SkyWatch Friday: "Harvest Moonday" Hike, Early Snow

It's been a week of many seasons - Monday and Tuesday were definitely summer, with highs of 90ºF. Most nights and early mornings recently have had the chill of Autumn to them, and Wednesday was a chilly, rainy, Fallish day. Wednesday night and Thursday we were under a Winter Storm Warning and it snowed several inches (14" in our neighboring, higher elevation town of Story and up to 18" in parts of the Big Horns). Though we didn't get nearly that much (about 4" at our house), by early this morning our temp had dropped to 19ºF.

But let's begin with the summery weather and Harvest Moon of Monday, before the flowers, trees and shrubs were dealt such a cruel blow that also likely annihilated our chances for fall foliage.

Monday morning, before it got too hot, we loaded up the dogs and took them walking on a new extension of the wonderful Sheridan Pathways system (on the attached map, it's the red and black path near the bottom right, running between the yellow and purple signal light symbols). This part of the path leaves very busy Brundage Avenue and as it heads toward Sheridan College it takes you into a different world… one of trees and marshes and birdsong and tranquility. And shade - which was our chief objective on such a warm, sunny morning!

Here are BW, Willow and Josie crossing one of two handsome footbridges that cross the marshy stream meandering through this area...

Once over the footbridge (you can just see it in the bottom right of this next photo) and out of the trees and into the meadows, you get to enjoy this beautiful view of the soon-to-be-snowcapped Big Horn Mountains (if you know where to look, you can even see the road that led to our old house on its way over the mountains!)…

Look at that clear blue cloudless sky!

Oops, I spoke too soon. Startin' to cloud up. :-)

And you thought I was joking about it clouding up, didn't you? ;-)

Here's Willow enjoying a rest in the shade back at the trailhead after our walk. Notice her leg draped elegantly over my foot, her way of keeping me from wandering off! :-) …

She was intently watching BW deploy our wonderful PetLoader, which Tess demonstrates...

That night, of course, unveiled the full Harvest Moon, seen here rising over the dry hills to our east...

Rarely satisfied with how my moon closeups turn out, I decided to have some fun and make this one a little funkadelic….

And now for a too-soon taste of things to come, the wintery scene from our patio yesterday…

We covered our front flowerbed Wednesday night, but could do nothing for our large rose bush except pluck this last beautiful, fragrant bloom and bring it inside to enjoy for a while. The bergamot on the right had already broken off when I went out at 5:30am to knock the snow off the trees and shrubs, so I brought it in, too. I think the rose looks sad, and doubt the reassurance that our temps will return to the 80's early next week offers much consolation…

Wishing you a week of lovely skies! 

We'll be spending it in Big Sky Country (Montana) with our dogs and camper! 

SkyWatch Friday: Skies & Chocolate, My Valentine to You

Happy Friday and Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Goodness, where does the time go? Six weeks since my last post ~ I should be tossed into blogging prison for dereliction of duty (thank goodness there's no such place… is there?) :-) I can't tell you how many times I've sat down to put a blog post together only to stare blankly at my screen for 30 minutes before giving up in disgust. On a good day when my creative juices are flowing (at a glacial pace, but at least not completely stagnant), I may edit and upload some photos. But then all attempts to conjure words to accompany them are a vain and painful struggle, till like some pale, consumptive heroine in a gothic novel, I have to retire to my fainting couch. Ha. I'm PITIFUL!

Since I've enjoyed reading rather than writing, watching movies rather than taking photos, and relaxing rather than… well, pretty much anything else, I'm more certain than ever that this is what winter is for - filling our tanks, taking in inspiration and rest so we can expend our creative and physical energy when spring rolls around. At least that's my theory and I'm stickin' to it! 

But enough of this slothful lethargy - if SkyWatch Friday, a Full Moon, and Valentine's Day aren't enough reasons to get a new post published then I don't know what is. Just don't expect me to get around to updating my blog header till I've had at least several more naps. 

So here are a few lovely skies from January, followed by an extremely chocolatey chocolate recipe. Because if I can't make up for my long, lazy absence with an offering of colorful sunrises, dreamy clouds, a full moon above the tree tops, and above all chocolate - then romance as we know it is dead. ;-)

These first two sunrise shots were taken just a few minutes apart…

We've had a lot of wind this winter, and the only good thing about that is how beautifully it shapes and stirs the clouds...

I'm almost never entirely happy with my moon photos, and this one is no exception. But I do love the color of the moon, the way it illuminated that little whiff of a cloud above it, and the silhouettes of the trees beneath it…

On Valentine's Day and every Friday, skywatchers around the world really put their hearts into their beautiful SkyWatch posts, so go feast your eyes - 

And speaking of feasts, since I know how skywatching can work up an appetite, here's my other Valentine treat to you! 

