Back Roads Beauty: An Ethereal Morning

I looked out the window Saturday morning to find this:

a hoarfrost and a fog, the sun was rising quickly so I brushed my hair, got my boots and grabbed a coat and my camera pack and left the house in the sweats I slept in!

And it was magic, ethereal, and quiet except for the sound of the snow squeaking under the tires on a morning that registered exactly ZERO on the truck's digital thermometer.

The heater on high, a window open and oldies on the radio, and the magic lasted for nearly two hours.

On one road, the fog was so thick, the road so remote, I got out of the truck and I stood in the road and just listened to it.  It was just me and the birds, and I thought I heard the sound of spring in their song.  I enjoyed every second of it.  

I have so much thankfulness for these little treasures handed to me, and if I look and I act, I can preserve just SOME of the magic for us to share.

Let's Go For a Drive...

I am so glad that some go to great lengths to preserve what was once the 

beauty of rural America. 

So glad it is preserved and many times still very much in use.

Aren't you?

Back Road Beauty: The Blue Hour

The other night I left right when the sun dipped behind the western horizon.

I drove a while out in the country with my camera.

It's the time of day called the "blue hour"...with some of the most beautiful light you've seen in winter, and especially when there is a fresh snow on the ground.

The blue hour makes anything ordinary extraordinary, but I think I've told you that more than enough...

Barns, sunset...the blue hour...all of it, just gorgeous.

And I relaxed, decompressed, and had the best ever mental health therapy just as the sun said good-bye at the end of the daylight.  

I sure do hope you've enjoyed these shots, too.  

And I hope your day is beautiful, too....don't forget to peek out the window at sunset, you never know what you might be missing.

Miss Audrey...

I got one of her vintage dresses of her little hangers and put her in it.

The quilt is a flannel one her mommy made her for her birthday.

The vintage rattle is one that we bought to decorate her room with.

THE afternoon....was sunny and the baby had just woken from her nap all smiley and cuddly and sweet.

So we were silly for a minute and then I thought...hey, sunlight as a backup and a cuddly sweet girl, time to get the camera out.  Someday, Miss Audrey will learn to bargain with me and get a bribe for posing...right now she's pretty good about it!

She put up with me for about twenty minutes or so, and mommy came into the room and posed with her for a few toward the end, too.  

For those of you that want to photograph babies, the best time is just after a nap if they're not hungry, and also it's nice if they have an object to play with, too.  Toward the end, when she got fidgety, to get a couple more photos, I got her one of the vintage Little Golden books to see and play with.  You can easily use that as a photo prop!

She's just such an angel and I love her dearly.

I had a lot, lot, lot of fun shopping for a little girl for Christmas again!

Take a Closer Look....

A herd of cows...

I wonder sometimes if you were trained to scan the fields when you travel, too.

This is what my dad always had us do...scan the fields for wildlife and scenery.

Shoes on a fencepost made me laugh right out loud!

Don't just look straight ahead, because you might miss something funny, or beautiful, or just breathtaking.

A gorgeous buck through the fog...

This particular day the deer were running, it's time to rut.  This buck is on the run...he stopped to look at me looking at him.

Does and yearlings...

And the big, beautiful buck is for sure scanning the fields for scenery...I'm sure his daddy didn't even have to teach him.  It's instinct!  Oh, look there!  It's a lot of DOES!

Back Roads Beauty: Through a Fog

Thanksgiving is done for another year.

It's one of the best holidays there is.

The simplicity, the beauty of the colors...

The wonderful smells coming from the kitchen the night before and the day of, are nothing short of heavenly!

What smells better than a pumpkin pie or an apple one in the oven?

Not much!

And then there's the rolls, the dressing, the TURKEY, and all the trimmings, too.

All of it is just divine!

And the anticipation!

And then dinner...

And then the LEFTOVERS!!

I think having the leftovers is one of the best parts of the holiday!

And having pumpkin pie and fruit salad for breakfast...with your coffee...DELIGHTFUL! 

What's your favorite part of Thanksgiving?

I'd really like to know...

Back Road Beauty: Fog & Frost

It's hard sometimes to shoot a bad picture with perfect conditions:  fog and frost.  

Come along as I travel the back roads near our home and enjoy some of the scenery that I found.

I will have to take several days, as I shot for almost two hours, until the sun burned off the fog and erased the ethereal backdrop and made it all seem ordinary again.

What is so wonderful about shooting in the fog and the results from it are that you realize how different the light is, depending on which direction you aim.  This shot is heading into the sunrise...warmer light.

And then shooting away from the sun....less light and more fog, less color and more lonely...

But I should hush up now and just let you enjoy the beauty and magic that is an ordinary late fall morning...

Enjoy what God put here to embellish what he saw fit to create ...

And take a minute to see what a hard-working farmer puts here too...

Have a wonderful day...and look for the magic that sometimes will come to what you might think is just an ordinary place...

It's what makes for a special feeling:  just being alone with the surroundings that are ordinary in a magical way.