Welcome! I hope I bring a spot of calm and happiness into these uncertain times. I blog about my photography adventures, flowers, gardening, the importance of chocolate in a well lived life, or anything else on my mind.
It's been years since I've written a post featuring the photos of my "guest photographer".
My guest photographer is a friend of over 25 years, and unlike me, does her photography with a DSLR, and not an iPhone.
These after sunset photos from earlier in the week were so pretty that I just had to reintroduce her photos.
The snow in this picture is sitting on a frozen pond, and even the snow covering the pond was glowing pink.
Please, Punxsutawney Phil. We want spring and we want it now, even if winter pictures can be beautiful like these. It's up to you on Sunday. Don't disappoint us.
We've subscribed to our local newspaper for many years, but I'm beginning to wonder if we should continue to support its journalism.
Here's one example from earlier this month.
This was the headline one day, and by that I mean the main headline on the front page. I think newspaper people call the main headline that hits your eye first "above the fold".
There's lots of news out there. We had a President-elect getting ready to assume office. There were horrible wildfires in California. There were wars. Lots to report on and all of it front page headline worthy.
Including this fact, I guess. An actual front page headline in our local paper.
So, drumroll, here it is.
For those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere, I ask you, was this news to you?
Sadly, I'm considering cancelling the paper we've subscribed to for nearly 40 years. It just isn't worth the money anymore.
Today
I am joining up with other Music Moves Me bloggers (and you can join us
at the linky above). We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music
each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most
welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video,
please! Otherwise, your post may be labeled "No Music".)
Every other week we have a theme. This week's theme is "artists, bands or songs that make you think of cold weather."
Here in New York State, I don't need artists, bands, or songs to make me think of cold weather. All I have to do is step outside.
What I hate about winter the most is ice. I'll devote my first two selections to that slippery substance.
Here's Vanilla Ice and his 1990 song Ice Ice Baby. Maybe I like it so much because of his sampling of David Bowie/Queen's Under Pressure. Or maybe all the dancing warms me up?
Foreigner and Cold as Ice.
Let's warm up more by some fast heavy metal. Here's Metallica - Trapped under Ice.
Or, we can go the classical route with Winter from the Four Seasons by Vivaldi. I love that violin.
Finally, from Season Six of Game of Thrones (which I have never watched) here is Winter has Come.
And that's a wrap!
Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.
Yesterday, we were given a short reprieve from the below freezing (and the Wednesday below zero F) weather.
Let's celebrate with some sky pictures from yesterday, when I could take my gloves off for a few seconds.
These pictures were taken a few minutes apart. From this angle, clear skies, and even shadows.
A few feet away the clouds are gathering. Soon they would cover the sky in photo #1.
And this angle may look familiar because I took a picture of this tree January 15 and posted it here on Skywatch. Here it is again.
It's so strange knowing that places in the south have more snow than we in my part of New York State have on the ground as of right now. But that's the strange weather for you, and the strangeness isn't going away, alas.
It's a small place, but it's everything you want a small town diner to be.
Not only that, but the sports memorabilia that line the walls of this small gem makes it even more special. A lot of it is devoted to baseball, especially the New York Yankees.
Hard to see because of how I took the pictures, but much of this (not all) is devoted to the New York Yankees. If you are wondering why no pictures of the exterior, it was quite cold outside.)
Today
I am joining up with other Music Moves Me bloggers (and you can join us
at the linky above). We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music
each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most
welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video,
please! Otherwise, your post may be labeled "No Music".)
Every other week we have a theme. This week's theme is "You Pick".
Today I feature short tributes to three new inductees to Rock and Roll Heaven. First up is Sam Moore of the soul duo Sam and Dave, who passed away at the age of 89 on January 10. The cause of death was complications from surgery.
Here is the 1967 hit Soul Man, written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter.
From 1968, written by the same songwriters, I Thank You.
Country artist Wayne Osmond, a founding member of The Osmonds, passed away on January 1. He was 73. Although this selection isn't sung by Wayne, he wrote the song. Here is Rainin'
Finally, Peter Yarrow of the trio Peter, Paul and Mary, who passed away January 7 from bladder cancer at the age of 86. Here, he performs the Peter, Paul ad Mary hit Leaving on a Jet Plane solo with audience accompaniment. Now, only Paul is left.
There have been other musician deaths this year. 2025 is not beginning well.
And that's a wrap.
Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.
Sometimes, on an otherwise cloudy day where I live in the Southern Tier of New York, the sun will make a brief appearance (especially in the morning, for some reason). On January 12 I was fortunate enough to be out walking when I realized I was looking at blue sky.
I decided to take this picture. When do I see clouds like that in January? Not often.
About a half hour before sunset, I took another picture. Now, that's more like it.
But the sky wasn't finished with me yet. On January 15, I took this picture looking to the south. It's so grim it looks like it was taken in black and white but trust me, it's a color picture.
