Early this morning

Early this morning, I was still asleep. I have off from work today so I slept in late, if you call 8:15 late, which is what we call it around here.

I had a goal for today and it was to clean out my chest of drawers and pack some bags to take to the local Goodwill. But before I did that, I wanted to take a walk in the freshly fallen snow we had overnight.



We got less than an inch.



I had hoped for more, but am glad for this. Also glad it’s getting a little colder. It’s been pretty difficult walking in the slush and mud and my Sorel snow boots. Now the ground is nice and crunchy again.



I saw my husband with George, filling the bird feeders.



George has his ID tied on with a twisty tie because it kept coming off. He’s so stylin’, isn’t he?

Not.




I wanted to look at these photos as soon as I got in from the walk. But I knew that if I did, I’d be on the computer fiddling with them, and then working on a post and before I knew it, it would be lunchtime. And I knew that if I didn’t force myself, I’d never get done my one goal for the day.

So I cleaned out my chest of drawers. It didn’t take nearly as long as I had anticipated, and I have several bags ready for the Goodwill.




And then I opened up my photos. And I think this is my favorite.




Or maybe this one.

Sometimes I wish I had bought the 105mm macro. And I think that someday, I may trade in the trusty 60mm that I’m using now and get that lens.

But until then, I am happy with what I have.




In the background, you can see the the pad I use for lying on the ground in the snow to take pictures. I don’t feel like getting my pants nice and wet, and this old woven beach roll-up from Two’s Company works great.

And it’s waterproof.




And more fashionable than carrying around a tarp.

And you know how fashion conscious I am when I'm walking around this property.

* snort *

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And now, because it’s Friday and because I really haven’t done one of these in awhile, I have some questions for you, if you care to play along. Inquiring minds, and all that.

1. What is one thing that you’re really good at doing?
2. What piece of clothing makes you feel warm and snuggly the moment you put it on?
3. Do you consider yourself to be a ‘picky-eater’?
4. How often to you exercise? And what do you do?
5. Do you use a seatbelt every time you get into a car?

I try to respond to all of your answers through my e-mail. If I’ve never responded to you, it could be because of this:

The Noreply-Comment@Blogger.com Blues

See you in the comments, my friends.

Winner announced in CSN Giveaway

The winner of the CSN Giveaway is The Japanese Redneck, a long-time reader of this blog. Congratulations, Ramona! Please e-mail me at katydid56@gmail.com and I’ll send you the link to the $65 gift card which is good at all the CSN websites.

The winner was chosen using the random integer generator at random.org.

Thanks to everyone for playing along.

Just another day

My husband says that all the time. Just another day. So here are just a few odds and ends and random thoughts for today. The photos are all over the place, too.

For the past couple of weeks, at dinnertime, we’ve been listening to A Diary of Dixie by Mary Chestnut on Archive.org. It was written by Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut, the wife of a Confederate general. She was a well-educated Southern lady and moved in elite circles of society. She also knew many of the key players of the era and had a keen interest politics. Her diary is a rare glimpse into Southern society as well as an important historic document. 

With that said, it’s kind of nice having something to listen to during the meal, because my husband and I have pretty much heard all of each other’s stories throughout the years . . . and the woman who reads the book does so perfectly.



I took this photo on Tuesday morning at the tail end of an ice storm, before I left for school. Actually, it had just begun raining, so the temps were going up. I shot this through the window of the breakfast nook at the north end of the house.



My husband took this shot shortly after I left for work. He said that the ice began melting pretty quickly, but I wished I had taken the camera out the driveway with me because it was a real wonderland in the woods.



He took this shot later that morning and I love all the little squiggles. Kim Klassen texture. Because I felt like it.


And now, in response to a reader’s question, here’s the original bird and the textured bird below.

The original version.

With a little texture.

And now, moving along . . .

Tonight’s sunset, taken by Andrew.

That’s my husband’s name. I don’t think he’d mind if I said it out loud.




George knows him as daddy.




I didn’t realize my husband was up on the widow’s walk while my friends were visiting this weekend. He took a couple of interesting shots, and I don’t think he realized that he had the 50mm lens on the camera, but we found this one pretty amusing. I had seen these tracks from below and until I’d seen it from this angle, had no idea of what it really was.

Peace, love and Bobby Sherman.

Geez, I’m dating myself.

There’s still time to enter my giveaway ~

And a little explanation as to the Reviews blog, where I’m hosting the giveaway. Because I advertise with BlogHer, the rules state that this type of giveaway needs to be displayed on a review page that doesn’t contain their ads. It’s not another blog that I update regularly. It’s merely a vehicle to host giveaways that I cannot post here. That’s all.

A little Giveaway to celebrate winter

Is anyone out there getting a little bit tired of winter?

