Cheerful Decorations

Christmas lights and colorful decorations really brighten our short December days. It seems like people are decorating more, which is nice as long as they follow safety rules. (Every once in a while, someone's extension cord causes a fire.)

I hope you are enjoying the beauty of the season.

Sharing with:

Friday Bliss / Garden Affair

Time with My Daughters

Marie came to visit last weekend. This was a belated Thanksgiving celebration. I had discouraged her from flying during that busiest travel time of the year. There is still a pandemic out there, and it’s good policy to avoid crowds.

Lynn drove down on On Saturday to spend time with her sister. It is always fun when they’re together, which is not often enough.

We had lunch at the Edinburg Mill. It has a nice atmosphere but they did not follow my allergy requests on my order so I sent it back and had a side salad. After lunch we went to a consignment/antique shop and looked around. 

Signs

Marie left on Sunday because she had to work on Monday. She is still working from home most of the time because of the pandemic.  (She works at DC Comics.)

I miss her. The house is quiet. 

Yet this week is almost over and I have tons of things to do. 

Skywatch

Downy and Downy

Geese are known for their down, the soft fluffy feathers used in pillows and jackets. So I think it is fair to say they are "downy."

This woodpecker is known as a downy woodpecker. It is smaller than the red-bellied woodpecker and does not sport as much of the color red. 

Linking to: 

~Wild Bird Wednesday

~I'd Rather Be Birdin'

 

This Evening near Leesburg

Image-in-ing

 

It Almost Looks Like a Window

Monday Murals

Fairfax, Virginia.  I was not able to get a straight-on shot of this artwork because there was a partition and a plexiglass panel in the best spot.

 

Church Post #450

Pleasantville First Church of God

Fellowship Hall

Inspired Sunday / Shadow Shot Sunday

This country church is in Maryland across the river from Harpers Ferry.

 

Window of Confusion

WOODSTOCK, VA

Weekend Reflection

Variations on the Poinsettia

I have an old poinsettia that is huge. When we got it several years ago it was red, and I kept it and eventually put it in a much larger pot. It continued to grow but since I did not give it a vacation in a cool dark room, the leaves became green. I like it that way.

Frank purchased a red poinsettia last week. As you probably know, it’s the leaves that are showy and the flowers are actually tiny. The third photo shows a black-and-white version.

Signs of Love

The LOVE sign at Massanutten Academy is decorated for the holidays. Please excuse the little tree that is blocking the "V."

On Monday I shared the new mosaic in Woodstock. Here is a detail shot of a portion that depicts the LOVE sign in Seven Bends State Park with a photo of the actual sign on the right. 

Strasburg has a LOVE sign in the little park next to the town hall. It has been decorated with holiday lights.

The next picture shows some lights that made me cry when I realized what they mean. Some neighbors lost one of their sons when he crashed his vehicle a few months ago. They carefully arranged lights on a fence to honor his memory. The number 14 was the number on his football jersey. The last two letters are his initials. 

On a happier note, lighted Christmas trees bring joy to children of all ages. This one is in Strasburg. 

Skywatch | Signs 2

Bird Post #989.

 I don’t have native bird pictures today, although these are wild birds in warmer climates. These tropical birds are residents of a garden center in Winchester. 

Wild Bird Wednesday 

A December Night, Strasburg

Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday 

 

Mosaic of Seven Bends State Park

The first panel of a series of mosaics has completed and is in the window of the Chamber of Commerce in Woodstock, Virginia. The North Fork of the Shenandoah is in the foreground and the Massanutten Range forms a backdrop. 

A Modern Church Building and A Barn Next to New Homes.

First Church of the Nazarene

This church is one of several churches along Middle Road in Winchester, VA. They have a day care center.

Inspired Sunday

A little way south of Winchester is Stephens City. The old timber bank barn is part of LaGrange Farm, along the Valley Pike on the edge of town. When I visited the farm in 2016, the acreage to the right was farmland. It was sold a couple years ago and now new houses have been built there by a developer. 

The Barn Collective

It's sad to see the beautiful farmland eaten up by suburbia but at least the 18th century farm buildings were preserved.

Bird, Squirrel, Dog.

Whatever caused the problem with posting pictures yesterday seems to be fixed.

Saturday Critters / I'd Rather Be Birdin'

The red fellow is a northern cardinal. 

The gray squirrel is shown in grayscale, commonly called black and white. 

I saw the dog looking out of a car. I used Photoshop to add painterly texture and a vignette. 

Caturday Art

Working Around A Glitch.

I'm having technical difficulties posting photos tonight so I'm reposting two pictures from ten years ago "by URL." Let's see if this works. 

First, some silk flowers. 

And next, a reflection shot that I set up using a tiny glass kangaroo that Marie sent me while traveling. A little mirror provides a pond effect and some moss stand in for shrubbery. 

This is the first time I've had to use this particular work-around.  I read a post on Facebook that said other bloggers were having troubling posting pictures tonight. 

The View from Cracker Barrel

Today I met Lynn for lunch in Woodstock. Just as she pulled in the parking lot, I spotted a partial rainbow, but by the time she parked, it had faded. 

Skywatch

Outlook Not So Clear

 The Future?

City Daily Photo Theme Day

"The future's not ours to see,

Que sera, sera." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a trail cam photo from my files. I chose it for the sense of looking into an unknown future.

The late day sun made a flare on the lens. I darkened it in Photoshop. 

This is the first time I've used Photoshop in months. I had deleted it because Adobe kept "improving" it and the program became so big it was competing with my photos for storage. My hard drive was running out of space and I saw constant warnings. After I deleted Photoshop and some other things, I began the tedious process of moving folders to a second backup drive (I don't trust having just one) and then deleting them. (I don't trust cloud storage either, although I use it selectively.) 

I still have my Creative Cloud subscription, although I tried canceling it at one point but they offered me a few months for free. I've been using other programs but I missed the versatility of Photoshop, so today I downloaded the new version. I see that it takes more RAM and is not recommended for computers older than 2015. Mine is from 2015 so we shall see how it goes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here we have another trail cam picture, taken late in the day.

Wild Bird Wednesday

Back to the Future

As I get ready to move to a smaller home, I know I will miss the geese and other wildlife, to say nothing of our view of the lake and mountains. But part of preparing for the future is being realistic about needs as we grow older. 

This picture of geese coming ashore is from a few days ago. I took it from the window.