A Week of Gratitude: Smiles

"Most smiles are started by another smile."
                                                                                                         --Frank A. Clark

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."
                                                                                                        --Marcel Proust

A Week of Gratitude: Nature's Color Palette

 

 

In honor of Thanksgiving, this week's posts will highlight things for which I am grateful, including a few predictable, humorous and timely topics.  So, let's get started with some gorgeous colors created by Mother Nature, including lots of orange pumpkins, an aqua blue geothermal feature in Yellowstone, branches full of berries and a variegated ornamental grass.  Next time you step outside, take a moment to notice the many naturally occurring colors that contribute to the unique landscape wherever you reside. 

 

 

Yellow Leaves

 

That time of year thou may'st in me behold,

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, --

Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

                                                                                           --William Shakespeare, Sonnet LXXIII

Lock & Dam 11

Today's photo features Lock and Dam 11 on the Mississippi River between Dubuque, Iowa and rural Grant County, Wisconsin.  This particular photo was taken from Eagle Point Park in Dubuque which is located on the bluffs far above the waterway and offers great vistas of the neighboring state, the nearby landscape and the operation of the lock and dam.  And, since some details regarding the dam interest me, I decided to share a few tidbits.  According to information posted on the web by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the average lift is 9.4 feet with the maximum of 11 feet; filling or emptying the lock chamber takes about 7 minutes; and water coming from Lock and Dam 10, in Guttenberg, Iowa, takes 9 hours to reach Lock and Dam 11. 

Thoughts on a Sunrise

"There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope."

                                                                                                                  --Bern Williams

 

 

''Trying to sneak a fastball past Hank Aaron is like trying to sneak the sunrise past a rooster."

                                                                                                 --Joe Adcock

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

These photos contain views of one of Yellowstone's most breathtaking sights, the powerful Yellowstone River as it roars through the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  Be sure to read the details on the sign as they explain the colorful sections of the canyon and more.  There are two major waterfalls, Upper and Lower Falls, and the latter is part of the spectacular vista in the third photo.  And, in case you were curious, the river starts in Younts Peak (in the Absaroka Mountains,) south of the park, and flows over 600 miles to North Dakota where it eventually empties into the Missouri River.

 

 

A Tribute to Veterans

Korean War Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.

 

US Marine Corps War Memorial, Arlington, VA



At the National World War II Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Korean War Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.