I had a nice day out last October 5. I went to an Amish store in nearby Jamesport, about 10 miles away. Jamesport probably has the largest Amish and Mennonite population in the state of Missouri. I then decided I’d go to Crowder State Park, since I was about half way there already. I’d been there once before and thought I’d see if I could get in some hiking.

The park has a nice lake, not huge, but in a nice setting. I parked the car at the far end of the road. I found the beginning of a hiking trail behind a covered picnic table area and started off up what passes for a mountain in this part of Missouri until I ran into another trail. I later learned that this new trail is three miles long and goes all the way around the “mountain”, but I probably only did 1 1/2 to 2 miles, as I took a short cut up a paved road which intersected the trail.

The “mountain” was fully wooded and no one else was out, except I did pass a man and woman walking a dog while I was driving, but no one was on the trail. I took my time and did surprisingly well for an out-of-shape old man and just took in the scenery. I discovered a closed camping area at the end of the road, and a dirt road that led off to the side. I followed the dirt road until its end, which was an open field of harvested corn or something. I reversed directions and went back up until the road crossed the trail I started on and continued in my previous direction until I came to the lake once again.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t sore, as I hadn’t done much walking because it’s been too hot. I then went back to Jamesport and indulged in the little Mennonite buffet there, then went home. All together a nice day. I hope your day was great, too.

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My favorite of the photos I took of the lake

A bit of Autumn leaves overlooking the lake

This is mostly what it looked like surrounding the trail, a lot of ups and downs

I followed a dry stream bed that emptied out into the lakeand it led to this hole in the rock

This huge cross stands at the intersection of State Hwy 6 and 246 (I think), which is the turn-off point to head to the park.

 

Last Friday afternoon I decided to go for a ride around the countryside and remembered to take along my camera just in case I found something that . . . well . . . I liked. And what I liked the most, at least on this day, were old barns and farm houses in a state of disrepair, and I wasn’t disappointed. Here is one old barn that has definitely seen better days.

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other farm-related items. There are currently 770 members and over 6,300 photographs and growing. If you love barns, you’ll love this website!

Old barns are one of my favorite things to take photographs of. They are what made America great—albeit the farmers had something to do with it. While this barn is still in use, there are so many relics that have fallen into disrepair and many have fallen to the ground. This particular barn is in Daviess County, Missour,

Link back to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Houses and/or Barns

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other farm-related items. There are currently 501 members and over 3,000 photographs and growing. If you love barns, you’ll love this website!

Nothing like a visit to the most beautiful part of the United States, the northwest, to improve one’s state of mind. IRC friends from New Jersey, Utah and Oregon met for several days of beachcoming, crater viewing and get-together fun. I’d love to go back and relive those days, not only for the beauty and fun of it all, but because one of us has gone to the great divide and others are no longer together. But for all the sadness, the memories are priceless and forever.

Link back to Weekly Photo Challenge: State of Mind

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other farm-related items. There are currently 349 members and 2,100 photographs and growing. If you love barns, you’ll love this website!

Over 40 years had past since the last time I had visited Crater Lake National Park. No hand-feeding of chipmunks on this trip, but plenty of hand-rubbing, as it was plenty cold. Still, the drive was beautiful and the lake was stunning.

Contemplation was the order of business during this post-sunset scenario at a place I can’t even remember where. It was still cold.

And this was the sunset that greeted us at this unknown place.

A brief stopover at Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park resulted in plenty of greenery. There were some mighty tall timber that day on our way to the Pacific Ocean.

I was trying to get a shot of the waves breaking over this rock aways off shore when this darn flock of birds got in the way and ruined the whole thing. You can imagine how upset I was. The funny and sad part about it—I was. LOL Now I look at it and think to myself—wow! How cool.

The western United States has its own version of the Twin Towers in the twin volcanoes of Mt. Shasta, northern California. Fortunately, these twin towers are still there. I’d hate to think what would result if these two blew their tops.

This photograph didn’t appear in the local newspaper, but one like it did, along with an article talking about our IRC get-together. What a time it was. It will always be remembered. I actually like this one better.

