Iowa in Winter

"Come and see, come dance with me,
To the beautiful Iowa Waltz" -- Greg Brown

I was getting itchy to visit my 91-year-old father, as I hadn't seen him since last summer. Since September my life has revolved around breast cancer diagnosis, surgery, and chemotherapy. But I was feeling good in February, so I took off on a solo road trip to Iowa. What a special time with my dad! The weather, however, was epic, even for the Midwest. Snow, blow, and cold! But one day while he was napping I did one of my favorite things: driving around country roads taking photos of whatever catches my eye.

Iowa has a quiet and subtle beauty in any season. Even though I haven't lived there for many years, I still feel connected to the land, and love getting out to appreciate it.

This farm is on Utica Ridge Road, near my dad's retirement village. I love the mosaic brick work on the silo. You don't see many like it.

When I was done taking the photo of the mosaic silo, I turned around and saw another nice barn/silo combination in the farm yard across the road where I had parked. I liked the textures in this scene, with the bare tree leaning over the old barn.

This gravel road was much steeper than it appears here. It was such a euphoric feeling to be all alone in the middle of nowhere on this glorious winter day!

This old barbed wire fence just called out to be photographed. It was so cold and windy on the top of this hill, but I loved the fence and weeds, with the farm fields beyond.

I came across this vista as I rounded the curve of a gravel road. This part of Iowa is hillier than people realize, and I loved this farm nestled down under the hill.

I like the swirls that the drifting snow created in the foreground of this old barn scene.

I have to admit I have no idea what this farm implement is for, but it struck me as sculpture-like; flowers or a peacock.

I badly wanted to get up close to this farm, so I stopped by and bought two dozen eggs and some jam, then asked the farmer if I could take some pictures. He said sure, just watch out for the Great Pyrenees dogs. As seen above and below, the biggest one was the same size and shape as the sheep he guarded!

This wooly guardian did his job and kept his eye on me.

I loved these three sheep. They seemed such good friends, and I think they were talking about me...

I have dogs and they live inside with me, so it is interesting to see dogs doing what they were actually bred to do. They didn't seem to mind that it was three degrees out. But my fingers did!

My last stop before returning to the warmth of my dad's apartment was to photograph this lone set of tracks across the farm field. I love all the different shades of blue and purple that snow can have.

It felt so good to get out, and although my fingers and camera were quite chilled, I had reconnected with the country I grew up in.