Holidays

Happy Holidays to You and Yours!

As Christmas approaches so does the wedding day for my daughter Sarah.  Time to blog is limited.  Time to read blogs is too. Lots yet to do including putting up the Christmas tree.  Photo above is from last year.

Let me just wish you a Happy New Year, too while I'm at it.

I'll get back to this in 2015!

Turkey Trot - Part 2

Streets were closed off on Thanksgiving morning as we walked in Washington DC.

We headed east on Pennsylvania Avenue then turned south on 3rd Street in front of the capitol.  Turned west on Independence Ave to 7th Street where we made a u-turn back down Independence to 4th Street where we turned right for two blocks and then around a block to 3rd Street where we went north to our left turn west on Pennsylvania Avenue for the final leg.

I can identify some of the buildings along the way but not all.

The Old Post Office is being converted to a Trump Hotel.

The National Gallery of Art.

The Newseum - a great museum!

Canadian Embassy

The Capitol with scaffolding around it as repairs are being made.

Washington Monument in the distance down the Mall.

National Archives.

The J. Edgar Hoover Building - FBI.

Saw this as we walked to our car after the Trot.

The newest Smithsonian building of African American History and Culture.

Turkey Trot - Part 1

Thanksgiving morning we got up early and headed down to Washington, DC to participate in the 5K Turkey Trot to support SOME (So Others May Eat).  We walked the 3.1 miles.

Gathering point was Freedom Plaza.

Crowds of people - 10,000 in all was the numbered mentioned.

Nephew, Owen and niece, Meredith, prepared to run it.

Brother, Steve and his wife, Paivikki will walk.

Sister, Bonnie and husband, Joseph will run.

Dan and I before we set out.

The organizer, my sister, Marie and her husband, Scott ran it.

Niece, Elena, a runner with her daughter who walked.

My oldest brother, Phil who ran and came in third in his age group.

And we're off.

The runners soon pass us by and we set a steady pace among the walkers.

Final leg of the walk.

Finish line in sight.

Time to completion: 1 hr 4 minutes 17 seconds.

New Hampshire Woods

The weekend before the big snow in New Hampshire we were visiting daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter.

Temperatures were moderate so we took a walk.

This moss covered boulder caught my eye.

Old stone fence lines once enclosed pastures that are now grown up with trees.  Whoever assembled this fence has long passed into history.

A waterfall in the woods with ice forming.

Handiwork of man to bridge the stream.

Dappled sun on the stream ice.

Remains of a water powered sawmill that may have milled the beams in house down the hill. 

Winter Begins!

Below freezing temperatures have frozen the pond.

The wind and floating leaves make interesting patterns in the ice.

Winter is here!

Weekend Reflections

Feeding the Squirrels

Many people don't like squirrels, but I'm not one of those.  I know they raid bird feeders, but over  the years I've managed to get the kind of feeders they can't get into so all they feed on is the dropping of sunflowers underneath.  And they haven't been a problem for me in the garden either.  I have other critters that do the digging in the beds and pots.

I do feed the squirrels bread crusts and other starch leftovers.  They have come to expect it and sometimes will come to the back door on the deck to peer in to see where I am.  Now unlike suburban and city squirrels they don't come close to me.  Once I open the door they scamper away.  As soon as I'm back inside they will investigate what I have thrown out for them.

Yesterday it was a single pancake.  Somehow the pancake got divided and two squirrels had a meal.

Squirrel 1

Squirrel 2

Squirrel 1

Squirrel 2

We have a happy co-existence.

Linking to Saturday's Critters.