Looking out the window I see snow in all its variations: the pure white driven snow of poems and photographs—on the ground, trees, houses and cars; human, fowl and other animal footprints in the snow; snowbound tire tracks; polluted, blackened snow of ashes and soot from the wood-burning stove to give tires more traction; pathways shoveled in the snow; snow tracks in the house which quickly turn to small puddles—all of which point to one thing: I HATE SNOW! AND I HATE COLD!

Ah, but Spring now. That’s the ticket, along with summer and even fall. These photographs leave me with the hope that this global warming, freezing snow and cold will soon be another thing of the past. Now, THAT’S being OPTIMISTIC!

Comments are always welcome.

Link back to Weekly Photo Challenge: Optimistic

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other farm-related items. There are currently 318 members and 2,080 photographs and growing. If you love barns, you’ll love this website!

Blossoms, blossoms everywhere! One of the first signs of Spring, one that often fills the air with sweet smells, as well as stark beauty.

While Day Lillies are not a sign of Spring, they are a sign of newness of life, which continues throughout the year, beginning with Spring. They are also very beautiful.

At first glance, I thought these were ferns, but I don’t believe they are. Nevertheless, they green up the landscape and make the browns of winter fade into memory.

While I don’t know what these flowers are called, they do beautify the roadsides pretty much everywhere in rural Missouri.

These appear to be part of a patch of Jerusalem Artihokes growing in the wild. Can you find the bee (or whatever it is)?

As near as I can tell, this is a bloodroot blossom and was the first sign of life one Spring day near Gallatin, Missouri. I’m not 100% positive but it’s as close a match as I could find.

There’s not a lot of ABCs out here in the country, so I had to come up with a little ingenuity in order to meet this week’s challenge. I hope I passed the audition. Love to you all. Have a great day!

Comments are always welcome.

Link back to Weekly Photo Challenge: alphabet

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other farm-related items. There are currently 315 members and 2,058 photographs and growing. If you love barns, you’ll love this website!

The ABCs of LOVE

 

Now is anything. Now is now. Here are some of the nows I have been enjoying over the Christmas weekend with family. I hope you enjoy them. Comments are always welcome.

Link back to Weekly Photo Challenge: Now

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other farm-related items. There are currently 310 members and 1,955 photographs. If you love barns, you’ll love this!

Girl’s Room 1 (Mom painted)

Girl’s Room 2

Christmas mantle. Socks were too heavy. Too much coal.

Two faces of Christmas

Grandkids’ Christmas tree

Christmas tree loot. Those are newborn diapers in the tree. Just a week old.

Oops can take many forms. We’re going to skip the embarrassing ones for now. Enjoy these.

Link back to Weekly Photo Challenge: Oops

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other related items. There are currently 305 members and 1,773 photographs. If you like barns, you’ll love this!

On my way to Iowa a couple of years ago, just outside the city of Maryville, MO, I was tooling along when I noticed this maze of beams and electrical wires that looked really cool. As it turned out, the sun was just to the point of completely disappearing and I thought I might be able to get a cool pic if I could just get back there in time and line the two up.

So, I slammed on my brakes, pulled over to the side of the road and practically ran back to a road that went into some business property. The sun was about gone and I knew I had to hurry. However, I was able to get off several pictures but this one was the only one that turned out decently. Nevertheless, I love it. It’s one of my favorite pictures. I hope you enjoy it and feel free to comment.

Link back to Weekly Photo Challenge: Grid

You’re welcome to visit my Barns! Barns! Barns! photostream in flickr where you can register for free and upload your own photos of old barns, farm houses and other related items. There are currently 255 members and 1,506 photographs. If you like barns, you’ll love this!

Here is a little piece of Smithfield Reservoir north of Kansas City, Missouri. I wanted to do this in black and white, which is something I don’t normally do, because color just didn’t do it for me. I beefed up the contrast 100 percent and cropped out the extraneous part of the photograph that I originally thought more highly of. I believe I sharpened it just a bit also. I hope you enjoy it.

Smithfield Reservoir, north of Kansas City, Missouri