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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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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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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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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My 2024 Reading

Photograph taken on Tuesday, December 31, 2024 by Henry
My 2024 Reading

My 2024 Reading

This was a somewhat light year in terms of the number of books read, 44, the fewest I’ve read since 2019, but only the second lowest in terms of number of pages (17,857). But while I like to read a lot of books, it’s really more about reading widely and I think I did that this year. The hardest book to get through was Plutarch’s Lives. I found it quite interesting but it isn’t an easy read (or at least it wasn’t for me). I also read three longish books (and one short play) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Kolyma Stories by Varlam Shalamov, which also deals with life in the Soviet Gulag system. I read Emily Wilson’s new translations of The Iliad (2023) and The Odyssey (2018). There were only two books this year by living authors, which were also the only two written more recently than the 1980s.

As usual, the list of books is below. As always, you can sort the table by the order read (the default), title, author, and date written by clicking on the headings.

In case you are interested, here are links to my four previous year’s reading lists:

Order   
Read   		 Title Author Date    Notes
1 Complete Works of Horace Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, December 8, 65 B.C. – November 27, 8 B.C.) Through 27 B.C. I can’t honestly say I got a lot out of most of the pieces, but there were some interesting bits. His reputation as a Latin poet is quite good but of course I’m reading translations of his works so whatever beauty his Latin has is mostly lost. Still, worth a few days of work to get through.
2 The Advancement of Learning Bacon, Francis (1st Viscount St Alban, also known as Lord Verulam, January 22, 1561 – April 9, 1626) 1605 I can’t say I found Bacon’s writing to be easy to follow, but I suspect that’s at least party because I’m not all that smart. Nevertheless, hard things are worth reading, even if you probably miss much of what’s actually there.
3 Love-Girl and The Innocent Solzhenitsyn, Alexander (December 11, 1918 – August 3, 2008) 1969 This play is set over the course of about one week in 1945 in one of Stalin’s prison camps. It would, I think, be difficult to stage, with trucks being loaded and unlaoded and with a foundry where prisoners are pouring moulton iron.
4 The Three Clerks Trollope, Anthony (April 24, 1815 – December 6, 1882) 1857 I enjoyed this book. As with most Trollope stories, it’s a bit like a soap-opera at times, but well written and enjoyable, in my view. A wide variety of characters, some likeable and others not so much.
5 The Boys In The Boat Brown, Daniel James (born 1951) 2013 This non-fiction ‘novel’ is subtitled Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. That pretty much sums it up. Very entertaining.
6 Droll Stories Balzac, Honoré de (May 20, 1799 – August 18, 1850) 1832, 1833, and 1837 Written in the 19th century but in a form that is intended to hark back to an earlier era in France.
7 The Winter’s Tale Shakespeare, William (circa April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616) circa 1610 This has elements of both tragedy and comedy but ultimately ends as a romance.
8 In The First Circle Solzhenitsyn, Alexander (December 11, 1918 – August 3, 2008) 1958 This novel was originally published in distorted form in 1964, and restored in 1968. This is the fully restored, unabridged, 96-chapter, canonical version, translated into English by Harry T. Willetts, published in 2009
9 The Count of Monte Cristo Dumas, Alexandre (July 24, 1802 – December 5, 1870) 1844 This is one of those stories that everyone’s heard of but I’m not sure most people have read. It’s a bit fantastic (i.e. based on fantasy) as a story, but somewhat exciting for all of that.
10 No Exit and Three Other Plays Sartre, Jean Paul (June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980) 1944 No Exit is probably the best known of Sartre’s plays, with the message of the play often being summed up as “Hell is other people.” That’s a bit of over-simplification, of course, and there are only three main characters, which isn’t really enough to cover all of mankind. All three of these are pretty flawed and while we all are, I don’t know that we can project this as a universal truth.
11 The Iliad Homer (unknown) Eighth Century B.C. This is a new translation by Emily Wilson, published in 2023. It is presented in iambic pentameter, and in the introduction she discusses—among other things—why she chose that rather than the dactylic hexameter of the original.
12 Uncle Tom’s Cabin Stowe, Harriet Beecher (June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) 1852 The label ‘Uncle Tom’ is used in the USA as a strong pejorative. While it’s well understood, the title character in the story is not, as far as I can tell, an ‘Uncle Tom’ in that sense. It’s true that he is obedient to his early master. However, he is also willing to die for his disobedience to his last master in order to protect another slave. So, as usual, it’s a lot more complicated that that. A well written book and definitely worth reading.
