Day is done, can't get it out of my head and more quiet

- I would have never captured this image if I hadn't been listening to the last bit of the audio book I was about to return to the library.  I was sitting in the library parking lot listening and thinking how beautiful the winter branches of that tree looked against the 6pm sky.  The real story here is about taking a quiet few moments to look at simple things around me like this.

- Finally watching the film Saving Mr. Banks, the story of the making of the film Mary Poppins.  My sister Jo and I loved "Mary Poppins" when we were children and had the soundtrack.  So I found that I knew every word to some of the songs, particularly "Let's go fly a kite."  I've been singing it all this week.  Here's a link to the scene in the "Saving Mr. Banks" in which the song is pitched to PL Travers (played so well by Emma Thompson that I forgot it was her I was watching.)

- Driving home from the eye doctor with eyes so dilated I turned off the audio book and the radio and just concentrated on driving.  And then realizing I kind of liked the quiet. 

Audio books make my long commute more than bearable.  And I tend to listen to things I wouldn't normally read.  Right now I'm listening to another Lee Child book and have a Nevada Barr book waiting for after that.  Both authors stretch reality a bit, but that's what make them good mystery / thrillers, I guess.  :)  Have a good weekend!

So funny, recycling and it's my hobby

- Get it???  This cracked me up!  I spotted this cartoon by Bec Hill on facebook - posted by another cat appreciator. 

- Making vegetable soup from the broth I saved when I cooked these greens.  I told coworker Bobby how good that broth smelled when I thawed it out, heated it up and started adding stuff to it.  It's for lunch all week.

- I was having a chat at a cocktail party with a woman I know just a little from church.  She told me about her new hobby since retirement, making pottery.  She clearly loves it.  She asked if I have any hobbies and at first I said I really don't, but then caught myself and said, "blogging."  "Blogging?  What about?"  I told her briefly about my format and as an example, used her as a possible "good thing" - saying I might blog about how "my friend's purplish blue beads sparkle in the lamp light."  So there's my third good thing.  :)

Shop dog, young beginnings and in happier times

- If only she had stood still...  This lovely pooch was standing at the door of this shop, in tiny Rutledge, Georgia, looking out.  She made such a peaceful scene that I quietly got out my phone to snap her photo, but she turned just as I did.  She gave me the equivalent of a hug on her way to the back by leaning against me as I petted her.

- Oliver Hardy grew up in my home town of Milledgeville, Georgia.  How about that?  Click to enlarge, if you can.  His mom was a hotel manager in 1903, which I find impressive.  And Oliver, known then as Norwell Hardy, took a job as a projectionist at the local movie theater, where he "resolved to become an actor in motion pictures."

- The pot of violas outside my front door, in happier times.  You should see that pot now - cut back all the way to the roots.  The below freezer temps got them - bad me, I should have sat the pot inside for a couple of days.  But their beauty lives on in this photo.  :)

Three photos that have been languishing on my desktop.  Happy Friday, y'all!

Squares of sunlight, for sale and errant sparkle

- During our walk at the Greenway Park last Saturday morning, I noticed the grid pattern on the boardwalk and told friend Laura that I wanted to snap a photo.  I liked that she didn't question that at all, especially since she doesn't know I have a blog.

- And an hour later, while waiting for the library to open, I gazed at the peacefulness of this red barn and the tree with such personality in the foreground.  Click to enlarge.  This property is for sale - there is a white farmhouse to the left - out of the picture.  I hope someone nice buys it.

- Seeing an errant sparkle fallen off a Christmas decoration on the futon in my home office just now.  I enjoyed Christmas very much this year and the sparkle reminded me how much.

Laura and I set a goal to exercise three times this week, before we get together again next Saturday.  Off to do that. 

Flowers all the time, where there's tea..., and family things

The weather outside has been a bit dreary for the last several days, with nothing but rain or drizzle, so I haven't been getting out much.  This morning, when I woke before the alarm, I was thinking about my blog post for today and how there was no photo for it.  So I found a few items around my home with my camera in the 5am hour that qualify as Good Things:

 - I had this beautiful bouquet on the dining table with the food and wine, surrounded by candles, last Sunday night when my book group came over to discuss Joyce Carol Oates.  Friend Susan remarked, at the end of the evening, that she was sitting where she could see those flowers during the discussion and that it's nice that I'll be able to enjoy those all week.  I didn't tell her, but you know, that I usually have flowers - not just for special occasions like that.  Here they are in the kitchen in front of my grandmother's ice bucket, where I can see them when I come in the door from outside.

