Winter Came Early This Year

Much to everyone's dismay, temperatures suddenly plummeted the past two weeks and made November much more wintery than usual.  We got about 3-4 inches of snow in Lincoln, experienced icy roads, and had to deal with temperatures in the teens and 20's for most of the past two weeks.  Fortunately, the weather is starting to make a return to more normal seasonal temperatures, and yesterday was around 55-60 again.  Most of the snow is completely gone, and it's much more bearable outside.

I realize that we've been spoiled with the weather the past two years, but it's still hard to cope with colder temperatures.  Last Thanksgiving AND Christmas, I was outside without a coat.  If I'm not mistaken, it was practically shorts weather at Thanksgiving the past two years. We've been spoiled with good weather, and no one remembers what a more typical fall feels like (though, I don't think temps this low are "typical").

Anyway, here are a couple pictures I took during the cold snap.  It's always strange when there are bright orange leaves and snow at the same time...

Free Day at Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo

I know this isn't technically series of photos from Lincoln, but I found it worth posting.  Today was a free admission day at the Omaha Zoo, so my boyfriend and I went early to beat the crowds.  It didn't get busy until we left after 12 p.m. or so, so we were able to wander the zoo in relative peace.

I've never been to the zoo in the fall, but it was a nice change compared to the blistering heat of the summer.  I didn't feel like dying of dehydration as we walked all over the park.  Everything was cool, but I really enjoyed the big cats.  I was pretty amazed by the size of the lions and tigers.  It's easy to forget how large some of the animals are until you're within arm's reach of one.

Anyway, here are a few shots from the day.  We didn't stay to see the entire zoo, but saw most of the highlights.

Fall on UNL's Campus

Lincoln has continued to look pretty this fall.  With the time change, it's been more difficult to go on walks before it gets dark, but here are a few I've taken recently.  All are cell phone pictures, unfortunately, but they still look decent.

I'm worried that our relatively warm fall is about to come to an end.  I hear talk of highs around 45 or lower for most of the week, and that definitely does not thrill me...  I love fall, but hate it when the cold starts to settle in...

Elevated Views

A couple weeks ago, it was LPS' fall break, and my lack of student teaching practicum and mentoring that day meant that I had more time to wander.  I hadn't been up to the top of the Capitol Building in a long time, so I randomly decided to go to the top.  Here are a couple of the pictures I got.  If you can't tell from the last couple posts, Instagram's Tilt Shift feature is growing on me.

Fall Scenes From Around Lincoln

Since I haven't posted anything since September and it's nearly Halloween, I thought I'd put together a bunch of my Instagram photos from the past month.  These are essentially fall scenes from around Lincoln from the past few weeks.  These are all cell phone photos that I take on my various walks around town.  I've been taking advantage of the good weather as much as possible.  I know it's going to start to turn cold and I'll be confined inside.  Besides, it's rather ugly outside after all the leaves have fallen...

Here are the photos in no particular order!

Probably one of my favorite Instagram pics that I've taken thus far.  This is along the trails by the Lincoln Children's Zoo.

Sunken Gardens in the fall (and at all times, really) reminds me of some kind of Elven Kingdom.  It's reminiscent of Rivendell.

Along the Antelope Creek paths close to campus.

A building near the Capitol Building.  I've never really known what it is.

Pretty trees south of the Capitol Building.

Right smack dab in the middle of downtown Lincoln along O Street.

A stretch of trees that are still fairly green along Normal Blvd.

Blue Heron Along Antelope Valley Trails

There has been the creation of quite the strange little stream/pond ecosystem along the Antelope Valley Trails that run through Lincoln.  There have been algal blooms, duck families, tadpoles, and a variety of other pond and stream creatures around this year.

Along the trail, very close to UNL's campus, I routinely see a blue heron.  I don't see it every time I walk along the area, but often enough that I know it must live in the area.  I finally had my "real" camera along the other day, and I was able to sneak close enough for this picture.

Lincoln Pollinator Garden

Recently, the pollinator garden along some of the Antelope Valley trails has really taken off.  This garden didn't exist before this year, so I was fascinated to see the ugly-looking weeds turn into very pretty pink flowers.  I'm not sure precisely what kind of flowers these are, but they have become very attractive and very good at attracting pollinating insects over the past couple weeks.

Here are a few Instagram pictures and panormas.  I typically only encounter this garden on a walk, which is why all of my pics are from a cell phone.  All photos can be clicked on to be enlarged.

September 5, 2014

I went on a walk Friday night after supper on campus while I was waiting around for a guest from out of town, and I happened to bump into my sister.  She's now on campus as a freshman and has taken up my old habit of going for walks all over for exercise.  I figured out that she was on a walk at the same time as me and actually located her in the UNL gardens taking pictures of campus cats.  Clearly she needs to have more stranger danger awareness because she walked right past her own sister without even noticing.  I let her get past me and then tapped on her shoulder to get her attention...

