My Favorite Photos - February 2023

This month I have a very small number of photos compared to past months. I'm working about 50+ hours a week between three jobs now that the girls are both in college, so my free time is limited as is my time to take photos. 

Honestly, this is kind of depressing for me because I love taking photos and documenting life. I guess when time is spent working, things change. Perhaps going forward this year I need to make a conscious effort to prioritize using my camera and creating images that I can be proud of and enjoy looking at. 

The ones below are just quick shots. Nothing fancy. They do bring back good thoughts of having Sophia at home one weekend from college. We went to the Lions breakfast for Vinterfest.

This is one of the Lions. He's a vet who served in Vietnam. He has interesting stories to tell and is into nature and wildlife. 

These two women also are Lions and have been so supportive of me. They are both in their 80s, but you would never guess it by how active they are. They do a tremendous amount of volunteering not only for the Lions, but for other organizations around town. 

There were fires outside around the community center for everyone to enjoy.

There was a mini donut food truck, so Sophia treated me to mini donuts which was nice. The donuts were piping hot and the air was so cold. She's showing me the steam in the air from the donut...though my camera isn't picking it up.

We watched some hockey. Neither of us is a hockey fan, so we didn't stay long.

I dropped her off with a friend in Stillwater and then headed back to Vinterfest. This time I went across the street to Gammelgarden Museum and saw the exhibit that the Scandia Heritage Alliance put on. There were antique sleds like this little one. I could imagine myself pulling the girls in something like this when they were smaller. 

There was a big wooden toboggan. I remember having a wood sled growing up with metal runners. You had to be careful where you placed your hands on the sled.

These are snowshoes. I remember trying to use snowshoes when I was in fourth grade. It didn't go so well. Never tried again. Wonder if I would have better luck as an adult. 

The Wildlife Science Center was at Gammelgarden with a couple of owls. This was one of them.

They let me get pretty close to the owl. It was so calm. I wish I could have touched it...it looked so soft. 

This little owl is missing an eye. When it was born, it was missing an eye. It would have very little success in the wild - both in terms of catching prey as well as potentially being eaten by a larger predator - like a Great Horned Owl which we have around here. 

The coloring on the owl is similar to a birch tree and it blends in beautifully with its surroundings. 

At the end of the month, we got another ten inches of snow. We really don't need it. At this point, the front doors of the barn are inaccessible. What is not apparent in this photo is that there are sections in the backyard that have at least 2-3 feet of snow. 

Near the fence line leading to the east pasture, the snow is as high as the top of the fence. Cooper can literally walk over the top of the fence. This is not good because if any wildlife - like deer, fox, or coyote - wanders into the pasture, they could just as likely walk over the fence and into our backyard. It would not fare well for any of the animals - dogs or wildlife. Hopefully, the temperature will warm up and melt all this snow.

Speaking of dogs going over the fence, this is Cooper who is pretty proud of himself that he got into the pasture and could run at full speed through the snow. He was having fun.

Interestingly, the snow reveals tracks that sometimes are easily recognizable. Other times, I have no idea what they are. For example, in the photo below, there's a big blob of tracks to the left of the photo. That's Cooper as he is running through the pasture. What I found strange was the rectangular shape made of small tracks. I have never seen anything like that before.

I posted the photo on Minnesota Naturalists (a Facebook group) and one person identified the tracks as those belonging to a deer mouse. Apparently, this type of mouse walks on top of the snow - rather than under it. I would think that would make it quite vulnerable to predators. 

At any rate, I was surprised at how the mouse made abrupt turns and made a rectangle.

These are two trees in the far back part of our property. In front is some sort of pine tree. In the back is a Weeping Willow. We planted these trees (at the time - about 5-6 feet tall) - a good 20 feet apart from one another. We thought it was far enough. It isn't. These two trees are right next to one another and both could use more space. 

There are two sets of tracks leading up to the pine tree. I wonder if both are used by the same animal or if there are multiple ones living under the tree.

When the girls were little, we would sit under those trees - sometimes just us and sometimes with the dogs. We had picnics under them...and we'd just enjoy the quiet and peacefulness of being in the country. 

