I Brake for Photos

4th Street Road, rural Reno County, near Huntsville

Yesterday, the administrator of Snapshot Kansas on Facebook posed this question:

Am I the only one who drives down the street framing things 

to see if a perfect photo is there for the taking?

 

When you ask that question of a bunch of amateur and professional photographers, you can imagine the responses. Here was mine:

How many times did I stop between home and Hutch yesterday (Tuesday) on 4th Street Road to take photos of the sunrise? Probably 4. Thankfully, it's not usually a busy road. (And, by the way, I still made it to the meeting on time.)

 I made it to that meeting on time.

I must confess I was a few minutes late to choir practice last night.

 

My rainbow photos didn't turn out that great (if I compare to others' renditions from last evening), but I was glad to witness it anyway.

And then I just had to stop again when I saw a neighbor's irrigation system silhouetted by a storm- cloud-studded sunset.

I was only a couple of minutes late ... really. Sorry, Mac!

Fall Wildflowers: Snapshot Kansas

It makes sense that a place like this is called Peace Creek.

I love this time of year, when the goldenrod casts its yellow happiness over the landscape as it prepares for fall.

 

The moths find nourishment from the tiny yellow flowers ...

... and caterpillars await their transformation to winged beauty. 

The Monarch butterflies pause briefly in our Kansas plains as they make their way to Mexico for the winter.

The yellow in their stained glass wings mirrors the landscape as they dine on the prairie's nectar.

 

Last week, the Snapshot Kansas challenge was fall wildflowers. Our alfalfa isn't wild, but it does provide a pretty backdrop for winged creatures who flit and float above the purple-dotted green fields before the fall freeze that's sure to come in a matter of weeks.

Even the grasses are like flowers when lit with the soft kiss of sunset.

Looking at these photos just confirmed the message from a Guideposts email devotional that I saved:

A Time to Think

The more I study nature, 

the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator.

 –Louis Pasteur, French chemist

A Time to Act

Take notice of the changes that are blooming around you.

A Time to Pray

God, thank You for the moments that wake me up to this perfectly beautiful world.

Snapshot Kansas: Black and White

Sunlight and dandelions

There was something magical about sitting in my grandparents' living room and watching Tinkerbell dart across the television screen, turning a black and white image into "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" with a touch of her wand. Instead of eating at the kitchen table as we usually did, we had our chicken pot pies on TV trays, ready to watch the latest episode in living color. Later in the evening, Grandma might fix some popcorn on the stove and serve it in the brightly-colored metal bowls. (I always wanted the bright blue one.)

Grandpa Neelly didn't retreat to his recliner in the other room. He seemed just as anxious to see what Walt had for us on a Sunday night. (He was equally as enamored with Lassie and Rin Tin Tin.) I'm sure we watched those programs at home, too, but it was somehow different at Grandma's and Grandpa's house.

My natural inclination is to view things in "living color." I guess I'm still the little girl who first watched television on a black and white set in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Boy, were we lucky when we got that first color television set!

Even though Kansas was portrayed in "The Wizard of Oz" as black and white, I like my Sunflower State in full color. But the challenge this past week for Snapshot Kansas on Facebook was black and white images.(Today, there's a new challenge, but I'm still focused on black and white for now.)

Wheat on a dewy morning

There is beauty in black and white, too. However, I must admit that I didn't like every photo I tried converted to the starkness of black and white.

A neighbor's cattle drive on horseback

Moisture on white spring flowers

A cross found in an old falling-down barn

Sunlight on another old barn

A lonely tree

Cottonwood canopy - the road to the Rattlesnake Pasture

An old Aermotor windmill

Most of my black and white images are from rural Kansas. But I also liked this image of the Keeper of the Plains in Wichita, one I took while on a morning walk during a Kansas Wheat conference there.

Maybe seeing things in black and white helps me "listen" in a new way.

