The Times, They are A-Changing...

It's been a year of goodbyes at my company. These are two of my co-workers. He retired, she left for a job at another company. With the recent changes, both of them made good decisions. Over the twenty years I've been there, I watched a bustling, productive and profitable plant slowly grind to a halt. The company goes on, but the plant where it started will finally go dark in May. It will be a very sad day...

 

The Great Big Home and Flower Show. The gardens were lovely, and a reminder that spring will come. We took a winding drive home along the Canalway, a pretty drive when you have some time to spare.

Messing around with the zoom produced a lovely soft look to these soft yellow and rose mums.

I have about a zillion mismatched pieces of silverware. This lovely pattern graces four grapefruit spoons. Yes, back a hundred or so years ago, folks ate grapefruit - when they could get it - with special spoons.

Another mum, this time backlit with the flashlight app on my iPhone.

 

That's all for now. I'm doing a lot better at keeping up with P365 photos that I am with posting them. 

Happy Birthday, Honey!

 

Hope you had a very happy birthday!

Nothing like Living in the Airport

A huge snowstorm in early February, outline all the branches with white. This tree is just inside Chapin Forest Reservation in Kirtland.

 

 

Flying over the Lake Erie Islands on my way to Salt Lake City. The ice was checked with giant cracks - it almost looked like a road map. Catawba Island is on the left ( and is actually a peninsula). South Bass in the middle and Middle Bass on the right.



 

Stuck in Salt Lake Airport. Akron-Canton was closed due to bad weather that didn't materialize until well after I would have landed. 29 hours without sleep tied my previous record from my detour through Paris on the way to Brussels. Thank you once again, Delta. Beautiful view of the mountains from one of the concourses. And, while I was having dinner, bagpipers in full dress came skirling down the concourse. Never found out why, but happy to hear bag pipe music. Photo processed in Snapseed.

 

Finally on my way home...not soon enough. Did finish Anna Quindlen's Still Life with Breadcrumbs and Maeve Binchy's A Week in Winter, both very good.

 

 

Poor Sootie, not enough lap time, and then tortured by having his picture taken. He was back to sleep in about two minutes. He snores like the Three Stooges - weep weep weepweepweep!

 

 
All photos taken with my trusty iPhone.



Last of January, First of February

One of Grandma Wilk's silver patterns. Beautiful Art Deco set, used for special occasions.

 

 

Snow rollers from the weirdest winter ever. These were in my side yard and were about 12" tall. I've seen bigger ones, though. Usually they have a hole in the center, but these are from later in the day, so they may have collapsed a little.

 

Gran Marnier - love the bottle and label design. Couldn't tell you what it tastes like though - no idea why I even have it.

 

One of Chuck's many fountain pens. This one has sepia ink in it. Used and extension tube on the lens to pick up the beautiful detail in the nib.



 

Great Falls of Tinkers Creek, almost completely frozen over. The day I shot this, it started to rain, so we were lucky to get there while the falls were still frozen.



Dreaming

Stuck at home this morning and dreaming of shooting in the valley;

Getting the garden furniture out;

Hot tea and toasty toes;

Maybe a little cooking;

Buds in the trees just waiting for warm air and sunshine:

Seeing eagles and herons, and hearing the first red-winged blackbird of spring.

Random Bits of Life

Another box full of projects, patiently waiting for time that never comes.

 

 

Mourning dove on the deck railing. They're too big to fit in the feeders, so they wait until the smaller birds have thoroughly scattered seed all over the deck.

Two steps to the right and I could have had a branch-free shot of the Rt. 82 bridge - or a chilly slide into the river. Did see blue birds: Great Blue Heron, nuthatches, bluebirds, and a very chatty kingfisher. No eagles, though they are nesting nearby.

 

 

Lots of stuff I love - family photo album, photography books, quirky history, gardening, and, of course, Downton Abbey.

And homemade popcorn. Just popcorn, olive oil, and popcorn salt. Nothing unpronounceable and no fake chemical-butter taste.Sorry, Orville, even you can't make that stuff taste as good.

January Vignettes



The 12th of January, and a goldfinch is still hanging around. He's the only one. The rest of the birds are assorted sparrows, juncos, house finches and cardinals. Wonder why he stayed so late?

 

 

A daisy heart from my January Cure bouquet. So nice to see the sun somewhere during this very frigid winter.

 

Welcome candle in the upstairs octagonal window. It comes out for the holidays and burns until the batteries give out.

 

 

Spode Blue Willow pitcher. There are three in all, all the same graceful shape.

Chubby candle in the lantern which stands next to the fireplace. I rarely think to light it, even pretty as it is when lit.

 

That's all for tonight.