In Bloom
Sunflowers, finally!
They are lining the streets and are even popping up in the cracks of sidewalks. This one in my driveway is already hosting a honey bee. Happy summer!
front porch loiterers
Frogs are hopping around everywhere.
But this little guy was cool and calm on our front porch.
The lizard wasn’t so cool and calm.
We both did a little dance around the dog box before he settled down for a portrait.
He finally gave in and managed to flash a smile.
a Nap in the Hay
Tis the season for cutting and bailing hay. Hopefully then I will have a better view of the fawns and baby antelope. Patrick saw a coyote pup chasing a mouse earlier.
Dragonflies are buzzing around and butterflies are quietly passing by.
I love summer.
Cowboy Carnival
We made a quick get-away to Cheyenne for Frontier Days on Saturday evening.
We didn’t get there in time for a rodeo but we did get to watch some fumbles on a mechanical bull.
Folks enjoyed sizzling on the Sizzler in the warm evening sunshine.
These carvings in driftwood caught my eye.
We spent most of our time out of the sun looking at the art and jewelry booths.
But once the sun went down, country singer Jason Aldean hit the stage to a sold out audience. Just in case you didn’t know, he’s from my hometown of Macon, Ga. 🙂
Our seats were really high up but since I bought them the day before, we didn’t complain about that. My only complaint was the sound. It was terrible. Throughout the opening acts and Aldean’s performance, there was screeching through the speakers and the bass was so heavy you couldn’t hear the singing. Ugh. Thank goodness for earplugs. Somebody needs to go back to sound school.
I hear that the park held about 50,000 people this weekend. I believe it and what’s funny is that the majority of the license plates in the parking lot were not from Wyoming. They were from Colorado, Texas, Arizona, the Dakotas, California and beyond.
Good times.
Early Bird
Got the worm.
I was early to the Gilchrist Gallery today to fulfill my second work day of the month and it has been a good one so far. As soon as I got here I sold a set of my postcards and an hour later sold another set as well as works from 2 other artists in the gallery. I’ve had some delightful visitors traveling from Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Colorado. I hope the rest of the day continues like this.
Happy Saturday my friends!
♥Leah
All Yellow
Nothing much to report on here…it’s warm and it’s hay season. So Patrick is cutting, raking, and bailing hay while me and the dragonflies are fluttering around the ranch enjoying the summer temps. I photographed a blue dragonfly last summer and am excited to see a lot of yellow ones this year.
Happy Friday everyone. See you next week!
Young Horned Owl
This young guy was perched on a limb in the irrigation ditch.
He wasn’t fishing, he was cooling off. We’ve had some pretty warm temperatures here and being near the rushing water is cool and refreshing.
Then he flew from the ditch to a tree right by my side of the truck. I’m sure we were bugging him but I didn’t care, this was the closest I’ve been to an owl in the daylight. I love how his is crouching back kind of like a kitty cat ready to pounce on a mouse.
Then he spread his wings and took off. He had better things to do and who was I to stop him from finding his next meal.
Sandhill Cranes
I’ve seen the Sandhill Crane flying high above the ranch but I haven’t been able to capture them on the ground.
But one day last week, I finally saw a couple grounded and hunting.
In a neighbor’s hay meadow, they were filling up grasshoppers.
I hope they visit again. I’d like to have more time photographing them since we were rushed this particular day.
Happy Monday everyone!
Purple Rain
We took a drive through the hills around us to check on our cattle, the neighbors cattle and fences and got caught in another rainstorm. I shot this just before we got soaked to the bone and I sang “Purple Rain” all the way home. With the red glow of the setting sun against the blue sky and rain clouds above , it looked like sheets of purple rain.
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We had a great afternoon at the Gilchrist Gallery reception yesterday. I met some wonderful hometown folks I hadn’t met yet here in Wheatland and I’ve set up a Facebook page with my few shots there. I visited with gallery members and guests and was too distracted to take too many pictures. It was a fun afternoon!
We are looking forward to a great rest of the summer for the gallery with fairs and festivals that are coming up. And I heard a little rumor that the Farmers Market is picking back up in Pocket Park tomorrow and every Saturday through September. Downtown should be full of folks browsing and shopping and enjoying the beautiful weather we are having. Minus the purple rainstorms.
Have a great weekend and see you soon!
Gilchrist street Gallery dot Com
I’m so happy to announce the arrival of www.gilchriststreetgallery.com .
