Land of the Standing Rock

Its snowing today so its a great time to visit Arizona. Today's visit takes us to The Chiricahua mountains and the Chiricahua national monument the last refuge for the Apache tribe who, led by the famous chiefs Cochise and Geronimo, carried the last series of major attacks on white settlers before finally being defeated in 1886.

27 Million years ago huge volcanic eruptions laid down 2000 feet of ash and pumice in this area which fused spires, hoodoos and balanced rocks which lie above the surrounding grassland at elevations up to 7800 ft

At Chiricahua the Sonoran desert meets the Chihuahuan desert, and the Rocky mountains meet Mexico's

Sierra Madre, making it one of the most biologically diverse areas in the northern hemisphere, never mind the geological interest!

Gladioli Black with a Smack of Colour

The name Gladiolus is derived from Latin  for gladius meaning Sword.

These flowers are amongst my favorites, with 250 versions and thousands of colour and combinations the are The Gladiators in my flower beds!

As in past posts I have removed the background in photoshop, so one can really see the beauty in these flowers...This is a Black with a Smack special!!

The Close of Day

The Sunset is the moment the trailing edge of the suns disk disappears below the horizon in the west.

Sunset colours are typically more brilliant than sunrise colours because the evening air contains more particles than the morning air.

Sunset over Kissimmee Florida

Sunset on The Moon
Moon River Bala Ontario

Sunset from a friends front door
Bracebridge Ontario

Winter sunset in my backyard

Sunset on Lake Mistinikon
Northern Ontario

Christmas Eve Sunset
Hurdville Ontario

Sunset across the road

Bracebridge Ontario

Just beyond the sunset

someone waits for me

Just beyond the sunset lies my destiny...

~ David Harris

Barred Owl

Our neighborhood Barred Owl stopped by my yard this evening, he was just checking to see what tonight's special was. Maybe he would prefer a regular a menu item like a Red Squirrel kabob?

                              The warping night air having brought the boom
                              of an owls voice into her darkened room
                              We tell the wakened child that all she heard
                              was an odd question from a forest bird,
                              Asking us, if rightly listened to,
                             "Who cooks for you?" and the "Who cooks for you?"

                              Words which can make our terrors bravely clear,
                               can also thus domesticate a fear,
                               and send a small child back to sleep at night.
                               Not listening for the sound of a stealthy flight.
                               or dreaming of some small thing in a claw
                               Borne up to some dark branch and eatin raw.
                                      The Barred Owl ~ Richard Wilbur

Something Abstract

Just a few abstract images...not much to say here, the images tell the story you see!

On the Wing

The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods. More than any other thing that pertains to the body it partakes of the nature of the divine.

~ Plato

                                                                        

Breaking Rules

I've never been a follower or a proponent of rules in most of my life, and this goes for photography.

I'm not sure breaking rules fits my persona but bending them as far as possible sure does!

The rules I messed with are simple enough, in the first Image I simply gave a long exposure on a sunny day!

In the second Image I gave a long exposure to myself!!...Ten minutes in my driveway at midnight with a full moon and 17 below!!

Now, in both cases I got a really interesting...maybe artistic image?

Odocoileus Virginianus

These are a few images I have captured of White Tailed Deer in the last couple of years, they are mostly Does, I am still waiting on my trophy Buck!

The White Tailed Deer is well known for the habit of flipping its tail up over its back when fleeing, revealing the tails white underside.

                                       
                             What is she doing, the white tailed doe,
                             This misty morn by the forest ?
                             Digging with her hoof the wet spring snow,
                             Uncovering plants last fall did grow
                             Once green all around the forest.

                             From where has she come, this half-starved doe,
                             Standing alone by the forest ?
                             From a long winter of cold and snow,
                             Forced to leave a fawn now lying low
                             Hiding inside of the forest.

                            Now, where did she go the white tailed deer,
                            From the mist beside the forest ?
                            a phantom rising she did appear;
                            With a flick of her tail disappear
                            Into the arms of the forest.
                                 ~ Susan Colpitts

Sydney

Sydney Anne Mackenzie MacDougall

My good friends daughter

She has the biggest brown eyes and some really cute toes.

Canadian Silk Screen

This is one of my favorite images. Its was taken with a 3.2 pixel Canon point and shoot in 2007, at Lake Panache outside Espanola in Northern Ontario. The moon originally caught my eye but the grass in the front made it special. To get the grasses in the picture was as easy as turning on the flash! Then with minor changes in photoshop I removed the green stems of the grass to leave what I have been told is a Japanese silk screen feel to my image that I like to call "Moon over Panache"