Magical Faerie Woods

We are having the most insanely beautiful thunderstorms right now.  It is so lush and green.  It looks like the magical faerie woods around here.  Plus, there's something about southwestern Missouri that is naturally like that.

The hard-pouring rain and loud thunder stopped almost like a conductor stopping an orchestra - all at once.  Eerie!  In between storms, I ran and shot a few photos of my set of favorite eight trees.

Here they are for you to enjoy.

Have a Great Sunny or Rainy Day in Your Neck of the Woods!

Accidental Self-Portrait

I shot a whole bunch of photos recently on a drive from Cape Fair to Walmart in Branson West and back home again.  It's a round-trip set of photos that I'm sure I'll fondly look back upon someday as one of my frequent trips representative of this time in my life.  There were 622 in total.

I was pretty surprised that most of them were clear and some were very good.  I wouldn't consider this photo great, but it sure is interesting.  I caught myself while taking a picture of the road ahead and the hills above Table Rock Lake.  I wasn't aware I was in the photo until I viewed it.  By the way, I was the passenger, so I had plenty of "safe" opportunities to be shooting this many pictures.

The first photo is the original and the second one was edited in PicMonkey, the follow-up to Picnik.  I like both of them.

Pretty Pink-Purple Signs of Spring

I just saw some new Spring flowers on Flickr.  It inspired me to go outside and take photos of the new purple "lawn" that has been sprouting up and taking over in the past few days.  I can't complain about my favorite color taking over!

From a distance, the patches look dark purple, but the closer you get, the more pink it gets.  I enjoy these photos taken just now and I hope they brighten your day too.

Return to My Original Love

I'm going back to my original love of posting pics of land I like.  It's interesting what happened with my relationship with this 5 acres.  I found it on United Country awhile back and loved what I saw.  It's beautiful and it's a great price at $8,500.  But I dismissed it because it's in the "Northern Ozarks" as I call them.

Interestingly, after being down here just above Arkansas, the part of the Ozarks I always thought I'd live in, I find I'm constantly obsessing over missing Kansas City.  After all, it's the area I'm from and Kansas City is home.  The thing is I don't want to live in Kansas City.  I want to live in the Ozarks.  But I sure would like proximity for Kansas City to be my "go to city."

I decided to get a bit creative and be open-minded to the counties within the Ozarks that are nearest to Kansas City.  One of these counties is Morgan and a part of Lake of the Ozarks is located within the county.  You can revisit my favorite map of the Ozarks to see the counties within the Ozarks.

Funny enough, as soon as I started exploring Morgan County, guess which parcel popped up again?  The gorgeous 5 acres that I had loved, but dismissed months before.  Curious how life works in circles.

It is listed by United Country Conner Realty in Stover, Missouri, which is a town, based upon pictures, that I seem to be gravitating to the most in the area.  The county seat is Versailles.  This parcel is listed as Gravois Mills, which is right on the edge of Lake of the Ozarks.  It will be nice to visit the area once it greens up to see how I feel about it in person.

This property is on a hilltop with a view and includes electric, phone and cell signal, which are all good signs.  Drilling for a well seems to be a breeze here with an excellent aquifer.  Typical with remote land, there are no building restrictions, which is what I need because I'm building less than 500 sq. ft.

Here is the photo I fell in love with several months back.

There are two other affordable 5-acre parcels in Morgan County listed by United Country (shown below).  The first one pictured is $7,500 with a small spring and the second one pictured with a waterfall is $9,500.  All three parcels offer free public access to Lake of the Ozarks about two miles away.  Access includes concrete boat ramps, a paved parking area, restrooms, picnic areas and a fishing dock.

It'll be years before I buy my next place, so my love of posting pics of properties will continue on.  I'm patient and it's an enjoyable journey.

Third Snowfall of the Season

I posted pictures a few posts back of the first snowfall which fell in the night, stopped falling by dawn and melted by afternoon.  I didn't post pics of the second one because it continued in the same pattern as the first.  As we all know, this winter season has been warmer than most.

