November Surprise

The other day, a couple of days before Thanksgiving , I was in the process of making a bunch of little braciole for part of them coming home for what we call a "big bowl" the night before before Thanksgiving.

This all started when the first one of the first bunch went off to college and came home for the first time back somewhere in the early seventies. Its been going on for a long time and has more or less matured and is now getting old.

I happened to go out back for a breath---it was warmish after what has been a cold fall--and I saw this little bud atop our sort of decrepit and unkempt ancient rose bush, you know the one. I grabbed my little camera and took this picture. I didn't do so well. I don't take many little pictures anymore and I guess I didn't touch all the right buttons, so I tried again and got this one. Maybe a little better I thought.

But then again...

1962 or 1963

This is a snapshot of my brother Donald, my mother and me with my grandmother peeking through and my daughter flying over us all. I think this as in either 1962 or 1963. In any case, a favorite picture of my mother and a rare one of my brother Donald. Donald died yesterday November 9, 2010.

Last Sunday...

...I finally agreed to go for a nice sail with Don aboard CHIMAERA. His son David was along too, so I didn't have to do anything except sit back and enjoy the day. No work for me, but this wasn't true for these lobster men.


By the way, I hadn't agreed on other days because I just was plain tired and/or lazy or just feeling old.

Tiny Orange Mushrooms

These little, even tiny, but very bright orange mushrooms were growing a couple of weeks ago under a tree at the edge of my woods near a brook. They were sort of rubbery to the touch and feel.

So I took a picture of them. Here it is.



They are not roses.

2009 and More of the same

OK...here are three pictures of this years rose. The vine, or tree, or bush, or whatever you call it produced a few sort of decrepit around the edges buds and a rose or two of the same ilk. Sort of like me, getting a little decepit around the edges.








This series is over.

Speaking of Roses....

Here is my Fall 2008 version of the rose from the twiggy bush out back....



...and just for fun...



...I don't have anything to say, really.

It's Been a While.....

...since I even thought about posting here, or bothering to take a picture. Yesterday I took some pictures with a toy digital camera, you know, the little ones that are attached to a key chain. Here are some of the pictures:







...and some others:



I like the one that I call Chiquita....well, like is too strong a word.

Bye for now,Me

signing off from here,

Another Year and Another and...

At least the pale rose producing bush still does it's thing. Maybe there is hope!

And Speaking of Ruts...errrr, themes maybe?

I have been taking little pictures of this orangy pinkish yellowy fleshy rose for ever it seems. Here is this one from yesterday, 2007.



And then there is this one, a 2005 version...



And these from other years:





I have a zillion more but I am bored and didn't she say "...a rose is a rose is a ro..."

Same Old Stuff...year after year after all...

This years ....



And last years...OK, not last year but the year before that and that and...Get it?

Trying to Decide Everything...

This morning, the middle of the morning actually, and I am questioning decisions and staring out my window where my egg sits. My egg is this palm tree. Denis gave it to me a few years ago and it sits, often neglected, on a bookcase in front of my window and it is my thing that I stare at when I just like to sit and stare. Here is (are) this mornings view(s).

First this.



And this.



And this too.



None of them is quite right today. Says it all for everything else today too.

Cheery Stuff on a Gray Day...

Driving back from a short trip to the post office a while ago I came to this stop sign and was greeted by this cheering sight on what was a gray day which was not all due to the weather.

And as you can maybe see, it suddenly turned a little less gray. Someone was having some fun and while all five of the snowfolks were cool...
....Mom was the most...


...and actually put a small smile on my face.

Michael Anthony....

...aka grandson number three. I still like these older looking pictures. Don't you do too?


And this is his dad from 43 years ago... the little guy on stage left staring at the camera.

This old picture I called "Faded Times" when I first put it up on the original Timeshots, but maybe not so faded after all.

Late Last Summer....

I took this little picture late last summer...sometime in the middle of September when it was still nice and warm out on my back deck. I think it's worth a revisit there today when it's not so nice and warm.


Don't you?

An Unusual Looking Shadow....

The other day it finally snowed a little here in Manchester Connecticut. And it also got very cold. I looked out on the deck and saw this odd shadow and light pattern. The direction of the sun is obvious. There is a window facing the direction of the deck about six feet to the right of the camera location which I guess was reflecting some of the bright sunlight back onto the deck creating this odd pattern of shadow and light for a few minutes.

So I took this snapshot.

Looking out at my woods this morning....

...while I was having a cup of coffee, I saw the sun working it's way up . Not too much of a big deal or anything but something I see almost every morning out the back door looking into my woods.

Ordinary and routine...not a bad thing at all.

A New "needtoy" and ..., well, we'll see won't we.

I have been suffering from lack of a "needtoy" for a while. No more. I got this camera so that I could take pictures in available light ( it's sensitivity is up to ISO 2000) and maybe even get to take a decent snapshot without messing with the big, obvious, and less than easy to use inside without flash other "needtoy" from last year. While I haven't taken any snapshots yet, I did take a few pictures to get a sense of how it works. The answer is pretty darn nice for a camera that is entry level priced, but is a neat, little, unobtrusive, black and white available light device. It's not a Leica. And it doesn't try to be. But it's fairly quick when the shutter button is pressed, quiet and does produce a pretty good and very usable picture with available light. Here is a picture of my version of "the egg*"(* an attempt at an obscure reference) which sits on the windowsill in my room.

I know it's probably not the best example, but it's one that I like, so there it is.

More later.

The Original Timeshots is Going Away...

...and this time it really is going away. The folks over at userland.com finally have figured out that they need money to continue and I have decided not to pay them. So...as I also used to say, there you have it. It's done. It's over. It's cooked. The last picture I posted there is this one.

I took it a while back actually and used it as my final picture because I haven't taken any others since then. The camera has been sitting out there batteries charged and ready, but I have hardly picked it up. Maybe when the need to post something here forces it, I will pick it up and press the shutter switch.

So until that happens I will have this picture here to remind me that the old site is dead and this one needs to be updated from time to time.

Until then, the window reflection and the red rocking chair are both taking the winter off. The rocker is in the storage area and the reflection is probably watching television counting down the days until pitchers and catchers report.

A Sunday sail with Don...

Sunday, and I went for a longish sail with Don aboard his cruising 36 footer CHIMAERA. Like this one. Not a bad day at all. Pretty nice wind most of the day, very favorable tides all day, and it was what it was supposed to be.


While we were sailing back to New London, I had a chance to gawk at other boats like I like to do.



I saw this cool looking catboat sailing a parallel course to us but in the opposite direction. And then there were the houses of the Fishers Island kazillionaires to gawk at too, but I am not inclined to do that.

That's more or less it. The wars went on, the RedSox lost, The Yankees won, but this geezer had a good day anyway. Everyone ought to have a friend with a nice sailboat.

Taking Care of Jenny's Plant...

Well, I am not but Mrs is. The plant is a resurrection of same from last year. Here it is in it's Monday condition. Today is Wednesday and it doesn't seem to be still healthy, but again, not my problem. Besides Jenny is away and won't be back for many a day.

Meanwhile I have been fooling around and did some of these other pictures for Timeshots.



Which one to use? I decided that while none were what I wanted, I'd use one anyway.

Compromises as usual.