Eve 2018 to 2019.......

Acadia National Park is next to Bar Harbor Maine. My wife and I received new Maine parkas for Christmas from our Maine kids.  The shirts themselves took the long route as our daughter-in-law ran into a deer while out driving and the shirts stayed in the trunk of the wrecked vehicle for quite a while. DIL didn’t get much damage other than the airbags tried to beat her up.  We enjoy wearing the Maine shirts in Iowa and people think we are from there.

The cardinal bird has yet to return.  I guess the squirrel likes the seed well enough that he returns many times  a day. He has a mess out there with seeds and shells scattered all over th area..

This is an older piece that came from my wife’s family things.  The red on the little boy is flaking off some.  A candle is to sit right behind the fire box so that fireplace will glow.

This is my all time favorite of all the teddy bears in the house.  This guy with his coordinated plaid bow tie and pads on his feet just looks spiffy at all times. His smile is always present and his perky nose is pronounced.

We went to get some last minute things at the supermarket.  Half of the town of 63,000 were also there doing the same thing.  It took me 15 minutes of driving around just to get a place to park.  We always say that why did we not do this on the day before today.

We are going out to a Chinese Restaurant for supper this New Year’s Eve.  It isn’t too far from where we live and we enjoy eating there. We will be enjoying the day at home tomorrow and maybe watch the freezing snow and rain from inside.

Thank you for checking in today.  Everyone have a great day tomorrow.

Sunday’s News or maybe Snooze......

A forgotten star that never made it on a tree.  It is a metal ornament with a great finish on it to make it a special form. It really needs to be hung on a wreath or a special kind of tree. I found it in the top drawer of the chest of drawers in the basement.

This is a plastic replica of the train seen in the first Narnia movie. It does make a whistle sound when one pushes the one button on top. The view in the movie of the train winding through an English countryside is a special sight.

A modern replica of a work train, used to pull many cars filled with goods and machinery.

Two buddies on the teddy bear tree seem to be just hanging around together. I bet there are more stuffed dogs on the tree than teddy bears.

This guy has not shown up again since two days ago.  I guess he found a better place to eat. It is cold this morning but we will venture out to teach our Sunday School classes. It is good to see the sun this morning and all is quiet in the neighborhood with everyone sleeping in today.  Barney doesn’t allow sleeping in but I am glad to get him out and keep his day normal.  We are treating our whole set of days between holidays as our holiday vacation.  Doing nothing is accepted and doing things with the least amount of work is encouraged.

 I will have to make a run to the grocery store today.  It will be a bear with so many shopping on Sunday.  The people are either getting ready for the week or for the New Year’s Holiday.  The aisle will be crowded and the lines will be congested.  I kind of enjoy the challenge and make light of all of it.  Everyone seems to feel the struggle and there are a lot of people laughing at the whole situation.   I do wish everyone to have a great day.  Thanks for checking in on my post today.

Cardinal and Junco......

I first saw him as a bright red spot out in the backyard tree. I grabbed the camera and the zoom bright him into view. It is the first cardinal for a very long time to be in our backyard.  He never did make it to my feeders on the deck but was on the ground below feeding on fallen seeds from above.

On the ground I couldn’t get great shots but here he is with the garden storage shed blocking a part of the view. I am putting out the best seed for the cardinals and blue jays but they have not been around except for this one. The majority of visitors are juncos.

There are a few around on and off during the day. The juncos started migrating in the past few weeks.  I am glad they are out there darting around looking for seed.

The snow isn’t keeping us in today but it is the cold.  We were around 11 degrees F.  this morning.  It will warm up a bit and we could get out later. Neither one of us seems to be motivated to leave the warmth of the house. Barney keeps me going outside with him but I have to bundle up to do so. We are getting a fluffy snow right now but it won’t be measurable. It was so strange for us to go for a long time without snow considering we did have a good snow back in early November.

Thank you for stopping by today.  Have a great day out there where ever you are.

Friday’s a Go........

The weather has been churning and changing the past few days.  We were warm enough to get rain and warmer temps.  Then the churning brought it cold air to turn all that moisture into snow. When you have snow on the  backs of your fake geese then you do have the first December snow. We have a new carwash in town being built and they have already installed fake decorative palm trees all along their building.  It would be good for me to get a picture of the dozen or more palm trees in the snow.

