Taking time off.......I will be back.

This mug belonged to my wife and was a present from her sister.  I took it to school years ago and here it is, sitting on a desk in the English classroom.  Hummmm,  how did she get it into her possession? Well, coffee mugs are like pencils and pens at school. If you leave them lay, they become someone else's property.  They travel from person to person, from floors to other persons, and some persons sneak them away from other persons.  The law of the land at school.

I will be out of here for a short period. I don't know how you measure a short period.  I need to deal with other things and I need to keep my mind on other stuff.  I will be back. Having friends in blogland is addictive and I will miss you all.  I can do "show and tell" every single day and visit with some really great people all over the world.  I have to return to that for sure.      Don't worry,  be happy and by the way I will check in on your world once in a while. I will be the fathom comment person, you never will know when I will hit.

Up close and in focus..........

Soon to open...............

 

A side and top view of the soon to be fully opened amaryllis.

Hello and good bye.......

Bud and bird........

The amaryllis continues to open up in the dining room window.  While I was taking shots of it I was seeing a bird invasion going on right outside the window.

The goldfinches were helping themselves to the finch feeder.  Our finches turn brown in the winter and in late March they start to molt and grow in their stunning yellow feathers.  I did see one with more yellow on it but they were  all really jittery about me being in the window while they were feeding.

Indoor plants because of outdoor weather........

Composition of shapes and colors to brighten your day.  I need to go outdoors but it is freezing out there, literally.

Remembering zinnias...........

Red is one of my favorite colors.  I entered a photo contest recently and this is a leftover that I did not enter into the contest. The insect is a bonus subject to the photo.

Tuesday's rock of the day........

  It is a Lake Superior rock that has been pounded on the shore for hundreds of years to become this perfect oval shaped rock.  I had placed it in a planting out in the yard next to the gate.  When I saw it out there I thought I should bring it inside for a while and appreciate it.  It is egg shaped but actually larger than a baseball.

I don't know a lot about rocks but it reminds me of granite.  I don't know if it could be polished like a headstone at a cemetery but I will leave it just rough.

A new bud to open.......

This is an amaryllis that bloomed last winter and I recently brought it back up from the basement.  It seems to want to wait until spring to show off it's color.  I don't remember what color that it is but I will keep you posted.

Looking out a few months ago........and

After Christmas 2010

The winter that was really was a mild one for us compared to last year. Last year we had 13 days straight of below zero temperatures and the snow fall kept the snow on the ground deep and cold for most all of the winter. This year it was a kinder season for us.  We did have blizzard conditions at times but we didn't have the deep snow.

March 2011

The ground is not white anymore but we do not have any green on the ground or  in the trees. It is too early for that but a couple of weeks will change all of that.  My oxalis is hoping that I will be  planting it back outside in the ground so it can grow free again.

Patterns.......

Even though it is pressed glass it still has a beautiful pattern and I enjoy seeing them.  The center design on this glass tray matches the starburst pattern that you can find on other glassware pieces of the early 1900's.

A portrait still life.....

Frame restoration is one of my jobs at the shop. The young girl died young in life and really is an unknown relative to the Halferty family.  The guy is a Kimery who came to the Minburn, Iowa with saddle bags full of money in the late 1800's.  Bought a farm along with his brother. Nothing more is known about him. 

An Iris Smurf.........

 

I have a smidgen of Irish in me on my mother"s side if you go back seven generation's back.  That makes me qualified to wish you a happy green day.

Blue spruce.......

While walking the dog I caught an image of this large older blue spruce that grows down the street.

Red twig dogwood........

The sunlight makes the shrub look very red.  This is one of my favorites because of the color of the bark.

Mystery item revealed.........

A sombrero that is on display at the Spanish room in which I had substitute taught a week ago.  If you remember the movie "The Three Amigo" the guys had fancy hats like this.  Maybe you want to forget about that movie, but anyway it is one fancy hat with a lot of handwork done on it. The horseshoe motif is an interesting addition to the design.

Agapanthus......................

Downstairs in the basement it sits and waits for warmer weather to occur.

Mystery mania..........

Mystery macro................number 5

Mystery Macro.......number 4

Mystery Macro.......number 3

Mystery Macro........number 2.

Mystery Macro........number 1

I will be posting mystery close shots the next few days.  Macro mania has hit me and I am going to be out of control.

Remembering when...............

Another archived photo of my past.  I have done a lot of washing of these kind of things that I have rescued from my parent's past. 

It was a little work but the years of dirt did come off.  I still have a dozen old bottles out at the shed that still need to be cleaned.  Maybe I can set them out in spring rains and let them come clean naturally.

Cornerposts.................

A cornerpost , one of four, that accented the entrance to the carriage bridges on Mt. Desert Island, Maine.

The bridges were built in 1924 by European stone builders. They were brought here to construct them for Mr. Rockefeller, who at that time owned most all of the Mr. Desert Island.

Sisters.........

Antique album of old which can be dated around the late 1800's.  A funeral card of one of these ladies' husband says he died in 1896. Reflections of my dining room lights create a different kind of effect. Maybe it is good to see the shine and maybe I should have worked harder to keep it from showing.

March 3, 2009

This is a picture I took a few summers ago.  The coneflowers were having a great year.  The bridge was a freeby from a high school prom.  I had helped a lot in painting a wall of scenery for the prom and they gave me the bridge for my garden.  Instead of tearing it down or just throwing it away it was easier for them to dump it in my yard.  The evergreen trees are my babies that I grew from small fry to large Minnesota pines.  The tornado that went through town, snapped them both off at the base in less than seconds.


My first blog out two years ago yesterday that looked like this. The bridge has rotted out and I am in the process of dismantling it. It was made for a prom and not for being left outside in the weather.

Mainer Dogs..........

Aaron and Keegan have two dogs that love to be together.  They are Mainers for sure but I don't think they bark with an Eastern Maine accent. 

My goal for photo a day was to just post a picture for the sake of enjoying a good photograph.  I didn't intend to make it a social visit and to write lots of words.  The picture really should fill in the blanks.  So to cut my stress and use of time I am hoping to be less wordy and more pictorial in nature only.  I am going to wean you off of my so many words.   He said in three sentences!!!!

Gun and roses.......

Another archived photo that I took a couple of years ago. When I first started blogging I had no friends.  I didn't get comments for about four or five months into the game.  If I repost some of the oldies, you will  may never have seen the visual before now.

I was exploring my toy soldier collection at the time that came from my John and Iva Connection.  It was around Christmas time and I set this shooter up to view him in the camera and there was a perfect shot with a wonderful background.  Actually the smooth texture of the guy didn't help to get the macro to focus on him and it really fell in love with those artifical roses.

Cichlid.........

My orange cichlid keeps thriving while living in the tank in the basement.  He really reminds me of the movie, Finding Nemo, with the way he looks into your eyes. A student gave him to me five or more years ago and this guy just keeps on swimming.