Musings

Between sunrise in Iowa…

…and sunset in Wyoming….

…we found a sculpture garden in a field, including a massive bull’s head (I assume bull(?)) and carefully propped up horse.

And, with her back to the Missouri River at Chamberlain SD, we found “Dignity: of Earth & Sky” (by Dale Lamphere), an even more massive presence at some fifty feet in height.

In the late afternoon light, the star quilt pattern was magnificent viewed from behind as the sunlight came through the blue panels. Most visitors never look at the back, and when you notice the armature (is that what it is?) on the facing side, it becomes clear you are meant to also walk around the back of the figure. I think, given that today was the 24th of December, that her alternate name should be Madonna of the Missouri.

Quite a different kind of sculpture: the giant round hay bales.

And I’m tired. Carry on.

Posted at 10:51 PM | Comments Off on I lost my sense of scale

Been hearing more than I want to about a wall, lately. This one I like! …and it cheered me on my walk as I was buffeted by a cold wind (cold for here) as I stepped around un-evaporating puddles.

Posted at 7:34 PM | Comments Off on Rubbish weather (damp, cold)

These cormorants are waiting for whatever cormorants wait for. Food? More than food? These rocks were under many more feet of water for decades in a huge mill pond.

Downstream of the cormorants, some of the later mill buildings survive, most repurposed as river-front apartments now that the dams are gone and the water is white, as it was through the early 1800s. This is the Chattahoochee at the Fall Line in Columbus.

Now, venturesome people in funky short kayaks dare the once-again fast-flowing river to overpower them. [This guy was just fine; this moment looks scary, however.]

Posted at 9:25 PM | Comments Off on River stories

Does historic/human time loop like this staircase? Not quite repeating, but similar to repeating? Or is it just the wheel of life rotating in variations on a theme?

Posted at 6:14 PM | Comments Off on Outside staircase

When I was a kid and first encountered the term “horsefeathers” in a book, I could not fathom what they might be, since I knew what horses looked like. For unknown reasons, I next thought of horsetails. Horsetails did not help. Our Universal Friend Goooooo likens horsefeathers to hen’s teeth, but of course OUFG was nonexistent when I was a tad.

Keeping with the repeating visuals theme: institutional small glass tiles. Pretty pretty.

Posted at 7:46 PM | Comments Off on True misc

Our cozy living room….

An artsy shot of one side of the log playhouse…sized for kids.

Veggies fresh from the neighbors’ garden, and headed for our dinner table: kale, tomatoes, maize. Yum.

Posted at 6:52 PM | Comments Off on Diary using photos

Been missing the sunset light. We also don’t have the sunrise light here, but I’m not always up for it…. And in the UP, we see the sunset sky, but not the actual sunset. Unless we walk over the hill. Which we sometimes do.

These days, we have the option of sending up Droney!

Posted at 9:29 PM | Comments Off on Yay for devices!

The Guru took Droney up. Look at that gleaming gold dome!

In a closer frame of reference, see the stalking insect! They enjoy flowers, too.

Am I writing for five-year-olds?

Posted at 7:52 PM | Comments Off on Frames a-changing

Toyota model skipper trapper killer. Sorry guys/ladies.

Bridge crossing was murky with the Great Lakes version of the marine layer.

By several miles south of the bridge, we were in the heat that blankets the southern/lower peninsula. Barn of northern LP.

Barn of southern LP; more active agriculture here.

We did the mosque turn differently than the highway version. Pretty light this time of day.

We stayed in the mid-summer Golden Hour in the next state south. This is a northern Ohio barn. Plenty of agricultural evidence here.

We’re holed up in AC and boring architecture. Works for us tonight!

Posted at 8:59 PM | Comments Off on On the move

We headed out early, down the Garden Peninsula to the ghost town of Fayette. Here’s the business part of town, where workers made charcoal pig iron for 24 years. The market began to decline and the hardwoods they made the charcoal from were no longer nearby…and, pfft, an industrial town went out of business.

I always take harbor-pilings photos. The water seemed higher than the last few years.

We made our return via Kitch-iti-kipi, the Big Spring. Love the raft ride, powered by park visitors’ arms.

More trout(?) that I ever remember seeing swam in the depths as we made our slow crossing and return.

Hot day; good day to avoid outdoor chores by going sight-seeing!

Posted at 9:16 PM | Comments Off on Excursion SW day