That churning in the air gave us a distant view of the cumulus clouds to our southeast.  A local weather guy was out biking and he took pictures of the same cloud formation. That is how I knew what kind of clouds there were as he described them on his Facebook page.

I was planing on checking the old place today but the windchill is just too much for me.  I spent a lot of money on a new furnace for that house so it surely must be doing well on a set 55 degrees.

It isn’t a lot of snow but it is the beginning or winter for us.  We had a heavier snow back in early November but we then warmed up to melt it. It did seem strange to see it when we were first up and Barney doesn’t see we’ll, so the snow confused him.  He did get use to it. I have layers of long sleeved shirts and my winter coat.  I have a pair of oversized warm-up pants to wear on top of my blue jeans.  I certainly am not getting ready to go to the beach with that outfit.

I pulled the old shiny brites and old glass decorations that were sitting in a canning jar.  They helped to decorate around the red pot of the amaryllis. The history of those ornaments go all the way back to hanging on cedar trees that my dad use to cut for our indoor tree. That would have been as late as 1950s to 1970s.  I miss the smell of them in the house but I don’t miss the mess and prickly branches.

This is a good contrasting photo of the indoors with the outdoors. Snow on the deck and grill looks cold compared to the flower inside. I have plans to stay inside all day today.  It just seems to be a good idea with the wind chills being very cold.

I hope everyone is doing well this 28th day of December.  This should be a good day for a creative project for me or maybe just resting.  Thank you for stopping by today.

Thursday’s Things......

Raining days are dull and cold.  The ornament looks out on our dreary day.  The rains have greened up some of the yard even though the ground is frosty and frozen a little.

Barney’s fur gets to be dampened down with rain water each time we go out. My wife got an old beach towel and gave him a rub down after his last night’s visit outside.

The last time I took Barney outside I came in to the tunes that were coming from the carousel. It doesn’t quit fit with the village but is was sold among the miniatures. I found taking the photo of it gives me a clear shot.

I haven’t shared my drunken snowmen figurine yet.  I had fundraisers for the art department when I was teaching years ago.  I bought this and have enjoyed it for many years.  I actually have it on a shelf in the bathroom and the three guys smile as you enter the room.

The day is planned to be another quiet one today.  We don’t need to go anywhere and the weather does seem to be keeping us inside.

I hope all are well today.  Thanks for stopping by today.

December 26th.......

Reflecting on the Christmas past; we did have a good day.  We had expectations of quiet and rest.  We did go for a turkey dinner at our pie place and brought one piece of a cream pie home to split later.  The pie place has to stay open on Christmas day as they sell major numbers of whole pie all day long.  Our wait was long and the time to get the food was just as long.  That was our expectation to so we just waited patiently in an overbooked food joint.  The turkey dinner was great and the amount was so much that we had to leave food on our plate.  We came home to a hungry dog and then we took a nap.

The Christmas eve service was great.  It was very crowded and we were glad.  The hot cocoa was filled with such long lines that we just came home.  The old manger was made to look old.  It is a fun one that I put out next to my antique small ornament tree. The manger was a purchase years ago at a specialty mall shop.  We have three different manger scenes and we don’t plan to collect them any time soon.

If any of you who follow regularly, you know my village photos are not so great.  Look and see what a new gifted tripod does for me, as I took this picture last evening.  I was amazed at the difference with the tripod steady shot compared to my point and shoot photos.

I have more time to shoot photos on the day after Christmas. I think my tripod will come in handy this summer when I am out taking garden and tree shots.

The trees will not come down until after New Years Day. All of our trees are in windows so the neighbors can also see them.  We have young children in our backyard and it is nice that they and their families can see them at night. Both families directly behind us had babies when we moved in and now they are young little boys who are walking and running in their back yards.  A family across the street have a young boy about those two other boys’ ages and he has an older brother. They are cute when they run having their short little legs.

We are having a quiet day today.  No plans but we can be spontaneous.  I don’t really think we will do anything but one of us will go to the  grocery store for chicken for Barney.  We still have mince pie and other things to eat.  I hope everyone is doing well today.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Behind the Blue Ball.....