Well, I know that I’m not (yet) but it’s always a good excuse to have a Giveaway, don’t you think?



So get comfortable in your round chair, or even your square chair, and come join the fun. Head on over to my Country Girl Reviews Blog where you can enter to win a $65 gift certificate to CSN Stores and add a little color to your life!

Country Girl Reviews Blog

See you there!

I've been for a walk on a winter's day

I had off from school today to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. After doing a few chores, I said goodbye to my husband, packed George into the car and drove to nearby Havre de Grace, Maryland – a rather historic little town at the mouth of the Susquehanna River at the head of the Chesapeake Bay.

It was a gray day and I thought I’d walk around by the water and maybe get some photo ideas.



Well, it was super cold on this gray day – and even though I was bundled up somewhat well, the path to the lighthouse was very slippery.

I took the photo of the gulls in the parking lot of the yacht basin.




I almost deleted this photo above because it was blurry. But I liked the composition, and I could see in my mind how I wanted it to look.

And now I’m glad I kept it.

When I download photos into my hard drive, I go through and delete the bad ones right away. It makes me feel better to have gotten the deed done and besides, I don’t need a bunch of waste on the hard drive. So I make my decisions as to which files to keep and I tend to make them fast.




The Concord Point Lighthouse is so picturesque. It was built in 1827 and is located at the point where the Susquehanna River meets the tidal flow of the bay. It holds the distinction of being one of the oldest lighthouses in continuous operation on the East Coast.

: :   Calling All Photographers   : :

A few days ago, a reader contacted me about a project she’s working on to raise funds for the Rose Fund, a registered charity created to help cancer patients who are dealing with financial difficulties. She writes:

The “Love From Me” Art Book Project will use inspiring artwork and photographic images donated by artists around the world. All artwork and photographs will be considered, as long as they fall under the project’s themes. The artist will keep the copyright of the donated images. 

The purpose of the book is to provide inspiration to people going through a period of personal challenge, and to raise funds for cancer charity. This year's project will include:
1. A coffee table art book
2. Poster and postcards
3. Wall calendar
4. Greeting cards (participation optional)

If you are a photographer and would like to donate some of your images to this worthy cause, visit the link below and click on the “details” page.

“Love From Me” Art Book Project

I’ve donated a couple of my bird photos in different categories. Maybe you have a photo or two you would like to contribute.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

all the leaves are brown
and the sky is grey
I've been for a walk
on a winter's day

- California Dreamin'

Weekend at the manor house

I had such a nice weekend and I hope you did, too. My two friends arrived around noon on Saturday, and brought a delicious lunch.

And it all came from Aversa’s Italian Bakery in NJ. I took a couple of photos to share with you. And then today, I got all artsy and put textures on them. The jury is still out on some of them, as far as I’m concerned – but that’s not going to stop me from sharing.

I’m adding links to the handwriting textures I used because I just found them today.




Texture by SophieG* on Flickr – Postcard 2
Texture by NinianLif on Flickr – Texture 5

There were fresh baked rolls, sliced lunchmeats that included roast turkey, baked ham, roast beef and a provolone cheese with such a heady aroma that it had us all swooning.

Honestly, I rarely eat this sort of thing, so it was a real treat.

Peg had never been here before, so I showed her around the house before we sat down to eat. And guess what? They didn’t want to leave.




Texture by Muffet on Flickr – Faded script 

So they stayed over!

My husband was actually glad to have them visit. Peg and I headed out to pick up a couple of overnight supplies like toothbrushes, and the fixin’s for some snacks including the one above. It was over-the-top delicious. Tomatoes, sliced mozzarella, shredded basil, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a little salt & peppah.

Yum-o-licious.




They even brought dessert. Mexican wedding cookies and cannoli’s.

Thank heavens I’m not on a diet.

Unfortunately, after this weekend, I now need to go on a diet.




Early Sunday morning, I went to the local bagel joint and brought back some plain ones. We toasted them, smeared them with cream cheese, then topped with fresh tomatoes, diced red onions and a little crushed sea salt.

And the heavens sang.




Texture by lizzie_anne on Flickr – orange background

Or maybe it was that little Carolina wren at the kitchen window.

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So nice to have friends for a surprise visit.

Until tomorrow, all. Thanks for stopping by today.

Company coming

It’s Saturday morning and I’m nearly finished with my chores for the day. A friend wrote me last night, asking if she could come visit today. She lives about an hour away and was planning on bringing another friend, one I haven’t seen in awhile. (I think they had seen the photos of the house in snow on the blog and thought it might be fun to come out).

After I warned her about the driveway that hasn’t been plowed, and the fact that the house was a mess, she still insisted that she wanted to come. She also insisted that she didn’t care about the state of the house either. And, to top it all off, she told me that she would bring lunch.

I love when people bring lunch.

