A widespread blizzard, named Winter Storm Q, passed through the midwest yesterday depositing 10.4 inches of snow on Manhattan, Kansas and even more elsewhere. Sunshine and blue skies were a welcome sight this morning, especially to travelers stranded due to cancelled flights. Here is a photo that I took earlier today of snow that deposited itself in a wave on the roof of our neighbor’s porch. I thought that it looked like something out of a storybook illustration. So pretty, but so cold!
This is a photo that I took a number of years ago on White Island Volcano in New Zealand. To me, it expresses the concept of “beyond” in various ways.
My husband and I went out to the Konza Prairie today. It was beautiful, quiet … and cold (24 degrees F.)! We had a lovely afternoon, a very nice way to start the new year.
Wishing you a happy 2013!
It has been snowing here almost all of this, the last day of December … a heavy, wet snow with great big flakes, making the day grey and quiet and the end of the year rather sleepy-feeling. Below are a few pictures that I took early this afternoon. And as the day turns to evening, the snow continues to fall.
Wishing you a safe and happy New Year’s Eve and the very best in 2013!
Surprise! I am a day late with my weekly photo challenge entry. But I only found a suitable subject today … and given that the theme is ‘surprise’, I thought that I could be forgiven.
I have a number of Phalaenopsis Orchids all of which stopped blooming when the autumn sun started pouring in through the kitchen windows. Seeing no indication that the orchids would ever bloom again, I was starting to give up on them. However, I have great difficulty bringing myself to throw away living plants. So this afternoon I put the orchids in a sink to water and fertilize them when to my surprise I discovered new growth on several of the specimens.
Now I can hope for new blooms in the new year. Maybe someday they shall even look like this again!
Wishing you a new year filled with happiness and hope …
Fortunately the worst of Winter Storm Draco, which passed through the midwest last night and this morning, missed us in Manhattan, Kansas; but we did receive our first snowfall of the year. Here are some pictures that I took this morning. It was quite cold, by the way – in the teens early on. Brrr …. I kept having to pop back in the house because my fingers were going numb and I couldn’t adjust the controls on my camera. I’m glad to be inside and warm again!
A twig of hydrangea blown loose from its branch…
This morning’s wintry sky …
Going through my photo library, looking for images of winter, I came across this photo that I took 5 years ago today. It was a good reminder of the ice storm that struck Manhattan, Kansas and large parts of the midwest in 2007. Parts of town were without power for 10 days. As pretty as it was, brrr … it was cold!
Though the temperatures have gotten quite cold – a low of 9 degrees F. yesterday – I’ve still heard a few people expressing a wish for some real winter weather. But let us be careful what we wish for.
Like the rest of the American Midwest, Kansas has been experiencing a severe drought this year. In Manhattan, we are 13 inches below average rainfall as we approach year’s end. I was reminded of that statistic this morning. Heading out to the Konza Prairie to take photos of the changing seasons, I was struck by how low the Kansas River was when I crossed the bridge over it; so I pulled over into a boat launch area take pictures of the low water. It appeared quite shallow. I can’t imagine boating here.
The other side of the riverbed is just below the trees in the background.
The picture below is of one of the old bridge supports. (The new bridge, above, is not far away.) If you look closely, you can see where the river is trickling past in the background.
I decided to take the opportunity to photograph some of the native plants that had bloomed earlier in the year.
While doing so, I stumbled upon this piece of driftwood. For a split second, I thought that it was a rattle snake. Afterward, I was rather keen to get back in my car.
When I got to the prairie, several of the creek beds were bone dry.
The deeper ones had a little water. Small plants were thriving in the puddles at the edges where the water was drying up.
But overall, it is pretty darned dry.
A Taste of Morning 