this i hold dear

funny how you can get a roll of film back with images you forgot you captured,
realizing how different things were just a few months ago.
how in such a time, you're a different person.

most of these images i made at the farm.
i've taken to documenting the way things are and will never be again,
the things, places and moments i hold dear.
everything changes so fast.
but the one thing that never seem to change is the farm.
it's always windy and sunny.
empty and vast.  full and hidden.
it doesn't matter where i live or travel, how old i am;
when we get a weekend free, i'm on the farm.
working, relaxing, visiting with the grandparents, exploring, wandering.
the only thing that changes is me,
for i'm a different person each time i visit.
the farm and surrounding community seems to be timeless,
the same way i  remember it from when i was 12
(or any age).
a constant.
a happy place.

shot with Canon FTb, fujifilm 200 (more)

ramblin' days

the best weekends

staying up late playing music

getting up early

driving to the farm

rambling around southwest Kansas all afternoon

dad drives and whistles along to wonky John Prine ballads

sis talks

i sit in the back seat

sketching 

 taking pictures of anything

everything

Kansas is weird

its flat

but you top a hill

down

down

down

to a stream with trees

maybe a canyon

the old and the new

wind turbines (windmills) are huge
[the little dark square at the left base is a shed]

a single blade is over 50 yards long

only a fraction of one blad can be carried on an oversize semi load

what are you lookin' at

daisy didn't come

i wasn't lonely, though

this is Tootsie

old

unimpressed

unafraid

fell in love with these green eyes

she followed me around the whole farm

never has that happened before

played on the hay bales*

she followed us all the way out there

it was befuddling

[*last trip they were in  Queen of the Bale]

i think spring is coming to the farm,
one of my favorite places in the world.

no editing or filters used

last summer

some of my favorite photos from last summer

there are none of me, as i hardly ever took my own picture before i started blogging this january

everything looks so full, fat and bushy 

queen of the bale

Pictures from a morning walk out on the farm that turned into an impromptu photo shoot.

"I am Daisy and I am queen"



ah, the wind

Looking west while scooching under an electric fence. Daisy was able to walk under. Yes, there are some perks to being petite.

  
    With these pictures (especially the previous two), I tried to capture the wide, beautiful emptiness of western Kansas.  Granted, not all of Kansas is like this, and neither is all of the western part of the state.  (It's just a bit drier here so the watersheds aren't as deep, and so the hills aren't as high)
So just look at the above picture and imagine turning in a circle and that's all you see, save a few cows  and a few trees on the horizon where the house is.  That's how it is there.  The High Plains of North America are just that. 
Really, its no wonder the wind blows so hard and the Dust Bowl occurred. 
 I really love that sky, though I have to be careful when taking photos because the sky is so big and the ground is just a strip, my subject turns into an unintended silhouette, even in the day.

When walking home, Daisy started shivering and my little sister held her out of pity.  It is so, so easy to spoil a little dog.

Until next time, so long.