December Wrap Up

December like the rest of this year has gone by so fast that I almost missed it. I did however capture a few special moments during the month. 

First was Sissy and Bubba's Winter music concerts. Sissy plays both in orchestra and in band as well as singing in the chorus. In their school band and orchestra are only open to 3-5 grade so Bubba who is in second grade was only had a chorus performance.

Sissy and her best friend both play violin and are in the center of the above photo. Everyone calls them twins and they do look a lot alike. Here is a cropped version of the above photo. It is not the best but easier to see why they are referred to as twins by their classmates.

In band Sissy is a percussionist and for this concert she got to play the snare drum which she was very happy about.

I tried to get a nice shot of her in the chorus performance but I definitely wasn't prepared for the fact that both her and her 'twin' moved the entire time. They held hands and even when everyone else was standing still the two girls swayed to the music swinging their joined hands. It was really cute but made for fuzzy photos.

Bubba was much easier to get a nice shot of. He is the little boy in the second row from the bottom wearing the deep blue shirt, just behind and to the right of the boy who is smacking his own forehead. Yes that is what he is doing, the poor boy goofed and sang out before it was time to start singing. I felt so bad for him as he didn't sing the rest of the performance. 

The concerts all went well and were very cute.

Next came Christmas

We had a quiet but nice Christmas. 

The kids were happy with their presents.

 Miss. M was happy with the fuzzy Cheshire Cat sock's the kids got her.

 Mrs. G was happy with the 'old lady' scarf the kids got her.

Mr. G was happy amused with the 'connect the dot' activity book the kids got him. His job requires mapping (connecting dots) so we tease him that he is just a glorified dot connector.

With a little over a day left until the new year I am excitedly anticipating a number of changes in my life and hopefully they will all lead to a rewarding year. 

How about you, are you looking forward to 2015?

Joyful Play

After a walk around the frozen lake at Memorial park we saw a large flock of geese. The kids got all excited, not wanting to scare them off they quietly and slowly walked up to them. Once the geese noticed them and started to fly off the kids ran after them. Soon the kids and geese were all going in circles. The kids would run a bit then walk. Some of the geese would fly to a different area while others would go up in the air when the kids got too close, only to circle around and land back near the kids.

I am really curious to hear what you my readers think. I understand that geese are protected waterfowl and there are laws regulating hunting and trade practices involving protected waterfowl. However, the kids were not hunting are trying to capture the geese. At no time did the kids try to hurt the geese. They did not throw anything at them or even yell or make loud noises. This is a city park not a wildlife refuge where disturbing the wildlife would be against the law, and yet I had someone tell me that we broke the law? Yes the kids startled the geese, but the geese did not seem all that upset about it. I mean heck let's face it geese can be pretty ornery critters and not once did any of them make that scary honking noise or come after the kids. So I really don't see any harm in running with the geese, what do you think?

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Have a wonderful Week!

Flying Fragments the Christmas Edition

I am not sure where this year went but it sure flew out the window! Here we are with the new year coming at us quicker than I care to think. Boy how time has flown, it is a good thing Mrs. 4444's has a nice tidy home for all our fragments because I have more than a few.

Someone needs to teach this driver how to operate his side dump trailer. Even more confusing is the fact that it would appear he was driving it on the wrong side of the road.

I may not be a big football fan but I sure love hockey! Tuesday I had the chance to go see the Rush play. The team is all new young players this year and so far they are not doing good. It didn't take long to recognize they haven't learned to be patient and set up their shots. They lost 2-0 but it was still fun to watch. 

When I went to retrieve the first two photos from my cell phone I came across a few more I took over the last few weeks that I wanted to share.

On December 5th I was lucky enough to get this shot of the Full Long Night Moon. It sure appeared larger and brighter than most full moons. This was taken at about 4:20 in the afternoon.

This month my cat has been a real pest. He is usually very good about not jumping on desks, table tops or counters. But he has taken to jumping on my desk when I am trying to work.

I figured I might as well put him to work and asked him to proof read an article I was working on. Then I discovered his spelling is worse than mine.

Now for some flying Christmas fragments

Two of my all time favorite fun Christmas songs.

and of course

This next one though has a very special place in my heart. It was my late husbands favorite video to watch with Sissy. Every time she came over she would crawl up in his lap and they would watch this video.

This next week is going to be wilder than wild so I would like to make a holiday wish for all; May your life be filled with peace, love and laughter.

Warm Macro on a Cold Morning

It's Macro Monday and a chilly morning here in South Dakota.

Which in my book makes it a perfect time to share this little bit of warmth I have been saving.

My week is off to a good start and I feel the creativity seeping back into my life.

Sharing with 'I Heart Macro' 
and Macro Monday 

Enjoy the day!

If you get a chance share a bit of warmth in the comment section, I would love to hear how your day is going.

Sunset on the Prairie

Last night I decided to look through my November archives and see if I could find something to share today for Unknown Mami's 'Sunday in My City' meme. I came across a folder full of images taken at sunset while driving back from our last trip to Sioux Falls.

I was not at the top of my game so the photos really aren't very good. Most of them are really grainy and between motion blur, a dirty window and my obvious inability to focus properly they all need some help. But the scenes that I was trying to capture are there so I have decided to play with some of them and transform them into more sketch or painting style images.

This first scene pictures an idyllic prairie homestead during the late afternoon. I loved how the blanket of clouds did not meet the horizon and formed a canopy over the home. Another thing that drew me to this scene was the balance between the earthy tones and the blue-grey clouds.

Here are two artistic renditions of this scene.

A color pencil rendition.

A painting rendition.

This second photo was taken a half hour later facing to the southwest rather than to the north as in the first photo. I have to say I love sunsets on the prairie, especially when there are some clouds in the sky. Each layer of clouds seemed to have a different texture and of course that meant they all reflected the light of the sunset differently. The photo really doesn't do the scene justice it was truly an amazing sight.

A color pencil rendition.

A painting rendition.

In the first set I think I prefer the color pencil rendition but I really can't decide with the second set. 

Have you ever seen a sunset on the prairie? What are your sunsets like? Leave me a comment and tell me what you like the most about sunsets, and which rendition you like the best.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great Sunday!

To continue on the virtual travels be sure to hop over to Unknown Mami's, just click the button below.

Feeble Fragments

First things first, I hope everyone is having a fantastic Friday!

Now for a few feeble fragments.

The weather has been simply beautiful here in eastern South Dakota. It certainly hasn't felt like winter with temps in the 50's and 60's. I heard it even got close to 70 yesterday. Sadly I have been feeling feeble and actually was so sick I spent the entire day in bed. Hopefully I will be feeling strong enough to get out and take advantage of the nice weather before it turns cold again.

I was considering taking an official break from blogging for the rest of the year, but I don't know that I can stay away that long. Even though I sure haven't done much blogging or even been taking any photos for the last few weeks.

Thank goodness Mrs. 4444's has a place for us to share fragments or this would be even more feeble a post than it already is.

Have a great weekend!