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Here and There…Now and Then |
Thanksgiving, 2012
Although less thankful that we should be, we are nonetheless thankful. It’s true that we should be and indeed are thankful every day of the year, it is right that we set aside one day specifically for the purpose of being thankful. We were fortunate, this year, to have guests with us as we celebrated and gave thanks at Cathy’s mom’s house. On the left are Josh, Diana, and Jake. On the right are Kendra, Dorothy, Marge, and Cathy. Margaret is at the head of the table.
Kendra and Dorothy
Cathy and Dorothy picked up Kendra and I met them at Cathy’s mom’s house after work. They helped cut bread for stuffing, peeled potatoes, and made jello for tomorrow’s meal. When they were done working, Kendra and Dorothy sat at the piano and made up songs. You won’t hear any of them on the radio any time soon but we enjoyed their efforts (for the most part).
Ripples
It was a beautiful day today, cool but not cold. I went out and took some picture, mostly of ripples in the stream that flows through the empty lot next to my office building. I could sit and watch flowing water for a long time. Of course, during a work day I don’t have any long stretches to spare, so I make do with short stretches, instead.
Ceramic Dogs
Once upon a time, Cathy collected ceramic (and glass and whatever) dogs. She still has the collection, although she doesn’t actively collect them any more. A few of them are out in various places in the house. These are on top of a small set of bookshelves in our bedroom. I sort of like the terrier-like dog on the left but decided to focus on this pitiful looking hound in the foreground instead. Sorry the picture is so “grainy.” I still had the ISO set to 3,200 from yesterday and didn’t notice until later.
Ben and Trish
Two of my favorite people were leading the singing together this morning in church. Do I describe a lot of people as “of my favorite people?” If so, then I guess it just shows how fortunate I am! I don’t know if it is Ben that picked the songs or if they are picked because he’s leading. Either way, I especially like having Ben lead because of the songs we sing when he does. Thanks, guys (and the rest of the team, as well).
Maggie and Hannah
Marilyn with Sky
Today was the Christmas bazaar at Dorothy’s school. I didn’t spend a lot of time taking pictures because I had a table and was selling them, instead. I’ve done that before and had quite varied success. I’d have to go back and check but I think this was my best year so far. That was due at least partly to my excellent location (thanks, Cathy).
Over the course of the last few weeks I went through all the pictures I’ve taken in the last year or so and pulled out some that I thought people would like. I made cards and matted 5×7 inch prints of them. If anyone wants an 8×10, naturally I can do that. I still had cards and matted 5×7 and 8×10 inch prints of older pictures, of course. I had questions from two different people about making larger prints of a few, so you never know.
The first of these, Maggie and Hannah horsing around, was taken from behind my table. Cathy manned the booth for a little while to let me get out and take a few pictures. That’s when I got the second of them, of Marilyn, not exactly horsing around, but…
I also took a couple pictures of Maggie (from the first picture) with Marilyn’s palomino, named Diamond. I’ll post one of those along with a few other pictures from the day on Facebook.
Moon Through the Trees
Let’s face it, my life is not all that well suited to this “take a picture every day” thing. I go to work, I sit in an office, I go home. There often isn’t a lot to take pictures of. Somehow I’m mostly through my second year and have managed to get a picture every day, but some days it is a bit forced. Today is one of those days. As I came out of the office, I say the crescent moon through the trees. Actually, the prettiest part was the deep blue color of the sky, but that hasn’t really come through in the picture.
Anyway, I offer you, “Moon Through the Trees.”
Hair and Leaves
By trimming my beard outdoors, I eliminate much of the clean-up process. I do need to move the bulk of the hair somewhere that Cathy won’t come across it by accident. Otherwise she might see it and think a small animal has been mauled. At our old house there was a catbird that built a nest in an eglantine rose every year and my hair played a prominent part in its makeup. It’s nice to find that your hair is going to a good purpose.
Dorothy the Doodler
I often doodled in school and I still occasionally find myself drawing during meetings. Most of my doodles are either random shapes or very poor drawings of people. I would love to be able to sit in a meeting and draw actual people from the room. As it is, I usually hide my doodles and they eventually find their way to the shredder. Once in a while I’ll come up with something worth keeping (and the bar isn’t even all that high).
Dorothy is also a doodler but her doodles are of a much (much) higher caliber than her old papa’s. For a good while now she has carried around a small book that has become her journal. In it are notes and doodles intermixed. This isn’t that book but another that she happened to have with her today. The outside cover is nicely decorated. Yes, she’s making a bit of a face here, but it’s not a bad picture of her, and the notebook is nice.
Soda Can Flower
Flowers, like many things of beauty, are ephemeral. To me, that only adds to their beauty. Sometimes, however, we come across that most unusual of flower, the aluminum rose. Actually, I’m not completely sure it is a rose, but it looks about right. There are no truly blue roses, but then, there are no truly aluminum roses, either.
