Photo Challenge

What is this picture? A mini universe? Ancient art? Worm activity?

Answer tomorrow ...

Catching Sunbeams

 

Morning Leaves

 This Swamp Dewberry leaf looks so cheery in the bleak sunshine

This one has markings that remind me of a butterfly

Are You KitKatting Me?

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this chocolate bar masquerading as a 'breakfast cereal.' I thought I was old enough that nothing could shock me anymore, but I was wrong. This is the pits of depravity - what are we teaching our kids? Do parents really fall for this thinly disguised promotion of junk food for breakfast???

It's blatantly advertising that it's based on a chocolate bar, nothing else. I guess it's no worse than Reese's Puffs for breakfast ...

Yin and Yang

Dallas provided the Yang for the Yin of my cool white knee rug by the fireside.

C is for Cake

A Ceremony
Is Cached in my Cerebrum:
Must Cook Christmas Cake! 

Clarified butter,

One Cup sweet Carbohydrate,

Some 'Carb of soda

Currants and "Cognac"
Cooked Carefully till Chunky,
Choice Condiments, too

Complex aromas

From Cinnamon and allspice

Cohered with Cake flour

Cherished from Childhood

It Conjures Charming Customs

Called up by senses.

 

 

Diving Migrants

On autumn mornings

As I throw back the curtains

I see the migrants!

Hooded Mergansers,

Wood Ducks, and some Buffleheads:

Diving visitors

They stop off briefly

To feed and dive in our cove,

A handful each time.

Elusive because

They dive and pop up elsewhere -

I can't capture them!

Duck-gone

Thought for Thanksgiving

The concept of "enough" has been lost in our world of excess and consumerism.

O Frabjous Day! Callooh! Callay!

I'm SO excited! I've graduated from physical therapy, 5 weeks after my knee replacement. No more torture - all my future tabled sessions have been cancelled.

View from my Walker, Oct 13

This week, my therapist did a series of strength, balance and stamina tests, and declared that my results showed I no longer needed guided therapy. I balanced on each foot for waaaaay longer than 30 seconds without wavering, until I said, "This is getting boring." My 6-minute walk test across a measured 'course' hit it out of the park, and my flexion is at (an incredible - her words) 128°

I'm so happy! The appointments and commitment were beginning to be a drag, so this has come at the right time for me.

I can't believe it's only been 5 weeks since I was being brought round from anesthesia and said to the nurses, "Today’s my day for woozy-snoozy zizz-zizz zizz zazz zuzz" quoting from Dr. Seuss's I'm not going to get up today. 

And then, when my surgeon came in to check on me, I started retching the moment I laid eyes on him - I wonder if he has that effect on all his patients?

I may not be the one who 'dances with wolves', but perhaps I can now be called the one who 'walks with no pain'!

Icicles

I know I'm going to get tired of this at some point, but the first icicle formation of this season, showing layers and patterns over blades of grass, looks fascinating and beautiful.

 

Visiting Ducks

Hooded Mergansers

Emerge from a dive, slicked black -

Crests pierced by sunlight

Beauty of Light

 

Fall Sounds

Pattering like rain

Warming dew drips from the trees

Onto leaf litter

Never Again?

How painful is this sobering quote from an 18th century philosopher - OUCH

How many times have we said "never again"?

Seedy Display

 The seed heads still standing are quite spectacular in November's light.

November Moss

Amazing colors of Sphagnum Moss (or bog moss) in our yard ... in November! What's not to love!

This moss species is known as a bog builder - it "holds water (lowering oxygen levels) and secretes acid, keeping conditions suitable for peat formation and specialist plants." Sphagnum bogs

As we understand more about the impact of climate change, sphagnum mosses are being recognized more and more for their role in carbon storage.

Shadow Play

 

A trip down to the kitchen in the wee hours to make a cup of tea provided this little distraction - a coiled telephone cable producing a slatted shadow on the wall, a little like a venetian blind. Unexpected.

Grass Popsicle

Noticed this little gem on a walk towards the mailbox this week - a beautiful grass popsicle, but probably a bit too bristly for comfortable eating!

Lake Swirls

The lake looked still, as if something had switched off, and the motor had stopped, on the morning I took this photo. It wasn't ice, but could have been a film of dust or pollen, or perhaps some bacterial decomposition debris had risen to the surface, creating a universe of beautiful swirls in the morning light.

Pretty Pastels

 

Reality Check

Pretty? Yes or no? Looks watercolory - well, I guess it is!

Snow certainly transforms the landscape and puts on a beautiful face to start with. But the duration is what kills me.

November's leaf colors lend that painterly look to the whitewash ...

These two trees look pretty Christmassy during our first snowfall of the season (November 9)

 

Tall Ships

Leaves float like tall ships

Their colorful sails aloft -

Without a rudder

Golden Castle

 

 The beautiful view on my recuperative walk on our boardwalk through the woods

Trivia à la Debbie

What sort of manufacturer thinks sewing a thick 'plaque' onto the neck of a shirt as their label is a good way to go? It's the quickest way to get it removed and trashed, not remembered, IMO.

It was so thick and uncomfortable, with multiple layers sewn onto it as well as a big folded seam! It would serve well as an absorbent poultice on a wound. Were they just so proud of their creation that it deserved so much elevation? 

Hmm, maybe I should keep it as a ready-made patch for the next hole on my jeans ... 

Oh, woe, I'm just highlighting how bored I am!

Leaves

Leaves:

Glow golden in sun, 

Glide and flutter through the air, 

Land on water's skin

The Seventies

What a glorious day this end of October capture turned out to be for my recuperation. It was awesome being able to sit outside without blankets to keep warm, and barefoot!

I still had some surgically induced bruising to deal with, but being able to get outside was so uplifting.

It's the right weather to grill a steak and mushrooms, but without the red wine.

Beech Scene

I say this every single year - the Beeches look amazing. They glow in the understory. 

Serene Scene

Sun sets, lights the clouds

Reflected in still water

Golden pink effect. 

Gumdrops

The pines have been very sappy lately - I've spied glittering jewels of gum catching the sun in various places around our yard and the lake. I found this enormous, glistening gumdrop last week. I love the way the facets catch the light

The colors and patterns up close are fantastic

  

The tops of the pines look very brown this year, and it's because they're LADEN with cones, they're not dying. I wonder if whatever environmental trigger initiated this huge production of cones might also have caused extra gum flowing and oozing?

Fragrant Water Lily

Magnificent sight

In waning summer sunlight

As fall emerges