- I thought someone might ask about the Darjeeling tea container since there is a glimpse of it above.  It's new - purchased during the holidays - when I was supposed to be looking for Christmas gifts for the family.  I love Darjeeling tea - it's my favorite - so I had to have this when I spotted it in a shop in Madison, Georgia.  I wondered about the quote, so Googled it, and it comes from a play called Sweet Lavender, performed in London in 1888 by the actor Sir Arthur Wing Pinero.  The play was "so popular that it ran for an extraordinary (for the time), 683 performances."  The character Horace, played by Pinero, "utters the famous line, "Where there is tea, there is hope.""  True that.

 - And I found a great frame for the Good Things postcard Granny Annie sent me last year.  I love how it's floating in acrylic.  There it is among framed photos of my family and with my Quaich (pronounced "Quake", from the Gaelic word "Cuach"), a traditional Scottish drinking vessel used to offer a guest a cup of welcome and also as a farewell drink, usually a dram of whisky.  These days they are used for celebrations like weddings and christenings in Scotland or those having an association with Scotland by heritage like me.  I like to keep it there with family things and this postcard fits right in.  (Click to enlarge.)

I hear there will be sun today.  Come on sun!  I hope that you have a great weekend, my friends!

Bumper crop, coming around and in the air

- Coworker Bobby has a winter garden at home, in which he grows mustard greens and kale, among other things.  He brought boxes of both in last week and we all left with (clean) trash bags full of greens to take home.  I was laughing after I braised all of those mustard greens in broth on Sunday, that it yielded exactly this amount (see above).  That's my Monday desk lunch above with a chunk of cornbread.  The greens were just seasoned with a little Kosher salt and some apple cider vinegar.  Pretty good.

- January has never been my favorite month, but now that we have Downton Abbey, it's coming around for me. 

- A chilly, foggy commute this morning, but as I approached midtown Atlanta on I-85 south, I could smell something like bread baking.  But then realized it was the glorious fumes from the SweetWater Brewing Company down on the right.  Lovely to think that beer brewing gives off that comforting scent in the air.

 Three things that gave me pleasure the last two days:  food sharing, Downton Abbey and the smell of beer brewing.  :)

Special gift, the wolf moon and mighty fine

- My sister got me this vase for Christmas after I admired it in a shop in the North Carolina mountains back in July.  I had actually checked to see if it was still there when I visited in September, but it wasn't (because she had bought it for me.)  I put some flowers in it and texted her this photo on New Year's Day, saying, "Happy New Year!"  She liked that.

- The moon was huge, golden and gorgeous on Tuesday night, January 6.  A Google search tells me it was the "Wolf moon" - so called by Native Americans because of the howling of hungry wolves that often accompanied it at the height of winter.  I got a glimpse of it ahead of me through the trees, as I was driving home from volunteer work.  It kept peeking at me, here and there, until I arrived home. Click on the link here to see an amazing photo of a plane crossing in front of that moon in Los Angeles, California.

- After a long day and then a meeting at the church that was also long, a simple supper of avocado on toast.  Drizzled with olive oil and topped with a little shredded parmesan cheese - it was mighty fine.

I hope you have a mighty fine weekend! 

Not so crazy, all decked out and her handwriting

Happy New Year!  Some Odds and ends from the last several days...

- This is an annual stopping point on my way to the farm for Christmas - love the name of this little store "The Crazy Grocer" in tiny Morven, in south Georgia.  Those shopping carts have loads of collard greens to buy (click to enlarge.) The employees are very nice and don't seem crazy at all.  :) They always remember me.  I like that.

- Niece Amanda's bird dog, Milo - all decked out for Christmas.  She is a working dog at the plantation where Amanda works as office manager, but belongs to her.  They say she is the best quail dog they have when she is taken on hunts.  She got a break from the kennel over there and spent Christmas Eve with us.

- Taking down the tree at home always seems like a chore to me, but I was on vacation and spread it out over two days last week.  I like to have it down by New Year's Eve.  I love the post-it notes in my late mother's very neat printing.  She kept porcelain tree ornaments in these containers.  It feels like a visit every time I see them.

It was back to work for me yesterday.  Sigh.  I sure loved being off, but being back on a good routine never hurts either.  Hope your holidays were lovely.