A Shutter Sisters Manic Monday Combo

Today's Manic Monday word is Season and Shutter Sisters is lamenting the beginning of winter when the cold and bleakness that is the season finds us burrowed in our houses with nary a picture to take.

When the deary wet gray weather is upon us here in the midwest, I find my house takes on a new smell. It is the smell of the outdoors. The smell of burning timber, soot and ash. It is the season when logs are burning in the fireplace at a rate that is constant.

The fireplace in not very efficient...it is more for ambiance than warmth. I sit in front of it so close, my clothes are in danger of combustion and my skin is so hot it is nearly painful. But this is the season that warmth is hard to come by and the colors of crimson, orange, and yellow have left the landscape and this is where I find these things I so crave....warmth, color.

So I hole myself up in my home and I create this sea of flames in the concrete cavern of my wall and once again dream of a season when Mother Nature's landscape will provide me with her palate of colors to shoot and the sun will warm the terra firma.

Manic Monday - Leaf

I shot this while kayaking on Sunday. The water was so calm and still and the sky was cloudless. This lone leaf was just gently floating by as I quietly paddled my way through the still water watching nature just happen around me. There won't be too many days left for kayaking the lake.

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower"

Albert Camus

Manic Monday - Nuts

These are from the black walnut tree in my back yard. There are hundreds of them on the ground after Ike blew through here a couple of weeks ago. We used to pay the kid up the street a nickel a walnut to pick them up...he grew up and no longer works for change.

This is what the squirrels do to them. This messy tree makes me

NUTS

Manic Monday - Juice

Precious 'Juice'

"... For reasons long forgotten, two mighty warrior tribes went to war and touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel, they were nothing." Road Warriors (Mad Max II)

A special thanks to my husband who inspires me

Manic Monday - IRON

Ode to IRON

I once was feeling very low

So I went to see Dr. Joe.

He said, "No wonder you feel like crud,"

"You have IRON poor blood!"

He exclaimed, "Here, take these pills,"

"They'll cure all of your ills!"

So the Dr's. advice I followed

And the pills I swallowed.

Now, my blood is rich indeed

With the element I need...

IRON!

A piece of advice...If you're chewing a lot of ice...check your iron!