We've Moved

I now have a new blog where I regularly post:

A Joyful Cottage (my home and garden blog)

I'd love it if you would visit me there!

Blessings,

Nancy



My Lawn Sprinkler

I captured my husband during his favorite morning pastime, watering our yard.  When I asked him why he was bothering to water since we've sold our house and will close on July 1, he answered, "God wants me to take care of the place for the next guy."

I love this man.

 

 

 

 

(Just a note that after June 30 I'll no longer be posting at Joyful Altitude. It's been a great run, but we're moving to parts yet unknown, and the altitude part of my blogging will be over. My blog will still be here, I just won't be updating it.  The URL will change, though. It will become www.joyfulaltitude.blogspot.com.  I'm giving up my custom domain.  I'll continue to blog at ajoyfulcottage.com.)

 

 

Sharing today with Wordless Wednesday at Create with Joy

Big Red

This big red barn is the first of a series of barn shots I took while on a recent driving trip through Oregon.

We were outside John Day, Oregon

when this beauty popped up.

I love all the air vents. They almost look like windows.

 

Sharing today with Barn Charm

 

Back Door Friends Are the Best

Lately I've been out of the blogging loop while I work on a writing assignment. However, I did take the time to snap a few shots of this extraordinarily friendly fellow after the big May 1 snowfall we received.  He came right up to my back door and posed for me.

 

I wanted to share it with Weekly Top Shot as it is not only my top shot this week, but truly a once in a life time shot. 

 

A special thanks to Mr. Elk for being such a good sport.

 

 

 Weekly Top Shot Blog Hop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



What?

 

Another elk in the snow photo.

 

 I don't know why, but the second elk looking up just struck me as so funny. What is she looking at?

 

The tree branch?

 

The falling snow?

 

 

Or is she just day dreaming?

 

 

I tend to apply human characteristics to animals.

 

 

Maybe she's just an elk looking up for no particular reason.

 

 

But I don't think so.

 

 

 

Sharing today with Weekly Top Shot

Snowbound

 

 

 

 

I like this photo taken through our front window  because there's blue sky behind the icicles.

 

Which is nice.

 

Because it means, for now at least, it's not snowing.

 

Three feet of snow in three days and I've been housebound.

 

Here's a summary of my rural life this week.

 

I watched my car slowly disappear from view.

 

 

I watched the elk descend from the mountain,

through our homestead and cross the street.

(Yes, that is a For Sale sign in our yard.

We put our house on the market this week.

And no, we're not sure where we moving to. Yet.

But I'm hoping for someplace that doesn't snow in April.)

 

 

 

I watched my husband brave the elements and attempt to dig us out.

 

 

 

 

 I cooked.

 

 

 

 

 

 I baked.

 

 

 

 

 

I baked some more.

 

 

 

And I took photographs.

 

I think I need to make a trip to the store for more flour before it starts snowing again.

 

 

 

I'm sharing with

Rurality Blog Hop

Friday's Fences



This Week on Our Homestead - Mr. Coyote

“Coyotes move within a landscape of attentiveness. I have seen their eyes in the creosote bushes and among mesquite trees. They have watched me. And all the times that I saw no eyes, that I kept walking and never knew,

there were still coyotes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"When I have seen them trot away,
when I have stepped from the floorboard of my truck, leaned on the door,
and watched them as they watched me
over their shoulders,
 

 

 

 

"I have been aware for that moment
of how much more there is.
Of how I have only seen only an instant

of a broad and rich life.”  

--Craig Child, The Animal Dialogues:

Uncommon Encounters in the Wild

 

Sharing with Weekly Top Shot, Camera Critters

 



Lake Estes in Spring

 

 

Lake Estes

Estes Park, Colorado

 

 

Sharing with

Wordless Wednesday

Our World Tuesday

 Nature Notes



He is Risen - Just as He Said

"He is not here; He has risen, just as He said"

Matthew 28:6

 

A single cross stands atop the mountain behind our little cottage. A daily reminder to me of my Lord's sacrifice. Today I look at the cross and say to myself, "The cross is vacant. He's not there. And He's not in the tomb.

The grave couldn't hold Him. 

He is risen, just as He said."

 

For some people today may just be a Sunday like any other Sunday.  A day like any other day. But not for me, nor for others who have received Jesus Christ as their Savior. Today is Resurrection Sunday.  A day we set aside to honor Jesus' sacrifice and celebrate His miraculous resurrection.

He is risen, just as He said.

 

Jesus is risen.  He lives. He lives in the hearts of those who have placed their trust in Him and His work on the cross. To all who have said, "Yes, Lord, You are the perfect sacrifice for my sins. The only sacrifice acceptable to a holy God. Here's my heart. Take it and make it Your home."

 

A vacant cross.

 

An empty tomb.

 

A full heart.

 

Hallelujah! He has risen, just as He said.