This third snowfall of the 2011-12 season included more snow, but nothing mind-blowing.  It was also distinct because it fell late into the afternoon of the following day rather than stopping at daybreak.

Since it wasn't just a slight ground covering like one and two, being a few inches it made roads a bit tedious.  I don't tend to go out in the snow and drive because I'd rather stay home, but I'd promised a florist in Springfield that I'd help deliver Valentine's Day bouquets.  I was up early and on Highway 13 at 5 am on the 13th while the snow was clearly falling.

I thought it might stop as the sun rose like the first two snowfalls, but nope.  I was surprised when it was still falling later that day.  It made going home just as much of a bear.  But it didn't last long, a good bit of it melted on the 14th and the rest of it in the rain that fell on the 15th.

Now the question remains whether this third snowfall is our final one.

I captured this picture late on the 13th when I got home and I like how the dog's paw prints make a V for Valentine's Day or for Victoria, my name, either way you want to look at it.

I realize I'm a bit late here, but Happy Valentine's Day to Everyone!

Little Book - Big Message

I met Keith Levy of New Zealand via my love of reading about tiny houses.  Keith has been featured by many of the tiny house bloggers.  I do believe I discovered him at Tiny House Listings.  If you want to visit the wonderful world of tiny houses, I have a blog section in my right-hand column.

What attracted me to Keith's Bedford Bus called The Flying Tortoise was the interior.  I saw it and instantly liked it.  Keith named his blog after the bus and I started following it after reading about him.  I really enjoy The Flying Tortoise blog.  It's one of the highlights of my day now because of the funny, quirky posts that always include pictures.  It's the type of stuff I never come across and I always find interesting.

I initially contacted Keith, I believe it was, because I liked how he made me feel like solar could be simple and that's one of the things I'd like to check off my "I've Learned It" list.  I also contacted him because I appreciated how he uses 12-volt cigarette lighters for plug-ins.  That's just my style and I relate to the idea.

My memory fails me because I don't recall how I discovered Keith wrote a book.  I asked Keith about purchasing his book.  Rather than stating a price, he offered to send it to me for free.  I was taken aback a bit.  I wasn't expecting the generous and kind offer, especially considering postage from around the world.

I received the cute little book via a brightly-stamped envelope addressed in Keith's large, highly likable and very memorable handwriting.  I have his envelope propped up so I can look it I like it so much.  He must have a natural ability for good taste in handwriting, typefaces and fonts because the book reflects this gift as well.

Well, I can't share the secret of the book.  You'll just have to be in touch with Keith.  But I can say, it's a lesson and a lifestyle that is well to practice, live and learn.

Home Life

I don't think I can get enough of posting pictures of these two.  Both sleeping in their favorite spots.  Hawthorn, the Ragdoll kitten, is growing by leaps and bounds.

View From Where I Live

I had to post this gorgeous pic of the view from the deck upstairs where I live.  The folks I rent from, he took this pic.  He bought this amazing Nikon earlier in the year and it's one nice camera.

The house is sprawling.  They live upstairs and I live downstairs.  Don't get me wrong, I do not live in a basement.  The house is built on a slope on top of a mountain above an amazing "dragon" lake (looks like a dragon on the map - Table Rock Lake in Missouri) and the downstairs is far above ground.  The view from my bedroom is so high up, it looks like I'm on the second or third floor.

I think you'll enjoy it.

Happy New Year!

A lot of people may not know this, but I lost nearly 70 pounds in 2011 and I feel great! It's wonderful to be in 2012 and the journey will always continue onto greater health.

Happy Holidays

A Very Merry Christmas to All of You!

Christmas Eve Frost

It's quite a frost too!  Everything is white.  It's so pretty.  I noticed it getting cold all night and everything frosting over, but I had no idea what the morning light would bring.

What a sight!

Hawthorn Growing Up and Kansas Being Cute

A couple days before Christmas and Hawthorn is growing like wildfire and Kansas is just as cute as she's always been.

Full Moon

When I took my Saint Bernard out, I saw the full moon.  I just had to grab my eCAM and capture it.  Here are my photos.

The snow has melted and the dew is frozen and sparkly on the ground.