Dorothy was at her friend Julia’s house today and when I went to pick her up, I saw this on the kitchen counter. Apparently it was made by the father of Julia’s friend, Rachel. It’s surprisingly delicate looking. Not a lot of fragrance, though. Smells oddly of soda.
Illuminated Leaf
There are many, many (many) beautiful things in this world of ours. I’m one of those old fashioned types who believe that there is true, objective beauty. I won’t say that nothing is as beautiful or even that nothing is more beautiful than sunlight shining through a leaf but that is certainly one of the beautiful things. I’m not, of course, claiming that this is an ideal or even a very good representative of that beauty, but I was outside today and saw it all around me. Even on the edge of a parking lot, there is breathtakingly beautiful color. Thank you, to the creator of beauty and whose face shines brighter and purer than the sun.
Autumnal Orange
When I took this picture, I know I was thinking how orange it was. Looking at the pictures later, there is more yellow than I remember. Maybe it’s a trick of the light and a consequence of the way the camera sees light as compared to how we do (or how I do). Anyway, this is the view out my office window. I could certainly have a worse view. Of course there is a parking lot if I look a little lower but there is no building next to us in that direction. Anyone who has been following my photographic doodling for a while knows that there is a ten or twelve acre lot next to my office. It happens to be on the same side of the building as my office. I know people with offices in more scenic places but I really cannot complain.
This is a willow oak, Quercus phellos. It gets its name from the leaves, which are similar in shape to willow leaves rather than the lobed leaves we normally associate with the oak genus. The willow oak makes a good, if somewhat large, tree for a yard. Its smaller leaves are easier to deal with and fall sooner than those of the red and white oak groups (although the willow oak is actually in the red oak group, section Lobatae).
Rock Creek Church
During our Sunday School time this morning we gathered to put together donated food to go to Manna Food Center for their Smart Sack program. This was organized by Erick’s Hope and our good friends, Donna and Richard Brown. We gathered briefly in the church lobby to fellowship and I asked if everyone could get together for a picture. They said yes, and here it is.
Pretzels and Sausage Rolls
Dorothy and I went up to the Lancaster County Dutch Market this morning. Mostly I go there for the butcher shop, which has a nice assortment of meats, both processed (e.g., sausage, etc.) and not. We also bought a few cheeses. Dorothy asked me to buy half of a broccoli and cheese pie, which I did (and boy, was it good). Of course, we can’t really go to there without buying sausage rolls. Their pretzels are good, but unless you aren’t into sausage, I really recommend the sausage and Cooper sharp cheddar rolls. They are excellent!
Dorothy Blowing a Soap Bubble
Dorothy was cleaning up after having baked some cookies and while she was washing off the cooling rack she noticed that she could use it as a bubble wand. They didn’t “release” well. Still, as you can see in this picture, they got to be pretty good sized.
Setting Sun
As I mentioned in my previous post, I was out late in the afternoon. The sun was getting low in the sky and I enjoyed the way it was shining through the trees. It’s hard to get a picture of the sun, as you might imagine, but I took a few, anyway, trying to balance the brightness of the sun without loosing all the yellow in the trees that it was illuminating. This was the best I got and while it doesn’t really look exactly like what I saw, it is enough like it to remind me. Of course, it won’t really remind you, since you weren’t there. Next time you should come with me.
Oak Leaves
Hurricane Sandy took care of knocking most leaves from trees but of course, that doesn’t apply to many oak trees, whose leaves cling tenaciously to the branches until the depths of winter (or even early spring!). I took a nice walk out in the lot next to my building today. Not at lunchtime but later in the day, as the sun was getting low in the sky. There are lots of bare trees but the oak leaves till have some color and looked very nice against the beautiful, pale blue sky.
Cathy
Dorothy was out at youth band practice and Cathy and I were sitting on the couch chatting. I had my camera near by (surprise!) and I picked it up and started taking pictures of her. I had my 100mm lens so I was only getting her face. Then I got up and changed lenses to something more suitable to the close quarters. Cathy sat on the end of the sofa and I took a bunch more. In some of them she made faces but I like this one best. It’s just a relaxed pose, with her feet up on the back of the sofa.
American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)
I went out for a walk this afternoon and noticed a persimmon tree (the American Persimmon, Diospyros virginiana) with quite a good crop of ripe persimmons. I gave the tree a shake and picked up a good handful to bring home. I do like a good, ripe persimmon, even though they are mostly seed. Be careful to wait until they are ripe, though, or they will turn your mouth inside out. This one is just about perfect, sitting on a sycamore leaf, almost begging to be eaten.
Ducks
There is a small pond near my office and there are usually ducks on it so I walked over there today. I love watching ducks take off and land. They start by running along the surface of the water while madly beating their wings. Once they are in the air they seem graceful enough but then their landing is a bit heavy. I also saw a great blue heron. Now, there is a bird that is majestic on take-off and landing. Sort of the VTOL of the animal world. Ducks and geese are more like the C5 Galaxy of birds, even though the heron is considerably bigger. I guess it’s the relative size of the wings that makes the difference.