13 Why We Get Sick Bikman, Benjamin, Ph.D. 2020 Ben Bikman is a researcher specializing in metabolic disorders, insulin resistance, and mitochondrial function. This book spells out his view that insulin resistance is resonsible for a wide variety of ailments. It was largely through his influence that I joined the low-carb trend and subsequently lost over 75 pounds.
14 Absalom, Absalom! Faulkner, William (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) 1936 I find Faulkner hard to read and hard to make sense of. His stories are illuminating and interesting for their settings and characters but he isn’t my favorite. I have a few more of his stories on my shelf but I’m not in any hurry to read them. I will eventually, most likely, but not today.
15 Plutarch’s Lives Plutarch (circa A.D. 46 – after A.D. 119) Early 2nd Century Five stories, titled The Diver, Babette’s Feast, Tempests, The Immortal Story, and The Ring.
16 The Fortune of War O’Brian, Patrick (December 12, 1914 – January 2, 2000) 1979 The sixth of the Aubrey–Maturin novels and I took a break after finishing a quarter of Plutarch to read this.
17 Wessex Tales Hardy, Thomas (June 2, 1840 – January 11, 1928) 1888 Of the seven stories in this book I had already read the three marked with an asterisk. They are: The Three Strangers*, A Tradition of Eighteen Hundred and Four, The Melancholy Hussar of The German Legion, The Withered Arm*, Fellow-Townsmen, Interlopers at the Knap, The Distracted Preacher*. I read this after reaching the halfway point in Plutarch.
18 Hamlet Shakespeare, William (circa 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) circa 1600 Shakespeare’s longest and possibly best known play, the story revolves around Prince Hamlet’s attempted revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet’s father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet’s mother.
19 The Surgeon’s Mate O’Brian, Patrick (December 12, 1914 – January 2, 2000) 1980 The seventh of the Aubrey–Maturin novels.
20 The Satires of Juvenal Juvenal (Decimus Junius Juvenalis, mid to late first century to mid second century A.D.) Early second century A.D. I found these at least moderately interesting but perhaps not as much as their reputation might suggest. Maybe it’s just me.
21 Felix Holt, The Radical Eliot, George (Mary Ann Evans, November 22, 1819 – December 22, 1880) 1866 This story is set in a small English town at the time of the First Reform Act of 1832. It’s not among her most loved works but I found it quite enjoyable. While I have a physical copy of this book, the pages were so yellowed it made it a bit hard to ready so I resorted to reading it in electronic form on my phone.
22 August 1914 Solzhenitsyn, Alexander (December 11, 1918 – August 3, 2008) 1971 Originally published in Russian in 1971, I read the final form of the book, published ten years later in 1981. It was released in the USA in English translation in August 2014. This is the first volume in his monumental eight volume series titled The Red Wheel, “on the revolutionary cataclysm of 1917 that ushered in the Soviet regime and the events leading up to the revolution”.
23 The Ionian Mission O’Brian, Patrick (December 12, 1914 – January 2, 2000) 1981 The eighth of the Aubrey–Maturin novels.
24 The Odyssey Homer (unknown) Eighth century B.C. I re-read this in a new English translation by Emily Wilson (born 1971) and published in 2018. Like her translation of The Iliad, she chose to preset it in iambic pentameter rather than the dactylic hexameter of the original.
25 Nicholas Nickleby Dickens, Charles (February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870) 1838 to 1839 This is a light comedy and that’s something I think Dickens is good at. It has nothing like the weight of A Tale of Two Cities, which I think is wonderful. But this story is an enjoyable escape into the 19th century.
26 The Return of the Native Hardy, Thomas (June 2, 1840 – January 11, 1928) 1878 I read this back in 2008 and it was the second book by Hardy that I read. My memory of it was fairly vague and I decided to give it another read, now that I’ve read so much more of his work. After finishing, I went back and read what I wrote in my journal in 2008 and basically agree with what I said then. Not a particulary happy story for many of the characters, but like real life, it wasn’t as simple as that, with some joy mixed in with the sadness. It’s a really well told story.
27a The Satyricon Petronius (circa A.D. 27 – 66) Late 1st century A.D. This is the first of the two surviving examples of Menippean satire from the classical era, which is characterized by attacking mental attitudes rather than specific individuals or entities. The Satyricon details the bizarre exploits of the narrator, Encolpius, and his (possible) slave and catamite Giton, a handsome sixteen-year-old boy.
27b The Apocolocyntosis Seneca the Younger (circa 4 B.C. – A.D. 65) Late 1st century A.D. This is the second of the two satires in a single book. The full title—The Apocolocyntosis (divi) Claudii—is literally translated as The Pumpkinification of (the Divine) Claudius. It is a satire on the Roman emperor Claudius which follows from his death through his ascent to heaven, judgment by the gods, and eventual descent to Hades.
