Spreading The Love Sky Watch Friday ...

I love my trees. At the northwest corner they come together to protrude out into the rich black snow covered soil. I stopped for this -7 degrees photograph just as the sun was about to go down beyond them. The things I do for love ... and other people around the World are doing them too at http://www.skyley.blogspot.com

Dinosaur's Door Sky Watch Friday ...

It's been wicked cold here on The Prairie. I've been taking photos of things that look the part. This little building was once a Sinclair gas station here in town. The Dinosaur was phased out in 1969 when Atlantic Richfield bought Sinclair ... big mistake. Who "dumps" a Dinosaur ? It was -8 degrees when I snapped the Dinosaur and his door:

It may be cold skies here on The Prairie, but at Sky Watch Friday you'll find warm ones too. We're here to remind you to look up. And while you're doing so, don't miss what's in the trees.

Sky Watch Friday ...

The Earth and Sky meet with the mere hint of a break between the two. The shelter belt is still, yet there is life ... Pheasants, Rabbits, and perhaps a few Blue Jays who didn't care to venture South.

Many of my favorite photographs say it best by saying nothing at all. I leave it up to you to find it's beauty and meaning.

See what your World is saying, or not, at Sky Watch Friday.

Sky Watch For Yann ...

Many of you know the work of Yann Arthus Bertrand in the Earth From Above Series. I own the book of 366 Days. It sits open at the table on my sun porch where I turn the page each day, considering the photographs and their location. It's my way of traveling to exotic lands.

I took this photograph of the rising sun through a thin sheet of ice outside the window of my east facing back door. Fortunately I have another back door, this one allowing access to the setting sun from my porch. I keep a close watch on these ever changing ice patterns and the colors in the sky as they splay out behind them.

You have many different friends around the world who are clamoring for your attention in many different ways at http://www.skyley.blogspot.com It's our way of helping you to keep your eye on the sky.

Diane's Clock ...

Time is something I obsess about when things aren't going well. I either have an overabundance of time or a lack thereof. The study of Time is called Horology and in 2012 that's my plan ... to study it so I can make better use of it.

Happy New Year 2012 from Kellers On The Prairie. Be safe tonight.

Saint Henry Sky Watch Friday ...

Good Morning World. The Catholic Church in Henry, South Dakota got a brand spankin' new red metal roof this fall. Talk about sharp ... I love it.

Merry Christmas from The Prairie. Around the world we are all looking for Santa at Sky Watch Friday.

No Snow Sky Watch ...

What little snow we have had is nearly gone and the chances for a White Christmas aren't good. That's very rare here, in addition to temperatures in the high 30's. Yet we are all busy here on The Prairie with preparations for the Holiday.

I have just returned from a road trip with my friend Polly from Bainbridge Island, Washington. We drove from here to Cheyenne, Wyoming where our friend Theresa lives, then on to Boulder, Colorado to her place there for a long weekend. The three of us have not been together for almost 15 years, a class reunion or two ago. We met in the 7th Grade at Watertown Junior High School.

It's fantastic to be heading into Christmas after having had such a great vacation with these awesome Lady Friends. A refreshed perspective is always good this time of year.

Check out http://www.skyley.blogspot.com for another's comings and goings as well as their latest captures of this gorgeous sky God gave us to enjoy. I'm sure it's all good ...

Sky Watch Friday ... What Is Art ?

My Letter To The Editor was printed in yesterday's Public Opinion.

The Northeastern Artists Network "Deck The Walls" annual Art Show took place here last weekend. If you took time to appreciate these artists, we thank you. Perhaps you saw the show while attending Laura Dahle's Empty Bowl Project which was held in conjunction and benefits People Against Child Hunger. If you did not attend, intentionally or otherwise, please consider these thoughts.

Art is the process of arranging items, with symbolic significance, in order to influence our senses, emotions, and intellect. Art is expressed through music, literature, movies, sculpture, painting, photography, carving, jewelry, glass works, pottery, collage, and fiber.

Long ago, art meant skill. That changed during the romantic period when it became "a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science." Finally, art is made with one purpose only: to stimulate thought and emotion.

I take the explanations of art from my dictionary, Google, and Wickipedia, to make my point: It's important. It's good stuff. It would not be aligned with Religion and Science if it were not.

To ignore Art is a mistake. To take it for granted is shameful. We should see it and dare to understand it. If we don't stimulate thought and emotion through Art generated in our world as well as our community, what are we doing ?

You may be a struggling wage earner with several jobs. You're a farmer, a highly paid executive, or a business owner. You govern us or sit on a board ... it matters not. If you fail to take an interest in the Art created in Watertown, you fail your community. You fail your world. You fail yourself.

Opinions make the world go round ... and so does Art. Check out Sky Watch Friday. It's your world. Photo: the old church turned welding shop, Tinkertown, South Dakota.