Lancaster Dutch Market

Pretzels and Sausage Rolls

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!

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I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles

Dorothy Blowing a Soap Bubble

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.

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Setting Sun

Setting Sun

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.

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Oak Leaves

Oak Leaves

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.

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Cathy

Cathy

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.

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American Persimmon

American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)

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.

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Ducks

Ducks

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.

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Buteo jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk)

Buteo jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk)

Buteo jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk)

Well, I initially identified this as a sharp-shinned hawk. I’m not terribly good with the hawks (as anyone who is will tell you). I do know the general shapes and because of that I incorrectly correlated the narrow tail here with the Accipiters and went with the most common of those around here. As I was quickly told by my birder brother, this is a red-tailed hawk, which usually flares its tail. Looking at pictures (which I probably should have done first) I can see he is right. All the patterns on the wings say red-tail, to those who know. So, now I know. At least until I forget, which probably won’t be long.

Anyway, I’ve completely rewritten the text for this post. Purists would say I should have left the old and just added my correction to it. You can do that on your blog. I admitted my mistake. That’s enough.

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Rogue Turtle

Dorothy

Dorothy

I don’t really have much to say about this picture. It is of Dorothy, obviously. She has her back pack on with a blanket over it and she was saying she was a turtle, for some reason, which I don’t fully understand.

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That’s Not a Cello

Dorothy On A Violin

Dorothy On A Violin

Dorothy picked up a violin today and started playing it tentatively. Of course, she’s never played the violin and after a short while she said something to the effect of, “I just can’t play holding it like this, it’s just wrong.” Then she turned it down and played it like a very small cello. She did reasonably well, actually, all things considered.

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Musical Clouds

Clouds

Clouds

I don’t know what it is but sometimes when I look at clouds, their shapes make music to me. Unfortunately, I cannot translate that into something anyone else can share, but at least I get to enjoy it myself. I guess it’s the rhythm of the repeating pattern that triggers it in my brain. These are musical clouds. Do you hear it?

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Fajita Steak

Fajita Steak

Fajita Steak

We had a wonderful time with our great friends, Krystal and Mike, this evening. They hate it when I take there picture so I’m going with this one of my meal. Very tasty.

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Afghan Carpet

Afghan Carpet Detail

Afghan Carpet Detail

This is the corner of a small Afghan carpet that we have in our living room. The carpet is only about the size of a door mat, so it’s more decorative than actual floor covering but it adds color to an otherwise monochrome, carpeted floor.

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Starlings

Starlings

Starlings

Are you a fan of starlings? Or do you see them as a curse, a thorn in the farmers’ side? Randy Stonehill, one of my favorite singers, used them as a metaphor for those we prefer not to see. “She was sitting on a curb by the Seven Eleven.” There are songs that make me laugh. There are songs that make me sing. This is a song that can make me cry. Not a comfortable song, but very beautiful, somewhat like the starlings.

Say a prayer for the starlings
A hot, dry wind beats their ragged wings
Have a thought for the starlings
No one ever listens to the songs they sing
Say a prayer for the starlings
There’s no welcome for them anywhere
Leave some crumbs for the starlings
They say that Winter will be cold this year

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Tree Reflection

Tree Reflection

Tree Reflection

I love reflections. I think it’s partly because I love the colors and the textures of the surface of moving water. Water that is animated, whether by wind or by gravity creates a surface that turns otherwise mundane objects into beautiful patters. Beautiful to me, anyway. Sometimes it is the motion itself that I love and capturing that in a still photograph is tricky. In this case I think it works. I especially like that you can see ripples from drops of rain among the other ripples.

This is a flood control pond north of Gude Drive between Key West and Research Blvd. It is near where I have walked many times but for some reason I’ve never been this side of Gude. It’s pretty overgrown with brambles, which means it isn’t as accessible as some places but there are things to be seen that might make it worth the effort from time to time.

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Walnuts and Leaves

Walnuts and Leaves

Walnuts and Leaves

I know I’ve recently posted a picture of black walnuts but I was out taking pictures and came across another tree that had just dropped most of its nuts. Not too surprisingly I took pictures of them on the ground.

I find it interesting that there are certain memories that are indelibly recorded in our minds and they are released by particular sights, sounds, and above all smells. The smell of the flesh of black walnuts is one that brings me back to my childhood. Blessed is he whose indelible memories are good ones.

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Blue Sky

Blue Sky

Blue Sky

Yesterday I asked for blue sky, today we got some. It wasn’t a clear blue sky but there was enough to make a pair of kitten britches, as we used to say. Odd saying, that. I wonder what the world of Google might have to tell us. Hmm. Here’s what I found in The Sailor’s Word-Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, Including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, But Useful to Seamen; As Well As Archaisms of Early Voyagers, Etc. by the late Admiral William Henry Smyth, K.S.F., D.C.L., &c., published in 1867.

DUTCHMAN’S BREECHES. The patch of blue sky often seen when a gale is breaking, is said to be, however small, “enough to make a pair of breeches for a Dutchman.” Others assign the habiliment to a Welshman, but give no authority for the assumption.

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Pond Overflow

Pond Overflow

Pond Overflow

We had about 6.5 inches of rain between Sunday evening and this morning. It rained pretty heavily yesterday afternoon and into the night. It was still coming down this morning but not nearly so hard. It will be nice to see a blue sky again.

When I got to work, the little pond between my building and the next was filled up. Normally it is about two feet deep in its deepest parts. When it rains hard, it can get as much as about 15 feet deep before it overtops the spillway built at the lower end. You cannot quite see it in this picture, but there is a notch in the middle of the wall and the water is coming through that. Last year, on September 8, it had overtopped the entire wall and was coming in all around this enclosure. So, this isn’t the highest I’ve seen the water, but it’s close.

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Sandy Prep

Cathy and Tarp

Cathy and Tarp

Hurricane Sandy has reached us although in the morning, when this was taken it was only raining. The rain started last night and was going to be with us for a while. It hadn’t gotten windy yet, but that was coming. We have a little problem with water in our basement and we knew it was going to be an issue today. It only comes in at one spot and part of the problem is rain that falls in this spot, between our patio and the bilco doors and steps down to our basement. So, we put a tarp out to direct the rain out from the house in that area. This is Cathy, pretending to be the intrepid weather man, standing out in the pouring rain to get the forecast out.

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Steak

Steak

Steak

I didn’t cook and neither did I eat this steak. But I did take a picture of it. I’ll leave it at that.

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