28 Kolyma Stories Shalamov, Varlam (June 18, 1907 – January 17, 1982) Written from 1954 to 1973, published in Russian in 1989 and in English in 2018 These are stories, some autobiographical, about life (and death) in the Soviet Gulag, written by one who was there and amazingly survived.
29 The Birth of Britain Churchill, Winston (November 30, 1874 – January, 24 1965) 1956 This is the first of four volumes in Churchill’s A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, covering the period from prehistoric times up through the reign of Richard III.
30 The New World Churchill, Winston (November 30, 1874 – January, 24 1965) 1956 This is the second of four volumes in Churchill’s A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, covering the period from the reign of Henry VII, about 1500, through through the Revolution of 1688, also known as The Glorious Revolution. This was when James II of England (who was also James VII of Scotland) was replaced on the throne by his daughter Mary II, and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange (who was also James’s nephew), in November 1688.
31 The Age of Revolution Churchill, Winston (November 30, 1874 – January, 24 1965) 1956 This is the third of four volumes in Churchill’s A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, covering the period from the start of the reign of William and Mary in 1688 through Waterloo, including the American and French Revolutions and the empire of Napoleon.
32 The Great Democracies Churchill, Winston (November 30, 1874 – January, 24 1965) 1956 This is the fourth and final volumes in Churchill’s A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, starting after the battle of Waterloo and covering the Crimean and American Civil Wars, among other things, up through just after the start of the 20th century.
33 Treason’s Harbour O’Brian, Patrick (December 12, 1914 – January 2, 2000) 1983 The ninth of the Aubrey–Maturin novels.
34 November 1916 Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr (December 11, 1918 – August 3, 2008) 1985 This is the second volume in his monumental eight volume series “on the revolutionary cataclysm of 1917 that ushered in the Soviet regime and the events leading up to the revolution.”
35 All’s Well That Ends Well Shakespeare, William (circa April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616) circa 1602 A somewhat dark comedy, with a somewhat worthless protagonist undeservedly loved by an honorable and exceptional young woman.
36 The Stories of Anton Tchekov Chekhov, Anton (the more common spelling of his name, January 29, 1860 – July 15, 1904) 1882 through 1900 I really enjoyed these short stories or novellas.
37 The Mahabharata Vyasa (attributed to), also known as Krishna Dvaipayana probably written starting in the third century B.C. One of the two major Smriti texts and Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered in Hinduism, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa.
38 The Conference of the Birds Attar, Farid ud-Din (probably circa 1120 – shortly before 1220) late 12th century This poem is an alegory wherein the birds represent human faults which “prevent humanity from attaining enlightenment.”
39 Democracy In America Tocqueville, Alexis de (July 29, 1805 – April 16, 1859) 1835 and 1840 The copy I have is an abridged edition by Richard D. Heffner of the Henry Reeve translation of 1835 as revised by Francis Bowen. I think he it too biased in favor or aristocracies and he doesn’t really mention some of the safeguards in the American Constitution against overwhelming majority (or mob) rule. I think those are important and sadly rare.
40 Amphitryon and Two Other Plays Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus, circa 254 – 184 B.C.) Early Second Century B.C. Amphitryon is a play involving the title character’s jealous and confused reaction to Alcmena’s seduction by Jupiter, and ends with the birth of Hercules. The two other plays were The Pot of Gold (Aulularia in Latin) and Casina, a Latin comedy.
41 True Spirituality Schaeffer, Francis (January 30, 1912 – May 15, 1984) 1971 A wonderful book that sumarizes Schaeffer’s (and my) view of the true, spiritual life of a Christian. I first read this book in 1980 and was greatly influences by it then and decided it was time to revisit it. Highly recommended.
42 The Merry Wives of Windsor Shakespeare, William (circa April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616) circa 1597 This farce chronicles the mischief played by two virtuous wives on the roguish Sir John Falstaff.
43 Pericles Shakespeare, William (circa April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616) circa 1608 A late romance about a young prince who (SPOILER ALERT) loses and then regains his beautiful bride and daughter.
44 Chosen Short Stories of Thomas Hardy Hardy, Thomas (June 2, 1840 – January 11, 1928) 1890 One problem with short stories is that collections of them generally overlap and you end up buying books for one or two stories. In this case, it was for two that I hadn’t read, The Marchiones of Stonehenge and The Melanholy Hussar of the German Legion (both written in 1890), which I enjoyed.


