October is nearing an end....

Well, 'tis Halloween and the last day of October.  I have to be honest, though October is typically one of my favorite months, this one left much to be desired.  The weather was great and the fall colors were beautiful, but stress was at a high point at work.  The students I teach haven't had a true break since early September, and they are in desperate need of one.  It was just a long haul, and I'm glad I'll start Monday in November.  Parent teacher conferences are this week, which is (strangely) a relief. It means only three days of regular class, which will give students some time away.... and the teachers time away from them.  It's funny how everyone's face reads "FATIGUE" these days.

Anyway, as I mentioned, fall is out in full force.  I tried to get outside as much as possible to take advantage of photography opportunities.  Here are a few mixed Instagram and "nice camera" shots I took around Omaha:

Tropical, very non-autumn plants in the greenhouse at Lauritzen Gardens.

Indoors at Lauritzen Gardens

Wide angle shot of a fountain at the greenhouse

Another wide angle shot of the tropical-ness

Stones under the pond...how serene.

Mums...the quintessential fall flower.

Red....

Trains!  

Not sure what these are, but they're interesting.

Memorial Park looking gorgeous on a fall night.

Another shot of Memorial Park.

Bright leaves...

West Maple after a rain storm I got caught in..... I got stuck on a trail with no real roof to stand under...it was special.  I had to call my brother to come get me because the rain wouldn't stop.

Autumn in Omaha has finally arrived...

Due to extremely wet and warm conditions, trees have been taking their sweet time changing colors in the Omaha metro area.  However, nighttime temperatures have finally started dropping and we haven't received any precipitation for a couple weeks, so the colors have finally begun appearing.

I have a several Instagram photos attached from my walks around west Omaha.  Taking walks is one of the few things that helps me de-stress after a long and/or horrible day at school, so I'm taking advantage of the outdoors as much as possible before winter.  School has been busy and grueling recently, so I'm really just trying to make it through October.  I've heard from several veteran teachers that once you reach November, things go considerably faster.

Omaha Skyline...for real this time....

My fiancé and I were a little sick of the scenery on the west side of Omaha, so we decided to make the trek across town to the Old Market and business district.  We walked around, and I had the opportunity to get actual skyline pictures for a change.  It's kind of a rare occurrence these days since I live far away from any actual skyline....  I don't miss my old apartment, but I do miss living close to downtown Lincoln sometimes.  There was always fodder for photography there...

Anyway, it was unseasonably warm, so we didn't even need coats at night for our little jaunt around downtown.  We even had a random day when it was 90+ degrees.  It hasn't felt much like autumn at all yet....

September Summary

Howdy,

Since I have been in a whirlwind of activity for the past two months and because I failed to post at all in September, I thought I'd do a quick "summary" post of the month.

In terms of weather, September was very warm and rainy, which is not always typically.  The last time I remember a rainy September like this was my freshman year of college.  We consequently had a horrible winter with tons of snow, which makes me wonder if the same thing is on the way this year....  As a teacher, I have to say that there would be some major benefits to snow days as long as they don't get so out of hand we have to extend the school year...

As far as my work/personal life goes, things have been incredibly stressful.  I feel like a chicken with my head cut off most days because I have such an insane amount of stuff to do.  You're literally never caught up as a teacher, especially not as a new teacher.  At any given time, there are 400 things you COULD be doing.  Though it goes against my natural tendencies as a "to do" list type of person, I've honestly been letting some of the less important stuff slide.  It sounds awful, but it's the only way to survive.  As a coworker puts it, I kill the closest "shark" to the boat....

Anyway, here are several Instagram shots from September.  Though from Instagram, many of these are taken with my dSLR.  A couple of them were even taken with my new wide angle lens.  I"m still figuring out how to use that effectively.  I apologize for the inordinate amount of "path" pictures. One of the few recreational activities I have time for anymore is going for a decompression walk after school.

An path that cuts through the middle of a couple west Omaha neighborhoods.

Standing Bear walkway

As you can see, my brother (roommate) and I have differing lifestyles.  I won't lie and say it doesn't drive me up the wall when the mess spills out of his room and into common areas.

A lake path near Omaha.  I can't even remember the name of the park...

Sunset burst over west Omaha

Evidence that fall is nearing....

One of my fiancé (the coach on the sideline) coaching middle school football

Another of the coach

From the time we drove all the way to Westroads' parking garages to save my fiancé's new car from potential hail.  This was an odd problem to have in September.

Another path at Standing Bear...

Yet another path...this time at Zorinski Lake

The trails at 144th Street

Standing Bear

A leaf bug I had to chase away from my plants...

Glowy sunset

Total Lunar Eclipse September 27, 2015

I haven't posted in quite some time due to the fact that I'm in a whirlwind of busyness with my first year of teaching.  Things have been going alright.  Some days are better than others, that's for sure!  

Anyway, I haven't had a ton of time for photography recently, but my brother, fiancé, and I went out near Bennington the other night to watch the lunar eclipse.  I've never actually viewed one before, so I was pretty impressed by the phenomenon.  It was made more interesting by the fact that this was a rare combination of a supermoon and an eclipse.  Apparently, that's not set to happen again until the 2030's.  

I don't have the most high-powered lens in the world, but I did managed to get a few shots.  The first is an individual shot of the eclipse at its peak.  The second photos shows a few progression shots of the eclipse over time.  Finally, the last shot displays the amount of light pollution in the Omaha area.  I was pointing my camera west (away from Omaha) and still had a ton of light showing up.  Just goes to show that you have to get pretty far out into "nowhere" before you can get a truly good look at the sky.