Colorado Woodland Forest Landscape

Hush. Do you hear it? The silence that permeates the forest and envelops each branch, twig and creature. Listen. Breath. Sigh at the pleasure that nature grants us every day without asking for any return of favor. Now you hear it. Now you feel it. The beat of your heart, the whisper of a breeze, the rhythm of life.

Misty Pines

A pine forest in the northern Colorado Rocky Mountains takes on a serene glow in the foggy mists.
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As always, I appreciate you sharing your thoughts about editorial, photography, and anything in between in my comments here or on my Facebook Page and Twitter Feed.

December 2010 Free Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

December 2010 is almost here. And if you are like me you are busy with all the preparations to make your holidays special. I hope that my wallpaper calendars make your life a tiny bit easier and fun. I wish you much joy and happiness each and every day. Happy Holidays!

download your free desktop wallpaper calendar for December 2010 here

Easy Instructions
After clicking on the above link
you will be at my Flickr page. Simply click on
"Download the Original size of this photo."
The file will then download to your desktop!

If you have enjoyed this year's desktop calendars you may also like the 2011 Landscapes of the West Wall Calendar. Most of the images you have enjoyed this past year are included in this handy wall calendar where you can save all your important dates. Each photo is featured in beautiful glossy full color. This is a limited printing of twenty and each calendar is signed. Click on the link below to find out all the details and purchase your copy today.

2011 Landscapes of the West Wall Calendar purchase information

Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

Blustery Day - Colorado Rocky Mountains

It was a blustery day in the northern Colorado Rockies. This view from our deck, looking southeast, is often the direction we see weather coming and at times it can be dramatic. A small snow squall was heading toward our home quite quickly and I ran outside to shoot some photos before the sunny blue sky was covered by the cloud of swirling snow. The wind likes to follow the contours of the land and the first icy finger of the small storm raced up the ravine next to our home. I admit it. I love watching weather!

Blustery Day
A snow squall blows through a pine forest under a blue winter sky in northern Colorado.
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Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

Mountain Valley View - Colorado Rocky Mountains

It is the first snowfall. It arrived late this year and followed a sunny summery autumn. So imagine the shockingly cold surprise and sparkling white beauty of this season's first snow. As I breathed in the prickly fine air the world about me seemed new. The sun was catching the fine crystals setting off brilliant sparks on each tree and bush. As I looked down our mountain valley to distant peaks all the shades of winter's blue were around me. My favorite color. I hope you enjoy it too.

Mountain Valley View
The distant hazy blue Rocky Mountains of Colorado are seen through a picture frame of snow clad pines.
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Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

Golden Hillside

The day was cool and misty. It suited my temperament and put an extra lift in my step. The scent of pine enveloped me and stole my attention from everything else for a moment. Then, as I gazed down the hillside, a sprinkling of yellow flowers had seemingly appeared in the instant of my attention. I had to get close to the earth and take in their beauty in a gulp. The fog crept closer and the trees beyond the little mountain meadow started to disappear into the mist. I felt small sitting in the dirt with my mouse view. The world shifted and I was suddenly no one and everything all at once. Nature once again stole me away.

Spring Gold
A grassy hillside is sprinkled with late spring blooming yellow flowers and the majestic pines in the background are shrouded in a misty fog.
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Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Grandmother Pine

Grandmother Pine stands where the cold winter wind blows the strongest. The gale is channeled up a steep narrow canyon and breaks over the ridge exactly where she stands. Her trunk is thick and twisted. Her branches are short and sturdy. She barely notices the brutal blast that pushes me about like the fragile being that I am. She offers sanctuary to every creature under her thick boughs where the air is quiet and the light dim. She stands protectively over all who accept her embrace. Thank you for your shelter, Grandmother Pine.

Thank you for your patience regarding my computer difficulties. I am up and running smoothly again, although a bit behind. So my return is a little slow, but I will catch up and have many new photographs as the week progresses. Check back often.

Grandmother Pine
An ancient and twisted ponderosa pine has withstood time and the severe weather on a mountaintop in Colorado.
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Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

March 2010 Calendar for your Computer

It is almost March. That means spring is just around the corner for most of us. The cold winter snow will be gone for one more year. But before it is totally gone the mists will surround the pines and flow like water down the mountain slopes in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

Here is your new desktop calendar for March 2010. If you would like to purchase this photograph you can find the information on the archival quality fine art photo of Evening Fog here. I hope you enjoy your free calendar!

download your free desktop wallpaper calendar for March 2010 here

Easy Instructions
After clicking on the above link
you will be at my Flickr page. Simply click on
"Download the Original size"
at the top left of the page.
The file will then download to your desktop!

Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Eagle in the Mist

Winter's breath frosts the landscape outside my window in every shade of white. Snow is lightly drifting falling floating from the sky. Fog creeps slowly through the pines whispering murmuring calling me outside. I can not resist. I love the softness of the world. I bundle up in layers of soft billowy sweaters. Camera in mittenclad hands I step forth from the porch. The dogs race ahead as I wander down the little trail away from our home.

