Musings

Sunny, thankfully

Tree silhouettes

It certainly is strange weather when Tallahassee and Savannah and Charleston get snow, and we in ATL get cold, yes, and wind, yes, but no white stuff.

Slow art

Tree outgrowing

The Guru went out with me to gain our vitamin D. The foot was feeling pretty good, so we went farther afield, and found this tree, which has outgrown the space allotted to it during the last landscaping, some time back. Trees are powerful!

Sprinkler evidence

Farther along, we discovered that someone forgot to turn off their sprinklers.

Fish pond rimed

And another homeowner kept the fish-pond oxygenating, creating ice balls and other glazed shapes.

Slurp slurp

Sunlight patts

Very glad for the sunlight, as the cold-cold is headed our way…headed toward much of NorthAmerica, I think.

Last pho of 2017

Among our errands, we stopped for our last phở of 2017. Yum.

Reality in historical fiction series TV

Foggy trees

Misty this morning. I think a character said that phrase on the first episode of “The Crown.” That’s what we started binge-watching. And not because we also had a misty morning.

Pelican art

I couldn’t take a better picture (get a better angle) on this yard-art unless I stepped in the flower bed. So this is my offering.

I took advantage of the morning fog and grabbed my walking sticks and headed out, looking for a bit more up-and-down than I’ve been doing…to work just a bit on endurance. Of course, any work constitutes making progress for me these days.

Gauging the elephants

Red berries

I was getting ready to walk, and checked the out-the-window weather…hmm, temps about the same as yesterday, sunniness about the same…wind? Nope, not today! I skipped one layer I wore yesterday, and I made the right choice! Poi-fect!

Rhodo bud!

Rhodo bud

I futzed around getting ready for my walk. I checked the temp and thought sunny and low 40s, hmm, I’ll try my long-sleeved inner layer with a t-shirt top. Then I stepped outside. Ooops. My visual inspection didn’t identify the wind.

I slipped back indoors and added my fleece.

Smart move. It really didn’t feel very warm until I’d been striding for a while and was on a stretch where buildings and topography blocked the wind. Then, I had to drop the fleece off my shoulders!

And despite our recent bud-nipping temps (and the S), this rhododendron (in a sheltered location) is pushing out new, healthy buds!

Covered vs cute

Oregano snow

This morning the oregano was partly covered by the S, but this afternoon, not so much. Temps are up(ish) now, but will be dropping a bit again later in the week.

Coffeepot birdhouse

I spotted this and thought it was an artsy coffeepot birdhouse. But I’m human. A bird might think this is an architectural abomination, and flit on to another location for nesting.

Blue skies

Verge decoration

Sunny today, but cool enough that shady places kept their snow accumulations. Places like our yard. And driveway. The Guru kept after the driveway, and now it’s wet and not icy. And overnight temps are not predicted to go below freezing.

I did get out for a fine walk, not especially ambitious, but a good one. Sometimes with seasonal decorations.

My HR experience begins

Walking on snowy sidewalks

The meteorologists all said it would snow today—days ago. I didn’t quite believe them. They were right; I was skeptical/wrong.

Rose a snowze

However, the mail-dude did get through this morning, and brought my new device. I’ve been wanting something I liked better than my aging fitbit (which seems to wildly undercount my steps these days), and my SIL suggested a cool, tasteful Nokia watch-fitness device. I discovered Nokia would release a new version that also would monitor heart-rate (the Steel HR), and I figured that would be the model for me!

Snow outdoor loveseat

I had to wait some time for it to be released, then ordered it when they finally accepted pre-orders in mid-November…for delivery in “early December,” which I figured was code for about the 14th. I was wrong. Nokia sent an email on the morning of the 5th, saying that my order was shipped. Over on the USPS tracking, they indicated only that a shipping label had been created that morning. That night, though, my package was at a USPS facility. It trickled down over the succeeding days, to be delivered this morning! And I got it set up! Time to walk! Even though the snow was coming down in big wet flakes, we set off. At my slow speed, it wasn’t slick; lucky me!

I was just upstairs, and the white outdoors and on the balcony reflected the light (despite the overcast), reminding me about night snow-light. Meanwhile, the heat’s going and we are toasty warm, with plenty of goodies in the larder. We are good!

Ginkgo check

Camellia CU pollen

By the time we got out to walk, the morning fog had lifted, the sun shone, and it was afternoon. I had PT during morning-fog time, and realized that despite the knee THANG, I am doing SO MUCH better than two weeks ago when I last had PT. Yay!

Gingko n web

We checked out several ginkgos in our neighborhood on our little sunshine wander. Despite a solid scattering of leaves, most remain solidly attached to their trees. Maybe tomorrow for the drop?

Stay tuned.