A new tripod is going to give me a better fix on photographing the world. Christmas day is almost gone and we did have a great day.

Christmas Eve.....

The early morning looked like this with the sun really not in sight.  I could see the full moon in the west this morning at the same time.

The pie has been made, the fudge is in the pan, and my wife has finished the last of the season’s cooking. I purchased a couple of things this morning in which very few customers were there. I am certain things will pick up by noon.  We both need to wrap our presents for each other.  We will do that after Christmas eve service. We are going to the early four o”clock service so we can be home for a good evening.

All is more calm and quiet now as all that needed to be done, is done.  I sent out the last two cards this morning and anything that we get late in the next few day.  We won’t have company but we like to get things straightened and cleaned for ourselves. My wife put a pretty white tablecloth on the table and some new bright red placemats. I noticed across the street that family members are arriving for apparently a Christmas Eve family get together.  We lack the snow but it does still seem like Christmas.  I wish you all well today.  Thanks for stopping by.

Breakfast Time......

The sparrows have been gone for a while. There was plenty of seeds out there for them to eat.  Now the frost is shutting down that natural feeding and the snow will do that eventually.  They will then all be back at the feeder.  The birds are in the shade in the photo and the glow of the fence shows the sun is shinning today.

A new shiny bright ready for the tree. A homemade hanger from a paper clip when in a pinch.

The trains use to sit around in a box most of the year and I was glad to dig them out and display them around the base of some of the Christmas trees.  It just didn’t happen this year.

That which is different this year is the trains all have a home now sitting on display year round. It was a major project to build it with one false start.  Having torn the design completely apart, the final design did work out great. We watched the movie “The Polar Express”last night and it reminded me of my old trains. The movie itself spent a lot of time showing all of the parts of an old steam engine and the passenger cars.  The movie has become one or out traditional things to watch each Christmas.

In the movie the era of the train, the engine was older but they didn’t have a caboose.  They had their last car be a streamlined designed smoking car. I have never seen a replica of a smoking car but I guess I have never searched for one.

The end of the year is getting close.  We will head to church on Christmas eve and hope our weather doesn’t shut us down.  Rain turning to snow can be a dangerous time on the roads. We have no snow at this point even though we did have in November. We venture out this morning for Sunday School and will stay away from the mad shopping areas.  Tomorrow we finish up our shopping and for times of rest and relaxation.  Thank your for stopping by today.

Saturday’s Special Spot......

The day moon rises in the east as if it is the sun coming up. It is  the late afternoon. I was glad that I caught the glimpse of it as it was gone within an hour.

As proof to the public, here is the moon with all of its craters and different surface colors. The rest of the afternoon and evening was cloudy.  At the ten o’clock hour the clouds were thin and it was a foggy view of the moon.

As evidence of proof we do also have the letter with photos created and ready to go. The two of us will sit down to day and scribble out address while drinking eggnog. We have the cards, the stamps and many different pens to use as we finish up this task. I really like getting cards so I really do want to send them.  Some of my cousins have quit sending but they get cards anyway.

I was a lot grumpy yesterday but I am better today.  We have two major malls in our area and their anchor stores have shut down.  The shopping gets confusing when you are use to them being there.  I know that in the next couple of days I can get what I want to buy to finished up actually in our local city.  Our largest mall to the west of us is booming but it will be so crowded for days to come. That major large mall helped to shut down the two smaller malls.

We are taking today as a rest day.  We both seem to have colds of some sort from who knows where.  The busy times should be about done now. We keep getting items in the mail from our kids as they shopped online this year. We received a box of red pears yesterday that we usually enjoy once they have become ripe. It is a unique gift and fun for all.

I hope all are having a good day today and you are doing well. I appreciate you checking in on my post.

Bah Humbug......

The earth is taking time to now shift back.  I am certain that it is effecting my mood so I don’t have many words to say. Shopping for my wife is going badly.  All packages are shipped. Christmas letter is done but the cards need to be addressed and stamped. I bought some divinity today and it is bad.  Tomorrow will be a better day.  Thanks for stopping by today.