From point A to point B

Another stormy night in Eastern South Dakota

We had a quick rain shower roll through earlier tonight. This double rainbow lasted for about 10 minutes. Luckily, I was able to capture it. Looks like the pot-o-gold can be found at our neighbors’.

Ah Memorial Day. The unofficial Beginning of Summer. Many families around the U.S. spend the holiday enjoying the outdoors. Our family is no exception. It was a gorgeous day; a gorgeous weekend.

We started into the weekend with a list of chores to do around the house that have been nagging at us for months. We indeed did get a few things done over the course of the weekend such as: remodel a bathroom, till and plant the garden, dig and cement a post for a basketball hoop, mow our jungle of a yard, fit in a Monday afternoon softball practice, and a few other small chores. But the most memorable part of our weekend was the time we spent together exploring and hiking at the Palisades State Park. The girls have been wanting to go see it for a while now, and there really was no better time like the present.

This is a panorama of our neighborhood, looking out from our driveway.

Interesting… As I looked out our dining room window this evening, I see the warmth of the sunset. If you didn’t know better, you could imagine this sunset at a warm beach.Yet, I know the cold Winter wind is howling out in the field. And a couple hours after this photo was taken, as I write this post I peer out my office window and see our neighbor plowing snow in his driveway. I guess after months of cold weather my mind is on a warm beach somewhere.

Another frozen foggy day + an F-100 static display = Old Cold Steel

The four highest points in the small town of Tea, South Dakota. From left to right in the photo are: The grain elevator, the older water tower, the large water tower, and the new radio tower.

The meteorologists were right! The big storm of the 2009 holiday season is upon us. It’s been snowing and blowing for the past 36 hours. It finally let up a little so the girls’ could get out and play. There’s a 6 foot high drift right in front of our door.

The fog yesterday hasn’t really burned off. Fog is supposed to be a pre-indicator of heavy precipitation. If so, we may see a very white Christmas this year.

A thick overnight fog froze into beautiful crystals that covered everything this morning.

Gracie found this little guy, and like kids will do, decided she wanted to keep him as a pet. After a night cooped up in an old milk jug, we convinced her that he would be better off back in the wild with his family.

The idea that a plant can grow from a tiny seed, into a large fruit-bearing plant in a matter of months has always amazed me. This is our 4th year of working the soil in our garden, which was initially a large patch of rock-solid clay. For the past 4 seasons, we’ve tilled-in compost, peat, and mulch. We now have rich, dark soil. Our garden has really been growing strong this year. The plentiful rain this year has certainly played a part as well. All of our plants are producing large volumes for harvest.

This morning, there was a thick coat of dew across the entire region. These photos are details from some of the plants in our garden.

We took a little family road trip to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant in De Smet Friday night. If you haven’t been, it’s a good old-fashioned, low-tech family fun event. Volunteer actors audition for the roles of Pa, Ma, Laura, Mary, and the whole cast of Little House on the Prairie characters. Right after we rode the horse-drawn wagon, the girls got to pet the horses.

We have been fortunate this summer so far. Normally it is 90-100 degrees, and drier than a tumbleweed. But we’ve had a good amount of rain and the temperatures have been hot, but cool off over night and in the early morning. The flowers, grass and trees are in full bloom in our yard. I found this little guy happily collecting nectar in the flower garden.

I was out and about today, scouting for new outdoor locations for high school senior portraits. I stumbled across a group of kids taking it easy on the lake in kayaks. I like the various bright colors of the kayaks and the vivid colors of the sky and greenery.

On our last night at Cedar Shore Resort, I found this moon over the boats at the dock inspiring.

The Fire Department was called out last night to help with storm spotting. We watched for tornados for about an hour and a half. After an exciting night of storms and tornado warnings, we were in the clear. The storm split-up and moved to the south. This is a few frames from the tail end of the storm as it moves south.

`

I’m still in the mood to keep it simple.

Last night’s sunset was affected by severe thumderstorms north of us, near Brookings. The colors and cloud formations are pretty impressive.

On our trip to Disney World, we also saw Japan. At Epcot’s World Showcase Pavilion.

This old barn has been sitting on the North end of Tea for years, slowly decaying. This is the end of it’s time, as well as the end of the day.

This is a simple hill on a golf course… But the compressed view of the two hills and the way the clouds shadow the far hill is pretty cool. I just love the way nature creates its’ own design.

Tulips are probably one of the most iconic of all Springtime flowers. But sticking your camera down below them in the flower bed to get a low angle, “daunting” shot, amkes them appear 10 feet tall, and gives them a different attitude than normal.

Yesterday’s photo contrasted the flat lines of the roof with the soft, billowy clouds. Today, we see a flat-bottomed cloud contrasting with a curved roofline.

The clouds this Spring have been absolutely picture-perfect. This is the roofline and skylight at Scheels Sporting Goods on Western Ave. The sharp angles of the roof and geometric lines in the building contrasting with the soft, puffy, organically-shaped clouds is nice.

The clouds in yesterday’s photo hinted toward the weather that lie ahead.

Pretty basic idea. I just to have happened upon driving by this giant flag, and thought it was even more glorious against the cloud.

Friday’s post was reflective of the anticipation of Spring. However, over the weekend we experienced a let down.

As the weekend ends, we keep our hopes up of a new, warmer day.

Today seemed like a good day for a conceptual series. These are scenes from a park, where the feeling of anticipation of the warm sunny days of Summer are in the air.

Not only are the contrast of colors great in this image, there’s also a nice contrast between the organic natural leaves and vines and the man-made, industrial rusted steel cage.