WELCOME TO MY WORLD !

Windmill and Sunset Photos 
by John C. McCornack
Yukon, Oklahoma

After working as a Engineer for Caterpillar in Peoria, Illinois for 37 years, I retired and moved back to Oklahoma.   One of the major reasons was to get closer to the beautiful sunsets and to have the opportunity to photograph some of the last remaining windmills on the western plains.  Please join me in a tour of my world.

It was a warm balmy New Years day,  rain clouds were in the air, when I witnessed this beauty located a couple of miles south of Yukon, Oklahoma on Highway 92.  In September 1998, this beautiful area along with this windmill were destroyed to make room for still another subdivision.  I hope the new owners enjoy their concrete streets and driveways.

John... I'm sorry to hear  about the loss of your windmill.... progress just isn't always the best thing to come along... making way for the new too often means tearing down the good old things... and I just wonder the way things are made nowadays, if our children will ever have antiques or mementoes of their lifetime... we have a slap it up or slap it together society and in no time the product breaks or falls apart and you have to buy a new one... keeps the economy going but it is hell on memories! :(

Dear John...My heart joins yours in your sadness..I did not know when I looked at that picture this morning again, that you would not have that windmill to photograph again..Now those pictures are the Alpha and the Omega of a windmill...Both pictures I have. One looks as if it were made in the fall or winter...the other with the blue sky looks like it was made in the spring or beginning of summer...I have it in my e-mail yet...I will treasure it forever.. Everything will be all right ..It will take some time to pass..I know it is like losing a best friend... Has that windmill been there all you life?? We are losing much to progress..but time heals... you have your memories in the many pictures you have.. Cherish them all and share.

Exploding Sunsets With sunsets like molten lava, exploding in the sky, the sun comes pounding through the clouds to touch my waiting eye. The brush is black against the sky with shadows everywhere. How could exploding sunsets touch a soul that's bare? How could a picture of a sky touch my lonely heart? How could it make me cry? How could this wonder bring the start of a teardrop to my eye? © vrd.6/98 - Poem by Jenny

This a very small windmill but it can still pump up a large tank of water on the western plains.

Raging Sunset Raging fires of a sunset feed the soul, feed the soul Through the trees as the sun sets in the golden west As the winds sway the treetops, it appears to be A raging fire as it puts the day to rest....day to rest I can feel the warmth of the day slip away I can thank the Lord for another wonderful day This time of eve'n I can feel the dew as it falls As I watch the raging sunset in the west..... I can see the swirling clouds build as the sun goes down I can see the great reunion as the day meets night If I never see another sunset quite like this I can keep this raging sunset in my heart...that's all right. ImAuthor4U

This lonely windmill in located a few miles east of Cheyenne, Oklahoma

This magnificent giant is all that remains of a thriving homestead.   Wheat now covers the ground.

Oil tanks and sunsets are familiar views on the Oklahoma skyline.

This is the last known wooden windmill that I photographed in actual operation.   Shortly after this photo, the rancher cut the legs and replaced it with a metal frame one.   A passing of an era...

Twirling In The Wind If you want a memento from days long gone, take a picture of me. I'm one of the last wooden windmills to survive, and the wooden heart of me will soon be replaced with a a cold heart of metal, old charm lost forever. For many years, I served my owner, served him well, but today will be my last to stand tall and proud, progress passed this way, and tomorrow for me will never arrive. In the future, show my picture to ones who never witnessed my rustic stance. Tell them to look away, and let their mind's eye visualize my sails once again twirling in the wind... Progress may be better, but I was beauty in a natural setting. Ralph L. Clark ©

The sky was alive with shooting streaks of light as I stood in awe in my wheat field.

Thanks for spending some time in my world !

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For a link to a few of my sites ...  John McCornack's Sites

Contact me at ...  McCornack@AOL.COM