Miscellaneous

Potomac River from Turkey Run Park

Photograph taken on Sunday, December 20, 2020 by Henry
Potomac River from Turkey Run Park

Potomac River from Turkey Run Park

As I think I’ve mentioned, we’ve been looking for new trails to walk on lately. What with working from home and not being able to go to church or to visit friends much, we really like getting outdoors. Turkey Run Park, on the George Washington Parkway in northern Virginia is one that I’ve seen signs for over the years but we’ve never actually been there. The walk was about 2 miles in total but felt like more than that. Parts of the trail were a bit muddy and slick and there were a few places where we had to scramble over rocks (scramble may be too strong a term, but you had to watch what you were doing, anyway). There were two places where we had to cross a stream on rocks. And coming from the river back up to the Turkey Run Park parking areas was quite a climb. There are wooden stairs where we made that ascent, which helped quite a bit, but it’s fairly steep. Anyway, we had a nice time being out and seeing the river.

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Tiny Nativity

Photograph taken on Friday, December 18, 2020 by Henry
Tiny Nativity

Tiny Nativity

A days ago I posted a picture of a somewhat odd, folk art Christmas carol singing figurine (see Friday, December 11, 2020). In that post I said that I’d post a photo of a nativity scene that Margaret’s housekeeper made for her quite a few years ago. Well, here it is. As you can see, most of the people in the scene are made from peanuts, although one is made differently to the rest. The sheep are made with pumpkin seeds and toothpicks. They look a little like pigs to me, but I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt, because this is an scene in Bethlehem and pigs would be out of place. The angel (on the left) is a Hershey’s kiss.

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A Leaf In The Snow

Photograph taken on Thursday, December 17, 2020 by Henry
A Leaf In The Snow

A Leaf In The Snow

As usual when it snows around here, I took pictures of the snow. They really aren’t all that interesting and I know it’s cliche, but there you are.

I did like this leaf, peaking out from the snow, so that’s what you get for today. Not exciting, but again, there you are. I do remember a friend in high school telling me that shadows are blue. You can see that here, in the shade of the house.

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The Year’s First Snow

Photograph taken on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 by Henry
The Year's First Snow

The Year’s First Snow

We had what the new media breathlessly called “the most significant snow in three years.” Since we haven’t had more than an inch or so in that time, it didn’t take much to make their prediction come true. We got maybe three inches of very wet snow. Not exactly what you’d call a blizzard. We’ve been working from home since March, so it really didn’t affect us at all. We did get a small package delivered that I didn’t find right away because it got covered, but it was in a plastic envelope so that wasn’t a problem. I think the snow was lovely and I’m mostly a winter person, in any case (I didn’t bother putting shoes on to get the mail, for instance).

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Another Strange Ornament

Photograph taken on Friday, December 11, 2020 by Henry
Carol Singer

Carol Singer

We don’t remember where this little Christmas ornament came from. Cathy thought it was made by the woman who cleaned her mom’s house for so many years but the things she made were more homespun. This is different. Just about as strange but different. It’s a Christmas caroler and it’s one we put out every year, but we don’t really know much else.

It’s a funny little thing but as one person commented on Instagram in reference to the Strange Little Ornament post (see Tuesday, December 01, 2020), our house “is a haven for strange little things.” I think perhaps she was including us in the “strange little thing” category, but I can’t be sure.

I’ll post a photo of a nativity scene that Margaret’s housekeeper did make in a few days. I think you’ll agree that they, along with this, qualifies as folk art.

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Painted Box

Photograph taken on Wednesday, December 09, 2020 by Henry
Painted Box

Painted Box

I don’t really know anything about this painted box. We assume it’s Persian but don’t know if it was bought in Afghanistan or Iran (Cathy’s family lived in both). It has some writing around the top edge (not seen here) and if I can find someone familiar with the languages, perhaps we can get it translated and that will tell us more. It was difficult to get a good picture of this, because it has a high gloss finish and getting a picture with a large area of reflection was tricky. This one turned put pretty well, though.

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Strange Little Ornament

Photograph taken on Tuesday, December 01, 2020 by Henry
Strange Little Ornament

Strange Little Ornament

This strange little ornament is one of our favorites. I don’t know much about it. It seems to be made of wool and it’s clearly a man riding on an animal. Beyond that it’s all conjecture. Is he riding on a horse? Who can say? Is there some significance to his pointed hat? What about the stripes on the hat and on his other garments? Is he meant to be someone in particular? We have more questions than answers. Nevertheless, he has a certain appeal.

