Cherry Blossoms

I posted earlier this week that we went to see the Cherry Blossoms and that I would post later about them. That time has come. We went to the Jefferson Memorial early Monday morning so we could find an accessible parking spot. We were right on the money and got the first spot of the day. It was a gray day and it was raining lightly. That just meant wearing a couple more layers. It was still a beautiful sight. I took about a kazillion photos. Actually about 450. This sneaked picture Bill took of me shows my enjoyment. (I hate, hate, hate having my picture taken.)

We parked at the Jefferson Memorial but did not visit like last year. Instead we started a quiet walk about the basin early. Here are some pictures showing just a sampling of what we saw on Monday. I will post more in a couple of days. I have to get through all of those pictures.

Among the first blossoms we saw, they are still incredibly beautiful on a gray, rainy day.

Looking across the Tidal Basin.

Washington Monument casting strength in the gray of the day.

Beautiful, beautiful blossoms. They make one want to sing in the rain.

Dueling Ban...

This past weekend was a fun one. We spent it in Arlington with our daughter and son-in-law. We did several fun things including playing "Guitar Hero," going to Mount Vernon and seeing the always beautiful cherry blossoms. A per chance incident in Nordstrom followed by the "Guitar Hero" thing brought another strange thought to mind. Let me explain.

While in Nordstrom I had the opportunity to waited on by the most delightful clerk. After deciding on shoes she asked if I needed anything else and I asked about an item sold in hosiery. She said she could help me and we headed over and found what I was looking for. We discussed various models and she said she liked the lower waist model because she was a little thick in the roll area and the item tended to roll. Having the same problem I went with her suggestion and asked her if she ever had "dueling elastic bands." She laughed and said that was a perfect description. I made my purchases and we headed to our next weekend adventure which was "Guitar Hero" with friends of Erica and Geoff. The girls stayed to play the game while the guys headed off on a walking tour of old Alexandria.

All the time I was playing the game or watching it be played I kept thinking about "Dueling Banjos" and "dueling elastic bands." This morning I awoke with the crazy music in my head and visions of waistbands rolling in competing rhythms. One of the great reasons to be retired is not having to wear pantyhose and slip with a dress. Not because the hose or slip can be uncomfortable but because by the end of the day I felt totally discombobulated keeping up with the increasing rhythm of the rolls.

The day starts of well with all layers and their appropriate waistbands in place: panties, pantyhose, slip, and finally dress. The first mistake is when a bathroom trip is required. Not one layer returns to original position and the roll starts. Dadada-da (left side panty), dadada-da (right side pantyhose). Stop, discreetly adjust. Dadada-da (right side panty), dadada-da (left side pantyhose). Stop, discreetly adjust. The rhythm quickens. Dadada-da, dadada-da, dadada-da, dadada-da. By noon the slip is doing slides. Sitting in an afternoon meeting is perfect for one huge symphonic roll. Back at the office blinds are closed and doors locked. Discretion be damned. All bands pulled back up from their now very low position. Awe, that feels better. Pick up the phone and make some calls. While talking I feel a little dadada-da on the right side and then on the left and then on the right and then the on the left and then down in front. With this full orchestration, I hang up the phone, leave the office and head directly home all the while the rolling continues. In my room the rolling has subsided. There are not many more places to go except on the floor and into the hamper which I gladly accommodate. Plunk!!!

Have a great April Fools.

Crossing the Bay (with camera in hand)

In my last post I said I would post some of the other pictures I took last Sunday as we were coming home from Arlington. I took a lot pictures and what I am going to show are some of the many I took while crossing the Bay Bridge. It was fun just clicking as fast as I could. Here are some images along with some Nora Jones.

Getting Out

Yesterday was a beautiful day. The sky was clear, the wind was hardly blowing and although it was still chilly there was enough warmth from the sun that we needed to run the A/C in the car. We have been taking care of Frankie and Erica and Geoff got home from their vacation yesterday. So, we decided to drive Frankie home ourselves. It was a lovely day and it had been several weeks since we had ventured very far. It was so good to see leaves appearing on the trees, blossoms starting to reveal themselves and lovely daffodils all along the roadside.

Frankie was one excited dog to get home. Bentley, who loves to visit Erica, was also excited to be there. Erica fixed us a quiet dinner and we were on our way back to Delaware.

I took my camera out and starting taking pictures as we proceeded home. I am still (probably will be for a long time) learning how to use my new camera but it was fun just pushing the button. I will post more of the photos later. Here are a couple of Bentley I took by just pointing the camera to the back. I had no idea if he was in focus or not.

The front window was open a bit bit for him to have more air so his hair looks slicked back. He was quite put off by the fact that he was not allowed to ride up front with us.

Here, he has turned his head to watch out the window. He is looking at the Chesapeake Bay as we cross on the Bay Bridge.

