Our Little Concrete Angel

As I mentioned yesterday, Kathy has not been tending to the gardens at all, and I don't pay attention to them either.  But yesterday when I went over to the side garden looking for a photograph, I found the American pokeweed which we didn't know was in the garden.  I walked toward the street and was shocked to see our little stone angel almost completely covered in leaves from some vines!  You have seen photographs of our angel before, in various seasons, but never like this!  She looks as if she is in a predicament.  It is perfect weather for painting and I will be painting more tomorrow, but the day after I will go over and clear away the vines.  But this is kind of interesting to see out tiny angel almost completely overgrown.  If you want to have some fun, in the upper left hand corner of this page is a white space where you can enter "angel" and then click on the magnifying glass and it will show you a whole bunch of my garden angel photographs!

 

Look at The Pretty Berries!

Look at the pretty berries I found in the garden this afternoon!  How beautiful they are!  I cannot believe the brilliant magenta stalk on which the berries grow.  You will be pleased to know that this plant is American pokeweed (Phytolacca americana).  It always helps to know the Latin name!  So I looked it up.  IT IS POISONOUS!  EVERY PART OF THE PLANT, EVEN THE ROOTS!  Yikes!  What?  I used Google Images and uploaded a photo of it to get its identification.  I found it growing in Kathy's garden.  Given her knee replacement surgery and the recovery, she has not been working in her garden at all, and it is pretty much overgrown.  I had never noticed this plant before so it must be fast growing.  There are bunches of berries everywhere on this plant.  I thought this close up was pretty dramatic so I posted this photograph first.

Here is a better view of more of the plant.  I think the poisonous quality of the plant is worth reading about, so I am posting a lot of text. Wait until you read about how the leaves have been eaten!  The entire plant is genuinely poisonous to humans, but its toxicity varies considerably depending on which part is eaten and how much.  The entire plant is considered poisonous, including the berries, leaves, stems, and especially the root. Eating one or two berries generally does not cause serious poisoning, particularly in children, but larger amounts can cause significant gastrointestinal poisoning—abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The roots are considerably more concerning. People have mistaken pokeweed roots for edible roots such as ginseng and developed severe vomiting and diarrhea, sometimes with blood, low blood pressure, and other serious effects requiring hospitalization. Get this: young leaves have traditionally been eaten as "poke salad," but only after repeated boiling and draining. Raw or improperly prepared leaves can cause poisoning, so I would not regard them as safe to experiment with.  Yikes!  Boy the things you can learn on my blog!  You are welcome!  :-)

 

A Jungle?

Anyone want to guess what this is a photograph of?

I bought Kathy some flowers for our anniversary and then I put them in a clear glass vase on the dining room table.  One evening I was looking not at the flowers, but at the stems in the water.  So I got out my close-up lens and spent a few minutes trying to make something of these stems underwater.  Not one of my greatest efforts, certainly, but I am a bit desperate because I have nothing else for the evening.  That's what happens when I am painting - I neglect everything else!

 

I Am Just Too Old!

I wanted to buy a box of chocolates for us for our anniversary. So I went to our local CVS where I have always bought Russell Stover, or Whiteman's Sampler boxes of chocolates.  I looked all over the place and couldn't find any!  So I asked one of the young employees if they had any boxes of chocolates, and they had no idea what "a box of chocolates" was!  So I went to the larger, newer CVS about a mile or two away, and asked an employee the same question.  I used my hands and fingers to describe the size of the box and that it was not very thick.  He showed me all kinds of things but he didn't seem to know what I was talking about.  Of course the new thing is they they have small and large bags of chocolate candies of all kinds, but he just didn't know what I was describing!  So on a chance, I CAREFULLY looked at each and every shelf from top to bottom, and finally saw maybe three of these boxes on a bottom shelf!  I was in luck.  So in the end I figured that it is only old people who even know these things exist, a more formal gift than a giant bag of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups!  In Wikipedia, it did say that apparently "Boxed Chocolates" are a big favorite at Christmastime.  We'll see if that is true.  I will let you know.