So many good memories of this place. I am incredibly grateful we found it and chose to call it home.

Scrappy "Sewn" Greeting Cards

While Minnesota has a stay-at-home order, I have been able to spend much more time at home and try some new projects I've been wanting to do. This pin on Pinterest led to Kiflies Levendula that had an idea for using small pieces of scrapbook paper to create a greeting card. Below is an example of one of my finished cards.

The first step was folding a 9"x12" (or 8 1/2" x 11") piece of cardstock in half. Then, cut a variety of scrapbook paper into small pieces. This gives a starting point for fitting the pieces on the card.

Cut the pieces as needed to fit the front of the card. Below are the two layouts I did. The one on the left uses scrapbook paper and the one on the right uses handmade marbled paper that I made.

Next, take a thin, black permanent marker and draw little lines around each of the pieces of paper. It kind of reminds me of the blanket stitch in embroidery.

This was a fun project to do and used up some of the paper I had on hand.

Hobbies that Begin with "I" - Blogging from A to Z Challenge

During the 2018 Blogging from A to Z Challenge, I will be focusing on hobbies that I have introduced to my daughters to through their childhood and teen years. Some were done as part of homeschooling, while others were areas that we explored because we were interested in the subject or activity. These are hobbies that anyone of any age could try as well.

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The hobbies that begin with the letter "I" that Sophia and Olivia have explored include: ice climbing, ice skating, and ink drawing.


Ice Climbing

On February 26, 2014, Sophia, Olivia, and I went ice climbing at Gooseberry Falls State Park thanks to a grant from the Ann Bancroft Foundation. Positive Energy Outdoors was the guide for the activity.

They helped us with getting on the appropriate equipment - like the harnesses - before we headed out to the frozen waterfall.

Sophia took a rather load of equipment on her back as we hiked to where we would climb.

Once we reached the location, our guide set up the ropes and line at the top of the frozen waterfall.

We made sure the lines were straight.

We wore crampons over our boots. 

These helped us get a good grip on the snow and ice.

Our guide explained to Sophia how to belay.

He checked Olivia's equipment before she started ice climbing.

When the snow transitioned to ice, Olivia began using the ice picks. 

Climbing required solid holds on the ice with the ice picks.

Pushing off with our feet helped us climb.

 

The crampons helped us get a firm hold on the ice.

Olivia is looking down to see how far she had climbed. She is almost at the top. 

She was happy to reach the top and know that she tried something that she had never done before: ice climbing.

Ice Skating

When the girls were younger, we would go ice skating at a nearby ice rink. I'm not sure why I didn't take more photos of them skating. I found some photos from an afternoon skating on January 14, 2010. 

Sophia was practicing some hockey skills.

Sophia had the whole rink to herself to practice while Olivia was watching her.

Olivia was having a great time skating.

She enjoyed gliding around the rink.

Her snowsuit kept her warm and allowed her to move around easily...including waving to us as she skated on by.

The girls took breaks from skating and being the goalie...using the net as a little fort house.

After short breaks...they were back to skating and seeing if they could get the puck in the net.

What was so special about this photo is the fact that the skates were single-blades.

When the girls learned how to skate, they had double-blades. So the single-bladed skates were a major step up in skill development.

Ink Drawing

One of the gifts that we bought for Olivia in China in 2003 when she was adopted was an ink and pen set. On her 7th anniversary of her adoption day, she chose the ink and pen set to take out from the memory bin so she could use it.

November 17, 2010

On October 19, 2012, Olivia tried doing drawings using her ink set.

She created her own ink and used the different brushes to paint a cat.

Her finished ink drawing/painting is below.

Sophia also tried ink drawing and painting.

It was challenging for both of the girls to use the ink and brushes.

Sophia's finished picture is below.

One of the ink drawings that we purchased in China brings back memories of an artist painting it. He did not have a sketch of the image prior to starting to paint. He used only the sides of his hand and one fingernail to create the image below.

It continues to amaze me the level of detail, creativity, and imagination the artist had to create this painting and others he did.