 

 

Sharing with
Inspire Me Monday
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dawn's Light

 

 

Dawn tiptoed over the mountain and peaked through the ponderosas this morning.

 

I stepped outside the back door and focused my lens on her light.

 

She allowed me one photograph.

 

Then, like a camera shy child, she ran away.

 

 

“Have you ever given orders to the morning,
    or shown the dawn its place,"

Job 38:12

Friday's Fences
Weekly Top Shot
 

 





Snow Day

This is my kind of snow day.

Gently sifting white confetti.

Tranquil.

Peaceful.

Made from scratch beef stock.

Liquid love.

Simmering.

Its warm aroma fills our little home.

I'm content.

And more blessed than a woman has a right to be.

"If you surrender completely to the moments 

as they pass, you live more richly those moments."

-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Sharing with Rurality Blog Hop and Friday's Fences

Barn Break

I've been working on a writing assignment for Wesleyan Publishing the past three weeks, which has kept me on my computer but away from my blog. :(

Sometimes one just has to take a break and reconnect with one's blogging friends, so here I am. . .

breaking and reconnecting.

The barn photo is from my Nebraska file.

You can see Scottsbluff in the background

Hope your Tuesday is progressing nicely.

Linking up with Barn Cham #121

The Boys Are Back In Town

Seven mule deers visited our homestead this morning.

I've never seen this many together at once.

"How many are your works, Lord!
    In wisdom you made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures."

Psalm 104:24

Sharing with Weekly Top Shot

Rocky Mountain High in Colorado

Loch Vale, RMNP

Today I'm joining Wanda Ann of "Memories By the Mile" and her "Tuesday Trivia - Colorado". 

It's been almost three years since I first moved to Estes Park, Colorado with my new husband, and I've been blogging about life at high altitude almost that long. One of the best things that has happened to me here is discovering the joy of photography. My husband gave me his spare camera after seeing the poor images I captured with my little cell phone (I didn't own an iphone), and I've been pointing and clicking ever since. Blogging gives me the opportunity to pair photography with my other creative outlet: writing. 

Since we live just 10 minutes from Rocky Mountain National Park, I thought I'd give you a tour of this magnificent place through my camera lens.

Endo Valley

Rocky Mountain National Park is visited annually by over 3 million people. And it's no wonder, when you consider the natural beauty of its 415 square miles.

An abundance of wildflowers and native plants can be seen in the park from early spring to the first snow. 

Wild Rose

Choke Cherry

Indian Paint Brush

Fireweed

Bush Sunflower

RMNP boasts over 300 miles of hiking trails. I've only been on a few of them, but each one has left me in awe of what God has created.

Bear Lake

Moraine Park

Endo Valley Picnic Area

Hallett's Peak

Sprague Lake

Alberta Falls

Upper Beaver Meadows

Fern Lake Trailhead

Fire Trail to Loch Vale

Meadow just off Old Fall River Road

Glacier Creek

Upper Beaver Meadows (Longs Peak in the distance)

Chasm Falls

Longs Peak is a well-known landmark in RMNP.

At 14,259 feet, Longs Peak is the highest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park and Boulder County, and the 15th highest peak in Colorado. People from all over the world come to climb it.

I never tire of photographing the wildlife inhabitants of Rocky Mountain National Park.

From the large

Bull Elk

Elk Cows at the Watering Hole

Bull Elk Resting in the Tundra

Bull Elk in Sprague Lake

Bull Moose

Buck

to the small

Doe and Fawn - Endo Valley

Coyote

Myna Bird

to the tiny

"Chippy"

and the tiniest.

Hoary Comma

Because we live in a protected area, I'm blessed to have wildlife photo ops in town and our homestead. 

Yard Bunny

Chillin' downtown

Uh-oh, there she is with her camera again.

Lazin' on a sunny afternoon.

Baby Elk don't care where they nurse. This is near downtown Estes.

Twin Fawns in our side yard.

Mama Doe and her twins crossing the street in front of our homestead.

Bull Elk downtown Estes.

Elk Cow in our side yard.

A herd of deer in our yard.

Gentle bunny in our yard.

Doe seen from my kitchen window.

Nuthatch in one of our ponderosa pines.

A hummer stopping for a treat.

A sweet fawn peeks around the back of our barn studio.

These sweethearts hung around our homestead all summer.

The deer especially can be very tame and easy to capture with my camera. But there are some animals I prefer to photograph from a very safe distance.

Driving through the canyon we spotted this bear trying to get into a trash bin. We pulled over to get some photographs. No humans were harmed in capturing this image. (Translated to "I never got out of the car.')

Well, that's it. Too many photos, maybe? I hope I didn't bore you. 

Enjoy your Tuesday, and stop by Memories by the Mile to see Wanda Ann's post on Colorado. She's got some great shots.



Linking to:
Memories by the Mile