Note about dates: Not all dates—either publication dates or birth/death dates for authors—are known with any certainty and some of them are not much more than educated guesses. If the work or collection of works was written over a period of years, sorting by date will use the latest reasonable and relevant date.

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Brookside Gardens

Photograph taken on Saturday, December 28, 2024 by Henry
Conservatory, Brookside Gardens

Conservatory, Brookside Gardens

Japanese Garden, Brookside Gardens

Japanese Garden, Brookside Gardens

After driving down to Kensington to visit a friend briefly and drop off a couple Christmas presents we went to Brookside Gardens, a 50-acre public display garden within Wheaton Regional Park. It’s wonderful all year, of course, but we particularly like going there in the winter, because they have a greenhouse (or conservatory) that’s lush and green all year. One part of that has always been dedicated to flowering plants that are rotated throughout the year, although sadly they are no longer going to be doing that (because ‘sustainability’ which I suspect really means ‘budget cuts’). The permanent installation is nice, of course, but it was always a treat to see what was different, as well. There are two connected greenhouses and the second one had two very large model railroad displays set up (which will be there until January 6, I believe).

After spending time in both greenhouses the rain had stopped so we walked around the grounds as well, walking around the pond and onto the island with the Japanese pavilion, shown in the second photograph.

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White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)

Photograph taken on Friday, December 27, 2024 by Henry
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)

White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)

We decided to go to Great Falls today. It’s probably the most interesting part of the C&O Canal that’s close enough to get to easily and since we don’t have to pay to get in (because we have an America The Beautiful, lifetime senior pass) the fee isn’t an impediment. After walking out to Olmsted Island, as per usual, we went downstream to Widewater. We saw a great blue heron and I got a few nice pictures of that, but since I posted on just a little while ago (and that’s a better picture than I got today anyway), I’m going with this nice shot of a white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis). This is a familiar bird, best known for its distinctive “Poor Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody” song.

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Christmas

Photograph taken on Wednesday, December 25, 2024 by Henry
Christmas

Christmas

It was a slightly non-standard Christmas for us this year. Or at least a little different in its details to previous years. One difference was that Cathy’s mom is in rehab so we went there to see her. We sang Christmas songs, which was fun. Then we came home and a little while later my side of the family came for Christmas. We were able to get this photo taken early in the day. If we had waited, I think it would have been harder to get everyone together for it. As expected, it was a fun, if somewhat tiring time. There was plenty of good food and we sang songs here, as well, with Jeff joining helping lead by playing guitar.

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Flower Valley Santa

Photograph taken on Sunday, December 22, 2024 by Henry
Flower Valley Santa

Flower Valley Santa

Santa made his way through Flower Valley this evening. Cathy was visiting her mom but I went out and enjoyed chatting with neighbors until he came. I also enjoyed watching the kids enjoying seeing Santa. I don’t know who, specifically, organized this anymore, but I think it’s a great tradition, eagerly anticipated by most families, or at least all those around us, who mostly have little kids. The parents use it as an excuse to get together and talk, so they like it, too.