I’ve been building a website for our local gallery for a couple of weeks now. Remember that I am a photographer, not a webmaster, and it’s been a little tough going so don’t be too harsh in your judgements. I’m still working out the kinks and image placement but I have to say that I am quite proud of the site and of our local artists.
We will have an artists reception on Thursday, July 14th from 1pm to 4pm to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. And you are invited! There will be refreshments, door prizes, and you will have the opportunity to meet most, if not all, of the artists with work displayed here. We will be so delighted to see you if you have time to stop by.
I’m excited to have some new prints hanging in the gallery and will have Wyoming postcards arriving from the printer tomorrow!
Abandoned Grainery in Chugwater, WY
I haven’t had this image on the blog but here it is framed and ready to hang on your wall. It is the old abandoned Grainery in Chugwater, WY.
Bald Eagle by the Bridge
And this fellow has been begging for a frame and wall space.
Daybreak
And of course, our favorite. I’ve printed, framed, and numbered Daybreak.
They are all 11×14 prints, matted and framed as 16×20. I’m in love with them and hope they will eventually have a good home. Now, these quick shots do not do them justice. They look so spiffy behind glass and you’ll just have to come down to check them out in person. Or place an order with me. You will not be disappointed!
I hope to see you at the gallery but if you can’t come, I will post pictures of the event so you won’t miss a thing.
♥
Young Survivors
These images are bittersweet to me. It’s a wonderful sight to see when coming home, the mother hens with babies.
But it’s also sad to see 3 hens and only 2 chicks. That means their predators were well fed before the little ones learned to fly. These two have a good chance of making it though. I’ve seen them take off and fly away quickly.
They are brave coming out onto the road and bridge.
But the little one wasn’t brave enough to fly across the river like the hen perched on the side of the bridge. She took off across right after I shot this image while the others disappeared into the tall grass.
Wild, Free and Keeping Busy
Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Hamatreya”
The presence of the Blackeyed Susan means we are in the heart of summer. She’s wild and tall and scattered all over the mountain sides and throughout the meadows.
While she’s busy growing wild and free, I’ve been busy with printing and framing some favorites to hang in the Gilchrist Gallery. We are going to celebrate our one year anniversary next Thursday with a gallery tour, refreshments, and a raffle. I’ll provide more details on that soon. We would love for you to come downtown and meet the artists and enjoy all types of beautiful art by local artists. More exciting news about our gallery coming soon. Stay tuned!
Trailing at Sunrise
We are going to pick up where I left off from Today,at Daybreak.
We started a little before the sun appeared.
The colt we are calling Crazy Alice (name that movie) ran the fence as the cowboys rode down the drive to the pasture. She wanted to go but being true to her name, we’re not putting a saddle on her just yet.
Patrick and Wayne laughed and told stories almost the whole trail. They had some catching up to do.
Good morning Squaw Mountain, we are headed your way!
It took some convincing but Patrick was finally able to get these calves down the hill to mama.
They mothered up quickly and easily so trailing them was uneventful.
Occasionally they would disappear in the dust and dirt of the sheet grass.
Once we got through the canyon of sheet grass, I turned back to see Wayne checking to make sure we didn’t leave any behind. I was so happy to see these clouds and his silhouette. During the trailing, the sky was cloudy and then blue. The sun would appear and then disappear behind clouds. The lighting was diverse all morning. That’s why the exposures here look like they were shot on different days. But they were actually taken over a 5 or 6 hour period.
The cows were happy to get to this pasture. The sun is high, grass is tall and the water is running. This will be their home for the next couple of months.
Fireworks
We had a nice time watching fireworks illuminate the downtown sky at the fairgrounds last night. I decided to take my new camera out of hiding and work on this challenging shoot. If you’ve tried to shoot fireworks and were unsuccessful, don’t worry, it’s not that easy. I read a couple of tutorials before I went out and these are what I was able to capture. Not the sharpest shots but it was a lot of fun nonetheless.
Some highlights are blown out and there is a little blur but hey, I came back with something and that’s what matters.
And how lucky I was to even capture the fireworks from the heavens. (far right in the image above).
Lightning struck often while the fireworks were going off.
We were with friends and a lot of folks we didn’t know and the commentary by the kids was a hoot. There was a lot of oohs and ahhs and “how’d they do that?” and “sweet” and “whoa”. They got to play with sparklers and performed for the camera.
I hope everyone had a safe and happy fourth!
Uprooted Magnolia 
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