Going Home to a Warm Wood Stove

My trip down the mountain was to pick up a a perishable package that had been left at the little rural post office ten miles away. The truck plowed through the drifts that had blown across the road during the night. Unconcerned but focused, I slowly inched the truck forward and down the steep hill. Ten years of navigating this narrow twisting mountain road has taught me caution, but I know every bend by heart.

Mission accomplished. The dogs were happy to have gotten out of the house for awhile, and I was satisfied and loaded up with a box of citrus fruit. As we bumped our way back up the mountain my thoughts drifted to the warm wood stove waiting for me to warm my toes by. Our primary source of heat is our reliable Vermont Castings EPA certified wood stove. All summer long we work culling out the dead and dying trees, and improving the health of our forest. Our wood pile steadily grows all summer to provide us with high quality wood heat that wraps around you like a soft warm blanket on a cold winter day.

Going Home
A narrow mountain road disappears up into the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado on a winter day after the road has been freshly plowed.
get purchase information for the photo

Fire Ripple
The heat shimmers through the glass face of the wood stove warming our home.
get purchase information for this photo

For those that might be wondering, we do have several installed propane heaters and two gas fireplaces for back up heat when we are not home to stoke the wood stove. But I'll take my wood stove any day!

Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Sunday Morning Gallery - The Nature of Abstraction

Fine art photography has grown into a true art form of its own. One only has to look in the finest art galleries to find "photos" of fantasy worlds, surreal landscapes, or abstract art. The digital age has given powerful tools to the skilled photographer to be able to create something beyond what the lens sees in reality. Because of this creative well spring, I have become more and more fascinated with abstractions in nature photography. It seems the only limits are the ones we place on ourselves.

I hope you enjoy my dabbling and let me know what you think.

A summer weed goes to seed in the golden light.

Friends in colorful summer shirts sit at a glass patio table creating an instant Monet.

A springtime tree in bud creates fractals in the blue sky.

The winter woodstove shimmers with heat.