Our neighbor Carol had us over for a delicious five-course vegan dinner (with a Valentine theme) about three weeks ago, and this was one of the two desserts she served: raw brownies. The recipe calls for making them in a loaf pan (which would definitely make things easier when it comes to frosting them!), but Carol had made them in these adorable little heart shapes, so despite my creative slump I was inspired to get the recipe, buy a silicone mini heart candy mold, and make up a batch for a Valentine's Day post (and for snarfing, of course!) And although it's only come together at the last minute, somehow I've managed to pull it off! Guess I'm not a doomed gothic heroine after all. :-)

Carol sent us home with those two little heart containers filled with dried fruit, 

and these little brownies just happen to fit in them perfectly! 

The only thing I subbed in this recipe was maple syrup instead of agave nectar. Though not low-calorie, for all their rich deliciousness these are surprisingly healthy, filled with fiber (especially in the dates), heart-healthy phytonutrients (in the cocoa powder & cocoa nibs), anti-inflammatory antioxidants (in the walnuts), and are sweetened entirely by dates and just 3 TBSP of maple syrup. Carol has a Vitamix and I'm sure a high-powered blender like that would work a lot better for mixing the batter than my food processor did, but it managed. It was a little messy (processing cocoa powder with dates and walnuts and no liquid does churn up some impressive clouds of brown powder!), but the end results were well worth it! The frosting is divine ~ you'll be fighting with your beloved over who gets to lick the bowl and spatula. These are deeply rich with the wonderful bittersweet taste that only dark chocolate can provide. Just look at this chocolatey bad boy; the Johnny Depp of desserts…

      

Hey, my blog, my fantasy. :-) 

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day and a great weekend!

SkyWatch Friday: The Skies of November

No gloomy November skies here! But then, we don't live on the Great Lake they call Gitche Gumee. So (with a nod to the incomparable Gordon Lightfoot's sad and haunting song), when the skies of November turned dreamy, I got out the camera and captured them as best I could. Here are some examples of our skies during our benevolent November…

Sunrise, 11/10

Same sunrise moments later

(these first two are a rerun from an earlier post, but I just had to include them!)

Pastel Sunrise, 11/16

Moonrise, 11/16

Sunset & Contrail, 11/17

Full Moon & Clouds, 11/17

Cotton Candy Sunset Clouds, 11/19

 "Fly south for winter - check!" :-)
Geese flying in checkmark formation, 11/24

Blazing Sunrise, 11/26

Dawn's Early Light, 11/27

In contrast to our mild and sunny November, December is predicted to greet us with a decidedly cold shoulder with snow and temps in the single and sub-zero digits most of next week. Ho-ho-oh-no! Oh well, we're grateful November's skies and weather played nice, and hope you enjoy gentle skies wherever you are!

And a very Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate it!

SkyWatch Friday: The Mysterious Skies of Halloween

I know, I'm a week late with these. I've been working on quilt show posts instead of SkyWatch posts (those of you waiting for the quilt show finale, despair not - it'll be next, promise!)

Anyway, we had lovely weather the weekend before Halloween, and took advantage of it by taking the dogs on some wonderful walks around a new park area north of town, even enjoying a picnic lunch by the creek. Here are a few sky photos from our adventures…

Though admittedly not much of a sky photo, 

I wanted to share our pretty picnic spot by the sparkling creek 

(the picnic table is to the right out of the frame) :-)

What is Halloween without a leafless tree? 

The moon in the upper left helps set the mood as well. :-)

This piece of modern art is part of this inexplicable, mysterious "gate to nothingness"...

Someone went to a lot of trouble and expense to put up this front entrance!

Guess they must have depleted their funds and had nothing left for the house.

Appropriately, our lovely weather ended on Halloween, when rain, cold temps, and very gusty winds arrived along with the goblins and ghosties… and this rainbow! It barely lasted long enough for me to grab the camera and had already faded a lot by the time I snapped this, but since we never get rainbows at this time of year I was grateful to have captured the mysterious moment at all…

Though another Halloween is past, may you continue to enjoy hauntingly beautiful and bewitching skies! (And those of you in the Philippines, please stay safe!)

SkyWatch Friday: September's Skies

I suppose it's obvious from my lack of posts and my outdated springtime blog header and background that my fickle Blogging Muse continues her lengthy sabbatical (no doubt on a lovely tropical beach where she spends her days drinking piña coladas while cruelly snickering about how lazy and useless I am without her). But at least several of September's skies inspired me to haul out the camera and so they, at least, have provided a collection of sky photos to share. (So take that, fickle Blogging Muse - and I hope you get sunburn and sand fleas!) ;-)

August's heat continued into the first part of September, bringing us some more dramatic thunderstorms, like this one on the 6th...

