Suit of Armor

This cute little suit of armor was observed while taking a leisurely walk on a warm afternoon at Shops at Legacy in Texas.

Wishing everyone a healthy happy new year.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Personality

You Are Biscotti

You are a very direct, honest person. You don't have time for dramatics or emotional pleas. You feel most comfortable in the intellectual realm, especially with science and technology. You are good at understanding difficult subjects. Understanding people? Not so much.

What Holiday Cookie Are You?

Christmas at the Gaylord

MERRY CHRISTMAS


While here in Texas my son and daughter-in-law took me to the Gaylord to see a spectacular holiday and ice display.

Christmas Tree in Legacy Shops


Festive lights in Legacy Shops


Festive lights in Legacy Shops


Festively lit fountain



Last evening in a balmy temperature of the upper 60s my son, a daughter, a daughter-in-law and I strolled around Legacy Shops after have sushi at Naan. We took in the sites of all the Christmas decorations. A good time was had by all, even though walking in heeled boots became uncomfortable.

Snow

This picture is a memory from last winter season in my backyard.

I have just finished speaking to my next door neighbor. He tells me there is a lot of snowing going on back at home( I'm on vacation in TX). I love the snow, too bad I'm missing the whole Currier and Ives scene that is taking place back home. And I'm not there to photograph what is a photographers delight.

My Rainbow

Your rainbow is shaded indigo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a proud person. You appreciate cities, technology, and other great things people have created. Friends count on you for being honest and insightful.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

On the Road Again

Well, here I am on the road again. But, I love traveling so no complaints especially when I am visiting family. Yes, I arrived in Texas yesterday and the temperature was a pleasant 70 to 80. I woke up this morning and it is in the 20s, windy and damp (brrr!). It was warmer back home where the temperature was in the 50s. Hopefully this will not last very long.

I am visiting with my son and his wife in their brand new house. We spent the morning watching Dark Knight. It was my first Batman movie to watch. For some parts I had to cover my eyes, because I can only take so much violence. But all considered it was a good movie. Than it was off to Bally's for a workout. I did half an hour on the treadmill.

Close to Bally's was a Hobby Lobby. As a scrapbooker I had heard a lot about Hobby Lobby, but I had never been to one. Needless to say I had to go there. They had a lot to see. I'll probably do some shopping there before I go home. The only unfortunate thing is no matter what I buy while here in Texas, I'm going to have to mail it home. My luggage has no room to take anything home.

Wildlife in the Woods

Living in the woods I get to see various creatures. This fall I had the thrill of seeing wild turkeys strolling across my neighbors property and then walking onto my driveway.






My favorite nemesis, white-tail deer are always present. We have a constantly ongoing match about how many of my plants I'm going to keep them from eating and how many they actually eat. I was the winner for most of this years growing season. They did manage to clean out a large pot of red impatiens in late September.

Yesterday, I finally got to see how efficient the cylinder like birdfeeder hanging from a tree branch worked to keep squirrel's at bay. It was hilarious. A fat grey squirrel made it's way across the branch. He leaped onto the birdfeeder and the birdfeeder closed do to his weight. Than he tried upside-down to work his way down the birdfeeder, but it stayed closed. After awhile he gave up.(ha!ha!ha!)

Today as I sat at the table eating breakfast and enjoying a cup of tea looking out the window I saw a herd of approximately seven white-tail deer. They were busily meandering their way down and across the hill while foraging for food. They are interesting to watch as long as they are not eating my plants. I wonder which creatures I will see tomorrow.

Are We Our Thoughts?

I was reading a natural health paper I picked up in the pharmacy today. In it was a quote by Buddha. The quote intrigued me. Are we our thoughts?

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make our world. -the Buddha

Soooo Cold

The furnace was running all night. More dollar bills flying out of my wallet. The temperature was in the low teens overnight. When I left the house this morning(around 9am) the car indicated the temperature was a mere 16 degrees(Burrrr). Those low temps call for a lot of clothes:jeans, turtle-necked sweater, heavy faux fur lined coat, scarf wrapped around the neck, wool cap, and gloves. And did I say heavy socks as well. The sun is shining brightly, that's just to fool one into thinking it is warm outside until you step outside. Yes, I still love living in CT.

Dusting of Snow

The snow started to fall around 11pm Saturday night. This is a photo taken from the back steps of the snow falling. During the night I heard the town plow truck down on the road drive by.






When I woke up I saw we had about one inch of snow, just enough to say it snowed. I knew I had to go outside and shovel my long downhill driveway(~250 feet). It was cold and windy in the mid 30s.