Anyway, we continued our walk together for a time.  We saw decent looking clouds, but neither of us were anticipated a very impressive sunset.  After we parted ways so she could head back to the dorms and I could head back to my apartment, I noticed that the sky seemed to be improving.  All I had was a cell phone to capture the prettiness, but my phone camera is nice enough that it still looks decent.  

It's so hard to predict these good sunsets and to have a camera ready...

Labor Day Sunset

After a couple photography-less weeks due to cloudy and ugly weather conditions and grad school busyness, there was a decent sunset to take advantage of last night.

We've had rain about every day for a week and Labor Day was no exception.  The forecast called for a 0 to 10% chance of rain, so of course weather drew upon that 10% and sent a couple showers in Lincoln's direction.  I was still getting sprinkled on as I was taking these photos.

Also, just for the heck of it, here's a rainbow shot from a couple weeks ago.  I found it on my computer and figured I might as well post it somewhere.  With the unusual amount of rain and storms, there have been far more rainbows in recent months than I typically see around here.

August 8, 2014--Campus Kitties

For the past couple days, I've been weirdly bored because my class ended and my practicum hasn't started yet.  Other than a quick meeting with my cooperating teacher, I haven't had anything going on since Tuesday.  I already cleaned my apartment, finished a book, organized my class stuff, ran errands, bought teacher clothes, taken multiple naps, and spent a copious amount of time on the internet, so I'm rapidly running out of things to do.  To make things worse, it's been cloudy for the majority of the day every day.  I can't stand the gloominess...  I couldn't face the thought of staying in for the rest of the night, so I decided to make a quick trip up to campus to take pictures.  I'm still in the process of editing most of them, but I do have a collage of the campus cats ready.  I saw four different ones tonight, which is somewhat of a record for me.  The bottom right kitty is a new one to me, and very cute!

I think they know me to a certain extent because they don't run away like they used to...  I still could never pet them, but they stand still to let me get pictures.

Anyway, I shouldn't complain about nothing to do because my life is going to be ridiculously busy from here on out, but it's hard to entertain yourself when everyone you know is busy or lives out of town.  Thank God my boyfriend is coming into town tomorrow.  I need some human interaction.

Sunken Gardens

I'm not sure if it's the the greater amount of rain we got this year or just better choice in flowers, but Sunken Gardens looks considerably better this year (in my opinion) than it has the past couple.   I like the overall yellow/purple/red color palette they have going on this year.  I had the opportunity to take a few pictures to continue testing my new camera.

Madrid to Barcelona on the AVE

Here's a little video I made by splicing together short clips from our trip on a high speed train across Spain.  It's funny how it looks very similar to Central Nebraska at times with the flatness and farmland in certain areas.  However, Nebraska is far more green.

I know this is delayed.  I just didn't have as much time to make the video until yesterday.  I had to wait to be done with the grad school projects from my last set of classes before I could sit down and get it done.

July 12, 2014

Tonight, I'm dogsitting, and the dog seemed a tad bored, so we went on a photography field trip.  She got a mini walk and then got to sit in the car on top of a parking garage while I took some sunset photos.  It wasn't the most spectacular sunset I've ever seen, but it was still pretty.  Monday night was so spectacular that it's going to make it difficult for me to find any sunset truly awesome until I see something that tops it.

Anyway, today was extremely hot and humid, but the evening was quite pleasant.  The humidity is getting really old around here.  Every day the air feels like you could cut it with a knife and by noon it's suffocating and miserable outside.  We've been getting rain so regularly that Nebraska feels like a jungle these days...

July 7, 2014 Storms and Sunset

Yesterday gave me the opportunity to get some shots that actually contribute to the original purpose of this blog.  For whatever reason, the storms (non-severe storms) that rolled through yesterday were the perfect type for interesting cloud and sunset photos.

I feel like recently every time storms have come in, the sky has already been cloudy or just ugly.  It's been awhile since I have seen truly interesting and spectacular cloud formations in Lincoln.  There were a lot of storms that went through while I was in Europe, so perhaps I missed many other opportunities.

Anyway, I looked out my window yesterday while my sister and I were waiting around for supper to be ready.  I gasped to see extremely unusual gray cloud formations ahead of a few storms that were coming in from the northwest.  We jumped up and went out to take some pictures.

Later, as the storms were leaving the area, I noticed the glowing light and figured there may be a few more interesting photo opportunities.  I looked outside to see a gold glow in the air and a huge double rainbow. I won't post any rainbow pics because they aren't that amazing.  I haven't figured out exactly how to get full rainbow pictures yet.  I have a wide-angle lens attachment, but I didn't experiment with it in the moment.

A kid from my apartment building saw me taking pics and told me that it looks even cooler "out on West O Street".  I packed up my sister to go investigate.  We quickly realized we would not make it out to West O, and went to the 17th and R parking garage instead.  She quickly regretted her decision to not bring her camera to Lincoln.  I felt bad for her, but I was also glad that I would have the opportunity to use my new camera to capture something cool.

Below are a few of the pictures I got yesterday.  I love sunsets and weather like this.