JANUARY 30th UPDATE - Nine degrees at first light today, with highs the past two days in the 40's. The road grader cleared the county road and Ispent a couple hours on the tractor getting our driveway cleared enough so that we could get out with either of our cars - YEA!! Next day I spent most of it on the road getting newtires for Pam's Subaru, and then to Fayetteville for some upcoming wedding anniversary business. As I turned to cross the big Buffalo River briidge at Ponca to head home, I decided to make a U-turn and visit the river just to see what it looked like with what snow was left. I wandered out to the low-water bridge and then realized - IDIOT!!! There was a beautiful scene right at my feet with an usual ice island and great reflections of of the far bank lit up with golden light of sunset. Of course I didn't bring my CAMERA with me, so bolted back to the car and grabbed my camera pack and tripod but in the two minutes it took me to make that trip aand get back to the bridge, the sun had set and the beautiful lightwaas gone. These things do often that fast, going from spectacular to dull in a very short time.

There was some of that same light upstream a bit and from the bridge I could see calm water and reflections, so I headed upstream through the woods toward the light. Got better with eachstep, but italso got worse - Iknew that liight would only last a few more minutes. Soon I arrived next to a thin ice island where I thought I could gett a good view of the reflections from. Problem - I was wearing thin trail-running shoes (which I LOVE for hiking, but no way they would repel any water). My only way out to the Ice island would be to wade on in with my brand newshoes.The light was literally disappearing by the second, so I splashed right on into and across the icy water to the ice island. "Take a moon-landing shot" I told myself, and I dug out an old, well-used camera that was now my main camera and took a picture.

Turned out the light lasted about ten more mniutes, and Ispent every moment of it taking pictures what was an amazing scene - I never gave another thought to my wet shoes and now freezing feet. The photo above was just a cell phone snap, but I got a pretty nice image with my old big camera that you may see in the 2027 calendar. On the way back to the car I discovered a herd of elk was standing in the river back at the low water bridge - most likely watching me the entire time and laughing, hahaha.

YESTERDAY I returned to the low water bridge early to see if I could catch that brilliant light, but of course there were clouds and no beautiful light, and the ice island I first saw the day before was gone.

No problem, I was at the Buffalo River in the winter and my camera in hand, so I headed over to the Buffalo River Trail and hiked it downstream to see what I could find. I only made it a couple hundred yards before I found a brilliant scene below with lots of tree shadows cast onto white snow-covered ICE that covered about half the width of the river. I quickly set up my big old camera and took three shots before the sunshine disappeared. It would never return. And while I DID remember to bring and activate my "find-me-spot" tracking device (so Pam could follow where I was in real time), I did not have my phone camera with me to record "moon shots" - so I have nothing to show you until I get time to process one of those images.

No sunshine, but it was still light so I continued downstream following the river. I stopped and took photos a time or two but mostly just to practice with my new/old big camera and dinky tripod. Not much to write home about and daylight was fading so i headed back to the car. Then son-of-a-gun I happened to be peering over the edge of a bluff and down on the river was a really beautifully-patterend layer of floating ice, which included holes and irregular edge shapes, all reflecting the sky and tree silouehetts along the far bank.

I set up my camera gear and spent the next 30 minutes taking pictures - always trying to find that one most-unique scene to share, all the while keeping my fingers crossed that the clouds/sky above would light up the water and ice - but it never did. I stayed there, shievering, until almost dark before giving up and heading home. No matter - I think Imay have at least one image for a calendar, and that's always a win for me!

One last note from the previous couple of days, I've spent a good bit of time our roamingthe woods on our propety - during the edges of daylight and also at night - we've had some very nice moonlight this week. Few things are as interesting as hiking through the snow-covered and forested landscape in the moonlight. I'll share a photo or two here eventually, and maybe in a calendar. I will say that critter tracks were really most interesting to me this time.. HAPPY FRIDAY TO YOU!!!

JANUARY 27th UPDATE - a balmy 12 degrees this morning, but supposed to get up to 42 later - a tropical heat wave! I spent a good deal of time ysterday and last night roaming around our woods taking snow shadow pictures during both sunlit and moonlit times. Maybe one will be good enough for a 2027 calendar? (I haven't seen any of them yet.)

I also got both of our cars stuck in the driveway. OOPS. I commented to Pam first thing saturday morning that THIS was a very WEIRD snow - not like normal snow or ice, but rather it seems to be some sort of compected and pulverized ice crystals that appear to be snow (a foot deep in some places, mostly 7-8"). My all-wheel drive Toyota van went up to the gallery and back OK a couple of times, but once it just sat there and would not budge. I finally got it free and returned to the house. With a doctor's appointment this morning in Harrison I figued it would be better to take Pam's 4WD Subaru to Harrison (known for their terrific snow travel - and hers even has their speial "X" mode for deep snow). It also got stuck in the parking lot of the gallery, but I eventually got it free and returned to the cabin just fine. BUT then it got stuck on the garage apron and refused to drive the last ten feet into the garage - stuck as a winter frog, wouldn't go either direction, just all fours spnning. (I eventually shoveled snow paths behind it to get free, then managed to get into the garage.)