A Little Spring

The first half of March and then some has certainly been like a lion around here. The wind continues to blow and when it is warmer outside it is also windy and rainy. When it is clear it is windy and cold. If you haven't noticed, I have really had "Spring Fever" this year. The official arrival is tomorrow but I wonder. There are signs here and there but surely not enough. So, I decided to bring a little Spring home.

We got this garden cart several years ago for our living room in Spokane. The room was not large enough for a formal sofa table but needed a little something so I set out to find a garden or tea cart. This is what came home and I love putting seasonal items on it.

Another corner of the breakfast room (where we eat all of the time).

More Spring color.

And, of course, we have to make requisite trips to the beach.

Frankie has been visiting and likes to hang out in the office. He is here until Easter and is missing Erica and Geoff.

We are all thinking that it is time to be outside.

Camera

"If wishes were horses we'd all take a ride" is what I have to tell myself often. I have been wishing for a digital SLR camera for quite a while. Nothing fancy but one I could do a few more things with than my point-and-shoot. That wish finally came true and now I wish I knew how to use it. Will I ever be satisfied? Probably not.

I am jumping into taking pictures with my new camera a little slower than I usually do such things. I have read some of the instruction manual and watched one of the two videos that came with it. You know what, it came just in time for me to capture some of Spring coming.

A sure sign of around here is when the turtles start clinging to logs and other projections in the pond. With my old camera you could not see what was on the log. Now you can.

Here I zoomed in with Paint Shop so you could see them closer. These guys are the first of the season and I hope to actually get a much better shots as the season progresses.

While out and about today I stopped for few moments at the beach in Lewes.

These guys could care if there is a life guard on duty. In a few weeks there will hardly be room for the seagulls on the beach.

Still a little cool but the sun is shining.

Finally!!

Blossoms!! Finally, the colors of Spring are showing up. This blossom is outside at the corner of the house. There are little daffodils showing up enmasse in areas all around town. My bulbs, however, look like it will be a week or two before we see any color at all.

For some reason, I have had it my mind that Spring would arrive in Delaware earlier than other places I have lived. Maybe I thought this because we are so close to the Mason-Dixon line and "the south is just warmer." Whatever the reason, it really does not matter because the days are getting longer and the trees are reaching higher (or so it seems).

I think I will go out an see if I can coax my tulips to bloom.

In and Around Lower Delaware

I am sitting here at my computer listening the NPR and looking out and seeing a very mixed sky. That's what it has been for what seems to be weeks now -- two days beautiful but cold and maybe windy, two dark and cloudy but warm and really windy. Outside of a few robins there have been few signs of Spring. Oh, I have noticed that the branches of some trees are changing colors and that my tulips are pushing through the soil but no real feel of Spring yet. I have been on a couple of expeditions to find some potted blooming tulips but most nurseries are waiting until next week before putting them on sale. It is so they will be blooming on Easter. I just want their blooms now. Oh, well. I will try later.

In case the above photo doesn't give a clue, I really like to take pictures of critters. This guy was enjoying some sun on Sunday in Salisbury, MD. We went on a Sunday drive and ended up there. It was good to get out and see some different towns in the area. We have been to Salisbury a couple of times but we went a different way this time. It really is interesting that you can tell when growth happened in an area by the style of existing homes. Some places show very little change from the turn of the 20th century until now while other areas are dotted with with lots of 1940-50's post-war small houses and then other areas have lots of very rapidly constructed 60's style rectangles. And, of course, now there are McMansions in clusters almost everywhere in this area. I wonder what that will say about us in 20-30 years.

The Goshen United Methodist Church here in Milton like many churches now has a reader board outside. I enjoy what is on that board -- succinct translation of scripture. The one there now makes me feel really good. "The best antiques are old friends. Proverbs 27.10" That is for sure.

Pondering

My friend Terry is part of a blog group consisting of twelve textile artists. They call the group TWELVE BY TWELVE. Every two months or so a member assigns a theme and each member then completes a quilt block on that theme. At the end of the assigned time they each reveal their completed quilt. I am amazed at the diversity and detail that goes into each presentation and completion.

Equally amazing is how they each address a given theme. The current theme is one that I find intriguing because it can be discussed, debated and elaborated on so many different levels. The theme -- Community. The Merriam-Webster On-Line Dictionary's first definition of community is the one that possibly interests me most: "a unified body of individuals,...." The question then becomes "unified by what?" What size is the community? How many communities can an individual be a member?

This has been on my mind more as I work on the local Economic Development Committee and researching the Main Street Project. The community has to be defined and that is what I am struggling with right now in my thoughts as to how such a project should be instituted. There are lots of unifying threads to various factors but I am at a loss as to what the one unifier is for the community we will be defining. It can get so muddled with little or no effort.

