A Full-time Life

Category: The Whole USA

  • IRONFIRE

     

    Our plans on one day of  our Colorado visit (in early December) were to visit our all-time favorite outdoor sculpture garden — Benson Park, in Loveland.    But we changed our minds when we realized over our morning coffee exactly how cold the day was.   (Benson Park is huge and there is no place to get out of the weather.)

    Since we weren't at all sure  how long we'd be able walk outside in the less than 20 degree weather, Geoff and Lisa suggested a visit to the  Leanin' Tree Art Museum in Longmont. 

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    They'd never been there before either, so none of us knew what to expect.  We were brave enough to walk around the small outdoor sculpture garden when we first arrived —  and that's where we saw this intriguing found-object horse in his own fenced pasture.  

     

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     Leanin' Tree is a well-known maker of western-style greeting cards.  The art museum includes many of the original paintings and sculptures from which the cards are taken.  As best as we understand, the Museum buys the artist's original works with some kind of agreement to reprint them as cards.  

     We enjoyed the visit  –  both outside and indoors (where we spent much more time.)

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     It was OK to take pictures anywhere and I don't know why I hardly took any inside the Art Gallery (maybe because my fingers were still warming up).  And I'm sorry I didn't get the name of this artist.   

    Below is something a little something different for a macro picture.  I just aimed the camera at a portion of Ironfire's torso and shot — my fingers were too cold to take much time.  

       

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      P1040502-001All four of us enjoyed our visit.  And a couple of days later we were able to visit the Loveland Sculpture Garden after all because the temperature had risen by about 40 degrees.   (Which is pretty typical of Colorado weather in our experience.)  This is Ravens' Gate, one of the sculptures there.  Those bronze ravens are so real looking that you expect to hear caws …   and you think maybe you should cover you head. 

     

    Linking to I HEART MACRO; MACRO MONDAY; RUBBISH TUESDAY; and GOOD FENCES.

    Thank you to Laura, Gemma, Roan and Theresa respectively for hosting these fun sharing opportunities.

     

  • COLORADO CRITTERS – ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

    We saw this magnificent and iconic Rocky Mountain Elk near the entrance to the National Park when we were in Colorado last month.    

     

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     Such a photogenic state — and Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the best parts of it.   

      Later that day, when we were leaving the Park, we came across what seemed to be whole family of Moose (mooses?  meese?).

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     We had seen quite a few  Moose during our summer trip to Alaska —  and we'd  spotted them a few times in earlier years in the Yellowstone area and elsewhere. But never  a whole family group.    Geoff and Lisa, who live so near RMNP that they visit often, said this was the first such group they'd seen as well.  

     

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    And it was great to get a decent picture of a bull.    A young one obviously, but still  there are horns!   Of all the moose we saw in Alaska,  the only male was a large one that walked right through our campsite in Talkneeta while we were filling our water tank.  No camera of course — (It was pretty darn exciting there for a minute or two though).     

    But it's always better with a picture.

     

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     These Colorado moose were a richer dark brown color than those we saw in Alaska.  HERE is a link to my favorite Alaska sighting for comparison.  (Another Mama Moose with her very young calf.)

     

    SHARING the wonder with SATURDAY CRITTERS (Thank you Eileen) and to NATURE NOTES (with thanks to Michelle).  

  • WHIMSICAL ALASKA — INSTALLMENT 2

     

     

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    Way early last century, my high school journalism teacher said "Don't write the article unless you can answer the 5 Ws:  Who? What?  Where? When? and Why?".

    So it's yet another failing grade for me today because the only thing I know for sure is that these pictures were taken along the Highway somewhere in Alaska (near Haines actually). 

    And about the rest?  Seriously, especially when it comes to WHY,  I have absolutely no clue whatsoever.  

     

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    Although I think the mannekin in the phone booth is supposed to be Superman changing clothes, so maybe that could count for 'Who', if we stretch it.  Maybe I can get a "D" grade.  

     

    Sharing the silliness with RUBBISH BY ROAN and with Lesley's SIGNS SIGNS and with anyone else who thinks old or broken-down things are cool or that signs can be funny or interesting or all of the above.    (Visit the links or leave your own.)  Thank you to both the hosts!!