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Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

Photograph taken on Saturday, December 21, 2024 by Henry
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

We went for a short walk on the trails below Croyden Creek Nature Center today. There wasn’t a lot to be seen but it was still really good to be outdoors. Life has been a bit stressful lately and walking in the woods, particularly where there is water nearby, is good for us. This was the only bird we saw on the walk that I was anywhere near close enough to get a photograph. I did take a few of birds (goldfinches) on the feeders at the nature center, as well, but those didn’t turn out as well. This is our common, northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos).

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Iceland Puzzle

Photograph taken on Saturday, December 21, 2024 by Henry
Iceland Puzzle

Iceland Puzzle

We finished another puzzle in the last few days. This one wasn’t as difficult as some we’ve done, but of course they’re all challenging at some level. The sky, not surprisingly, was the hardest part of this one but the clouds certainly helped a lot. We don’t have any more on deck to do at this point, but don’t be surprised if someone gets one or two for Christmas. The mountain in this photo is called Kirkjufell (Church Mountain) and the waterfall is named Kirkjufellsfoss for the mountain behind it. It’s in western Iceland just west of the town of Grundarfjörður.

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Phalaenopsis Orchids

Photograph taken on Friday, December 20, 2024 by Henry
Phalaenopsis Orchids

Phalaenopsis Orchids

In the 2​1⁄2 years Cathy’s mom has been in assisted living, she’s been given quite a few flowers including two small, Phalaenopsis orchid plants which were in bloom when she got them. She was able to enjoy them and when they stopped blooming we brought them home and I’ve been keeping them on our kitchen windowsill. Recently both of them came back into bloom at the same time (the second time for one of them and the first for the other). I took the first to start blooming to her but then she was in the hospital for a little while and I brought it back home. They are now gracing our kitchen window with lovely blooms. I don’t remember who gave them to Margaret but I’m thankful for them every time I’m at the kitchen sink.

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Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned Hawk

Photograph taken on Saturday, December 07, 2024 by Henry
Cooper's or Sharp-shinned Hawk

Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned Hawk

An expert might be able to tell from this photo if this is a Cooper’s (Accipiter cooperii) or sharp-shinned (Accipiter striatus) hawk but I’m pretty sure it’s one or the other. Cathy saw this one and another both flying around our yard. This one landed under bushes on the edge of our yard and I was able to get a few worse photos and this one, that at least shows this much. I turned the on-camera flash on, because it was relatively dark out or this one would have certainly been as blurred as the others.

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Dendrolycopodium dendroideum (Tree Groundpine)

Photograph taken on Friday, November 29, 2024 by Henry
Dendrolycopodium dendroideum (Tree Groundpine)

Dendrolycopodium dendroideum (Tree Groundpine)

We drove out to Annapolis Rock Road today and walked on a series of trails there, part of the Patuxent River State Park. We thought that the trails would overlook the Patuxent River and according to some maps I’ve found, some of them do, but not those that we walked. It’s quite a maze of trails, actually, and since it’s almost all in the woods, it’s not easy to keep a sense of direction.

A few times we came across patches of tree groundpine, (Dendrolycopodium dendroideum), a native clubmoss. It’s a surprisingly green sight this time of year, and very pretty. Other than that, there wasn’t really all that much to photograph. Although we got to these trails on Annapolis Rock Road, this is not the Annapolis Rock off of the Appalachian Trail near Interstate 70 and US 40 about halfway between Frederick and Hagerstown. That’s a place we really should go at some point, but today was not that day.

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Thanksgiving Dinner

Photograph taken on Thursday, November 28, 2024 by Henry
Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving Dinner

We had a lovely family dinner for Thanksgiving this year, hosted by Iris and Seth. It was something of a first for Cathy and me, as it was our first Thanksgiving without Dorothy there since she was born. There are two empty chairs at the table, because Danna was a little late arriving but she got there no long after the photo was taken. I think everyone enjoyed themselves and we did have a call from Dorothy so she was able to say hello to everyone.

