Monthly Archives: March 2015

Weekly Photo Challenge: Wall

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Cheri Lucus Rowlands issued this week’s challenge suggesting that walls are “the canvases of our lives: where stories are read, voices are heard, ideas are shared.” Here are a few walls around my town that communicate some pride and support of our community.

Apparently, no business currently occupies this downtown building, but its boarded up windows lend a bit of beauty instead of blight.

Boarded up windows painted in trompe l’oeil style.

Boarded up windows painted in trompe l’oeil style.

This mural on the local YMCA conveys Creston’s past as its railroad depot and Bluegrass Palace are prominent features, highlighting the role of transportation and agricultural in its economy.

Blue Grass Palace 12'x24', 2002, on the YMCA by Carl Homstad

Blue Grass Palace 12’x24′, 2002, on the YMCA by Carl Homstad

The Creston News Advertiser, our weekday newspaper, invited the Southwestern Community College Art Club to paint this mural on the side of its building in 2006.

Mural on the side of the local newspaper publishing building painted by the SWCC Art Club.

Mural on the side of the local newspaper publishing building painted by the SWCC Art Club.

Three of the four panthers on the wall of the high school gymnasium illicit “Panther Pride.”

Panther mural in the Creston High School gymnasium

Panther mural in the Creston High School gymnasium

Finally, the high school commons is surrounded by photos of the achievements of present and former students. In 1997, the basketball team won the Iowa High School 3A state basketball tournament. My daughter, Katie, was a cheerleader. The cheer squad made it their goal to lead the student body in garnering the “Sportsmanship Award” and they succeeded!

Creston High School Wall of Fame - 1997 3A State Basketball Sportsmanship Award

Creston High School Wall of Fame – 1997 3A State Basketball Sportsmanship Award

You can find more examples of this week’s challenge HERE.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Orange You Glad It’s Photo Challenge Time?

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Starting in my kitchen and then cruising around town, I was able to come up with a little orange to add a dash to the waning winter weather (I love alliteration, too, Michelle W.!)

I especially liked the reflection of this storage unit in the melting ice.

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HERE are more examples of this week’s photo challenge.

Postscript (3/12/15): As I was taking these pictures last Saturday, a tragic event was occurring in our community. Three men, getting in what they perhaps thought would be the last ice fishing day of the season, unfortunately went through the ice and drowned in a farm pond. I personally knew two of the men, Earl Burkhalter and Jim Oshel, a brother of one of my church members. Jim had worked for the Iowa Department of Transportation for 38 years, retiring in 2008. Coincidentally, I included those bright orange vehicles in my original post. Today, one of the Iowa DOT’s trucks led the funeral processional to the cemetery, a fitting tribute to a loyal, long-term employee.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Reward

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Living in rural Iowa for the last twenty years, I’ve seen a lot of wild life, but it’s only been in the last three years that there has been a growing presence of bald eagles. While I have been able to capture a few at a distance, I am often traveling through the a local state park to “see what I can see.” Last week, I saw a large bird, flying solo among all the flocking Canadian geese, who winter at the lake. It wasn’t an eagle but a beautiful red-tail hawk.IMGP9816 Later, I found another hawk roosting in the deserted campground. However, it would fly to another tree every time I approached for a clear shot. Finally yesterday afternoon, I saw it flying toward the camp ground. As I slowly drove into the area, there it was, roosting 40 feet up in a tree no more than 20 feet from the road. I eased the car as close as I could and stepped out on the far side to allow me to stay obscured. Much to my delight, the hawk gave me the “reward” of a three-minute “drive-by” photo shoot.IMGP0223 Here are a few of my distant captures of mature and juvenile eagles feasting on some geese carcasses on a local lake.

You can find some more examples of “reward” HERE.