Perhaps I will feel more directed when TWELVE BY TWELVE reveal their finished products.

Some This & That

A friend emailed about the last posting. She was pretty sure that the gold ring around the goose's neck was an identification band placed by wildlife officials. Since the photo was zoomed in on a much as possible for clarity I could not go further with detail. I was hoping that it was such a band and I am glad that that is probably what it is.

The eclipse of the moon came and went and we only saw it for seconds. It was cloudy so there were only brief glimpses. That was a bummer. Oh well, we awoke yesterday morning to snow. Not much but enough to account for the clouds of the previous evening.

Today it is cloudy, cold and a near freezing. It rains a little every few minutes but not enough to clear the ice from last night. The bright spot is that I saw the first ROBIN of the season. Can Spring be far behind?

Three Weather Fronts

The weather around here has been very strange of late. Just last week it was 63 degrees at 6:00 a.m. and just pouring rain. The temperature was nice but outside was not. Here is a picture of run-off from the rain at the corner of lot where we live. It was a rather fast moving stream.

Well, the sky cleared and the temperature dropped. Saturday and Sunday were gloriously clear but really on the chilly side. We decided to drive to Ocean City since we have not done that for awhile now. Each time we go down there I am reminded of what a zoo it must be on holiday weekends in the summer. There were definitely more people about than when we visited last winter. Of course, it was a holiday weekend. Here two photos show how bright it was outside but also have a cold feel to them.

Of course the critters on Wagamons were also enjoying the sunshine.

Today I awoke at 4:00 a.m. to 64 degrees and howling wind with driving rain. Whose to figure? On a venture out I came across a field filled with snow geese. They seem to be enjoying their winter here. There are times they fly over and the sky is white with hundreds of geese. The shadows they cast are eerie. I am working on trying to get some photos of a fly over. Today I did get some of them in the field. I was really intrigued by the darker guy in this flock and then I when I was downloading the pictures from the camera I noticed the white goose standing close by.

This picture shows that there is something interesting around the white goose's neck.

In this next picture you can see that it is possibly a can that he got his head in and if it was open at both ends then it slipped over his neck. If I zoom in closer the photo gets too fuzzy (one more reason to get a camera with a telephoto lens).

So much for the wierdness, here is a picture of the snow geese in the field. You can see that they are eating the grass down. This is a problem in the area for grain farmers.

Just before I was going to publish this post a lightning storm with tons of rain hit. I unplugged the computer and did not return until this morning. It is now bright and sunny and only 34 degrees.

Valentines

Today I must get out my Valentine cards. Again, I wish I were more creative and I would make wonderful greetings but knowing me the project would take on monumental proportions and become a pain rather than the pleasure it should be. I have always loved sending at least some valentines but not many. However, since there are now so many children (number will exceed 20 this summer) on my side of the family I have opted to send each of our grandnieces and grandnephews cards. This started last year when I finally realized that it was no longer an option for me to send each of them a meaningful Christmas gift. I loved doing that but the logistics and expense put it out of my comfort zone. I suppose that I could do birthdays but I would invariably miss or be late with someone's. So, I decided on the valentines. Just a little way to let them and their parents know that we love them all.

Valentines Day is not that special as far as I am concerned but I do love valentines. I remember one I received when I was 10 years old. I was in the third of what would be five months in the hospital. The card was from my Dad. It was a silly card with four images of a rabbit (not unlike the Trix rabbit) and the message was simply, "I would spread butter on my chin for you Valentine. Be Mine." For some reason that card just tickled me and probably my leanings towards irreverent humor. In the sixth grade I took the card and cut out the four images and used close to the same message for my class valentine. I won the prize in the school Valentines Day Parade for the best valentine. Funny how those things stick with you.

My friend Terry sends Valentine greetings instead of Christmas cards. She has been doing this for a long time now. She is an accomplished artist and we look forward to her card each year. I am quite sure that I have all of the ones she has sent over the years. In fact, one year for Christmas Bill had three framed in a grouping for me.

Aside from the cards for the children I will send just a couple more that will be irreverent and I will give Bill a couple, one nice and one a little silly.

That's about all for this quirky little post.

Unseaonally Warm

No pictures today. It is just too gray outside. The wind has really been blowing hard. The screened porch on our next door neighbor's house has its screen flapping in the wind. Our down spout extensions have taken off to other places and a couple of the gutter pipes have pulled away from the house in this wind. What is amazing is the temperature. I just checked the weather service and the current temperature is 73 degrees. Wow!!

I just got back from taking the cat to the vet and I had no reason for a jacket. I even had to turn the A/C on in the car. There are some unbelievers because I just a neighbor guy walking to the mailboxes with his parka hood pulled on tightedly. This is not unlike what he does on very cold day. Who knows?

