is over 4400 acres, forcing the evacuation of the town of Mayer and other small communities southwest of Prescott. And no, it is not contained or controlled. If you look closely at the photo, you can see one of the planes that were flying over the fire this afternoon. With this area’s still vivid memories of the 2013 fire that took the lives of 19 hot shots, fire is taken very seriously here. Although we are in the monsoon season, no rain is in the forecast.

A monochrome view:

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