Still November - Saturday Snapshots

I know so many people are ready to decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, but I can't give up this beautiful month yet, this wonderous time of focusing on gratitude.  So here are a few snapshots, before Christmas celebrations begin.

I've always been amazed at the leaf prints left on pavement after a rain.  Leaves, but not quite leaves.

A few Sundays ago when we left for church, we discovered frost on a chrysanthemum plant.

It looked like spun sugar/cotton candy, but it's called frost flowers, rabbit frost, rabbit ice, or ice ribbons.  It was just totally amazing, one of those wonders of nature you read about and see photos of but never see in person.  (You can read more here, here, or here.)

Just for a little perspective, this is a photo (of a photo) of old-growth trees in Kentucky, probably late 1800s or early 1900s.

While visiting my daughter in Kentucky we went to a Chautauqua presentation at her local library given by a reenactor presenting Lilley Cornett, a miner who worked to protect the old-growth forests of Kentucky.  I was simply amazed at the size of the trees!  There is still a protected section of old-growth forest in Kentucky.  Some day I hope to visit.

And now for some refreshment....  Are you old enough to remember choosing one of these?

Which was your favorite?  My grandmother chose Beeman's.  My favorite was Black Jack.

I suppose we'll be needing a sign like this soon, if not already.

To those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving, I hope you had a wonderful one.  As for me, I've been in pain from what my doctor suspects is sciatica.  Oh, ouch and double ouch.  For the most part I missed most of the joys of this holiday.  Still, there are plenty of blessings and challenges to be grateful for.

--Nancy.

A Few Miscellaneous Saturday Snapshots

Just a few snapshots today, in no particular category or order, are views that caught my eye.

The dome of the Ohio Statehouse.  It's more beautiful in person.

How many trees?  They looked like more than four when I first saw them and then I realized I was seeing shadows too.

Cowboys!  These scraps of fabric, cut at odd angles, were at the recycle center a few years ago.  Whatever shall I do with them?!

Ice cream gets a halo when in a vintage bowl, with just the right light.

Recent autumn glory.  We walk by these maple seeds every day and every day they change color a little more.  They usually wing their way to earth in spring: it's unusual to see them now.

A few nuts and seed pods.... Too beautiful not to keep and enjoy, at least for a while.

I hope you have a great weekend.

--Nancy.

Cheese and Chocolate - Saturday Snapshots

I know I take photographs of some odd and crazy things, like rinds of specialty cheeses.  I love multiples in variation so when I saw these I couldn't resist taking photos.  The rinds fascinated me.

Murray's Mimolette.  I took this photo for the color, not the rind.  Would you call this cheddar color if it were fabric for a quilt?

Comte 18 Month. . . .

Humboldt Fog Pepper Remix.  Does the rind make you think of nougat?  Or frosting?

Murray Aged Mancheg.  Almost a basket weave!

Murray's Caveman Blue.  A net?

Murray's Dansk . . . .  A different kind of net.

Rosemary and Olive

Some kind of Blue Cheese....

Unknown....  Another basket weave.

Wensleydale with Cranberries.  I love that dark maroon coating.   Is it wax?

Comtesse Brugge Gouda.  What a beautiful decorative doily on the cover of this cheese.

And chocolate! This is the bottom of a Ferrero Rondnoir dark chocolate.  Lovely texture!  Almost quilt-like.

What will catch my eye next, I wonder.

Now I'm off to quilt.  I hope you're having a good weekend.

--Nancy.

Out and About - Saturday's Snapshots

The dam at Madison Lake State Park...

runs parallel to the road.  What a surprise!

What is this thick, dense, beautiful ground cover?

We saw this quilt at a tiny restaurant northwest of the city.

I enjoy the carefree way the arcs were pieced.  Does this pattern have a name?

An appliqued and embroidered tea towel I left at the thrift store.  I love the aqua and green flowers.

Butterweed plant along a country road not far from our house.  The yellow is astonishingly bright.

A closer view of a butterweed plant.

German Village is an area just south of the center of the city where German immigrants settled.  Many of the homes are built of brick, nestled close to each other, and many of the streets are still paved with bricks.  The homes and yards are beautifully restored and maintained.  I appreciated these fences, one in front of one of the homes and the other alongside its neighbor.

Behind one fence we saw these peonies, perhaps the most beautiful peonies I've ever seen.

Wishing you a great weekend!
--Nancy.

Spring in Ohio, 2021

I only realized a few years ago that spring arrives from the ground up when I saw flowers in bloom and bushes turned green along the roadside, but the trees were still bare.  It was another few weeks or a month before the tree had leaves.  I love to watch spring unfold.   

Last week my daughter and I went to a county MetroPark where we saw two varieties of daffodils at ground level,

 hellebores, which I understand are late-winter blooming flowers, 

and Glory of the Snow blooming amongst the winter leaf debris.
Low bushes were budding green

but the trees were still bare.

Looking skyward we saw bare branches and just the least hint of red on some of the trees,
 

and more tight red buds on others.

Three days later, on April 1, we drove about two hours north to the Canton area.  By late afternoon the clouds had grown heavy and suddenly, this.

Great, huge, wet flakes fell, thick and heavy.  As beautiful as it was and as much as I would have welcomed and loved this in December, January, or February, I'm not interested in going back to winter now.  I decided it was Mother Nature's idea of an April Fool joke. 

It was a snowy drive part of the way home but the snow didn't stick and the roads were not slippery.

Five days later we drove south about an hour and a half and were greeted with lush green.  This is a 60-mph-photo, taken from the car window as we rode along.

It seems like Central Ohio is having an early spring.  Some years the daffodils don't bloom until mid-April.  We have violets in bloom now, the little tulip plant is close behind, with the iris in line to bloom near the end of the month or in early May.  Some years the iris don't bloom till June.  With an early spring, it leaves me wondering what to expect of summer.

If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope you're enjoying spring, whatever that looks like for your area.  If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, you're probably enjoying autumn -- may favorite season.  I would join you if I could.

--Nancy.

The Odd and Unusual - Saturday Snapshots

I have loved all the snow this winter and I hope we get more before spring comes, but this week's skies have been ones to fall in love with.  This honey locust shades our house from May through September but leafless, it gives a great view of our beautiful blue sky on Friday.

And now for the odd and unusual.  In January I was sitting in our local BMV waiting to renew my license.  This is the shadow I noticed on the floor.  From lettering on the window, I think. 

Inside a candy wrapper, who knew chocolate could make such an impression!

Then there was this reflection and shadow on the table one afternoon.

And last, my daughter's cat.  Well, almost her cat, more like the shadow of her cat.  She has two and brings them along when she visits.  I don't want cats in the kitchen so we keep them corralled in other rooms.  Occasionally adventurous Jane finds her way to the living room.  We knew she was in there but when we called, she ignored us.  (Typical cat.)  Then my daughter noticed Jane's shadow as she walked along the window sill.  She probably thought she was still hidden.

I'm still playing the Minimalist Game, discarding one item on the first day of the month, two on the 2nd day of the month, etc.  In January and February I passed on or discarded over 571 items.  I have to tell you, though, that about 75 or 80 of those were digital photographs.  I also got rid of income tax files that were 7 to 18 years old, some outdated food, other stuff....  I am such a collector and a saver.  This has been a fun game for me.  I haven't done a deep dive into closets yet, just touching the surfaces right now.  I'll be in good shape if I can keep it up for a few years.  Haha.

I hope you're having a good weekend, enjoying life, and staying healthy.

--Nancy.