Lens-Artists Challenge #218 – Over The Hill

Donna at Wind Kisses, creator of beauty through photos and words, is guest hosting the Lens-Artists Challenge this week in honor of her joining the over-the-hill gang in the same week. 🙂 (That includes me, so I feel free to say that.)

When somebody says to me-which they do like every 5 years- “How does it feel to be over the hill?” my response is, “I’m just heading up the mountain.” — John C. Baez

Sometimes the path leads literally over the hill as it did here in Cape May, New Jersey quite some years ago. There’s something intriguing about a path that leads through a portal, don’t you think?

Sunset in Wyoming. I was down near the cabin when I decided there might be a wonderful sunset in the offing, so I ran up a very, very long, steep hill (at 7,000’+ altitude) that the horses take some time getting up. I wasn’t over the hill but the sun certainly was. I was simply exhausted but managed to keep the camera steady.

I don’t know how I got over the hill without getting to the top. — Will Rogers

Plants that are seemingly over the hill still may manage to keep their beauty. Of course diamonds always add to that!

Sometimes “over the hill” is a bit more permanent than just being old. This is being ancient!

These rock stairs invite you to go over the hill in Descanso Gardens in California.

One early morning on the way home, the Bighorns once again stunned as I drove over the hill (think mountain and very unimproved road) and get ready to put it in first gear and head down the mountain. You never know what view might await over the hill.

Over the hill means the hardest climb is over and the view is terrific.
~found on a coffee mug

Finally, we’re now in autumn and in many places leaves are now over the hill, aging gracefully and beautifully.

High

One Word Sunday: high

Remembering all those who died on September 11, 2001 and all those who responded so selflessly and bravely.

Friday flowers…daisies

According to my Pl@ntNet app, these are alpine daisies or if not, another sort of daisy even though we usually expect daisies to be white. But as a friend says, “You never know, you know.”

Hi, neighbor!

Once the unpacking is done, it’s time to see what neighbors are in residence. Fair warning: not every photo in this post is perfect. For instance this first one was taken in somewhat of a hurry with my phone because this neighbor is always leery of spending time in close proximity to the rest of us. But this isn’t so much about the photos but about the story told by those photos, about shy but always welcome neighbors and inhabitants of the mountains.

Although it was hot and getting close to the end of July, I was pleased to see plenty wildflowers, many of which were hosting their own guests. These guests never overstay their welcome.

The first two neighbors, although always enjoyed, aren’t as rare as these next drop-ins. Since we moved to Arizona at the end of March in 2020, the so-called monsoon season hadn’t produced much rain at all. I felt we were getting a good rain if there was enough water so that individual drops melded into the wet pavement look. (This year we’re thankfully getting lots of rain; lots for a place averaging 9″ a year.) So I was thrilled to see more drops in this photo than our back patio sometimes got in rains past at home.

Once the walk or walks are over, there’s always the porch. I like porches a lot. Spanish-style houses don’t have porches; they have patios. Patios are fine but they aren’t porches.

There are lots of good sayings about porches. Here are a few I really like.

Nowadays, people are so jeezled up. If they took some chamomile tea and spent more time rocking on the porch in the evening listening to the liquid song of the hermit thrush, they might enjoy life more. ~Tasha Tudor

True luxury is being able to own your time – to be able to take a walk, sit on your porch, read the paper, not take the call, not be compelled by obligation. ~Ashton Kutcher

My ideal summer day was reading on the porch. ~Harold E. Varmus

I dream of land, cut only where streams glistened with birdsong wander through quiet hills burnt hard by the scrape of wind, and of a porch from which a single road leads only homeward. ~Nancy E. Turner

LAPC #213: Here Comes the Sun

“Here Comes the Sun” conjures up dawn and sunrise, my favorite time to be out walking and taking photos, so thanks to Amy for the theme, although it did make it hard to choose. 🙂 So I have to interrupt the retrospective of my Wyoming vacation to go for the sunshine.

This shot was taken on my way down the mountain in Wyoming as I headed home in 2017, the day of the eclipse. As you can see, it began in a stunning way, really more beautiful than the eclipse itself.

At the Preserve here in Arizona…

Sunshine inside the house…

In the morning in Illinois…

As backlighting…

Listening to the sound of bells

Six-Word Saturday 8.20.22

Day two…all about the mountains

There were mountains as I went over Raton Pass, but as it was completely dark, I didn’t see them. I only know they’re not only there but beautiful from return trips when I get to the pass in the afternoon. 🙂 The first year I drove this way, I had no idea what was out there but my eyes were wide open catching for deer or elk bounding onto the highway and even for the curves of the highway itself in the dark.

But day two was all about the mountains. The Rockies from a moving viewpoint (or van-point) north of Denver,

rain over the mountains near Douglas, Wyoming,

a first glimpse of the Bighorns, and finally

the view from near the cabin. By the time I arrived, I felt I’d earned this view after a day of driving, grocery shopping, et al, and the drive up the mountain on a road that requires first or second gear on a rocky road not always quite wide enough for two vehicles, and a top speed of 10-15 mph if you’re in a van rather than a pickup truck or four-wheel drive vehicle. Arrive, unpack, and get away from the heat! Now we can settle in for the visit itself.

Closed

for One Word Sunday: closed and Nancy Merrill’s A Photo a Week Challenge: gates and fences

Should we have brought rain jackets?

for Six-Word Saturday 9.4.21

View from the porch

In the second week, the smoke cleared, allowing us the usual views with the usual clarity. Although riding is for me one of the main draws, I also love the mountains and time to relax without house chores hanging over my head. Let’s face it. When you’re at home, if you take time off, you almost always could be doing something more “worthwhile.” But when I’m at the cabin, even though there are things to do, there’s still plenty of time to sit on the porch, reading, sipping tea, thinking, a/o just relaxing and looking. “Just looking” is well worth it, as you can see.

My husband had a red metal Coleman cooler before we met that’s still going strong. You’ve heard of some men being called “babe magnets?” That cooler is a hummingbird magnet, also functioning perfectly as the perfect place to set my mug of tea (although it’s impossible to grab a photo when a hummingbird is 8″ from your nose, something that’s happened to me more than once! It’s quite a noisy and cool experience.

Reminder to self: don’t forget to take the Nikon with telephoto outside and set it on the cooler table because you never know what sort of animals or birds might come into view. Out here, these little guys are cute; in my garden, when I had one in the Midwest, they fell into the category of pest! It’s hilarious to see them racing around the front “yard” on these logs that serve as basic fences to keep the horses out or to see several of the small squirrels in this area chasing each other at lightning speed on the same logs while chittering loudly.

Late every afternoon the horses are taken out to pasture to spend the night and if it’s Thursday, their day off, the entire day. But at some point they’re let out in and around the cabins. Eventually they tend to drift toward the area in front of our cabin. It can also be disconcerting during the night to wake to horse noise right on the other side of your cabin wall!