Miscellaneous

Cloisonné Egg

I was looking around the house for things to photograph this evening. Among the things I came across were two Cloisonné eggs in a dish in our dining room. I took pictures of each of them and decided I liked this picture best.

It’s a pretty little thing with flowers, stems, and leaves. The other one has white storks on a deep blue background. I don’t expect they are terribly valuable but I don’t really know. We don’t have them for their value but because they are pretty, which they are. Other than that, I can’t tell you much about them.

Other pictures I took this evening were close-ups of two Venetian paper weights and of a Martian Popping Thing, because, well, Martian Popping Thing.

Our First “Real” Snow

We had our first “real” snow today. That is, it’s snowed already this winter, once quite hard, but we had actual accumulation this time, more than just a dusting that melted as it hit hard surfaces. This time it was about 20°F so it accumulated to about three inches. Not exactly a blizzard, but real snow. This photo was taken from our upstairs window just before I left for work. I got as far as the exit to our neighborhood. The car in front of me spun out going up a short hill. Then the main road was wall to wall cars and I decided I didn’t want to sit in my car for an hour and a half for a 20 minute commute. So, I worked from home, which is thankfully an option.

The snow stopped later and the sun came out, although it was never above freezing today. I like snow and found it quite beautiful out. Naturally I took more pictures but I think this one, of it coming down, symbolizes the day more than snow on leaves in the sun.

Plaid Flannel

I don’t wear plaid as much as I used to. I’m not entirely sure why. I think part of the reason is that the best plaid is flannel plaid and the it isn’t often cold enough for flannel. It gets cold enough outside, but when I’m going to work, I’m in an office where I cannot control the temperature and it’s almost never too cold for a light, summer-weight shirt in my office. At home it’s cooler but even there, I’m not usually in need of an extra layer. If I’m going to be outside in the winter for any length of time, I can wear flannel, but even then, it’s usually easier to throw on a sweater than to change shirts for a simple walk outside. This plaid happens to be on Dorothy, who spent the day in Philadelphia with Kendra. She’s wearing it as a jacket, the top layer of about three, which works well. I should buy flannel shirts that are too large, so they can be worn this way.

A Very Christmasy Christmas

As usual for Christmas day, we had Christmas activities in three phases today and in four stages. We started at our house, opening (or emptying) stockings. Then we went to Cathy’s mom’s house, where this picture was taken. We went from there to my mom’s house where we spent the afternoon with my family. Finally, back to our house where we opened presents from and to each other. All in all, a very nice day.

I often post pictures of family on Thanksgiving and Christmas but decided I’d go with atmosphere this time. So, just the tree in the living room, presents waiting around it to be unwrapped, and the large nativity scene on the table, with the morning light streaming in through the window behind it. You can get this from the photograph, of course, but the smell of bacon, which we enjoyed with pancakes, eggs, sausage, and coffee, adds considerably to the ambiance.

Happy Christmas to all and God bless us, everyone!

Foggy Day

It was very atmospheric today in the sense of the second definition in Webster’s, “having, marked by, or contributing aesthetic or emotional atmosphere; also : marked by an emphasis on impression or tone.” Basically, it was foggy all day. After yesterday’s rain it was fairly welcome. This is the view out my office window, which for a suburban office building, is actually pretty nice. Today it was soft and gray.

Christmas Lights

I know this is a bit cliché but I do like out of focus Christmas lights, at least in small quantities. I try not to take pictures like this more than once a year but, well, here’s this year’s version. I find it interesting how small movement of the camera between images makes such a big difference in the resulting image. It has to do with some lights being behind branches that small movements reveal. Also, the interaction between adjacent lights change a bit.

Fire

I’ve had fires a few times so far this winter. Today I burned some of the wood from the fig tree outside mom’s kitchen. It died back pretty severely last winter so there was a small pile of wood in the driveway from that. It burned quite well. I took a bunch of pictures of fire, which is one of those things that often looks so much better in reality than in a 1/30^th second slice (in this case). Still, I like this image.

Kielbasa, Pancetta, and Lima Beans

Just a few days ago, on Tuesday (December 16, 2014), I posted a photo of lamb with edamame, which I fixed myself for dinner. This evening I had a similar meal, although only one of the ingredients from the earlier meal was actually involved in this one. This time I had a section of kielbasa (slightly improbably from the Lancaster County Dutch Market), two slices of pancetta (Italian bacon, basically), and lima beans. The ingredient they had in common was garlic, which I sautéed a bit before adding the meat.

Christmas Tree

I’ve been described as The Grinch and as Ebenezer Scrooge because of my attitude towards Christmas decorations. Those titles aren’t entirely fair—I quite like Christmas, I certainly don’t want to rob others of their joy, and don’t even mind Christmas decorations—but it’s true that I could do without a lot of what I call the “winterization” of Christmas. It isn’t just the secularization of what is, first and foremost, a Christian holiday. It’s the transformation of it into a religious holiday of non-Christian form. That probably makes no sense to anyone and I don’t feel like writing a long dissertation on what I mean, so I’ll just leave it at that.

