Winter Morning

Whenever we are in Utah and visiting those wonderful National Parks like Arches, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Zion we love to drive along Highway 12 that connects Capitol Reef (photo above) and Bryce Canyon. It is one of the most scenic highways I know, not very busy (at least not in winter when it is often covered with snow) and fittingly called a "scenic byway". It goes without saying that we drove along it when we were in Utah over winter break.

We had spent the day before in Capitol Reef, stayed in a hotel close by and left quite early in the morning. It was very cold (13 F), and there was almost no one else on the road. The winter morning we experienced here was fantastic.

The sun had just risen, but many clouds blocked its light down to planet Earth. The light, though, was interesting and gave the morning a certain magic.

We saw foot prints in the snow, left by the wildlife who crossed here during the night.

Where is the fence, you ask? Look no further.

Not a permanent fence, though. It's only here as long as the snow is.

But that might still be a few months.

I'm linking up to Theresa's "Good Fences" - it's always a pleasure to be in the company of other fence lovers.

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Valentine's Day is next week.

Send or give a Valentine's card to the special person in your life.

Check out my Etsy store for a variety of cards.

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Room to Breathe

After I have finished my online photography class I finally could start Kim Klassen's Be Still 52. I like her idea of becoming still, taking a moment to slow down and just stop, - and breathe. This is my image for it:

I first processed it in Lightroom, but only minimally - I cropped it and played with the exposure a bit, but that was about it. The result I got pleased me, and that is my "official" photo for the class, that I shared on Flickr. For Texture Tuesday I added a texture in PSE - "kk_tuesday" that I layered in blending mode Linear Burn at 42% which is something new for me, since I almost always use Soft Light. However, I have decided to become a little more adventurous and play with more and other blending modes. This is the first result.

Of course I'm linking up to Kim's Texture Tuesday - how could I not?

Sunday Gratitude

What a week it has been!!! Lots and lots to be grateful for!

1.
Our friends Denice and Jake welcomed their first child, a sweet little girl they called Eva Jean. I'm pretty sure she will be a real "drama queen" considering that both her parents are actors! It is lovely that there are more babies and toddlers in our circle of friends. I love to have friends of all ages, it really enriches our life and I feel deep gratitude for all of them.

2.
I finished my online photography course including all the assessments. This was the first online course I actually finished on time with all the work done. It's quite an achievement for me, and I feel I have learned a lot, especially about the technical side, but also about ideas and the philosophy of photography. It was different than I expected, but I enjoyed every single bit of it. It also helped that it was free!

3.
Finally I started to take walks in the neighborhood again - it feels so much like spring here, it seems to put a new spring in my step (no pun intended). I know, the photos don't really go with that, right? (They were all taken in Utah during our trip over winter break.) Usually I pick up Kaefer from school and then get out of the car at the Safeway to walk home from there with little detours (so I walk about 20 to 30 minutes) while Kaefer drives home. It's amazing how these short walks lift my mood and energy!

4.
I'm so grateful for our lovely neighbors. The front yard needs more of my attention, and I'm often out there. My neighbors stop by and we chat a little bit. Or I meet them while walking - we always take time to talk a little bit. It's a good community feeling in our neighborhood.

5.
It has been a good week in my shop as well. This is not always the case. I often go by week after week without a single sale, sometimes to such an extend that I think of giving up. However, I am not really a quitter and it takes a lot for me to finally give up. Instead I'm ready to face the challenge and put more work into my store.

6.
Yesterday I had a date with my husband. You know, it's way to seldom we have that, it usually is sent to the back burner among our daily routines - which is a shame. However, yesterday evening Kaefer volunteered at the Schulz Museum (Schulz as in Peanuts) - there was a big Girl Scout (Brownies) event with a sleep over, and since she and her friend are some of the regular volunteers in the education room they worked that event as well. Which gave the Geek and myself the opportunity to go to a nice little restaurant in the neighborhood and have a delicious dinner. Honestly, we should do that more often.

7.
Temperatures this past week were unseasonably high and I could enjoy some downtime outside, sitting in my favorite little corner under the photinia. I read, watched the birds and enjoyed their happy chatter and songs. I find it incredible relaxing.

8.
I'm immensely grateful that I have kept my sense of wonder. It still hits me out of the blue that my daughter is a mere miracle for me, a gift that I often ask myself what I did to deserve this. To see this little girl growing into a sweet teenager and becoming an amazing young woman. The same sense of wonder I get when I enter our home - I still enjoy it so very much and haven't felt any regret about this purchase. We have owned this house for almost three years and the enthusiasm about it is still the same - perhaps even more so since we have turned it into a real home. We already have new ideas for it that we want to realize this year.

I feel very blessed, to say the least. What about you? Did you have a good week?

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Spring has arrived in my Etsy store!

Catch the magic of spring 

with words written in an altered journal

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Red Rock Country Fences

If you drive up Utah Highway 163 from Monument Valley to Mexican Hat and Bluff you see fences go along the highway on both sides. Just what are they fencing in? This is vast land where nothing much grows - desert. However, perhaps the fence shall keep the sheep away from the road; we didn't see any sheep, though, but I do think they are here (like those Navajo-Churro sheep). In the winter there aren't many cars here, but during the summer months it must be quite crowded with tourists.

This was Christmas Day morning, and we were practically alone on the road. In the distance you can see the mesas, buttes and spires that are so typical for Monument Valley. We had been there the day before, but now we wanted to visit the Valley of the Gods and drive up Cedar Mesa afterwards.