The snow crunches under my heavy boots. I pass by tiny frosted firs glimmering in contrast to the fog shrouded dark pines, and head toward the saddle, a low point on the connecting ridges. With steaming breath held I watch as a single solitary bald eagle appears out of the foggy mist like a ghost bird and silently disappears. Our mission seems accomplished. With frozen fingers and paws, we return home to our warm cabin on the hillside nestled in the tall pines.

Frosted Pines
Chilling and frigid arctic air envelopes the tiny frosted fir tree in a northern Colorado pine forest.
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Eagle Pines
A snowy mountain hillside shrouded in a cold fog is the home of an American bald eagle.
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Cabin in Pines
A cedar sided cabin is perched on a snowy slope and nestled in a pine forest of northern Colorado.
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Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Happy Holidays to all my Friends

The holidays are here and it is one of my favorite times of year. I will be taking time off to spend with my family the next couple weeks. My Mom is visiting from Ohio, my husband has a little time off, and my daughter is with us. So I plan on playing games, taking long walks, baking cookies, and maybe even building a snowman. I wish each one of you a very merry and festive celebration with your loved ones and only the best for the coming new year. I will come back refreshed and ready to go after New Years. In the meantime, I hope you will accept this small gift of a desktop calendar for your computer. Just click the link and when you get to Flickr download the file. See you next year!

download this free desktop wallpaper calendar for January 2010 here

Easy Instructions
After clicking on the above link
you will be at my Flickr page. Simply click on
"Download the Original size"
at the top left of the page.
The file will then download to your desktop!

Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Christmas Tree Hunt

Every year for the last ten we have ventured out into the forest to cut our Christmas tree. We usually start searching for the right tree that we want to invite into our home for the holidays in the fall, when the ground is still bare and it is much easier to walk through the rugged terrain.

Cutting your own Christmas tree can be very satisfying. First you have to hunt one down. Then after stalking it for awhile and making sure there is not a better candidate to be found, you wait for the Christmas season to arrive. Finally it is time and you are ready for your tree, but you look at your mate and say, "Where did we see that tree?" Finally, memories intact and boots on, you trudge through snow to where you remember you found the tree, and with a rather small but dangerously sharp hand saw you cut it down and drag it home. Mission accomplished!

We have a forest of primarily Ponderosa Pines and Douglas Firs around our home and the little firs make the best Christmas trees. They smell like lemons when freshly cut and are soft to the touch. Plus they always grow at least two feet after you bring them inside.

Western Man in Winter
A man on a mission to find the perfect Christmas tree ventures out into the snowy wilderness of a Colorado forest.
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Is this the one?

Holiday Front Door
My very own front door and snowy stone walk decorated for the holidays beckon the weary traveler to stop in for a cup of hot chocolate.
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Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

A Mountain Home in the Colorado Rockies

The cold arctic air continues to dip down into the Colorado Rockies and sprinkle us with snowfall. One thing that is different for me from most people is that I live five miles from a paved road. Much of this dirt road is private and does not get plowed by any government entity. So anyone that lives on this road is responsible for keeping it passable in the winter months. My husband typically plows about a mile and a half of steep treacherous terrain with his sturdy Ford F150 and an attached snowplow. The other three neighbors pitch in for the remainder. That is another thing that is different for us. We really do rely on our neighbors.

Many of you know I live in a remote off-grid home and I thought I would share a bit of my lifestyle with you. There is too much to talk about in one post so I will try to mention just a bit at a time. If any of you have questions, please ask. I may even do a post about your question.

Stellers Ridge Snow
A winter wonderland of snowy pines greets me when I walk down my mountain top drive in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
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Snowy Home
This is a textured artistic interpretation of my off-grid home on a snowy winter day.

Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Spring Snow in Colorado

I usually do a Sunday Morning Gallery post and I had one prepared for today, but because many of you know I live in the foothills of northern Colorado, and may have heard of our intense spring storm I decided to post some photos. It has been a crazy few days.

It snowed all night Thursday and all the next day and through the next night too. Our landscape became surreal as the heavy wet snow clung to everything. The giant ponderosa pines, which normally can handle heavy snows, were swaying like drunken sailors with the heavy weight.

Then the snapping and popping like a rifle shot started as the tops, branches, and whole trees came crashing down around us unable to sustain the huge weight. I started to wonder when it would stop by that time and listened for house groans, but none came. Our post and beam construction held strong.

I am very happy to get this moisture after a very dry winter here in Colorado, but when it comes all at once it can be challenging. But now the road is plowed, the fire is stoked, and dinner is cooking away. All is cozy, safe and warm on a spring day on Stellers Ridge.

Road to Town

It is an unsettled spring day in Colorado. The dark cloudy sky looks as if it is about to dump rain or snow but there is no moisture in the forecast. The dusty road winds across the top of the ridge to the saddle, a low point, where the road turns down into a steep ravine. It is always this ravine that becomes impassable when the spring snows come. This year they did not come so we hope for rain instead. It makes going to town easier when the steep road is clear of ice and snow. And there are no complaints when the plow sits idle. For now we will wait and see if the rains come. These are my thoughts as I bump down the dusty road.