  • In Alaska EAGLES ARE EVERYWHERE

     (Like many of our neighbors here  in Fort Myers Florida I've been a little obsessed  over the past couple of seasons with following the adventures of  Ozzie and Harriet, our local eagle pair.  This lovely couple  have their own nest-cam and have become local, if not worldwide, celebrities as a result.   They were the first bald eagles I'd ever been able to photograph and so they'll always have a special place in my birding heart!  On Christmas Day they hatched their second egg  of this season.  I'm sure I'll still check on the family's progress occasionally, but I won't take as many pictures   — because my files are really full of eagles from our summer's trip.  Here are some of them.)

    This past summer in Alaska, we saw more bald eagles than I ever imagined we would see in our whole lifetime.   They are simply everywhere in that beautiful State.   Here are just a few  of our summer sightings (along with the stunning scenery in the places these Eagles call home). 

     

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    COOK'S INLET

    Most of the people fishing at this beach weren't very excited about the birds,  so I wondered if seeing them would become so routine to us too that they'd soon be "just another bird."  But that didn't happen.   It was still just as much fun to spot them at the end of our trip as  it had been at the beginning.   

     

    Cook Inlelt

    Above is more scenery from the Cook's Inlet beach, in South-Central Alaska.  

     

    Yakutat

    YAKATAK BEACH NEAR FERRY DOCK

     

    The picture above is a little out-of-sequence.  We actually saw these mature and young eagles early in June while we were still on the ferry ride from Washington.  We got off the boat and walked during a brief loading and unloading stop in tiny Yakatak.  So these were our first Alaska Eagles. 

     

    Homer RV Park and Beach

    HERITAGE RV PARK, HOMER

    This was the prettiest RV Park ever in the prettiest little coastal city.  There was a pair of eagles who loved that light post.  The recreation room/office for the park had an observation deck perfectly positioned to watch them.

      

    Beluga Slough

    BELUGA SLOUGH, KENAI PENINSULA

     It was a lovely easy walk around the slough — we saw several eagles, some   cranes and as always the amazing scenery.  

     

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    HAINES

    The guide on one of our nature tours told us that Bald Eagles were never endangered in Alaska, the way they were in the lower 48.  

    He said they have always thrived in the State because DDT was never used there.  

    This is how nature is supposed to be!

     

     

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    Sharing these Alaska memories with NATURE NOTES,  WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY, and the next SCENIC WEEKENDS and SATURDAY CRITTERS.

     

     Thank you to Michelle, Stewart, Gemma, and Eileen for hosting these wonderful sharing opportunities!

     

     

     

  • CHRISTMAS LAST SUMMER

     

     We visited the Aurora Ice Museum at Cheena Hot Springs during our trip to Alaska.  Even though it was July and fairly warm and sort of sunny outside, once we were inside the museum we experienced our  coldest Winter weather in recent years.    The temperature and especially the festive Christmas room almost made us forget what month it really was.

     

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    There were several rooms carved out of ice in addition to the Christmas one– a bedroom, a music room, a sitting area…    These pictures are just a tiny sampling.    

    The most elaborate carvings were along the hallways between rooms… these were for the most part too large to photograph as there wasn't room to get far enough away. 

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     Cheena Hot Springs is near Fairbanks and HERE is an earlier post about the rest of our experience there.  We loved it all!

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     The bottom left and right photos are in the carving workshop in the Museum.  Everyone on the tour gathers in the anteroom, picks up heavy parkas, and enter the Museum quickly and all at once.  After you enter the Museum itself, pretty much everything that isn't special lighting (or human) is made of ice.

         

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    Below is the Ice Bar — (all ice except for the comfy barstool covers).   Someone you may recognize is drinking a very icy appletini (in a martini glass made of ice).  The tour guide also served as bartender and he only served this one drink.  I don't think anyone would have wanted to hang around long enough to choose from a menu — or to drink more than one. 

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    Cheers!  

    And Happy Holidays from Florida, where Christmas is a little bit warmer!

     

    SHARING with MOSAIC MONDAY and OUR WORLD TUESDAY.

     

    Thank you Judith (MM) and Lady Fi, Sandy, Sylvia, Gattina, Arija, and Jenn for Our World.   

