Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  Today, we're going "old school" for Serene Scenery Sunday.  We have some photos our mom took yesterday when she and her friend went out birding.  It turned into more of a photo safari - the birds they expected to see were nowhere to be found, so they "took the scenic way home" - and saw some wonderful things.  We thought it might help everyone to step back from the hustle and bustle of Christmas and just get lost (figuratively speaking) in Mom's photos for a few minutes.  Ready?

It was a cold, foggy, drizzly day, so the photos are kind of dark.  It was so dark out, in fact, that deer were still out getting breakfast!

Deers!
Oh.  And cows in the background.

They are White Tailed Deers, not Reindeer, in case anyone was wondering.

Mom took this shot with her iPhone and did a few special effects on it:

Probably was a schoolhouse!

Here's an old barn:

Limestone barn

We think it's a Swedish barn. If any local peeps are reading, it was up near the very northern tip of Tuttle Creek Lake, north of Olsburg. There are a lot of Swedish things in that area.

The barn is still in use; Mom saw these guys having breakfast in the adjacent field:

"Hay!"
"I said moooove!"

This is one of the uncooperative Red Tailed Hawks they saw:

Red Tailed Hawk

Mom said even though they weren't cooperative, they were still really beautiful!

By "taking the scenic route", there were other surprises, waiting for Mom and her friend out there in the fog. Other surprises like this:

Bald Eagles and their nest

Mom said they were way out of camera range (probably 87 million miles away), but it was a thrill to see the two Bald Eagles where they really didn't expect to see them! That "taking the scenic route" can pay off big, can't it?

They also saw these guys:

Sheeps!!!

Sadly, she did not bring any of them home for me and Mags to play with. Can you believe that?

They also saw lots of horses. Here's one Mom really liked:

Horse

Mags and I were a bit baffled by this photo:

"Are you two lost?"

Isn't that a Longhorn?  I thought Mom and her friend were somewhere in the extreme northern part of Kansas, not in Texas!

Anyway, Mom had her iMap program running.  Let's take a look.  They were actually here:

"Let's see.  We're right about ... umm ...  yep.  Middle of nowhere."

Well, that's what iMap had to say, when Mom could get any kind of a signal. Fortunately, her friend's Jeep has a built-in GPS that worked and they got back to Tuttle Creek State Park. Whew! While there, they saw this guy ...

Canada Goose

... and a heron flying over one of the beaver ponds ...

Great Blue Heron

... and a very cooperative gull!

Ring Billed Gull

We hope these photos let a little serenity shine on your day! Remember to step back and enjoy EVERYTHING around you!

If anyone would like to see more of yesterday's photos, please click here.

Cammie!