Great Horned Owl

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Great Horned Owlet getting ready to fledge.

Great Horned Owlet

The Great Horned Owl is a huge bird that seems to look right through you with its big, yellow eyes.  It is native to the Americas and has a vast range including the region in which I live.  The “horns” are not really horns or ears, but tufts of feathers, which give it a distinctive appearance.  These birds are hard to see as they sit very still in the trees and are well camouflaged with mottled brown and white coloring.  They often use the deserted nests of other large birds, add a few feathers and their ready to lay their eggs.  In this case, the birds were nesting in big holes in cottonwood trees.

This photo of a very young Great Horned Owl was a lucky happenstance.  The owlet’s sibling had fledged, but this one seemed reluctant, looking to the ground and then up into the trees.  It just sat there and posed while an adult sat in a nearby tree watching.  The other owlet sat in a tree preening its feathers, pulling out the fluff.  Look carefully and you will see the remnants of a meal hanging out of the nest.

Great Horned Owl adult watching its owlets.

Great Horned Owl adult

See other photos of birds in the Gallery.

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Pincushion Cactus

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Flowering Pincushion Cactus

Pincushion Cactus

It is strange to think of cactus high up in the mountains, but in the sunny meadows they abound.  They are almost invisible until early Spring when they burst forth with brilliant pink flowers.  Even then you have to keep your eyes open to find them.  Don’t go hunting for them barefoot though because they are as prickly as other cacti.  There are numerous species and they may differ as to flower color, the my photos show the one variety with which I am familiar.  They bloomed so beautifully for a short time this year and then we had two nights of light frost and that finished them off for the year.  Oh, well they will bloom again next Spring.

Buds of the Pincushion Cactus

Buds of the Pincushion Cactus

See more photos of Wildflowers in the Gallery.

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Sand Lilies

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Sand Lilies - tiny flowers in the Spring meadows.

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Sand lilies are some of the first flowers to appear in the spring up here in the mountains.  They become visible as soon as warm weather entices  their white petals out of the soil.  They are about one inch in diameter and grow close to the ground in the meadows.  They last one or two weeks and are then gone until the next year.  The indians pulverized or chewed the flowers to make an antidote to treat sores, swellings and brown spider bites, and the bulbs have been used as food.  They are too fragile to withstand transplanting, but are prolific in their natural habitat.

See photos of other Wildflowers in the Gallery

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Galaxies – A Spiral Quilt

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Photo of a paper pieced spiral quilt.

Galaxies - A Spiral Quilt

Here is a photo of my latest quilt.  It was juried in to the National Quilt Show in Denver.  It is a paper pieced, original design.  The quilting is also of my own design and done on a domestic machine.  These are so much fun to create.

See other Quilts in the Gallery.

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Springtime in the Rockies

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Pasque flower

Pasque flower

Today it is snowing.  Amazing, but that is the reality of living in the mountains.  Yesterday I saw  Pasque flowers among the meadow grass.  They are like crocuses, but are a little bit fuzzy and are always a light purple with bright yellow in the center (at least in this locale).  They only grow to about three inches above the soil.  They are highly toxic, but who wants to eat such a pretty little flower?

Pasque Flower

Pasque Flower

See other photos of Wildflowers in the Gallery.

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Squirrel Antics

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Spring is here and the birds and chipmunks are out.  So are the squirrels.  This one visits us during all seasons except deep winter and eats its fill of unshelled, unroasted peanuts.  The birds share and we enjoy watching them all.  These photos show a squirrel on its acrobatic journey down to the nuts,

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Eclectic Living

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Happy, colorful people in a horse-drawn cart in Dakar.

Happy, colorful people in a horse-drawn cart in Dakar.

Looking out the window of a big tour bus I found this couple to represent everything in Dakar:  bright colors, happy faces, traditional transport, a NY baseball cap and a horse-drawn cart.  Life is hard in that city, but the people carry on in spite of terrible poverty and scarcity of jobs.  We found it fascinating and had a wonderful day seeing a little bit of the country around Dakar, Senegal.

See other photos of Dakar, Senegal, in the Gallery.

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Crossroads of Fashion

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Ladies of Fashion in Dakar, Senegal

Ladies of Fashion in Dakar, Senegal

These ladies are all dolled up for their day.  High fashion, old fashioned and moderate fashion with a basket on the head.  Dakar, Senegal, is full of sights such as this.  The poverty is sad, but the people usually have smiles on their faces.

See other photos of Dakar, Senegal, in the Gallery

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