"No Place Like Home..."

 

We are back from a trip to Kansas. Unlike Dorothy, I was not able to click my red slipper heels together to get back. We chose to ride the Amtrak there and back again. The train trip through the Rocky mountains is beautiful. Between here and Denver are too many tunnels to count, including the 6-mile long Moffett Tunnel. We always enjoy that ride.

 

I usually take a ridiculous amount of photos while traveling, but didn't take many on this trip. It was a family trip, so most of what we took were of family. Having grown up in Kansas, there is not much there that I haven't seen before, but Kansas does have a few things we don't have here in Colorado.
Notably, I saw an armadillo for the first time! It was running across the yard of my husband's cousins place. When I grew up in Kansas, there were no armadillos there! I guess in the past 20 years, they have become pests to the farmers, digging holes everywhere. Global changes have encouraged them to move north.

I grew up seeing squirrels everywhere, so was quite surprised when we moved here to discover that we have very few here in Colorado. And the ones we do have are smaller and grey, not brown. This one helps himself to the warm water my father-in-law keeps in the bird bath.

  

Cardinals also do not come to Colorado. I love the more subtle female. She is my favorite, though the male is not as shy, so I was able to sketch him in my Moleskin.

 

 We do have wild turkeys in Colorado. We see them frequently in the mountains near our cabin. But they are always surrounded by brush and trees, which camouflage them well. This pair was part of a good sized flock (more than a dozen) grazing openly in a field. It must not be turkey season there. I did take a number of photos of the turkeys, as that is a subject I have been wanting to do a painting of, for some reason.

Now that we are home for a bit, I sat in front of the final episode of Downton Abbey last night and sewed all the slits in the small "Grace" tapestry. She is 'resting' today, then I will block and line her. So a photo of her will show up here soon!

So good to get away for awhile, and so very good to come back Home!