We have many more ornaments than we can possibly display at once. If we had a huge house with four or five large Christmas trees, then perhaps we could use them all. But unless and until that happens, most of them will languish in boxes. But this funny, little man will always find a place on out tree.

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Nativity Scene

Photograph taken on Monday, November 30, 2020 by Henry
Nativity Scene

Nativity Scene

We don’t typically get our Christmas decorations up quite as early as we have done this year. I know some people are good about regularly getting things set up the weekend after Thanksgiving. We aren’t that prompt and sometimes things don’t get set up until the week of Christmas itself. This year, with less ‘out of house’ activities, we put our tree up and started decorating on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Dorothy set up the traditional nativity scene on the piano. As usual, all are welcome at the manger and Dorothy makes sure there are many representatives from various places.

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Mill Creek

Photograph taken on Sunday, November 29, 2020 by Henry
Mill Creek

Mill Creek

We walked down Mill Creek this afternoon, from where it goes under Redland Road to Lake Needwood and then along the shore of the lake as far as Needwood Road. It’s a nice walk and we didn’t see anyone else on the trail. We saw a few white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and at least two pileated Woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus). The woodpeckers were far enough away that my photos of them aren’t worth sharing, but it was nice to watch them tap, tap, tapping on a tree.

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Potomac River from Blockhouse Point

Photograph taken on Wednesday, November 25, 2020 by Henry
Potomac River from Blockhouse Point

Potomac River from Blockhouse Point

I took the day off today and spent the morning reading (Rumours of War, by Allan Mallinson). Dorothy is home for Thanksgiving but both she and Cathy worked this morning. In the afternoon we drove to River Road and walked out to Blockhouse Point. It’s a nice walk pretty much any time of year and particularly with the leaves off the trees the view is really nice. We didn’t really have time to walk down the trail to the level of the canal but we will plan on doing that next time.

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Alta Vista Elementary School, 1935 to 1976

Photograph taken on Saturday, November 21, 2020 by Henry
Alta Vista Elementary School, 1935 to 1976

Alta Vista Elementary School, 1935 to 1976

In 1976 I was in high school. The school I went to from Kindergarten through sixth grade, though, Alta Vista Elementary School, was being closed by the county. Demographics change and the need for schools in particular neighborhoods change along with them. Alta Vista was a small school, I think and my memories of it have faded quite a bit but still, it was my first alma mater. My mom was part of a group of parents that tried to save the school. Except for in Hallmark movies, these things never really amount to much and the chances of success here were pretty slim. The school closed and my younger brothers finished their elementary school years at a different school.

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Snakeplant (Sansevieria trifasciata)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 by Henry
Snakeplant (Sansevieria trifasciata)

Snakeplant (Sansevieria trifasciata)

Dorothy’s former second grade teacher gave me this snakeplant (Sansevieria trifasciata, also known as viper’s bowstring hemp) when she and her husband moved to Florida a year after Dorothy had her as a teacher. So, I guess I’ve had it about fifteen years. It was in my office most of that time. Then, in March when we all started working from home, I sort of assumed it would die. I happened to go into the office ten weeks into that and was surprised by how healthy it was, although the pot was bone dry. I brought it home, along with a Natal lily (Clivia miniata) and a spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum), both of which were also hanging on. All three have recovered nicely and I brought this and the clivia back in for the winter. As you can see, it’s got a few issues, but all things considered, I’m just happy it’s still with us.

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The Pond

Photograph taken on Saturday, November 14, 2020 by Henry
The Pond

The Pond

Cathy and I drove up to Pennsylvania today to replace the locks on the cabin. Over the years, the existing locks have been treated pretty shamefully by those wanting (and generally succeeding) to get in. It was bad enough that they had become loose but recently they got so bent that the door couldn’t be opened properly. Anyway, it was nice to get out into the country for a little while and it was a pretty day. We didn’t stay long but we walked around a bit and I took some pictures, such as this one of reflections on the pond.

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Afghan Wedding Shoes

Photograph taken on Wednesday, November 11, 2020 by Henry
Afghan Wedding Shoes

Afghan Wedding Shoes

These embroidered shoes were in a box in Cathy’s parents house and along with a lot of other things, they made their way to our garage. We think they are Afghan wedding shoes. They are definitely shoes and they are Afghan. Beyond that, we don’t really know much. They don’t really look comfortable but then wedding clothes aren’t designed primarily for comfort. They would be more comfortable than Afghan pizors (see Wednesday, March 28, 2018), but that’s not saying much. On the other hand, the pizors are pretty durable. The embroidery on these shoes is nice and they certainly are festive.