 

A Different Sky Tonight

Our usual walk around sunset tonight.  A different kind of sky - high stratus clouds rather then the usual cumulus.  I first noticed the glowing clouds in the center of the photo and thought that was interesting but then I saw the three small figures, and new I had a photograph!  I grabbed my iPhone, rather than my Sony Rx 100 because it was quicker, and it had a wider angle lens on it.  Two shots was all it took and I knew I had it!  A lucky evening for me!

 

Hung Out to Dry

I have explained how I used a garden sprayer to spray a mixture under the eaves to kill any mildew, and then washing it all off with water, before painting.  So my gloves were always soaking wet after this process was over.  So I hung them up to dry!  After going to the garage for something I came back out and saw them, and thought it was funny looking so then went and got my camera to recored this.  I just thought this looked interesting, so here you are!

 

How's The Painting Going?

 So I have shown you a photo of me up on the ladder working on scraping and cleaning in preparation for painting.  I have already shown you the setup and me on the ladder.  And I showed you how badly the wood trim - the eaves - on this side of the house needed painting.  This is a reminder.  And this is the result of my days of hard work, below.

This is an extra large image of the finished eaves!  Be sure and click on this.  I still have to paint the siding but that's only one coat of the finished paint.  It doesn't need priming. It took me two days to scrape all this.  It took two days for spraying with Clorox and TSP and hot water from a garden sprayer to kill all the mildew.  Then three days of painting all of this with a primer.  And then two days to do the final coat.  Tomorrow I will start painting the siding and this side of the house will look brand new.  The other sides have already been painted already over the last couple of years.  It is really deeply satisfying to make everything beautiful again!

Farewell My Faithful Companions

These are a pair of Timberland work boots which I have had for years and they are well used.  I think I have had them for at least 30 years, and probably longer.  There is no way to tell, but they are clearly well used.  The bottom soles of both boots became detached in the front and I used some contact cement to fasten them back on, and they were fine for a while.  But recently, as you can see in the photograph below, the entire sole became detached and that is really unsafe if I am up on the ladder and climbing up and down while painting.  So, sadly, they needed to be replaced.  They certainly have served me well but now that I bought a new pair from a different manufacturer, I no longer need these.  I have no idea how much they cost when I originally bought them, but the replacement cost of the Timberlands was about $200!  Yikes!  My new work boots only cost half that.

I do like studying this photograph, to see the wear and tear on these boots after all these years.  This view of one boot really shows the history of them, more than the photograph looking down at the two of them together.

 

A Cloud to Study

Tuesday. Dunkin' at the beach, of course.  We sat in beach chairs down at the waterline because the tide was out.  There were cumulus clouds moving into where we were but there were not a lot, of them nearby, and there was not much wind either, so it was interesting that one cloud would sit in front of us for quite a long time and we were studying it.  A single cumulus cloud, a "fair weather" cloud.  The delicacy of it was just sublime, with wisps all around the edges of it that if you looked carefully, you could see either appear or disappear over a few minutes.  So light, so delicate, and a gray bottom because the sunlight could not make it all the way through the cloud to the bottom so it is darker.  And of course, the deep blue sky to make the clouds stand out.  I don't think I have every studied one particular cloud for a whole half-hour.  It was really illuminating.

 

Another Evening at the Beach

Another walk at the beach around sunset.  We never know what we will see, which is fun.  I knew that the Moon would be in a crescent phase but had not been paying close attention.  So it was a surprise to see a 4 day old crescent Moon, and of course, to the right, the planet Venus.  But of course all of you already know about Venus being there.  I took several different views, and the key was some kind of foreground.  Just seeing the Moon and Venus in the sky was not enough.  But the branches of a tree completed the picture for me.

 

Dunkin' Day at the Beach!

