Snow above and below the Tropic of Cancer

Johnbo, who is the creator of this “Winter” Challenge, lives in North Dakota and you can find his photos HERE. Since I grew up in South Dakota, I should have fabulous photos of snow that sometimes got so high that they dug a tunnel under it down main street with tunnels into the various stores. I remember one storm where the snowbanks around our house were so high that I could open the window of my second story bedroom and step out onto the snow!  Later in my life I lived in Wyoming twice…first for 5 years and then again for 7 years, and although I have stories of snow, I don’t think I ever took any photos.  What snow I experience now is when I visit Wyoming, so I”m off in search of possible snow shots there. Click on photos for captions and closer views.

The prompt for  the Lens Artists Challenge is “Winter.”

Creating Flowers

A demonstration of the barro bruñido art of Tonala artists Angel Ortiz and his son Jose Angel Ortiz showed their incredible control and mastery of their art. The photo above is of Jose Angel executing his intricate artistry. Below are photos of father and son and  their completed works. Some pieces can take two months to form, paint, burnish and fire. Click on the photos below to enlarge and see details..

For more information on these fine artists, go HERE.

For Cee’s FOTD

Letters from an American: Remembering Dec. 7, 1941

In case you missed Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American yesterday, about the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, as well as the Fascist strategies of Mussolini and Hitler, here is a link: .:https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-6-2024

Fascinating, as usual, although the parallels to what is happening in the U.S. today are chilling.

Kalanchoe for FOTD Dec 7, 2024

 

A spike at least 3 feet high grew straight up out of a large planter in my front garden. I had not a clue what it was. Certainlly not something I’d planted. I kept thinking I’d cut it down or move it but finally just directed it away from a sculpture it was growing directly in front of.  It had no flowers or leaves and was not that attractive, but I was rather intrigued, wondering how tall it would grow.  Then the other day I saw that it had pushed out blooms. I looked it up and learned that it is a variety of kalanchoe–one of my favorite flowering plants. I certainly have never seen one like this, however.

 

For Cee’s FOTD

Allamanda blanchetii Seed Pod for FOTD Dec 6, 2024

Below is a photo of the Allamanda blanchetii  flower. It isn’t a very good photo because of the position of the sun,  but the ones I took with the seed pods yesterday vanished from my camera!! I’m just showing this so you can see what the seeds turn into.

For Cee’s FOTD

For Fibbing Friday, Dec 6, 2024

For Fibbing Friday the questions to answer are:

1.   Who saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus?  Not daddy, that’s for sure!!!
2.   All I want for Christmas is for someone else to put the lights up on my tree.
3.   Rockin’ around the chain gang.
4.    How did Buttons get his name? From his master the tailor.
5.    I wish it could be Saturday night in 1963 on a date with my high school boyfriend.
6.    Last Christmas, I gave you Covid.
7.    Who was the eighth dwarf? Mickey Rooney.
8.   Why was Rudolph’s nose red? Minus zero degree temperatures.
9.   Why didn’t Cinderella’s glass slipper crack? It was made of polycarbonate glass.
10.  Who was the Frog Prince? Louis I de Bourbon

 

Flowers and Fountain, for Cee’s FOTD Dec 5, 2024

Please click on first photo to enlarge and see entire series.

This little solar-powered fountain floats along on the surface of my pool. Here it is in front of a bank of assorted flowers.

For Cee’s FOTD

Hibiscus for Cee’s FOTD. Dec 4, 2024

She’s back!!!!! This bloomed today just for Cee.

 

For F0TD

Jumping for Joy for Last on the Card

For Last on the Card, Nov. 2024

When the adults took a break from the dance floor, the kids took over for a song…running and leaping. love this shot!!!

The Numbers Game #50, Dec. 2, 2024, Please Play Along!

Click on photos to enlarge and see details.

Welcome to “The Numbers Game #50.”  Today’s number is 171. To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find that include that number and  post a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.

This prompt will repeat each Monday with a new number. If you want to play along, please put a link to your blog in comments below. Above are my contributions to the album.