     

  • SKYWATCHING ACROSS THE COUNTRY

     

    Our morning skies have been beautiful lately. All the way from one side of the country to the other.

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    Sunrise over the (no)Lake on Thanksgiving just before we put the RV into winter storage mode and headed over to our daughter and son-in-law's home for the family Holiday celebration.   We flew to Denver early the next morning. 

     

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    Blue skies at Loveland's Benson Sculpture Park during our visit in Colorado.  

     

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    And pastel morning skies on our first full day back home in Florida.  

     

    We had a wonderful Autumn with our family in the Pacific Northwest and in Colorado and an easy and uneventful flight back to our Canal Cottage home for the winter.  And we are counting our blessings.

     

    Shared with SKYWATCH FRIDAY and SCENIC WEEKENDS.

     

    Thank you to Yogi, Sandy, and Sylvia for SWF and to Gemma for SW.

     

     

  • A WINTER ‘HIKE’

     

    It was 20 degrees F when we visited Rocky Mountain National Park earlier this month.   Three guesses which of these hikes we chose:

     

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    I'm sure our Colorado son and daughter-in-law could have done any … or all … of these, but they were kind and went easy on the old folks.  

      

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    Of course 256 feet is more than far enough to see beautiful scenery in this National Park.   Here's  Bear Lake after our "long" hike.

     

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    Signs like the one in the middle picture don't seem to be too effective.  "Thin ice possible" is kind of waffly.  Pretty much anything is possible at any time or anywhere, so I think people tend to ignore these warnings.   Obviously these  people (strangers) weren't worried about falling through the ice.  

     

     

    Sharing with OUR WORLD on Tuesday, with thanks to Lady Fi, Arija, Gattina, Sylvia, Sandy and Jenn.

    and with

    SIGNS SIGNS on Thursday.  Thank you to Lesley.

  • BACKYARD SIGHTSEEING

     

    There's never a dull or unphotogenic moment when we visit Colorado.  We don't even have to leave the house to give the camera a good workout.   

     

     

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    We've seen foxes in Geoff and Lisa's (almost) backyard on previous visits, but this time the resident wildife was this large herd of white-tailed deer.

     

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    Cody, one of their Aussie shepherds, enjoyed helping Geoff scope out the deer.

     

     

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    As always, our hosts took us to a bunch of other lovely spots during our (too) short visit, but we only had to look out their windows to enjoy this Colorado wildlife.

     

     

     

    Sharing with GOOD FENCES and SATURDAY CRITTERS.

    Thank you to Theresa and to Eileen for providing these two great sharing opportunities.

     

  • HALFWAY HOME (Beautiful Colorado)

     In real time, we are all the way back home in Florida after our snowbird migration.  And it's great to be here.  But it seems to take a week or two every season to get things back into ship-shape at the Canal Cottage.   And none of those organizational tasks make very interesting blog fodder.

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    But happily we split our cross-country journey  by spending a few  days with our son and daughter-in-law on Colorado's beautiful front range.  

    And, as always when we stay in that beautiful state (and with those beautiful people), our visit was loaded with photo-ops.

     

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    And also as always when we stay in that beautiful state, the temperatures fluctuated wildly.  You never know what to expect from day to day in Colorado.

    But we knew enough to pack our mittens and we got outside every day.   

     

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     And whether it was 20 degrees or 45, those beautiful Colorado blue skies were always present!  

     

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     Our blue skies this week are a little warmer, but we wouldn't have missed our stopover in the center of the country for anything.

     

    Sharing this post with OUR WORLD on TUESDAY.  Thanks to the hosting team.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • WORTH THE TROUBLE

     

    We saw this sign as we pulled into Northern Lights Campground, Glenallen Alaska (but we stayed there anyway.)   

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    There definitely ARE mosquitos in Alaska and the campground hosts here had the right idea — you might as well laugh about it!   It was a very nice well-run place to stay.)   And (like pretty much everywhere else in the State) the scenery in the area was  well worth a little inconvenience — and a little bug spray.

    Here is some of what we saw just before and after we stayed at this particular campground:

     

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     Linking to Lesley's SIGNS SIGNS and Gemma's SCENIC WEEKENDS.  Thank you both for hosting.