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Rock Creek Bridge

Photograph taken on Saturday, November 23, 2024 by Henry
Rock Creek Bridge

Rock Creek Bridge

We parked at the Kengla House parking lot this afternoon but instead of walking upstream as we usually do from there, we went under Muncaster Mill Road and walked downstream. This is Cathy coming out from under the bridge. If the water was much higher it would not have been easy to do, but we managed today. It was a cool, overcast and somewhat dreary day and I didn’t take a lot of photos. There were a few spots with interesting color, mostly red oak leaves or berries on the barberry bushes. We saw a few people and heard a few birds, but that was about all. We got as far as the trail up to the Meadowside Nature Center before turning back and returning to the car.

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Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Photograph taken on Sunday, November 17, 2024 by Henry
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

As mentioned in the previous post, we walked upstream along the Potomac River from Great Falls today. After about a mile on a trail down by the river, we returned to the towpath because a stream blocked our way. We could have returned to the river’s edge above the stream but we were ready to head back, anyway. A short way back towards Great Falls we saw this great blue heron (Ardea herodias) on the canal, posing very nicely for us. I like him (or her, I have no idea which) against the green of the duckweed on the surface of the canal.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with the 150-600mm Sigma lens I got a couple years ago. It’s a lot to carry but it certainly allows me to get pictures that I wouldn’t get otherwise. This one was taken zoomed all the way out to 600mm, which when you multiply it by 1.6, gives an effective focal length of 960mm compared to a full-frame 35mm camera. This one was taken with the lens on a monopod, which is how I generally carry it. The exposure was 1⁄100 second at f/6.3.

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C&O Canal

Photograph taken on Sunday, November 17, 2024 by Henry
C&O Canal, North of Great Falls

C&O Canal, North of Great Falls

We went to Great Falls today. We started by going out to the Olmsted Island overlook, as we usually do. The water was quite low. Nevertheless, I took quite a few pictures. When we returned to the towpath, we walked upstream to just above the aqueduct intake and then onto a trail down near the river. We walked that for about a mile before returning to the towpath where a large stream crossed out path. This shot is from around where we left the towpath. Down by the river I took a few pictures of geese but not a lot else.

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Operation Christmas Child

Photograph taken on Sunday, November 17, 2024 by Henry
Cathy with Operation Christmas Child Boxes

Cathy with Operation Christmas Child Boxes

When Dorothy was little, Cathy would help her and Amy, who lived next door, put together boxes for Operation Christmas Child every year. They would fill them for girls the same age as Dorothy and Amy. Dorothy and Amy are grown and Amy doesn’t live next door any more (we both moved in different directions) but Cathy still puts together some number of boxes. She’s done as few as two and as many as 12. She generally plans to fill six. As you can see here, her six turned into eight, which is not at all unusual. She had bought one extra box, knowing she often goes over, but then took an empty box from church because she had enough things for one more.

Clearly, Cathy is a big fan of Operation Christmas Child, which is a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, an organization founded in 1970 by Robert Pierce (who also one of the founders of World Vision International) and with Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham as president.

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Puzzle: Van Gogh’s ‘Cafe Terrace at Night’

Photograph taken on Thursday, November 14, 2024 by Henry
Puzzle: Van Gogh's ‘Cafe Terrace at Night’

Puzzle: Van Gogh’s ‘Cafe Terrace at Night’

Our latest puzzle is one of Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Cafe Terrace at Night’, a wonderful painting and a challenging puzzle. It was easier than some we’ve done but hard enough to occupy us for a while. Cathy was worried that we didn’t have any more after this but her birthday’s coming up so she’ll be fine in a few days.

We were at a friend’s house and he has a board that he made for puzzles that has a slight rim all the way around the edge, which is a good idea. Then he has another board that he can set on that so the table can be used as a table even if the puzzle isn’t finished. We have a card table with a 4′ by 4′ piece of MDF that works well, although the idea of adding a edge pieces is a good one. Maybe I’ll add that to ours. We have, on occasion, lost pieces off the edge of the board and they are sometimes hard to spot on the carpet.

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