Monthly Archives: January 2025

Roadbody at Ploughman’s

Photograph taken on Sunday, January 05, 2025 by Henry
Roadbody (Hadley, Andrew, and Dorothy)

Roadbody (Hadley, Andrew, and Dorothy)

Cathy, our friend Lydia, and I drove up to Gettysburg this afternoon to hear Roadbody play at Ploughman Cider Taproom, on the square. They were one of twelve bands to play between Thursday and Sunday evening in the Scene & Herd Fest, put on by Guernsey Beat Records and hosted by Ploughman’s. This was our second time to hear them play at that location and we really enjoyed ourselves. She was early enough in the evening that we were able to go out to dinner afterwards and still get home before the snow started falling. Jeff was playing Saturday afternoon with Emberglow but we couldn’t go both days. He’s probably going to be playing again on the 18th, though, so we are hoping to be able to hear him then.

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Monet Water Lilies Puzzle

Photograph taken on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 by Henry
Monet Water Lilies Puzzle

Monet Water Lilies Puzzle

We finished this puzzle yesterday with help from Dorothy who came to spend the night after a day painting murals in Bethesda (with more to be done tomorrow). I don’t know if this is the hardest puzzle we’ve ever done but it’s certainly up there. As you can see, there are a few ares of pink but the blues and greens predominate and are scattered pretty widely throughout the image. Once we got the border done, we worked from the bottom up until we had about a third done. after that it got even harder, but eventually we got it done.

One other change on the puzzle front is that I added a rim to our puzzle table, which is a 4×4 foot sheet of MDF. I glued some molding material to the top along each edge. This helps prevent pieces from being pushed off the edge to be lost on the floor. It isn’t perfect, or foolproof, but it’s an improvement. Thanks to our friend Dave H. for the inspiration.

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Emberglow at Ploughman’s

Photograph taken on Saturday, January 18, 2025 by Henry
Emberglow at Ploughman's

Emberglow (from left: Jeff, Mo, Julia, and Keisha)

We’ve almost become regulars at the Ploughman Taproom in Gettysburg. Well, not really, but we’ve been enough times that we’re recognized, at least. Dorothy was finishing up at work and came about 20 minutes into Emberglow’s first set (of two). This is the first time we’ve heard them and it was an enjoyable evening of music, cider, and savory pies. Dorothy’s housemate Anna and a few of her friends joined us, as well. We hadn’t decided ahead of time that we’d stay until they finished at 10:00 PM but we did and felt it was worth the trip. Emberglow is Julia as lead singer, Jeff on Guitar and sometimes singing lead, Keisha on violin and vocals, and Mo on cello and base (not at the same time, and I don’t know if she was singing, because she was mostly hidden behind the others).

I apologize for the poor quality of this photo. I had the ISO set to 3,200 and even so it was taken at f/4 and 1⁄25 second. Then I had to lighten it a bit, increasing the lighting artifacts due to the harsh and colored lighting. Their music was better than my picture.

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Christmas Puzzle

Photograph taken on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 by Henry
Christmas Puzzle

Christmas Puzzle

One of my mom’s friends (whom I’ve known basically all my life) offered to give us a stack of puzzles. And by stack, I mean 35 or 40 of them. They are mostly 500 piece puzzles, which are a little easier then the 1,000 piece puzzles we normally do, but that’s not a problem. This is the first of those that we’ve done. In addition to the somewhat larger piece size, this one also had more unusual piece shapes, which for me makes a puzzle that much easier, because I look for pieces as much by shape as by the picture.

As you may or may not know, our family has this thing where we don’t look at the picture while we’re doing a puzzle. That makes it a little more challenging but it also gives us that much more satisfaction when we finish it.

This puzzle was missing a piece, as you can see about a third of the way up from the bottom a few ‘columns’ in from the left.

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U.S. Botanic Garden

Photograph taken on Sunday, January 26, 2025 by Henry
Birds Nest and Maidenhair Ferns

Birds Nest and Maidenhair Ferns

Tree and Tassel Ferns

Tree and Tassel Ferns

Cathy suggested we go to the U.S. Botanic Garden today after church. It’s a place I enjoy and I thought it was a really good idea, so, we went. The last time we were there was in July of 2016. In the summer, of course, the outside garden is nice, too, but today it was all about being indoors. The large, central portion of the garden is great, with room for very large plants and trees, but I think the orchid and fern rooms are especially nice. There were only a few orchids in bloom but the maidenhair (Adiantum) and bird’s next (Asplenium) ferns as well as other moisture loving plants made that room nice. The fern room with it’s tree ferns and a few large tassel-ferns (which are actually clubmosses), is also very pretty.

I brought a sketch pad with me, along with a few pencils, thinking I might sit and sketch a little, but in the end, we didn’t sit much and I didn’t do anything but take photos. I think I’m intimidated by a blank page at this point, but at least I carried the sketch book with me. Maybe on the next outing I’ll actually sit and open it up.

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