Anyway, we generally are lucky to get our tree up enough before Christmas that the decorations are on by the 25^th. This year, however, a week before Christmas and not only is the tree up, but it’s got lights, decorations, and even wrapped presents under it (which are usually done late on Christmas eve). So, Happy Christmas, everyone.

A Simple Meal of Lamb and Edamame

Sometimes simple is all you want and when it comes to fixing dinner after a days work, simple is always appreciated. This evening I had just such a meal. Cathy was going out to play indoor soccer so I was just cooking for myself, which means I can have exactly what I like. This is lamb which had marinaded in a peppery sauce with plenty of Mediterranean herbs. I sautéed a little garlic before adding the lamb to the pan. To accompany the meat, I cooked some frozen edamame (soy beans) and then added them to the pan to get a bit of the flavour from the meat. All in all, I’d say it was as satisfying as any restaurant meal and it was dead simple.

A Collection of Creepy Creatures

I pulled out my camera to take a few pictures this evening, not sure what I would find as a subject. I ended up taking a few of a somewhat random variety of things. I started with a container of variously colored cherry tomatoes. I ended with pictures of two of the three fish in the tank in our family room. Pictures of fish are harder than you might think, particularly when you need flash. It lights up every bit of dirt on the glass and every particle of whatever sustnded in the water. Between these two sets of subjects, I noticed these creatures on our microwave. I really have no comment to make about them, but they probably say something about us.

Christmas Lights

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that we cut down our Christmas tree. When I got home, I went to put it up only to find that our tree stand had finally worn out. I probably new that a year ago but managed to forget and not replace it. So, today we bought a new tree stand and I put the tree up in our living room. Then I got out the lights. It’s been a few years since we actually bought any strings of lights and every year I wonder how many strings we’ll have that work. These are some of the strings that worked, either entirely or with only a bulb or two out. The other strings all were about half working.

Sashimi

Cathy and I went out for dinner this evening and I had an assortment of sashimi, one of my favorite special treats. Cathy didn’t partake, preferring a teriyaki chicken to anything raw. But I enjoyed this immensely.

I think mackerel is my favorite and I could enjoy an entire plate of just that, I suppose, but there is something special about variety. I ate all the ginger, as I love the tang it adds but only had a little of the wasabi. I prefer the taste of the fish, and wasabi has much too powerful a flavor and totally overpowers the more subtle flavors. I’ve never really understood its appeal, unless people actually dislike the taste of the fish and want to mask it.

Starbucks Mugs

I was going to post a different picture today but didn’t think it would be well appreciated. I drove Dorothy up to this Starbucks in Germantown this morning to catch a ride back to Richmond. After they left I thought I’d go up to Black Hill Park for pictures of the dawn. I wish I hadn’t. After I turned around and was coming down Clarksburg Road towards Clopper Road I deer dashed in front of me. Sorry to say the deer didn’t make it. I was going to post a picture of the deer and the car, titled “Oh, Deer” but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Some of you would have simply felt bad for the deer. For me, I don’t want to look at the car.

Pipe Wrench

I was looking around for things to photograph today and happened to notice a pipe wrench that I had been using a little while ago. Also known as a Stillson wrench for Daniel C. Stillson who invented it, it was patented on October 12, 1869 (U.S. patent #95,744). I like the textures in this picture. My title for this post, “Ridgid,” refers to the brand of pipe wrench that this happens to be, manufactured by the Ridge Tool Company, Elyria, Ohio.

Salami and Cheese

We were out until almost 10:00 this evening and I didn’t have time to eat until we got home. We also had friends staying, who got here before we did. I was fairly peckish so I put out some salami and cheese and we enjoyed that while we chatted the rest of the evening away (and a little of the morning). In this picture, we have four cheeses. Clockwise from the left are a wonderful aged gouda, creamy soft butterkase, sharp cheddar with whiskey, and cheddar with caramelized onions. There was also some Gorgonzola, just out of the frame on the right.

Christmas Lights

I’m not a big one for Christmas lights, although I can appreciate them. I’m also not a big fan of putting up Christmas decorations early. I know that it’s after Thanksgiving and that makes it officially Christmas season. In fact, today is the first Sunday of Advent, so there really cannot be any objection to decorations. Along MD 124, Church of the Redeemer has lights on their trees, as you can see. I was going to pick up Dorothy at a friend’s and was a little early so I stopped to take a few pictures.

Nature’s Snow Globe

There was a enameled bowl on the concrete bench in front of our house and it had filled with rain water (and a leaf). Dorothy noticed it this morning and turned it out onto the bench and I took some pictures of it. It doesn’t move like a regular snow-globe, but otherwise, it sort of looks like that, I think. Anyway, pretty without much effort, which is always a treat.