Friday it is supposed to be back to the 30's.

Could Spring be Far Behind?

We drive by Wagamons Pond every day. Every day I look for the heron. The heron has been gone for what seems several months now. The heron appeared again in the favored cove a few days ago. I am so intrigued with this bird because its favorite spot to stand is no more than six feet from the road. There are cars going by all of the time. That does not seem to bother this creature. Cars can be stopped six feet to the east of the bird and it just stands there. But, stop six feet to the south and the bird takes flight. The flight is not far. It is cannot be more than 30 feet to the other side of the cove. Of course, the position to the south is the best to capture a great camera shot.

Saturday I tried my luck again and true to form the heron flew away. I did get a few images while it stood in the backside of the cove. One of these days I will pervail and get a straight shot. Until then, the mallards will have to do.

There the frustrating bird is on the shadowed part of the cove. Here, the same shot, using the "pan" tool.

February, At Last

January finally ended yesterday. I spent almost all of the day working on the Milton Lions Club Bulletin. I recently upgraded my Office Suite and I struggled with some of the new features when I did this bulletin. Besides that I felt like I had a creativity drain and nothing read right or looked right. Today is a new day and a new month. Of course it was pouring early this morning. It is still gray outside but it is not cold. The heron has returned to the pond and now we start our adventure again of trying to get some good pictures. There he was this morning in all his glory in the rain and I did not have the camera out besides not having the time. Too bad because the rain provided almost perfected light. I think I will try later today.

January -- Will It Ever End?

Lots of folks swear that January is never ending. For some reason I have always been very busy in January and never thought much about it. Oh sure, there were mild cases of after holiday letdown but for the most part January has been a month full of activity. That was until this year. Today is the 28th. I thought the 28th was at least 10 days ago. It's not that I don't have anything to do. Hardly, I have plenty to do but I have a burning desire for this month to end. You would think that I was a little kid waiting for Christmas to get here instead of the older person that I am now who has been fretting about lose of skin tone and elasticity and the such. Thank goodness for friends and family who keep me entertained with wonderful communications such as this that arrived via email. I guess I will just have to be patient and enjoy the sites and sounds of the area like these photos taken at Wagamons Pond last week.

Cold Sunday in Delaware

Yesterday (today, too) was a wonderfully clear day. But, it has been really cold for here. It's the wind coming off of the ocean that makes it so. Of course, it is not the bitter cold of southeastern Idaho but it is still cold. The photo above shows Bill and Bentley heading off toward the the beach. They opted not go all the way over the dune.

This stop on our short outing was at Broadkill Beach. Bundled up against the cold, Bent was ready to check out the surroundings.

We occasionally drive up and/or down the road lining Broadkill Beach. This time of year there are just a few year-round folks in the houses that totally line the road. There are all types of houses: large (too large) and opulent, small and utilitarian, not so large and lovely, and the unique. This house is at the southern end of the beach road and is a seasonal rental. With the beach at its front and the Prime Hook Wildlife Refuge at its rear it seems perfectly placed but also out of place. I love seeing the beach. I don't love the wall-to-wall human habitation of the beach.

The various grasses and cattails bend in the cold wind blowing across Prime Hook.

Blog Neglect

I haven't posted for a few days. Mostly, I think, because I had some out-patient surgery done on the middle finger of my left hand. Consequently, my keyboard skills have been challenged. Who would ever think how much one finger is used. My "flip-off" abilities have been hampered since it is so obvious with a big white bandage. Whatever, it is getting better and I am only hitting two keys at a time every three or four strokes instead of on almost every stroke.

Another reason is that it has been pretty quiet -- downright boring around here. I better get myself busy and finish a couple of projects and then think of some trouble I can get into to.

First Weekend of 2008 and Then Some

Early last week it was very cold but with all the tasks like getting the Christmas stuff put away for another year there was little reason to go outside. It was pretty but cold. The weekend was another story. Besides being lovely, the temperature was very comfortable and continues today (supposed to be in high 60's). We took advantage of the lovely weather on Sunday and headed off to the beach. Like I have said time and again in this blog, any day at the beach is a wonderful day for Bill.

Here are some photos I took on Sunday while we enjoyed our time outside.

The sky was sometimes a little hazy but the temperature was very comfortable. Here you can see lots of people enjoying Rehoboth Beach.

Local resident.

Local resident's footprints.

Some of the wave action.

Bentley and Bill taking a stroll.

A view of Lewes Harbor just before sunset.

Happy New Year

2007 is almost over -- just a very few hours. It has been a very different year for us. It surely has been a year of transition. We have spent most of the year getting to know our new surroundings. I prepared this little video to show you a synopsis of our past year.

Our wishes to all for a joyous and fulfilling 2008. Happy New Year!