Happy Birthday, Karen!

We drove to Connecticut today to have lunch with my three sisters.  The celebration was for my older sister Karen, because it was her 80th birthday!  It was nice to get together and spend time with all my sisters.  Because we are hours away from each other, we don't get to see each other that often.  We were lucky that traffic was light and our trip both ways to Milford was relatively easy.  A wonderful way to spend a Saturday, with family!

 

The Remains of Fall

I have watched this pot and the grasses, all winter long.  The pot is on one of the back steps so I pass it each day.  I keep looking at it and love the monochromatic tan colors. I have photographed it but was never satisfied until on this day.  I think the colors have changed in subtle ways during the winter.  I like the two different textures, between the plant and the grasses.  Spring will soon be here and all this will change, which will be welcome.

 

A Table Setting

On my walk each time I pass a marina and storage yard that has all kinds of stuff up on the land in storage. Boats, an old crane, cars, a truck and who knows what else.  One time there were tables set up out on the sidewalk and they were selling all kinds of stuff, including this stuff.  I remember all these plates and silverware.  Clearly, when it was over they just put this piece of plywood with all this stuff on the ground and I bet it has been here for 5 years.  I always look through the fence to see if there are things I want to photograph and I saw this the other day.  "A Table Setting."  Well, not exactly, but what an interesting collection of stuff!  I did have to shoot through a chain link fence so this photograph is not as clear and sharp as it should be.  Please click on this image - there is so much stuff to see here!

 

A Cat in the Sun

One of Grace's favorite places.  On the top of the staircase  right above the second landing, she curls up in the sun to sleep.  Sam also uses this spot as well.  How nice is it to be a cat and then find a patch of sunshine and then to just lie in the sun and fall asleep.  I could like the idea of doing that, except how could I sleep with the sun in my face?  Sometimes she and Sam put one of their paws over their eyes, and they are fast asleep.  Ahhhh....  The life of a cat...

 

Looking Out to Sea

As I was walking back home on my 2.6 mile walk, I suddenly noticed this young woman, all in white, leaning on the railing, looking out to sea.  How many times have we all  done this?  Lots and lots of times.  When you stand on the edge of the water, it is such a natural thing that we are compelled to do, to look out into the distance,  I guess to see how far we can see. Something about the water brings to mind distance and perhaps travel.  All of us lost in our own private thoughts.  So that's why I took this photograph.  What's funny is, that I thought it was a woman standing alone.  Imagine my surprise when I enlarged this image to full size and then realized that she has a man companion standing on the far side of her, but so little of him shows.  What an interesting surprise!  If you click on it to enlarge it, you can see parts of her companion.

 

More On Buttonball Trees

Buttonball trees have such a distinctive bark to them.  I have stopped so many times with my camera trying to find a face or some other figure or shape that looks like something, but I have never been successful.  Maybe there is a dancing woman here, although I only saw that just now, not when I took the photograph, so I guess that doesn't count!

I spoke of seeing "squished" buttonballs all over the grass under the trees, which is what got my attention.  There were literally hundreds of these in the first two tenths of a mile. I wanted you to see how soft these are when they get to this stage.  And I am not sure how they get from the hard round ball, to this state.  Did they fall down in the Fall, and then the winter weather opened these up somehow?  They are unbelievably soft, and so different from the hard round shapes. So many mysteries in nature!

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The Buttonball Tree, Again...

OK so this is SO cool!  I knew I had this photograph and I just had to find it!  I showed you the drawing of the family farmhouse in Guilford in my Buttonball post two days ago, and there are two Buttonball trees in the drawing.  We are standing on the remains of the tree to the right!  What an unbelievable photograph this is!  Everyone in their Sunday best, who came out for a photograph of all of us standing on the remains of the giant Buttonball that had just been cut down!  And then there are the cars in the driveway as well.  My mom took this photograph and it is perfect!  And then she carefully wrote everyone's names at the bottom of the print.  Buttonball farm, indeed!  This is an extra large image so please click on it.