New Year's Eve 2018

Greetings, my friends.  This is an (almost) eleventh hour post to close out 2018 and to vow to be a better blogger friend in the New Year!  My Christmas tree looks about the same as it does every year, but I love it so.  My favorite ornament continues to be Dorothy's Red Shoe, purchased at the Smithsonian Museum of American History a few years ago.  It's there in the middle - a little to the left.  My bear was from the now defunct Rich's Department Store, free with a purchase (or something like that) back in the 70s.  I saw one at an antique mall last Saturday for $24.  Mine still looks new every year, since it stays in a plastic bag in the Christmas closet during the year.  

My sister and brother-in-law's home on Christmas morning, before I saw anyone.  Peaceful and quiet.  This was my late mother's wee Christmas tree that she had in her assisted living apartment.  I love that my sis puts it in her foyer every year.

Kitty Pete on Christmas Day.  It was warm enough in the Florida panhandle to sit outside with no jacket.  Pete was the first one I saw on Christmas morning.  He was lying on the kitchen table, which he is forbidden to do.  I was looking at the view out back before I spotted him.  He looked at me with no guilt.  He either figured I didn't care that he was on the table, or he didn't care what I thought.  I imagine it as the latter.  :)

Spotted at the aforementioned antique mall last Saturday.  A cardboard cutout of the King of Rock and Roll.  I texted the photo to my friend Steven, who has a partner who adores Elvis.  He replied, "I love what you've done with your living room!"  

I hope your holidays were Merry and Bright.  And I hope the New Year will be good to you.  Hugs!

Hello and goodbye to October...

I took this photo at the end of September, when I finally had to admit summer was essentially over in the Deep South.  We have had a warm fall, but it was time to take up that summer rug and say goodbye to summer on the porch.

 The condo trees are finally getting some color.  I love the dappled sunlight in the late afternoon.

The last time I posted, I was heading to my favorite hideaway in the Nantahala Forest.  This breathtaking scene made me stop in my tracks one morning.  It's where I can relax and just breathe.

This was supposed to be my October post.  Yesterday, as I was writing October 31 for the hundredth time that day, I realized that October just ripped by.  My favorite Anne of Green Gables quote: “I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”  Me, too.

Good Things Happened: home, sweet, home

It's been days and days since I posted.  There was a minor medical issue that kept me at home for a few days - all better now.  Being at home with nothing much to do gave me a renewed appreciation of it, as seen below.

On the first day, niece Amanda and her family sent me flowers.  I can't think of the last time I got flowers!  It was thrilling.  I'm still enjoying them.  The delivery man seemed to enjoy my reaction, "I got flowers!!!"

I was looking for something else in a kitchen cabinet and found these two forgotten items.  The one on the left is a handy thing in which you can pull tarragon through the holes to strip the leaves. Stripping tarragon is kind of annoying, so I guess that's why I bought this.  It doesn't come up that often, but when it does, I'm set.  :)

There was clean out the refrigerator cooking.  Do you ever buy stuff for recipes you end up not making?  I made roasted vegetables, using carrots, fennel and the red onion that is in the bowl in the first photo.  (Yum.)  And yesterday, there was still a bunch of unused flat-leaf parsley, so I made pesto out of it.  That's it pictured above.  Parsley, olive oil, toasted walnuts and Parmesan cheese in the food processor.  I'm having some of it on penne pasta for lunch today.

And I enjoyed breakfast on the back porch yesterday.  There has been so much rain in Georgia, that the trees are nicely leafed out now.  It was cool and lovely.  And a hummingbird whizzed by a couple of times, probably to remind me about putting that feeder up.

I'll be playing a little blog catch up in the next few days.  Hope you have a good week!

Good Things Happened: Another good dog and friends

I love dogs like friend Carol's dog, Bailey.  He was chosen from a shelter years ago and has been just the best dog, she says.  He never commands attention, like his brethren at the park.  I like that.

This hosta gets a mention every year, just for being faithful. It hibernates in the winter and makes an appearance in early spring.  I had almost forgotten about it until I saw some little shoots coming up.  It has made this miraculous transformation in the last two weeks.  It will double in size from this - it's just getting started.

Neighbor Rhonda is laying in some bedding plants, which gave me a huge smile when I got home yesterday.  She didn't feel like it last year, so this is definitely a good thing.