It is not the most welcoming landscape; however, it holds a certain fascination and the red color is just amazing.

It was an overcast day when the sun cast accents in the landscape, illuminating the mesas in the distance.

To the other side it looked quite different - this is the view of Valley of the Gods from the highway. A rough desert landscape where the sun and clouds were chasing each other - but that's a story for another post.

I'm linking up with Theresa's "Good Fences".

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Check out my Valentine's cards in my Etsy store!

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In Flight

Texture: Kim's "golden" (one of my go-to textures) blended in multiply at 75%; brushed texture away from geese; levels adjustment on texture only

There are a lot of Canada Geese at my lake. They have their specific places where they hang out. I often hear them flying over our house - they always make a lot of noise while flying. However, the biggest noise (at least in my opinion) they make when they are about to land in the middle of the lake. You can hear them early enough to get your camera ready and try to photograph them in flight - not always easy. 

   

I love how these two came down almost simultaneously - as if they want to win the "simultaneous flight" in the Canada Geese Olympics! It is amazing to watch - and just pretend you hear them, too.

Almost there. And when they land, they just stop. Period. Can you imagine that with our airplanes?

I'm linking up with Kim's "Texture Tuesday".

Sunday Gratitude

This has been a very short week, a week with my main gratitude happening towards the end of it.
Here goes:

1.
We had our citizenship interview on Friday in San Francisco. We had applied for US citizenship in September, had our biometrics appointment last fall and received the invitation to the interview at the beginning of January. We were quite excited about it, but the closer we approached the date the more nervous I became as well. There honestly was no reason for it. Thanks to a very nice immigration officer who made me feel relaxed the interview was over way faster than I had thought. I didn't blank out during the test portion (which was my main concern) which is the second part of the interview and after that I was free to go. The Geek had his interview at the same time (with a different officer of course) and he also passed. It will take a few weeks until we will be scheduled for the oath ceremony in Oakland.

2.
Since we know that morning commute to the city is pretty heavy we left early and thus avoided any traffic congestion. We were at the Golden Gate Bridge shortly before sunrise. We had time and stopped to watch the sun rise over a foggy San Francisco - in the photo above you can just see the top of the Transamerica Pyramid and if you know the city you will also recognize Coit Tower if you look hard. It was such a beautiful morning and a hopeful sign for the day.

3.
The weather was lovely that day and we decided to enjoy it after our interviews. We drove up Conzelman Road to the Marin Headlands. This is one of my favorite roads in the area. It offers great views of the Golden Gate Bridge, especially in the evening when the setting sun throws a golden glow on the bridge at it shines in a warm red-orange tone. No such luck this day since it was way too early, but we didn't care. It was beautiful anyway.

4.
Yesterday Kaefer took the SAT at our local Junior College. She wants to go to university after she will have graduated from high school in spring 2016. She knows that she needs to pass several tests for that, which means that this spring will be loaded with AP exams and perhaps even subject tests. It's a bit crazy, but she knew before that Junior year is the hardest year in high school. So we were quite grateful that she had the opportunity to take the SAT already in January, and of course she hopes that she did well enough. Some of her friends had decided on this date as well, and they could encourage each other while they were waiting in line.

5.
While Kaefer took her test, the Geek and I decided to take a short hike in our State Part. I used to hike there pretty often, but I haven't been there even once last year. It was gorgeous to be back again. We hiked the Rough Go Trail (in the photo above) up to the ridge and then back again (since we were running out of time). I had almost forgotten how beautiful it is here! We saw some deer who weren't afraid of us and passed us rather closely. Every time I see them I'm thankful for the wildlife we have here.

6.
Although we didn't have much rain in January, the hills in our county are green and juicy - the cows are definitely happy cows around this time! I took this picture out of the driving car while going along the highway on our way back from the city. I just love the hills, the meadows and the solitary trees - this is so typical for my county. Only most of the year the hills are brown and not green.

7.
I haven't really baked very much since the beginning of the year. A few breads, but nothing major and I didn't try anything new. Except I'm still trying to improve my baking rolls capacity. In Germany we eat a lot of rolls, they are freshly baked every day and usually you can get them early in the morning in the bakeries (starting at 6:00 am). These rolls are very different from the dinner rolls you can get here. I haven't found anything here that really compares to them, that's why I still haven't given up baking them myself. Every time I get closer to our German rolls, but so far I haven't made one that is "it". Last week's batch, though, came pretty close - another item on my gratitude list.

That's it for today. Now it's your turn - what are you grateful for this Sunday?

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A good way to express your gratitude is to write in your journal.

Journals in different sizes are available at my Etsy store,

some of them featuring my artwork as a print.

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Snow Fence

It's winter, so time for a snow fence. This particular one I saw in Arches National Park this past December.

This is the parking lot for the trail head to Sand Dune Arch (only a few minutes to walk) and Broken Arch which you can see in the top right corner in the photo above. It had snowed the night before and was still snowing in the morning, but then the sun made its way through the clouds and there was even some blue sky. It was very cold, though, especially in the shade.

Sand Dune Arch is hidden among these tall rocks and almost completely in the shade. The ground among those rocks is sandy, beautiful soft red sand - hence the name. I thought that the color of the wooden fence matches its surroundings perfectly.

This is the view to the right, away from those rocks, and as you can see, the next storm was already forming. Quite the dramatic sky, don't you think?

I'm linking this beautiful fence in one of my most favorite national parks to Theresa's "Good Fences".

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New in my store: 

classroom Valentines for pre-school and elementary school kids

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