And even when the skies remained summertime-blue, they've contained some interesting clouds, like this tidy row of little puffer-clouds I spied one afternoon that made me think of the "..." at the end of an unfinished thought, like the sky was saying, "to be continued..."!)

And a while later, the row of dots had turned into these italicized exclamation points!...

Though I did take some photos of the beautiful Harvest Moon on the 19th, they didn't turn out as SkyWatch-worthy as I'd hoped. But I did like the look of these moonlit clouds in my Friday the 13th photo!...

And of course, I can almost always count on a splendid sunrise...

That same sunrise last Sunday also illuminated this peculiar cloud that was hovering over the elementary school to our west, looking like a fluffy pink spaceship preparing to land on the roof...

Even when your creative muse is on vacation, 

inspiration always awaits in the beautiful sky photos on display at...

Here's hoping you enjoy a wonderful weekend!

And now for a little personal update, beginning once again with my apologies to my friends and blog followers for my lack of blogging and visiting/commenting (and especially for not continuing my vacation posts as promised!) While I continue to lay most of the blame on my delinquent Muse, there are other factors. An old injury to my hip and back has been causing pain and discomfort since July. Unfortunately, sitting for more than 15-20 minutes is one of the things that really aggravates it, and working on those vacation posts requires many hours of sitting (I tried blogging while standing up, but that just moves the pain to my neck and shoulders! I need a much taller desk!) :-) I'd been unable to get a massage since June so I finally got one on Tuesday. But my regular massage therapist isn't trained in the trigger point therapy that I need, so I'm going to try one who is on Monday.  I also have an appointment with an orthopedic doc on the 21st, in hopes he'll confirm the pain is due to my old injury and not something worse, and that he'll order some beneficial physical therapy like he did so successfully for BW's shoulder. 

A happier factor in my lack of internet time lately has been the absolutely beautiful weather we've been enjoying once August's heat finally left us! Bike rides and long walks with the dogs (I go easy on the bike but walks are wonderfully therapeutic) have replaced blogging and other internet activities. I reckon the vacation posts will make a great project for winter ~ a season I'd like to think is still at least a month or two off, but there is snow in our forecast today! Our gorgeous weather gave way on Wednesday to rain and temps that were 20º cooler, but now today's high will only be in the 40's and the rain is mixing with snow. A half inch of accumulation is possible and we're under a Winter Weather Advisory with temps forecast to drop below freezing tonight. Which means we'll have to cover our herb garden if we're to have any hope of enjoying the fresh organic herbs we've been so spoiled with all summer! I took this photo of it on Tuesday before the rains came...

L-R: Italian and African basil, lavendar, mint, thyme, and rosemary, 

all guarded by a cheerful brigade of marigolds. :-) 

The basil, about half of which is outside the frame of this photo, is especially abundant, and there are also three pepper plants in there that yielded a total of 4 bitty peppers. It's been wonderful to just step out the kitchen door to pluck fresh herbs, or to enjoy the fragrance of the basil and lavender flowers wafting through the kitchen windows (along with the summery sound of the buzzing bees that love feeding on them), and we aren't ready to give that up yet. So wish us luck in our endeavors to help our herb garden stay alive through the snow and the freeze!

Speaking of stayin' alive, I hope you'll enjoy this very cleverly edited video as much as I did! I think it makes a fun way to launch the weekend! :-)

SkyWatch Friday: Lunapalooza

Here are my very humble contributions to last weekend's Super Moon "lunapalooza" :-) ...

Sunday evening's Full Moonrise

As it rose, its bright light illuminated some nearby thin clouds, giving it an ethereal look...

My dress is old, but the moon is kind. 

At night I wear a beautiful moon colored dress.

The Moon and clouds had apparently hit it off, because they were still hanging around together in the early morning's eastern sky...

See more SkyWatching "lunacy" (and various other moments of celestial mania) at...

This will be my last SkyWatch Friday post for a while, as I recently saw this brilliant advice on Pinterest...

... and so decided to follow it - and the open road - with one of the funnest people I know, my husband! :-)

Feels like we forgot something. Oh yeah, our car! LOL (We won't be traveling this light for our two week trip to the Pacific Northwest, believe me! Also, we won't be dressed like this. Or look anything like this. For this, of course, is not us). :-)

So until I return with bazillions of photos from our trip, including - let us hope - many of beautiful skies, have a great July! Happy Canada Day (which we'll be spending in Seattle) to our friendly neighbors to the north, and Happy Fourth of July (which we'll be spending in Canada, for we are nothing if not ironic) to our fellow Yanks! :-)

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