A Splash of Red

Wow, what a blur the last five days have been! I wanted to have a extra special post on the many things that I'm thankful for last Wednesday but Thanksgiving rushed right in. The holiday weekend brought us a lot of extra family time with a lot of extra family. We have quite a large family and our get togethers are always a good time. So I guess that even with all of God's beauty that I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by what it all comes down to is family. I have to say though, even with all that said I'm always thankful for a splash of red on an otherwise dreary, drizzly day!

My First Award!

The Best Blog Award!!
Many thanks to my fellow blogger David at One Foote Closer for bestowing this award upon me. I'm pretty new at the blogging business so I'm feeling especially appreciative. David has been very encouraging in my pursuit of the perfect blog (if there were such a thing!) with his comments.
Click on his link and begin enjoying his work. Don't forget to become a follower!
I have been instructed to choose 15 blogs that I feel are worthy of this award to pass it on to. Check back in soon to see who they are.
Thanks again to David!

Rocket Man

"Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it's cold as hell
And there's no one there to raise them if you did
And all this science I don't understand
It's just my job five days a week
A rocket man, a rocket man
And I think it's gonna be a long, long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone"
Elton John
- I used to think that I was a rocket man. As a matter of fact it took me way too many years to find out that I wasn't nor did I really want to be. What a waste of spirit... Anyway, I'm pretty happy right here on God's green(red, brown, yellow, blue...) earth these days. Whether it's two feet squarely on the ground or flat on my back watching the skys there's no place I'd rather be and no other way I'd rather be living it!

The Song Sparrow

Usually when I'm out on a hike I don't get too close to the wildlife. Not that I wouldn't like to but I'm not trying to be especially quiet, I'm just looking for the cool shots and enjoying the time out. My equipment is not that good for any really long range shots so wildlife photos are just bonus.Birds seem to be especially tricky- they let you sneak up on them and just as you're about to "capture the moment" they flit off just out of range(or sight).
Fortunately for me, this one was a little over confident about it's camouflage and sat still long enough for me to get a couple of decent shots.
This, by the way, is a Song Sparrow. By my count there are roughly forty three different types of sparrows inhabiting southwest Missouri at one time or another of the year. And I thought that a sparrow was just a sparrow!
Everyday that I get out in the woods I learn something new and that's just one more reason to be out there. I doubt that I'll ever become an ornithologist but I can certainly see why people do. You can find out more about the Song Sparrow and just about any other bird you can think of at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/- it's a great site for the bird lover in all of us.

Those Were the Days...

You might remember a few posts back that I said that I was looking forward to going back to Compton Hollow in the fall. I didn't quite make my goal of checking out the fall foliage but I made it back none the less.
All of that aside- I decided to check out the watering holes and try to locate a couple more than I had already seen. Well my friends, this is the watering hole that I've been looking for. (figuratively speaking of course) I don't know- something about this pond just engulfed me. When I came over the ridge at the edge of the pond in the middle of the woods and saw this sight it just seemed to take me somewhere else. I thought about places and times that I hadn't thought about in years as I sat on the edge of the pond. The spot you can see to the far left of the picture is where I daydreamed for some time before finally deciding to pull myself away.
I could get really philosophic here but I won't. I could continue to get sentimental - but I won't. Maybe it wouldn't have affected you as it did me. I somehow think that it would have...

The Barn in the Woods

It was a fairly odd sight. Smack dab in the middle of the woods with no roads or paths for any 4 wheeled type of transportation there it sat. The infamous "barn in the woods". Now,
I'll try to make this story as short as possible. After taking several shots from as many angles I decided to head back to the car. I do realize that I'm an adult but it was a little spooky- in a Blair Witch sort of way. I knew where I was so I took the quicker trail back as it was getting late. Wanting to get one last look at the woods though, I peeled off of the trail for a quick look around. It should have only taken 15 or 20 minutes. Forty five minutes later I'm actually starting to think that I may have to cut right through the brush and head for the sounds of the highway. Funny thing is those sounds were starting to fade and my imagination was starting to grow. I made up this story in my head about the "pull" of the barn and how people went in but didn't come out! Just as I was starting to laugh at myself, out of the corner of my eye there it was - the barn! I'm sure I jerked a major case of whiplash in my neck when I saw it too. Somehow, I'd managed to stumble across that barn a second time, something I'd been unable to do even once in several previous hikes. Once again, I knew where I was and where I needed to go. This time the 15 or 20 minute hike took no more than 5 minutes. No side excursions this time. Well I'm sorry this post got so wordy but I thought that it was a funny story and I don't mind laughing at myself once in a while. I haven't been back to the barn in the woods -at least, not yet. Maybe some bright sunny day...

Did You Know?

In 1906 the first forward pass was thrown. The first NFL football field was 360 yards long and 225 yards wide! The first college football game took place on November 6, 1869 and was between Rutgers and Princeton. Although Rutgers won that contest 6-4 Princeton won the next 68 games in a row from 1870 to 1938!
These are just a few of the game's facts that my son Brendon has, on occasion, chosen to inform me of. At 10 years old, he's the walking, talking Wikipedia of football trivia- especially the early years. So this year's Halloween costume was an easy choice. (Now if we can just figure out how to get that tooth back in...)

From Brilliant to Gone...

Well a lot of the leaves have already went from brilliant to brown and from brown to gone. It is November after all and I guess that they are supposed to be gone by now, but man fall just seems to come and go so fast. I know that officially autumn is still here for a few more weeks but sometimes I wonder what the point is after the leaves have had their annual show.
We can take comfort in the fact though, that there is plenty of beauty all around us still, just waiting for the click of a shutter and a nice spot on the wall to be forever immortalized.

Happy Halloween!

Yeah yeah, I know. Halloween was yesterday but I can still say it! (besides I'm only posting on Wednesdays and Sundays) And seeing how I wanted to incorporate something with some fall colors I went over to Maplewood Cemetery for my annual fall color shots. This is one of the prettiest places for fall colors in all of the Springfield area. There are a lot of nice areas in the fall
around here but not too many have the peacefulness that permeates this place.