Yeaaaaa...  It is Sunday and Dunkin' Day at the Beach day!  Wait!  SUNDAY at the beach?  Dunkin' Day is only on Tuesday, right?  Well, yes, actually, but...  Today was our anniversary and so for a treat we got coffee, tea, and two donuts and in the middle of a morning of heavy rain ended up at the beach as the start of a special day.  It was really nice even though we couldn't get out of the car - it was pouring.   But rain at the beach is a nice experience.  The two cloud-looking things above the cups on the dashboard are from condensation of the hot drinks on the cooler windshield above them. We actually saw a kayaker paddle into the beach and take his boat out.  I bet it was really nice being out on the water during rain, as long as you were dressed for the weather, as he was.

 

Venus and Clouds

Gray clouds and a bright dot.  But that bright dot is amazing, it is the planet Venus, one of the brightest objects in the sky, when it is in view.  Venus has phases like the Moon, and right now it is half illuminated, the way the Moon each month, is half illuminated.  Venus is slowly getting closer to us and growing larger in size, but it is becoming less illuminated and by the end of the month it will be just as. bright, but it will only be a crescent.  But you would need to use a telescope to see the phases of Venus.  Venus now is an "evening star" which means we see it after sunset.  Soon it will set and not be visible for a while and then in early November it will be a "morning star" rise in the east before the sun but may not be visible before sunrise until mid to late November.  Don't forget to look for it in the east then,  It will be just as bright and as beautiful as it is in the western sky. The magic of the planet Venus.

 

Japanese Silver Grass

OK, today you get to pick your favorite.  I thought I knew what I wanted but now I am not so sure.  I found this lying at the bottom of the driveway and I looked at the neighbor's yards and there was nothing like this at all.  Later on in the day, I saw what this came from. I drove up the hill, turned left, curved to the right, and there on the left was a beautiful collection of green foliage, with one of these on the top of each stalk!  This is the feathery seed plume of an ornamental grass, called Japanese Silver Grass.  So I walked around the yard holding this in one hand and my camera in another with the close up lens on it, and looking for a background to hold it in front of. I did about 4 different backgrounds and chose this one because this was back lit.  Stunning, isn't it?

As I was preparing this in photoshop, at some point it was enlarged larger than the frame and I caught a glimpse of this close up version.  I thought that the close version showed so much more detail in the plant than the full length view.  But now I am liking that I can see the entire shape of the seed pod in the first photograph.  So I am choosing that one, but you can tell me what your favorite is!  Thanks!

 

Sunset & Clouds at the Beach

Every night when we take our walk, the sky is different, the sun is different and the clouds are different.  It is so interesting that for the first time in our lives, we are watching a sunset every day, day after day.  What an interesting lesson.  What this photograph doesn't do any justice to is the brilliance of the colors in these clouds, which are illuminated by the sun which has already set.  So we watched as we walked and saw subtle changes as a couple of minutes went by.  We then went back to just paying attention to walking. 

Suddenly I looked up and couldn't believe how dramatically the scene and the clouds had changed.  The sun had set further and in an instant there were just gray clouds!  The change was so sudden and the view went from spectacular to ordinary.  Such an interesting lesson for us.  Be sure to click on at least the first photo because the larger image is really stunning.

 

He's Up on the Ladder Again!

Latest project, long overdue!  I have been painting the house again, one side each year.  This side looked awful because being on the west side of the house it got a lot of sun.  I am guessing it has been over 20 years since it was painted, and it shows!  Wow, I am pretty high up here, aren't I? It may not be obvious but I am wearing a harness and am connected with a bright orange climbing rope to an anchorage in the attic.  Just in case...

This is terrible!  Shame on me for not painting it sooner!