Google presented me with this altered photo of the dogwood tree that presides over the trash compactor at the condos.  I had not planned to use it, but it's rather striking now.  :)

I know it's not pretty everywhere like it is in the south, but you'll get there, I promise.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

Blue morning, spooky and aglow

The moon has just been beautiful this week.  Here it is this morning, in the dawn's early light, in the Upper West Side.  It rained during the night, so everything smelled crisp and new on this blue morning.

Last night I stood at my front door and saw it peeking through.  It looks so spooky when changed to the black and white "NOIR" setting in my iPhone filters.

The Blood Moon eclipse had just started when I was leaving for work on Wednesday morning.  I took this grainy shot of it while waiting at a light during my commute - about 6:45am. 

And when I got to work, about 40 minutes later, the sky was all aglow.  I love the early morning!  If I can't sleep in, it might as well be beautiful. :)

I hope the weekend is good to you, my friends!

Good Things Happened: snow day, foot prints, and inside

Another weather event in Atlanta.  I posted an almost identical photo like this in mid-December.  It's what I do on the rare snow days:  stand at the front door, take a photo, and send it to everyone.  This one seems a bit more somber, but it was quiet and beautiful at 7am on Wednesday morning.

Neighbor Mike had to go to work in spite of treacherous road conditions - I loved the image of the foot prints down below.  We Southerners just don't travel well on snow and ice.  We try, but it often ends in mishaps.

My outdoor potted plants have been inside since last Friday evening.  It's been below freezing every day since then, but the geranium seems to love it and has graced me with a blossom.  A warm up is in sight.  The jungle can go outside on Sunday.  

I hope your weekend is full of warmth and light, my friends!

Good Things Happened: along the way

New favorite quote: "Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead has never watched them dancing on a windy day." - Shira Tamir

 This very large leaf danced its way into my front door, so I let it stay.

This display at the first holiday open house I have attended this year made me want to buy a birdhouse and I already have one that my feathered visitors shun, for some reason.  I always love coming to the shop inside this old building, with its brick walls.  One more reason to love fall.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, my friends!

Good Things Happened: signs of autumn (finally)

My somewhat grainy photo of the Beaver Moon from the past weekend.  The Farmers' Almanac says the November full moon got its name from the native American Algonquin tribes, as this was the month to set traps for beavers "before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs."  It was beautiful very early on Saturday morning, when I couldn't sleep, and wandered outside to see it.

And later that morning, beautiful fall color at the condos.  Finally.

This is the dipladenia that I bought at the mountain nursery and blogged about here.  I didn't realize how much it has grown, until I looked at the photo of it on that post (the third photo, taken at the mountain house, before I brought it home to the condos.)  When I visited the mountain nursery last month and inquired if I would be able to keep it through the winter, the lady there said they don't winter well and she wouldn't try it.  So I thought I would pay tribute to it, as its leaves turn along with the leaves on the trees around it.

'Maters, summer beauty, and stumped

In the south, we jokingly refer to home-grown tomatoes as "'maters".  :)  These beauties came from coworker Bobby's garden.  He's been bringing in a small basket every couple of days.  Those of us without gardens pounce on them as if they are gold.  My favorite is a 'mater sandwich, but these are probably going into some ratatouille.  I'm going to try Alice Waters's recipe.  

I love the little purple petunia that popped out among the Dragon Wing Begonias next to my front door.  I am leaving for work way earlier than I used to in the morning, and find that I love the time on the front porch, in the 5am hour, watering everything so they'll be good for the day, since it's been so hot.

I've posted a pic of this guy before - the "chair" carved from a stump at Mountain Park Park.  Now it's sporting mushrooms - spotted on a gloomy sky walk last Saturday.

It's been a very busy couple of weeks work-wise, so I've been a little tired from it.  I'll be around for blog visits though.  I missed you guys!

New Shoes, so beautiful and good things happened

This is a postcard that has been affixed to the side of my refrigerator with a magnet since last fall.  (Click to enlarge)  It was for an exhibition of paintings reflecting on the work of Flannery O'Connor at her home, Andalusia Farm, in my hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia (wish I had gone to see that).  I loved the image so much that I finally had it framed and will probably hang it with a grouping in my bedroom.  The image on the front of the postcard is from a painting by Jude Harzer, called "New Shoes" and was inspired by a line from the O'Connor short story, "Everything That Rises Must Converge."  "Even a child with normal feet was in love with the world after he had got a new pair of shoes." 

These flowers from the grocery store have been so beautiful that I finally snapped a photo of them.  (All photos taken with my iPhone these days.  Note - not sure why my dining room wall and ceiling, there in the background, looks pink, when they are painted white.)

