CMMC: October Autum Colors

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With Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge of “October Autumn Colors” in mind, I carried my camera on walks in Billings city parks over the last several days. There weren’t nearly as many yellows, oranges and reds as I expected! Here is an early October 2022 glimpse of the varied vegetation in Montana’s largest city (population 117,116).

Riverfront Park, Billings, Montana. October 8, 2022.

The Yellowstone River marks the southern edge of Riverfront Park – a place flooded by the river back June. Dirt trails to the river’s edge take off through the woods from the single paved path.

Phipps Park, Billings, Montana. October 10, 2022.

Phipps Park is in the Rimrocks on the northwestern edge of Billings and includes a steep hike to the top. Once at the top, there’s plenty of open space to roam.

Pioneer Park, Billings, Montana. October 11, 2022.

Closer to the center of Billings, Pioneer Park is far more developed than either Riverfront or Phipps Park. While there are many amenities (see https://www.billingsparks.org/location/pioneer/), the tall trees are the best reason to walk there.

CMMC August Pick a Topic: Ship and Water

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Ship on the Columbia River; west of Astoria, Oregon. October 13, 2011.

Cee’s photos in her “pick a topic” for this week’s Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge made me think of vacations in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. So I searched through digital files for this week’s challenge and found three to share.

Shipwreck, Oregon Coast, Pacific Ocean. May 12, 2010.

Are fisherman’s boats also called ships? Probably not. But I liked the reflections on the water in this last picture.

Fishing Boats, Fisherman’s Terminal, Seattle, Washington. October 7, 2018.

CMMC August Color: White

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White seemed an unusual color for a hot air balloon, but with a little sunshine, a beautiful blue sky and fluffy white clouds I thought it rather striking!

Though I’d missed the launching of balloons at the Big Sky International Balloon Rendezvous 2022 that morning I thoroughly enjoyed chasing balloons as they traveled east of Billings, Montana. This second photo was taken seven minutes after the first one.

Early the next morning I was at the launch site and got a shot of the white balloon being filled with hot air.

Posted in response to Cee’s Midweek Madness Color Challenge – White.

CMMC July Alphabet: Letter L at End of Word

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Journal, Pencil, Bell

July’s Alphabet for Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge is Letter L at the End of the Word. Rather than scroll through the digital files, I looked around for some things to photograph.

Desk Bell

The desk bell was used by my first grade teacher and is now in my bell collection!

Pencil

No fun story for the pencil; it’s just one of many in a cup.

CMMC: July Pick a Topic – Flowers, Trees and Hats

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Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge – July Pick a Topic from [her] Photo prompted me to head to Zoo Montana / Yellowstone Arboretum with camera in hand. I knew I would find flower beds with trees in the background and hoped there might be a person or two wearing hats.

Volunteers – wearing hats! – with the Botanical Society of Zoo Montana were tending the Sensory Garden.

May there be sunshine and flowers to brighten your day!

Children at Rose Park

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Playground

I headed to Rose Park here in Billings the other day thinking there might be roses to photograph. Although I didn’t any roses, I discovered children of all ages at the park by 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning!

The tennis courts were busy, young adults were playing sand volleyball, preschool age children were on the playground, and there was a Little League game on the baseball field.

Watching Little League Baseball

The flower garden sponsored by Compassionate Friends Billings Chapter was being tended by a woman whose son died by suicide at the age of 41. As she and I talked I was reminded that we will always by children to our parents or to those who raised us.

Forever Loved sculpture by Drew Brown

May you have child-like curiosity, delight, and enthusiasm in your life today.

Posted in response to the Ragtag Daily Prompt – Children.

CMMC – Primary Colors

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Blue Brushes

Painting was one of the first tasks when I moved from Iowa to Montana about a month ago.

Red Is Her Favorite Color

Coloring after supper at my parents’ home. Not sure who enjoys it more: my mom or the two-year-old who lives next door!

Yellow Crayon in a Toddler Hand

Posted in response to Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge with Primary Colors as theme of the week.

Wait! What? Cee listed the primary colors of light: red, green and blue. I looked for pictures with the traditional primary colors of blue, red, and yellow. So here is one more photo.

Green Tape