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Happy Place

This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge asks: ” Where’s your happy place?” For us,  it’s that place where the rising sun’s rays skim across the mountain folds, and updrafts sustain the wind play of vultures and hawks. It’s that place where birds fill the ears with chirps and whistles and hoots, and buck snorts add exclamation points to the Ouachita Mountain soundtrack. It’s also the place that has served as a bird blind, galactic observatory and deer-watching platform. That happy place is our deck.

Sunset Sept. 19, 2015.
Sunset Sept. 19, 2015.
AUTUMN FOG -- Fog fills valleys in the Ouachita Mountains. Taken Sept. 15, 2016.
AUTUMN FOG — Fog fills valleys in the Ouachita Mountains. Taken Sept. 15, 2016.
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Fall gallery

Gadzooks! We’ve been off WordPress for a month? Here’s a gallery for a little catching up on some of October’s sights.

MAGENTA SKY — Oct. 23, 2014, sunrise was just stunning. No filters, just letting nature speak for herself.
RED. REALLY RED — Sumac backlit on a sunny afternoon. Oct. 25, 2014.
ASTERS — These purple asters were the last to bloom this fall.
ECLIPSE – The lunar eclipse as seen from central Arkansas on Oct. 8, 2014.
BUSY AS A … — Carpenter bee visits a goldenrod spike during a sunny fall day.
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Weekly photo challenge: Spring

Spring in Arkansas is looking up!

Daisies
UPSY DAISIES — A sure sign of spring from a native plant.

Other visions of spring we liked:

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Weekly photo challenge: Monument

This week’s photo challenge is titled “Monument.” Here is our monument to spring in the Arkansas Ouachita mountains: All of 5 inches tall including stem, this crested iris is getting ready to unfurl its flag.

4-12-Iris-to-Unfurl-web

 

Other monuments we liked:

 

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Weekly photo challenge: Eerie

In the spirit of All Hallows Eve, this week’s challenge is eerie.

We have two photos this week, one new and one old. The top shot was taken on a late October morning as we headed out of town on a road trip. The fog-softened silhouettes and the spotlight effect of the sun brought an air of mystery to the drive. The second photo was taken in a cypress swamp in 2011 at the site of the Battle of Jenkins Ferry.  The original post is here: https://suburbanferndaleark.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/battle-of-jenkins-ferry/.  The shadows and reflections — one in particular — looked like the ghostly image of a man standing with his hands in his pockets.

Silhouette of car in sunrise.
OUT OF THE MIST. A car comes out of the fog lit by the just-risen sun.
Cypress swamp.
GHOSTS — After downloading this image of the Saline River, something remarkable showed on the screen that didn’t show in the viewfinder. In the middle left, there appears the image of a man standing at ease, with his hands in his pockets. With a little more imagination, reflections of the other cypresses in the water could be ghosts of armies past.

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Weekly photo challenge: Inside

This week’s challenge was an inside outside job.

Backlit pods show seeds inside.
Fence lizard inside a conifer.
Stamens inside morning glory’s trumpet.

Where to get inside the challenge:

And some nice takes on inside this week: