A Chilly Minnesota Morning and Kiwanis Holiday Lights

It's a chilly morning here in southern Minnesota (December 23) , as evidenced by the "sun dogs."

Kiwanis Holiday Lights at Sibley Park, Mankato, Minnesota. This beautiful display debuted in 2012, and I hope it becomes a tradition. It's an amazing display! We walked through on Dec. 16.

This year an "ice" rink was added, along with a warming house.

The full moon competes for a little of the attention.

Not sure if this is new this year, but it's a lighted pedestrian walkway, and the lights are queued to music, and constantly change. 

The Farm Animals of Granja Mariiposa

Still enjoying a day of rest and relaxation with great skies for making photographs, between rain showers, I walked around Granja Mariposa and photographed some of the farm animals.

The first few is a quick series of a newborn calf (about 2 days old) and its pal - a 6-month-old calf. It didn't seem to matter that the older calf was about three times the size of the new one. They played like the best of friends.

The cow and calf.

Here comes the BFF for some play time.

A game of tag seems like a great idea.

A little broncin' and buckin' can't hurt...

Hot pursuit

The new calf tries to run.

Nose to nose.

The two calves rest together.

Mom and bebe.

They huddle while it rains - with the youngest calf safely tucked in the middle.

Paraguay - Granja Mariposa

Saturday, November 2 was a rainy day. The skies ranged from mid- to heavy-overcast. A day without sun is a nice day to photograph flowers; the harsh contrasts created by the sun are absent. The rain that fell intermittently throughout the day just made for prettier pictures.

So we stayed put at the lovely Granja Mariposa and enjoyed a day of rest and relaxation.

This one is either a melon or squash. I found it in the vegetable garden.

Christ Thorn

Christ Thorn

Passion Flower

Passion Flower

Cactus Flower