Sandy Kansas: Snapshot Kansas

Sometimes, I participate in Snapshot Kansas, a Facebook group of amateur and professional photographers. Sometimes, I just enjoy the photos shot all across our beautiful state.

Last week, the challenge was Kansas dogs. I could have used old photos from our days with Sandy, Lucky, Mindy, Ralph and Millie. But it made me kind of sad to think about them. So I stayed on the sidelines last week and just watched the Facebook feed. 

This week's challenge is "Sandy Kansas." I can do sand.

Ironically, the photos that most represent "sand" to me are also old photos. They are ones I took in September 2011. The three-week Kansas Cattle Drive was in honor of Kansas' 150th birthday. They began the journey on Labor Day weekend in Caldwell and ended September 24 in Ellsworth. 

 

The 210 longhorns herded by some 35 trail riders came through our area, and I went to take photos a couple of days. The route took them right by one of our pastures before they arrived at the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge to spend the night. 

Sandy roads have been part of my life since I was a baby. I tried to learn to ride a bicycle on the sandy roads in front of my house in Pratt County. I learned to drive a stick shift pickup with the sand pulling the tires inevitably toward the ditch.

I still live on a dirt road, though it's typically less sandy than the ones of my childhood.

 

We drive over dirt roads, under a canopy of cottonwoods, to take cattle to pasture.

While it's not a particularly beautiful photo, I took this photo at Randy's request. Someone had tied a deer skull to an oil tank. The ants in the sand cleaned the skull.

I took this photo from the top of Coronado Heights near Lindsborg. From a bird's eye view, the dirt road goes on forever.

 

Then I thought about the purple sand at the No. 5 hole at Colbert Hills in Manhattan. That sand is a little different than the sand I dump out of my shoes after a morning walk. 

I could do sand photos for a lot longer than one week.

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I'm linked to the Country Fair Blog Party. Check out these other rural writers by clicking on their links.

 Nicole of Tales of A Kansas Farm Mom on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram

+Laurie Link of Country Linked on Facebook, Pinterest  

+taysha reitzel  of Dirt Road Charm on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest

+Danielle Beard of High Heels and Shotgun Shells on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest

 

Wild at Heart: Sunflower Version

Sometimes, you just have to STOP and appreciate the little things in life.

Like sunflowers.

A couple weeks ago, Kansas wildflowers was the subject for Snapshot Kansas, a Facebook photography group I'm in. Each week, there's a new photo challenge to try.

In the hustle and bustle of harvest, I didn't get many posted to the Facebook page, though the one above was a favorite that got lots of "likes."

Whether the sunflowers are in full bloom ...

or the beauty is just beginning to unfold ...

I appreciate the splashes of "sunshine" along the ditches as I head toward home.

I just need to open my eyes - like the sunflowers have!

Yesterday, I gave equal time to the non-sunflower wildflowers. Click here to see those favorites from my files.

Wild at Heart: Snapshot Kansas

It's easy to overlook the beauty in everyday life. If I just glance down the Zenith Road as I turn the corner toward home, it's a pretty-enough rural landscape. The road seems to stretch into the infinity as dirt road meets blue sky.

But, look a little closer, and the blue of the sky seems to have spilled over onto tiny erect day flowers, like an artist's palette has made dollops of blue in the ditches that line our country road.

Look even closer and each yellow center forms its own sun.

A couple of weeks ago, the Snapshot Kansas photography challenge was Kansas wildflowers. I was so busy with  wheat harvest that I didn't post many of my wildflower favorites.

But, I didn't have to dig very hard to come up with some of my favorite shots. In fact, I had so many that I'll feature a sunflower-themed post later. 

I may not be a gardener.

Thankfully, God is.

 

And I'm glad to recognize His handiwork.

 

I may not always know the name of the flower ...

or the weed, as the case may be.

Just like we humans, the wildflowers are designed to bloom where they are planted ...

or where they are scattered.

There's probably a lesson for us in that, too.