Sylvan Sundays
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Tag: Photography
The Story Behind the Mic Drop
I dropped a mic a couple of blog posts ago when I announced at the end that I was marrying the guy in the picture. Haven’t said much since then. So here is our story, as written for our wedding website:
The Beginning
Jeff and Elise met for the first time in July 2018 at a local Purdue Extension meeting on agritourism. Elise was part of the speaker panel and talked about New Zealand. Jeff was looking for ideas for the Christmas tree farm on which he was working. The two bumped into each other a couple of weeks later at the county fair. Then, in October, before the melodrama at the local theater began, they ran into each other at the concession stand. He was buying a drink and attempted to strike up a conversation about her tour guiding experiences during the Covered Bridge Festival, but she had to tell the workers that her mother had spilled her Coke and it had surged all the way from the back row to the front row and ice was everywhere and could someone please bring a mop?
Christmas Time
A few days before Thanksgiving, Elise’s brother asked her if she wanted to use his extra artificial Christmas tree. However, she had resolved to always have a real Christmas tree and declined the offer. After Thanksgiving, she drove to the local Christmas tree farm to scout out the possibilities.
She picked out the perfect Charlie Brown tree, a tiny Eastern White Pine. Jeff handed her the saw to cut it down, and she proudly carried it away.
When she loaded it in her dad’s diesel F-350 truck, she heard someone yell, “Is that truck big enough for that tree?”
She turned around to see Jeff with an amused smile. He had just insulted her tree.
But he was carrying a Christmas tree on his shoulder.
It was a Hallmark movie moment, really.
Or a Christmas play, which is where they saw each other next. Continue reading “The Story Behind the Mic Drop”
First Day of Haying
We finally put hay up for the first time this year earlier this week. Rain had delayed the operation for a while. Most were round bales. Two rows of alfalfa became square bales for the horses.
The next morning, early, rain came. Storm clouds stayed for a while.
Sunrise brought rays and shadows of bales, and I stood outside the barn gaping at the sight for a few minutes before sense finally said, “Go get your camera!”
Standing on the bales, I played with the light, snapping before the gold changed to dull yellow with no shadows. Sometimes, the colors changed so quickly I could see the progression in photos shot just seconds apart. Continue reading “First Day of Haying”
A Trip to Skye, Forgetting Where I Was Going, the North 500, and a Buttery
A Report on My Recent Two-Week Trek Around the North of Scotland
Skye has some of the most dramatic scenery I’ve ever seen. The ancient, volcanic Cuillin Hills rise 3,000 feet out of the ocean and The Old Man of Storr towers above the northern Skye roads.
I spent three days on the island (known best through “The Skye Boat Song”) driving the single track roads and stopping to watch wildlife. The most beautiful sight from those three days was an albatross gliding in the arc of a rainbow over the Atlantic Ocean. The powerful bird glided for a few minutes, only flapping its wings once, facing the wind head on.
My two favorite photos from Skye feature sheep in front of the Cuillin Hills. The sheep grazed with the cattle near Glenbrittle Beach, and there was no fence to prevent them from wandering over to the car park. The first picture gives a sense of place for where that sheep lives: at the foot of the Cuillin Hills. The second picture shows the ewe square and balanced, head up beautifully, as if she were performing for a judge.
****************************** Continue reading “A Trip to Skye, Forgetting Where I Was Going, the North 500, and a Buttery”
Five Favorite Photos from Ireland (So Far)
Ireland is a country that has danced through books I’ve read and songs I’ve sung for many years. Myths and legends grow here. So do sheep.
And I am finally here.
Here are my five favorite photos from my first five days in Ireland:
The first picture is from my first hike on this island. I walked to the top of Knocknarea Mountain in County Sligo where the cairn of Queen Maeve, who was buried with her spear, standing upright and facing her enemies, towers over the landscape. The trail wound through these trees. This was the view on my way back down the steep stairs. This was Ireland, the country in all the songs and the movies, the country where banshees and will-o’-the-wisps were real, the country where an informational placard on a house associated with the poet William Butler Yeats said, “The ghosts of smugglers used to tap on the window panes,” just matter of factly, no “Legend says” attribution accompanying the statement. Continue reading “Five Favorite Photos from Ireland (So Far)”
21 Hours in Singapore
One Sunday morning while I was in Christchurch, New Zealand, I met two women from Singapore. We connected immediately over food and good conversation. Upon parting, we said that if we were ever in each other’s countries, we would be sure to catch up.
Three months later, I was searching for plane tickets from Perth, Australia, to the Philippines and discovered a route with a long layover in Singapore. I could experience two countries on one plane ticket!
So I contacted my new friends, and we planned a 21-hour Singaporean adventure.
But first, here are some photos from my last day in the Southern Hemisphere: Continue reading “21 Hours in Singapore”
Crossing Australia on the Indian Pacific Train: A Photo Essay
When learning about the seven continents during social studies class, the fact that Australia was the only continent that was also an entire country was drilled into us.
But I forgot about that until I boarded the Indian Pacific and learned that the train was considered transcontinental.
I crossed an entire continent by rail. That was pretty cool.
The journey began on a Wednesday at Sydney’s Central Railway Station.
Continue reading “Crossing Australia on the Indian Pacific Train: A Photo Essay”
The Kiwi Hoosier Visits the Aussies
I’m on my way home.
From New Zealand, I flew to Sydney, Australia, and have been in the country for a little over three weeks. Here are some photos and brief notes on my Aussie adventures so far:
June 27, 2017
Instagram Post
“At last.
“Sydney, Australia.
“I’ve waited 17 years to get here. Continue reading “The Kiwi Hoosier Visits the Aussies”
A Plug for AgStockPhotos
Some exciting news: I am officially a contributor for AgStockPhotos! Stock photo websites have been places to which I’ve been encouraged to contribute in the past, but the behemoth sites didn’t seem like a place where my photos would be found easily.
Then along comes AgStockPhotos. There are over 1,000 photos of livestock, crops, equipment, barns, and more on the site.
A couple of my first photos (the dog and the hay bale) contributed ended up on the homepage for a little while: Continue reading “A Plug for AgStockPhotos”
Photos from the Otago Peninsula
While I lived in Dunedin, I loved driving out to the peninsula. In less than five minutes, I was back in the country life with the added joy of an ocean breeze.
Here are some photos from a trip to the Peninsula in May.
The Kiwi Hoosier 