Musings

During a polar vortex, you may experience blowing snow.

Or it may be clear at the Big Bridge. Clear and COLD. And, today, windy windy windy.

Finally, we made it down the home stretch, down the fresh-plowed road. Sun! Great shadows!

We are not staying at our customary abode…brrrrr…too much snow and cold! [Let’s stay with the kind, delightful, joyous neighbors in their warm, warm home.]

And have a party! So glad to be in this wonderful place. Could do without the polar vortex, but the sunshine is undeniably lovely.

Posted at 9:36 PM | Comments Off on Polar vortex

The open waters of the Ohio River—with barge!—seemingly (or perhaps actually?) steaming in the cold. Interesting.

Here’s the Maumee—frozen, with heaved up platelets of ice. I don’t know why the apparently evenly spaced “lines”—another natural mystery!

Whereas…these salt deposits are from road salt, dissolved and deposited on Our New Vehicle. The nerve!

For a few minutes the slanty light just before dusk was stunning on the snow…this is Michigan! The colors are not “fake” photo-enhancement—they were there.

Big drive; great evening with friends…nighty-night.

Posted at 10:31 PM | Comments Off on Making tracks

I didn’t know what the weather would be like in the afternoon, so I walked when it was overcast, although the rain had stopped.

I missed the afternoon sun.

And no snow! Schools were closed here today for NO SNOW. […decisions by the bureaucracy of the Sunny South.]

Posted at 9:53 PM | Comments Off on Droplets not flakes

For these first two photos, I don’t mean frozen in the temperature sense, but as sculptures. Cute ceramic bun-bun.

And meet Ivy the Iron Armadillo (Spanish…say arm-ah-deee-yo).

However, because actual temperature freezing is coming within 24 hours, be careful beautiful flowering quince flowers; Grumpy Old Man Winter will be here very soon!

Posted at 9:13 PM | Comments Off on Frozen critters

I did not plan the color commonality. Forsythia.

Daffodils. Someone else’s garden.

And our garden. [Ignore the cold(ish) snap!]

Posted at 8:33 PM | Comments Off on Fleurs jaunes

Finials are not newels, but may be atop newels.

Round finial.

Knurled finial.

Posted at 9:39 PM | Comments Off on White fences

I was down the street when I spotted these white spheres by the curb. I thought, “what are turtle eggs doing in the gutter,” quickly followed by, “those can’t be turtle eggs!”

And so they aren’t: pingpong balls. Still: why a pair in the gutter?

This deflated sphere I couldn’t identify, even after a close visual inspection. No, I didn’t touch, even with a stick. And the organic sphere next to it…some kind of seed/fruit element, also unknown.

Posted at 7:17 PM | Comments Off on Sphere mysteries

I got to walk in the sunshine (bit of a cold breeze…but SUN), as part of an extended errand that was on someone else’s to-do list. I was the happy beneficiary of this excursion.

[…during which I heartily enjoyed my first Sazerac.]

Posted at 10:17 PM | Comments Off on Silver lining

Brand new stump. See yesterday’s entry…. Seems like ginkgo wood might make pretty furniture….

Old stump. Oak, I’m guessing.

New flowers. Crocuses (or is it croci?). Spring comes early when we have Dec/Jan heat waves in the Sunny South. Up in the 60s today, but I’m guessing tonight’s rain will lower the temps for tomorrow.

Posted at 9:09 PM | Comments Off on New and old

In local news, a long-time neighborhood denizen is now gone. Mixed feelings as I hate to see mature trees removed, but this one was a productive female, and the fleshy layer surrounding the seeds start out odiferous, and when on the ground get even more…highly stinky-scented. Bye Stinkgo Ginkgo! [Shame on the nursery that marketed this one; it should have sold only male ginkgos for urban planting….]

In sports news, ATL has been basking in being the 2018 Major League Soccer champions. The next big event is that Soooperdooperbowl, which is already enmeshed in scandal because of a ref call in the Rams/Saints game….

In personal “news,” my sport (in quotes?) is walking, and today I worked on refining my Vitamin D-heightened routing…I’m liking more east-west routes approximately during mid-day, to have sunshine on a cheek most of the time (other skin is bundled up! it’s winter!). This is supposed to give me more Vitamin D than supplements…and Vitamin D is a very good thing! (See note on last Thursday’s entry here.)

Posted at 8:03 PM | Comments Off on Local news