Some of the snow had started to melt once the sun was shining on it, so after I finished shoveling the driveway I took a picture of things to come during this winter.

As Robert Frost wrote "Whose woods these are I think I know-----". Stay tune for more winter pictures as the season progress.

Waiting for the First Snow of the Season

The weather man tells we could see the first snow of the season tonight. I love watching the snow fall. Because I live in the woods, I'm reminded of the poem by Robert Frost. Needless to say everyone was at the grocery store today buying up bread, milk and snacks. You would think they were going to be stranded to days.

I'm watching the 1973 version of Miracle on 34th Street on TV as I write this. It's OK, but not as good as the original with Natalie Wood.

I need to close and go to the window, the newscaster just said the snow has enter the State.

Time to Think About Next Years Travels.

Traveling to different places around the world is something I have always wanted to do. I have always been an avid reader and I have traveled all over the world through the written word.

I started doing some traveling about twenty-two years ago. My first flight and trip outside the United States was to Barbados for a week by myself. I have been flying ever since. Quite often I go on trips by myself. You might wonder how could I go by myself. I got use to traveling by myself when I went to scientific conferences for my job. Since I am now retired, I have the time to travel as much as I want. My form of art is photography, so my traveling and photography go hand in hand.

This years travels have taken me to San Francisco, Tampa, Barcelona, Carcassonne, small villages along the Rhone and Saone Rivers in France starting in Arles sailing to Lyon, Paris, Connecticut, Massachusetts, San Diego, Trinidad, Grenada and Texas.

So far I know I'll be traveling to New Mexico for a book retreat and Texas for a graduation next year. I'll possibly go to Arizona to visit a friend who moved there this year. I'm seriously contemplating about going on a 13-day cruise on the Nile River. Egypt is one of those places I have read a lot about and I'm always watching something about Egypt on the History channel. So its time to go there and see all that is left to be seen. Some of the time would be spent in Cairo. Other places of interest are Alaska and China.

Brrr! It's Been Cold

Here in CT it has been very cold for the past five to six days. It's hard to believe the temperature was almost 70 degrees last Saturday and it was only in the 20s this past Saturday with the wind blowing it was even colder. It's a good time to get a warm drink and curl up with a good book.

Today the sun is shining, but the temperature will only be in the 30s. This is just too cold too soon. We are accustomed to and expect cold temperatures in CT, but not this early in the season. I'm still waiting to see the first snowfall. I enjoy seeing the snow blanket everything. I love living in CT because we have four different seasons. My favorite seasons are Spring and Fall. In the spring as the leaves start coming out on the trees they look all lacy. Flowers are beginning to bloom. There is a fragrant freshness in the air. In the fall the trees become a pallet of vibrant colors. There is a nice crispness to the air. After the leaves fall, it's fun to walk through the crisp leaves on the ground and hear the swish swish sound they make. That puts a smile on my face and brings back joyful childhood memories of making piles of leaves and jumping into the piles.

On Thursday we will be observing Thanksgiving. It will be a time to reflect on why we each have something to be thankful about. We all know the economy is at it's worst in a long time, probably worst than any of us have ever experienced in our lifetime. Its a time for all of us to do our part to help get this country moving in the right direction.

Yes, there is something each and everyone of us can do. It does not have to be something grand every little thing helps. An example is using layaway for Christmas presents instead of using credit cards. I can remember shopping this way in the 70s and 80s. I would go to the store, pick out the items I wanted to purchase, pay the store a certain amount by a given day before Christmas and then I was able to bring the paid for items home. Another idea is to use your talents and make your gifts. Personally made gifts are greatly appreciated, because you realize someone was thinking about you to make the effort and take the time. Another idea is not to give gifts to everyone, but have family members choose a name and spend a specified amount agreed upon by all.

I pray we can all have happy holidays in whatever circumstances we might find ourselves.

Another Rainy Fall Saturday

The temperature is in the 60s. That is great especially here in New England. The only problem is the rain and the fog. Since the weather is mild I might think about hanging up the outside Christmas lights, that way I won't have frozen fingers. I won't light them until after Thanksgiving Day.

Yesterday I spent sometime helping to stimulate the economy. My favorite store Linens n' Things is going out of business. I felt a little sad as I walked around in the store. I always loved to go there get a wagon just walk around and see what new kitchen gadget and other items I didn't have but could use. I was able to find a few bargains. Then I also did some shopping at Michaels. I added to my scrapbooking cache a Xyron Design Runner. I had a 50% coupon, so I got it at a bargain price. On Monday I was there and got a new Cricut cartridge because they were on sale for half price. Now I need to get going on using all the supplies I have. I think I'm going to make some Christmas cards. I also bought yarn to knit scarves.

