But I’m trying to at least get a photo-a-day from our trip out West uploaded, so you’ll have to bear with me, if you’ve bothered to come and look here.

After leaving our first 2 parks, we drove up to the Salt Lake area.

We were tired from alot of driving, and hung out in the hotel for quite a while, but I felt like I didn’t want to miss anything.

I’d heard /read about this Island Park, and so we decided to make the trip.

It’s on the edge of The Great Salt Lake, and boy, was it ever worth it.

Antelope Island State Park provided us with perhaps the best sunset I’ve ever seen.  This was not Montana, but it was big sky country nonetheless.

It seems Fabio had to do alot of convincing on me doing climbing up kinds of hikes; I am ashamedly, very out of shape.

I made the climb, despite the pain, because I knew the photos would be worth it.

They were way more worth it than I could have ever expected.

God is an amazing Creator, and I’m so thankful I get to have a little taste of that with the talents that He’s given me as an artist.

Here’s my favorite photo from that day…

And the name was correct.  We saw antelope.  We also saw buffalo in the wild for the first time.  And we saw a gazillion birds.

You can see more photos on my facebook page.

It’s technically not a canyon at all, but the science, though amazing stuff, doesn’t really concern me…

I’m just in awe of the beauty!

This park really messes up with your mind, because those hoodos kinda change as you move and look at them from different views.

We did a strenuous hike in the middle of the day, called the Navajo Loop Trail.  Sounds innocent, but it was about 2 hours with about 500 ft of elevation change, and the whole park was at high elevation, so yeah, I was pretty wasted after it.

I did love it though!

Here’s a picture that really says Bryce to me.

that’s the famous Thor’s Hammer Hoodoo, which I think turned out to be the boys favorite hoodoo.

The best photo for this day was this:

Zion National Park was amazing, and although you don’t get the grandeur and perspective of the size of these rocky mountains, you do get the beauty and wonder of this park.

Gorgeous, thru and thru!!

A fuzzy plant, which I think is part of the willow family.

I bought it as a prop for my artwork.

I can’t believe it’s fuzzy texture.  Very cool!

What’s crazy is, that we had the biggest April Fool’s joke here, because we woke up to tons of snow.

So, I took pictures of snow while we drove toward Philly, for our breakfast date.

This was my favorite of the bunch…

Also, today is the first day of what will be a very busy month for me.

I am the featured artist for the month at a website called 30dayartist.com.

You can go there each day to see my artwork.

I did this last may.

The goal is to try to get 40 pieces done during the month.

Thinks it sounds crazy?  It is, but it’s also fun!!

He loves to stand at the bay window, and look out for birds and squirrels.  In fact, that’s pretty much the only time he meows.

He was meowing, and I went to check, and I saw this squirrel, gathering leaves and things, obviously for some sort of nest.  Of course, its a little disheartening, since there are squirrels living in our carriage house, but at least it makes for good photography.

Here he is…

I also had a lovely time knitting/crocheting with a bunch of ladies for “knitters on their knees”. It’s nice to be able to teach others to crochet, so they can in turn make things for others who are in need!

There are days when I am far too busy with other things, and taking a beautiful picture is impossible, and taking a picture at all feels pointless.

Nevertheless, I still have managed the last 2 days, to take a picture of something.

The cold bitter wind wasn’t helping my picture-taking mood today, though praying this morning with other moms was a great way to start the day!

Thankfully, my friend’s backyard provided just the thing…

It was so windy, I’m not sure how thins junco managed to stay up, but you can see the win in his chest feathers…

This junco, on the other hand, was very well camouflaged…

Hoping for more sun tomorrow!

That, of course, was my workout for the day.

The best picture today is one, that maybeis a bit obscure and abstract.

We had an ice storm last night, and then this morning, everything was iced over.

Around noon though, the temperature rose, and everything started to drip and melt.

This picture captures the bubbles of air behind a sheet of ice, over the tree trunk, as water rushed down and it melted off all the branches.

It was a beautiful moment, perhaps better if it had been captured on film.  It was, however, reminiscent of spring for me, and perhaps that is why I liked it so much!

What do you think?

We also had beautiful ice patterns over frozen pine bushes

Another spring looking budding tree…

cute boy eating ice…

and strong boys showing off a very big fallen branch!

What’s your favorite thing about winter?

Meanwhile, my love was supposed to arrive today, but again, the snow played a part in his delay, and he is stuck in Oklahoma, and will only be arriving very late tomorrow.

Please pray for traveling mercies and no more delays!!

We went to church and came back, and it was cold, and I had the boys, and I didn’t feel like going out to look for a photo op.

So I had to find something to do at home.

Many photos of lots of random things, most of which did not work.

In the end, I just got a moment that Phoenix picked Trick up, and hugged him.  And Trick let him.