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Stones

Photograph taken on Tuesday, November 03, 2020 by Henry
Stones

Stones

Sometimes when you travel, you pick up souvenirs. You might buy a post card and you’re almost certain to take a few (or a lot of) photographs, which for most of us really help to keep memories alive. We can look at the photographs and remember what it was like wherever we happened to have been. Or we might buy a small object in a store or at a market to remember the trip by. In our family, we sometimes pick up stones. Sometimes they are selected because they’re a particularly pretty color or have a nice pattern on them. Other times, it’s their shape or the smoothness of the surface. Some here—the green one at the top and the bluish green one on the right—are from the Nevada ghost town where my grandfather was born, 135 years ago.

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Election, 2020

Photograph taken on Monday, November 02, 2020 by Henry
Voting by Mail

Voting by Mail

I’m posting this a week after the fact, on Monday, November 9. We voted today (November 2) and dropped out mail in ballots at our local voting location (which isn’t our normal location, but everything is off this year, as you might have noticed). This is generally a non-partisan blog and I try to keep my politics to myself, so I won’t say anything about how we voted. Of course, in Maryland, it’s sometimes tempting to think it doesn’t really matter, regardless of which side you’re on. Unofficially, as of November 9, the vote was nearly two to one: 1,590,324 vs. 861,861.

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Linsey-woolsey

Photograph taken on Thursday, October 29, 2020 by Henry

Linsey-woolsey

Linsey Woolsey is a fabric made with a linen warp and a woollen weft. This is a piece that my mother got as a wedding present from her grandmother’s sister, her great aunt Mattie. It was made either by Aunt Mattie’s mother Eliza Ann (1840 – 1896) or grandmother Elizabeth (1807 to 1855) so it was fairly old by the time mom got it in the 1950s. It would have been made on a relatively narrow homemade loom and the strips sewn together to make a wider fabric. It’s not known for its looks but valued rather for its warmth and durability. It was, however, forbidden to the Hebrews per Leviticus 19:19b, “neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee” (and Deuteronomy 22:11). I find the pattern a bit mesmerizing and a little hard to look at.

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Sand Art

Photograph taken on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 by Henry
Sand Art

Sand Art

I was working in the garage this evening and had my camera with me, thinking I might find a few interesting things to photograph. We’ve still working our way through some boxes of things from my in-laws’ house and I ended up taking a few photos. This is a small bottle with some sand painting in it. It’s the smaller but nicer of two sand art bottles. The other one has sand that I believe came from Petra, although I’m not sure how you verify that. This one, as far as I know, is nothing special. That is to say, it’s pretty, but we have no idea who made it or where it came from. It’s certainly better than anything I could do but that’s not really saying much.

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Saint Mary’s Church and Graveyard

Photograph taken on Saturday, October 24, 2020 by Henry
Saint Mary's Church and Graveyard

Saint Mary’s Church and Graveyard

We had some free time this afternoon so we drove to downtown Rockville and wondered around the St. Mary’s Church graveyard for a while. I took a picture of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s grave marker (and their daughter, Francis Scott Fitzgerald Smith). It’s a pretty little graveyard, if you like that sort of thing. We do. I took some pictures of the church reflected in the mostly glass building at Jefferson Plaza across the pike. I also took some general views of the graveyard. I figured for my post, however, I’d use this one, showing both the older church building—now known as the Chapel of Our Lady—and the new domed building, dating from the 1960s. The parish was established in 1813 with the land being bought for $300 and the initial church building costing about $4,000. It has obviously seen a few changes over the years. The old church building was scheduled for demolition but was saved and became the chapel that it is today. I’m glad it was saved, as it’s a pretty, little church.

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Orchids on Singapore Dollar Note

Photograph taken on Tuesday, October 20, 2020 by Henry
Orchids on Singapore Dollar Note

Orchids on Singapore Dollar Note

From 1967 through 1972, the Singapore one dollar note featured the Orchid Vanda ‘Janet Kaneali’. I really don’t know much about that particular orchid but the genus has about 80 species. They are mostly epiphytic (Per Mirriam Webster, “a plant that derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and grows usually on another plant”). I was a little stumped for what to take a photo of today. I’ve done pretty well getting outdoors most of the year since the Covidian miasma set it, but it didn’t happen today. It won’t be long before it’s dark when I get off work, so this will get harder going forward.

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