Because there is so much mildew under the eaves, this is my process to make sure it is all gone. First, I scrape the eaves with paint scrapers to get all the loose paint off.  Then I put on rain gear, and use a garden sprayer to soak everything with mildew on it with a solution of water, Clorox, and a replacement. for Tri Sodium Phosphate.  The black mildew instantly turns brown, and then I drag a garden hose up to the top of the ladder and blast everything with water, which removes the mildew and rinses all the chemicals off.  After a day of drying, it is ready to paint!  Stay tuned!

The Hosts

These are my friends, Pat and Lawrence.  I worked with Pat at the newspaper and Pat was so good at gathering a group of work colleagues together every once in a while, so we could all keep in touch.  I always treasured those gatherings.  At the last minute the other day she sent a notice of a small gathering tonight because one of our colleagues who had moved away was visiting, and I signed up in a second.  It was such a nice time and for me there were people I have not seen for 18 years, and all the conversations and reminiscences were wonderful and so enjoyable.  Before I arrived, I thought of doing a portrait of the two of them on their wonderful front porch, and it was the first thing I asked when I walked in the front door.  And here it is.  They are both such wonderful people!

 

Perfect Hexagons!

I started a new project today.  Painting the eaves and the shingles on the west side of the house.  So I used my longest ladder and got right up to the peak and started scraping.  There were remains of a paper wasp nest which I scraped off.  This is one of the circular sections which are built one under the other and then the whole next is surrounded by "paper" to protect it.  These are called "Brood Cells" and they are in a perfect honeycomb pattern.

How beautifully these perfect hexagons are, formed by legions of wasps working away non stop!  It is so amazing to me, and it shouldn't be, that these flying insects can make such uniform and perfect hexagons, which will be filled with eggs.  Like other social wasps, hornets build communal nests by chewing wood to make a papery pulp. Each nest has one queen, which lays eggs and is attended by workers that, while genetically female, cannot lay fertile eggs.  The eggs hatch in 5 to 8 days.  The nest dies over the winter, with lone queens hibernating in leaf litter or other insulative material until the spring.

 

"I'v Got One!"

We have seen so many people fishing down at Tappan Beach.  Sometimes standing on this little outcropping and sometimes on the water's edge, or sitting in chairs near the water, and sometimes wading knee deep in the water. We have NEVER seen anyone catch a fish, however!  Today we did!  We were resting after our walk and then suddenly saw this fisherman's rod bend way down!  So we stood there for 5 or ten minutes while he carefully reeled the fish in and on to the edge of the beach.  We didn't recognize the fish.  I think maybe it was 14 inches long or more.  But it had triangular fins on the side of it's body which seemed strange.  Anyhow once he beached it, he got a tool out and either unhooked the hook or cut it and removed it, and then let the fish swim away!  I love the sense of action in this photograph.  Finally I have someone DOING something in a photograph!  And this is so much better with his friend in front of him because the second person adds a lot more interest.

 

Five Minutes Later...

Luck again today!  I am serious about this photograph.  We were headed to the beach for our sunset walk and when we got to the bottom of Laurel Ave, I could see this in the distance. But it was a 5 minute drive and parking the car, and by the time I got the car parked and ran out onto the beach the sunlight on the cloud was fading.  It was exactly sunset.  But there was enough color to still make it an interesting photograph.  But I still feel lucky that the color lasted long enough for me to get this.  Five minutes more and all the color was gone.

 

Sun, Clouds and a Bird

We decided to do our walk at the end of the day, earlier than usual.  You have seen so many sunsets while we were walking because we waited until after dinner.  For some reason we decided to walk before dinner.  So it was nice, and there were less biting bugs, which I recently read come out closer to when the sun is going down.  I happened to look up and see the sun being obscured by clouds and then showing through and then being obscured again.  I used my toy camera and took about half a dozen images where you could see the sun't entire disk.  And when I saw some gulls going through the picture near the sun I shot quickly trying to capture one.  I think I got it perfectly!  It was almost random, but it worked.  For some reason I really like this photograph.  Can't begin to tell you why, sorry to say.