Since our county road had not been plowed yet (crews have SO MUCH work to do right now), and figured there was no way I'd make it to Harrison this morning, so I had to cancel my appointment. I've prided myself in never having to cancel, but if I tried and got one of our cars stuck in the middle of the county road then we would really be in a mess, haha. Here's wishing you a CLEAR ROAD AHEAD today!

snow shdows along the trail

JANUARY 26th UPDATE - SUNSHINE returns! 2 degrees at dawn, and no wind so it's much more comfortable being outdoors. We got another couple inches of snow yesterday afternoon. Everything is frozen crispy this morning, not fluffy. Lots of melting later as the temp soars into the 20's today, which will then create a solid, thick layer of ICE tommorrow morning across the landscape. HAPPY MONDAY to you!

JANUARY 25th UPDATE - not much additional snow during the day yesterday. Although once when I hiked up to the gallery last night to check humidity levels in the print room, somethiig was coming down (my guess it was sleet), enough to kind of wipe our my very fresh tracks in the snow so much so that I could not tell which tracks were fresh and which had been made an hour before (Wilson had turned back to the cabin halfway).

By first light today Wilson and I trudged up the trail to the gallery and those tracks were mostly covered up. I hiked around and took snow-depth measurements in several places in the woods, driveway, parking lot, and open meadow, and every spot was about 6" deep*. I suspect we probablly got 2-3 inches more than that in some form of frozen, but that was it. Very little stuck to trees or leaves, so it wasn't one of those picture-postcard events. I made five or six trips up to the gallery and back to the cabin during the day yesterday but never took any photos. Temp hovered between 4 and 11 F., with wind chills cooler, but not so much that I ever put on my snowmobile suit - just a normal down jacket and heavy rain coat. I got a lot of work done on a big project, and am HOPING to FINALLY complete it TODAY. HAPPY SUNDAY TO YOU!

*Just for fun, I drove my soccer-mom mini-van up to work this morning and it's belly never drug in the snow - so either my ground clearence is higher than advertised, or the snow in the road was not as much (I've always considered the ground clearence to be less than 6" on this car - my previus cargo van was only about 4"). I'm probably going to get a 2" lift, but it drives so well as it is I almost hate to change it at all. Pam's Subaru is about 8".

Cloudland Journal winter weather report, January 24. Temp is about 7 with wind chills now and then dipping below zero. At 11 this morning we only have 4-5 inches of very dry powder snow (not sticking to trees or power lines). Not good for snowmen, but maybe ice cream!? Supposed to be a larger snow system tonight. I'm working in the gallery most of the day - trying to get caught up as usual. It's 62 inside at my desk. I wonder if they make heated keyboards? It feels like lunchtime and I bet Pam has something yummy cooking (that will include FRITOS!) so I'm gonna suit up and go dashing through the snow down for a bowl. HAPPY WINTER WEEKEND TO YOU!

01/17/26 Yesterday I made the long trek down to Mena in the Ouachta Mountains for my 11th and final slide show of the season (at UA Rich Mountain Campus). I'll give the show once more this summer at a photography gathering in Little Rock and that will be it. With only one small hiccup (I had a cord plugged in backwards), everything went of without a hitch this season - I always hold my breath from start to finsh during these shows that neither I or the equipment malfunctions. MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO ATTENDED ANY OF THE PROGRAMS - I couldn't have done it without YOU!

THANKS ALSO to everyone who visited our Canvas Prints Gallery this holiday season. As always, great to see each of you and hear your thoughts and answer questions. I hope everyone found the extra effort to get here to be worth your time...

Cloudland Journal, January 10 - cool and gloomy this morning - GREAT for hiking! We had a pretty good crowd for my show at Hot Springs Village a couple of days ago - ALWAYS a great time with the Audubon Society there! My LAST slide show of the season will be next Friday in Mena, then I'll be done.

01/02/26 We had a delightful time last night at the Top-Of-The-Rocks holiday light show (near Branson, Missouri). EXpensive and CROWded, but it was a wonderful experience we got to share with daughter Amber and her Dayton (he's a keeper!). We got to see them a day before Christmas also at their home in Springfield, and took this photo (below) - they have a pair of puppies, one is actually a small HORSE dressed in a puppy dog outfit (he is as tall as Amber!). FYI, our two puppies are doing just fine and were with us (snoozing outside in our camper van - they are not social with other dogs so we have to keep them away.

Luna (pup),Tim, Pam, Amber, Hubble (pup), Dayton

My rear windshield this morning after "hours" of "rainfall" (according to the Weather Channel, haha). I do realize my rearwindshield is kinda dirty, but since I don't use it at all it really doesn't matter (both of my vehicles have digital rear views (SO MUCH better!).

01/03/26 Wilson surveys his woodland kingdom. A weird fog set in yesterday evening and it's still here today - kind of a chilly 35 degree temp, but is one of those air masses that when you breathe deeply you inhale sweet moisture deep into your lungs.

01/04/26 I sat on the couch sipping Cloudland Java as a sea of clouds spread out below and started to change color. Soon the sky followed and before long there was an AMAZING scene - forced me outside and onto the deck at least a dozen times to take another photo. Each trip yielded more and more color. Eventually the color drained away as the brilliant sun approached. I like this shot the best.

BUT WAIT, that was JUST THE BEGINNING of what would turn out to be an EPIC day in the life of our little clan of cave bears. Our daughter, Amber, while hiking with her best buddy for life, Dayton, paused on the trail for a moment - and Dayton produced a beautiful engagement ring (he had previously shown to us when asking permission for her hand a couple of weeks ago) - SHE SAID YES!!! (you could probably hear us yell YIPPIE COYOTE!) Happy Campers all around!