Perhaps five minutes later, I realized that the sun was shining if I looked to the east.
Today, two memes for the price of one: Wordless Wednesday and Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.
On the 15th of each month, I, and other garden bloggers, show you what is blooming inside and outside our homes or apartments. It makes for a nice garden diary.
So join me today at my zone 6a home in the Southern Tier of New York as I put off shoveling snow.
I may have flowers outside, an early blooming Lenten Rose that was
blooming in late December, but it's snowing right now and I am not going
to dig through snow cover to find it. So let's get the "emergency"
indoor flower pictures.
Each fall, I root up a handful of
impatien cuttings. Here are the survivors, and they have rewarded me
with blooms.
Let's start with white and salmon.
Red.
What else? How about this African violet?
My other blooming African violet is done but showing it anyway. The blooms are mainly dried on the plant.
Flower buds on my spider plant.
Finishing up blooming is a kalanchoe spouse and I got as a gift a couple of months ago.
Flowers are scarce this time of year for me, but if you click on the link for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day below, you can visit other flower gardeners from all over the world. While you are at it, why not check out this linky below for Wordless Wednesday, too?
Today
I am joining up with other Music Moves Me bloggers (and you can join us
at the linky above). We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music
each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most
welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video,
please! Otherwise, your post may be labeled "No Music".)
Every other week we have a theme. This week's theme is "songs to start 2025 or songs to motivate you for the New Year".
I am going to "steal" the first song from Stacy of Stacy Uncorked (link above), who had this on her blog last week. One of our national treasures here in the United States is an actor, Dick Van Dyke, who will be turning 100 in December. This first video, from Coldplay, honors Dick Van Dyke as he was "then", on several hit shows you remember (plus a fair number of movies), and now. What an inspiration to start the year off right. Watch him move at certain points in the video and realize he is 99, and tear up over his family photos. Thank you, Stacy, for posting this video. It made my day.
This second song is one of my favorite Cher songs - Believe. Songs using Autotune aren't everyone's taste (my spouse can't stand it) but I love this pioneering song from 1998. Let's try to Believe in our personal power in 2025.
Let's also be motivated by the song "Let It Go" from the 2013 movie Frozen. Has it been that long?
Finally, a song that can motivate and inspire at any time of the year. Here is 1982's Eye of the Tiger by Survivor. This was the theme song of the movie Rocky III.
And that's a wrap!
Next week, if I remember, I will pay tribute to a couple of recent inductees into Rock and Roll Heaven.
Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.
Why not come out of the shadows and join us (linky is on Lisa's blog above)? All you need is a photo with a shadow. And it doesn't have to be cold, either.
My heart goes out to all those affected by the horrific wildfires in California. Sometimes the news exaggerates what is happening, but not this time. Hundreds of thousands forced to evacuate, thousands of structures burned (including within the city of Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States), and an unknown death toll as of the time I'm writing this post. I fear the official death toll is way underestimated.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away...
We've had a cold stretch of weather where I live in the Southern Tier of New York. Yesterday started with a dusting of snow but the skies were clearing by sunset.
As my family member and I traveled, I noticed that the hills in front of us were glowing. These hills are covered mainly with bare trees and I've rarely seen them lit up like this What a golden hour delight.
Let's zoom in a little.
Suddenly I saw the road was bending, and I was able to see the actual sunset. (Sorry about the pole)
I got one more photo in before the road curved again and the sunset was visible in the rear view mirror. The mirror was dirty (as are almost all vehicles driving around here in this weather) from road salt but maybe I should have tried a photo anyway. Lesson learned.
From the archives, here are two photos from January 2019.
Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida (near Orlando) has a "Walk of Fame" containing stones from over 200 different locations. The collection includes stones taken from birthplaces, property, or even graves of famous people, or from locations important in history. Apparently, back when some of these were collected, this was not considered vandalism. However, my understanding is that the majority of these stones were taken with permission. Here's more information on the Walk of Fame.
Fred Rogers ("Mr. Rogers") (above, upper right), was an alumnus of Rollins College.
Here's another stone.
Orlando has so much more to offer than theme parks.
It's the first Monday of 2025, and it's time for music!
Today
I am joining up with other Music Moves Me bloggers (and you can join us
at the linky above). We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music
each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most
welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video,
please! Otherwise, your post may be labeled "No Music".)
On this wintery first Sunday of 2025, let's think spring.
This picture was taken years ago on a street in Brooklyn, New York, a borough of New York City. Yes, there are trees in New York City; more than you might expect. People think of New York City as the skyscrapers of Manhattan, but there is so much more to the City than that.
Flowers in the Southern Tier of New York on New Year's Eve?
I went out in the back yard yesterday and was greeted with this.
I have an early white Lenten Rose. It usually blooms in January if the weather permits it, because sometimes we have a brief reprieve from the harshness of winter. But this year our reprieve came this past week.
Some years, this doesn't bloom at all. But I was fortunate enough to see its blooms yesterday.