How about that?  I exercised almost every day in June, except for Sundays, which I decided to take off.  I give myself a sticker on the calendar in my home office on the days I work out.  And that's a lovely quote by Franz Kafka on the calendar, which I hadn't really noticed until this morning, "Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old."

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

Front door view, life is beautiful and belated

It seems as if the rain never stops lately.  Last evening, I opened the front door of my condo and just stood, thinking how beautiful it is.  One evening last week, during another downpour, the power went out around 5:45pm.  I took a sitting-up-nap on the sofa for about an hour, woke to see the power was still out, and ended up lighting candles and reading the book on my Kindle with candlelight flickering around.  It was quiet and peaceful and I was almost sorry when the power came back.  :)

But it was sunny last Saturday at the Greenway park.  I love these Oak Leaf Hydrangeas bordering the walkway.  My walking partners were busy, so I had a rare, solitary walk, listening to music, which I never mind at all.

Spotted on that walk:  they had repaved part of the sidewalk, after installing some drainage, and someone wrote in "Life is Beautiful". 

And my birthday was in February, but it was delightful to receive a gift bag from friend Barbara, who said she had had it all this time.  The spoon there on the right makes me think of my late mother, who loved teapots.  

I took a wee blogging break, but am back now.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

In bloom again, good things are going to happen, and smiles

The planted Easter lilies are blooming right now.  They came from my church a couple of years ago and neighbor Rhonda planted them in our building's communal flower bed at the condos.  They looked so beautiful yesterday morning covered in raindrops.  And my car managed to photo bomb once again!

Remember the garden flag I spotted in Brasstown, North Carolina?  I posted about it here.  It was a delightful surprise to get some happy mail last week from friend and blog friend Leonora, saying she "couldn't resist."  So nice!  I love to read Lee's blog, "A Journal of Days" - lately she's been writing about her late father's experiences in World War II - an amazing journey of discovery.  Thanks again, Lee!

I couldn't think what to do with the white corsage I was given on Mother's Day to honor my late mother, so I put it in the fridge, on top of the coffee canister.  It made me smile every time I opened the door.

Hanging out, cloudy sky and reappearance

This lovely little tulip was hanging out all by itself at the park on Saturday morning, just waiting to pose for the camera.  It was a lovely respite, this walk, after a week of battling traffic during, what we're calling, The New Normal, in Atlanta, after the I-85 bridge collapse.

And back home at the condos - a glorious Saturday morning sky.  I was walking over to look at the dogwood tree, there on the right, but love the look of that cloud formation and a couple of puffs of cloud that had escaped, there at the top.

And the pink Dogwood tree in the condo driveway blooms again.  Someone did a wonderful job landscaping this complex when it was built 30 or so years ago.  It's lovely to see old friends like those pink blossoms reappear year after year.

Hope you have a good week, my friends!

Wolf Moon, fun and all good things are wild and free

This is a rush hour photo of my suburb of Atlanta, where Burger is King and there are many cars and power lines.  I still love it, in spite of all that.  The rising moon was gorgeous and that was what this photo was meant to be all about - the January full moon, known as the Wolf Moon.  According to the Farmer's Almanac:

"Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Some called it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the next moon."

Can you see that claw hand sticking out of my pen and pencil cup there?  (My home office desk.)  This put me a little in mind of said Wolf.  It's actually a back scratcher that was in my Christmas stocking - it's fun, but a little scary looking.  (We have a lot of fun with those stockings.)  :) 

And speaking of this past Christmas - I always buy a little gift for myself when I'm shopping for family and friends.  I just had to get this t-shirt - I love it.

May all Good Things come to you this weekend, my friends!

Snow angel, all in and Happy New Year

They said we would have 2 to 4 inches of snow in the Atlanta area overnight.  Much excitement around town, with everyone stocking up on food to get them through, but I think it turned out to be 3/10" - something like that.  There is a layer of ice that is not expected to melt until next week, so we'll muddle through that. 

But all of the outdoor potted plants got to come in.  The temperature won't be above freezing until next Tuesday, so in they stay until then.

And Happy New Year, my friends.  I made this for New Year's Day.  It's an old tradition of eating black-eyed peas, greens (such as the collards here), and pork (here we have sausage.)  The black-eyed peas symbolize coins and the collards symbolize green dollars.  The pork is for flavoring, I think.  I turn it into a stew. It's thought that if you eat these items on New Year's, you'll have prosperity for the coming year.  Here's hoping.  :)