The other 2 pictures still have ice/snow present.

The Sunset was making a beautiful red glow on our big maple tree.

And there are those icicles again, forming in front of my house.

But the sunset makes them prettier.

Picture for today…

a very drippy icicle.

On other interesting facts for today…

Our mailbox was knocked off by the plow truck throwing snow half way into our yard…

And Willik had to carry it to our front porch before it got completely buried.  Luckily the mail which was inside did not get damaged.

Also, the boys decided to play in the snow when it was almost dark.

Thankfully, now that I have toasty boots, I was able to run out and get some pics of them.

I still need to find a way to keep my hands warm while trying to shoot pics.

My sis-in-law was stuck here an extra day because of the weather, abd as she left, her kids were getting sick and throwing up.

My kids were home sick again today, so I had to get a doctor’s appointment for them.  Of course, they said it’s probably just a cold, no big deal.

I started coming down with said cold, and I feel positively awful. Advil is currently masking my symptoms and enabled me to come to the computer and do this.

But before the full onset of symptoms came on, and just after we had lunch, I spotted these bluebirds outside my kitchen window.  Credit goes to “Trick” the cat, for spotting them first and meowing a whole bunch.  I quickly got my camera, and right through the kitchen window I was able to capture several shots before they flew away.  I hope they come again, cause they are so beautiful.  They help brighten this difficult winter I’m having.

Here’s the male eastern bluebird:

and the female:

And another bird I have to research to find out what it is…

Prayers would sure be appreciated for a speedy recovery.

Neither did I, of course.

But alas, we had to go to Willik’s bass lessons in the evening.

Before going, I had to salt the driveway because some of the remaining snow was becoming ice.

When I went out, I spotted the sunset colors.

We live on a main road, with houses blocking the sunset’s view, but the colors were so beautiful I figured this was my only chance to at least capture a little color today.

This is what I got.  It doesn’t do justice to God’a amazing creativity and sense of color, but it’s close to what my eyes saw…

I spent a day at a friend’s house.  Photographing birds and hanging out, talking. What could be better???

This is what today’s camera work has to offer.

Isn’t she beautiful?

I got this one also; which was Phoenix’s favorite shot.  He thought this Junco looked so cute…

Taking a picture in the outdoors during the winter can be a challenge.  I hope I can find much beauty for the next few months.

I decided to take my macro outside to my backyard.  I was surprised to find these beautiful orange-ish buds on this plant.

Snow covers the ground, yet this plant is very much alive.

This morning, I was once again thankful for the joys and beauties of the country.

Willik and I had to stay home, due to his everlasting fever due to the flu.  Last week Fabio stayed home with Phoenix, this week, I stayed home with Willik.  I hope his fever will finally subside, and he will be back at school by tuesday.

Anyway, since I was here, enjoying my coffee, and getting to enjoy a mostly rain-free morning, I was taking the time to look out the window, and enjoy nature right in our backyard.  Within the hour, I saw tons of birds, and some 7 species.

We saw:

• cardinals
• blue jays
• titmice
• sparrows
• house finches
• robins
• woodpeckers

Again I was amazed at God’s creativity, and my ability to experience it.

So, it is also another reason why I will continue to work on my country life series in November.  Not only did I make very little progress in October, but I want a chance to continue to experience and extend the joy of the life around me.

What birds did you spot today?

“Titmouse on Ice”
approx. 8″x10″ pen and colored pencil on bristol paper

That’s not to say New Yorkers don’t do this.  Susan listens to a cd of bird calls in her spare time, and she can identify the birds she hears, even when we’re walking together on a busy Lower East Side street.  I could not understand it.

I know a few other people online, like Amy, who have been watching birds in San Francisco, and taking photos, and then using it as a starting point for a variety of other art projects, like art cards and quilts.  I didn’t know how it was possible.

All of it alluded me, til we moved to the country, and got our own backyard.  Now, I’m becoming very aware of the visitors to our yard, and I’ve begun to take note and keep track, and learn about them.  I’m just beginning, but with my small knowledge, I’ve been able to spot sparrows, blue jays, a crow, and more recently, a warbler.  A black and white warbler, if I observed correctly.  As a matter of fact, a few days ago, I actually stood there, and watched him feed on a suet cake we put in a feeder, under our giant maple tree.  And today, I got to see 2 of the black and white warblers, flying about, in and within our tree.  They were eating again, and this time I got my camera, and captured one of them.

What a thrilling experience.  I was the only one in the backyard, and as I was quiet, I was able to enjoy some of nature’s visitors.  It was very cool!  And now, I gotta figure out how to get even better pictures of these little guys.  You can click on the photo and see a bigger view of it.  And if you have any bird-watching advice, send it my way.