And my husband is so thrilled that we’re having company.




Not.

But he’ll get over it. He always does.

We are so opposite. Maybe that’s what the attraction is. I dunno.

He took this photo yesterday and it was a little washed out, so I fiddled around with it this morning in photoshop and then applied a bokeh texture to it. It’s from a free set that I found on one of my favorite sites, Shadowhouse Creations. (I used #4).

Shadowhouse Creations Bokeh Texture Set

I applied it using the texture tutorial below, which is from the same site.

Texture Example

And now I think I’ll get back to work. I’m really glad my friends are coming today.

Hope your weekend is a good one ~

My evening

I am sitting in my living room on my favorite chair and trying to answer the questions on Jeopardy tonight. I was on a roll for a little while, but it didn’t last.

We always eat dinner at exactly 6 PM. Always. My husband is the dinner maker and he’s got this thing about it being done precisely at 6. He doesn’t like me hovering in the kitchen when he’s in there, so I keep my distance and spend my time on the laptop, checking my mail, or playing around in Photoshop until it’s time for dinner.

(And yes, I know I am blessed to have dinner served to me every night.)

Tonight at 6:00, I closed my laptop and stood up to go out to the kitchen when I heard my phone ringing. I keep it in my purse, which hangs in the breakfast nook where we eat, so I dashed in there only to miss the call. And then I laughed out loud when I saw that the missed call was from my husband (who was sitting there chuckling).




I don’t even know why I told you that.

I took a walk in the snow after work today. It’s more of a workout in the snow with my big heavy boots. The sun was just setting as I was heading out and I realized I’d left the camera upstairs on the dresser after taking photos of Miss Blackie.

I felt it was just as well, because I already have a lot of sunset pictures.

I walked around the property and then got to this spot – the vantage point that you see above – and my mouth dropped. The sky was pink, with a layer of this beautiful cerulean blue along the horizon. And it just looked all kinds of pretty. And after wrestling with the decision for about 30 seconds, I began the walk back to the house to get the camera.




It was just too pretty to pass up.





And so is Miss Blackie. This is where I found her when I arrived home today. It’s one of her favorite afternoon spots in the wintertime. Our bedroom window gets all the wonderful late afternoon sunlight and has the added bonus of birds outside the window and at the feeders below.

Hope your Friday is a good one. Thanks for stopping by today --

Winter arrives on silvery-toed slippers of snow

A couple of snow pictures for you. Just two today ~ I took them early this morning while the light was still sweet.

Today I accomplished everything on my list. Maybe if I made bigger lists I would get more done but I’m not really sure I want a bigger list.




Pioneer Woman is having another of her photo assignments and this time it’s food photography. Looking in my files, I see that there many more photos like the ones in this post than there are of food.

But I entered one anyway.

Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.
~Bill Morgan, Jr.

My George. He waits patiently for me while I’m on the ground (on a tarp, of course) taking macro photos.

Today was the first substantial snowfall of this winter and I’m glad for it.

Thanks for coming by and visiting with me today ~ it’s always a pleasure to see you here.

: : ~ : :

Snow beneath whose chilly softness

I awoke this morning to a beautiful world transformed by snow. After I got the 5:30 call that school would be closed, I looked out the window and then fell back asleep and hoped that I wouldn’t sleep through the sunrise.

And I am so glad I didn’t miss it.

 

Here in Maryland, today’s sunrise was 7:26 a.m. so I had to get dressed and bundled up quickly to catch it.

 

We have about 4-6 inches of the white stuff today and I’ve been outside in it for a couple of hours, walking and taking photos to share here with you.

 

I have said this a million times, but I don’t care – we are so lucky to be here in this home on this property. It’s just wonderful sometimes.

Ok. I’ll stop now.

 

I love when the snow sticks to the branches and every tiny little thing.

I love my new favorite breakfast cereal, too. I’m having some right now. Have you ever tried Yogi cereals? The cherry almond crunch is fantastic. Today I’m having the walnut spice crunch, which is also good.

Yogi Cereals

 

It was so quiet, with that muffled sound that comes from a nice blanket of snow.

 

I absolutely love this soft, gentle morning light.

 

I love me a good dog, too.

 

 

At this time, George and I would like to say hello to Grace. She knows who she is.

Hey, Grace! Were you up at sunrise?

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Want to find out when the sun rises and sets in your part of the world?

Sunrise and sunset times

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Today I am venturing up to the third floor where I think I will wear my coat and gloves. I’m gathering clothing for a drive at school and if I’m really industrious, I may clean out my closet afterward.

But then again, I’ll probably nix the closet thing. It’s too beautiful to be inside all day. I may go sit in the sunshine and take pictures of birds.

: : ~ : :

So what’s happening in your world today? Inquiring minds want to know.