I started knitting again last year after having not done so in over 20 years. I went to a craft fair about a month ago and saw someone was asking $30 for a scarf that was similar to the one I had knitted last year. I just couldn't believe it. Knitting is something I can do while watching TV. I always believe you can do more than one thing at a time. Quite often I read books and magazines while watching TV.

Another thing I bought this week were picture frames. I friend of mind told me I should frame some of my photos and enter them in contests. I don't know about that, but I am going to frame some of them and display them in my home.

Fall day

It's another cold New England fall day with grey overcast skies. I'm waiting for a man to come by and give me an estimate on the price to remove all the leaves from my yard. You might wonder how many leaves can there possibly be. Well, I live on the side of a hill in a wooded area with a vast number of large trees. I own two leaf blowers, but when I see how many leaves are on the ground and knowing how cold it is outside, I have decided to let someone else take on the task. Those two leaf blowers can wait to be used during spring cleanup. In the mean time I will do some fun things like scrapbooking and getting my holiday gifts together. Have a great day.

Doors of the World

These are interesting doors I saw during my travels in Spain and France.

Rainy Saturday

Well it a dreary rainy fall Saturday. More and more leaves are falling off the trees. Hopefully we will have some dry days that will dry out all the leaves lying on the ground. I sure have a tremendous job ahead of me, since I live in the woods, to remove all the leaves that are in the yard.

It's time to think ahead to the holidays. I have been looking into taking the train down to DC for the inauguration, but they are fully booked out of New Haven and New York on Jan. 20th, and all hotels are booked as well for the days surrounding the 20th. I am still going to work on some way to be able to attend this historic occasion.

President-elect Obama

Well, it's been three days since Barack Obama has been declared the 44th president-elect of the United States of America. I can say when it was first announced I jumped up and down, cried, thanked God and popped the cork on a bottle of champagne I had for almost two years.

I never thought I would see a person of color elected to the presidency of this country. But I have been following his candidancy since he made the announcement in Springfield, Ill. I recall watching him give a powerful speech at the 2004 Democratic convention and wondering who he was and where did he come from. I knew he would run for the office of president sometime in the future. At that time I thought if John Kerry did not win, than Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic candidate and president for the following eight years(2008 and 2012). I was almost certain Barack Obama would be the candidate in 2016.

Having said all that I am disappointed Hillary, who is the only qualified woman to hold the office of presidency, was surpassed in the quest for President of the United States. But, I'm so pleased that she was surpassed by Barack Obama who ran a superb campaign. He is a man with a humble, quiet, studious, and thoughtful persona, who used the power of all the most efficient forms of communication to relay his positions and recruit a faithful following. As he has been telling us from the very beginning, it is up to us the people of the United States to work together with him to get this country back to it's place of greatness here at home and abroad.

God bless president-elect Barack Hussein Obama and his family.

May Travelling

It's been awhile since I have posted anything to my blog. I've been busy travelling. Where did I go? I spent 4 days in San Francisco, than I spent 7 days in the Tampa area. That was followed up with a two week trip to Europe.

The trip to Europe was very exciting. I went with a group. We flew from Connecticut to Amsterdam than flew to Barcelona. We spent two days in Barcelona, Spain. While there I spent a day at Montserrat. We took a motorcoach to the medieval city of Besalu, Spain and than onto Carcassone, France. After spending a night in Carcassone we motorcoached to St. Guilheim le Desert and than proceeded to Arles, France where we boarded the Uniworld River Royale for the beginning of an 8 day river cruise on the Rhone River. At the end of the cruise we took the high speed train to Paris. We spent 3 days in Paris before we flew to Amsterdam and than back to Connecticut. I had a marvelous time and I will write more about this in my next blog. In the meantime here are a couple of pictures I took. Montserrat is the mountain and cathedral dedicated to the Black Madonna. Pont du Gard is the famous Roman aqueduct that allow the supplying of water from Uzes to Nimes. Both places are breath taking.

Pont du Gard

Icy Driveway

It's a good thing I have lots of books to read and hobbies I can work on. I have been marooned in my house for the last four days and it looks like I will be here for at least another four days or longer. My almost 300 foot driveway that goes up the side of a hill is completely covered with snow and ice that occurred from a snow, rain, sleet and snow storm we had Tuesday night and Wednesday.

I have plenty of exercise equipment, so I am getting my exercises done daily.

I have also become a politics junky with the exciting primaries taking place this year. I haven't been this interested and excited about politics in decades. It's interesting listening to the pundits, they are so wrong most of the time. They ought to ask the people what we think, and why we are thinking the way we do.