With the confidence of a blogger donning poor December management skills this week, I issue to you, my dearest followers, a rush to the end of the post capturing a few of the weirdest moments of my week that led me into December 2023.
The treestand’s superglue repair held (so far 🤞🏻). After it was sitting still and standing strong I took several photos to prove it in case it breaks later this month.
While I was feeling quite confident it would, I put out other decorations. I remembered how to get the fun bokeh effects of the lights on the tree in the background as I set out some vintage decorations. The camera settings should be set in a room with full light, an ISO of 200, and a focus of the camera on the object in front of the lights in the background. Viola…playful imperfection.
On my birthday, I enjoyed a day away from my computer and work. 59 isn’t as bad as I thought it might be. I enjoyed telling people I’m still in my 50s. I arrived home after my lunch date, and taking back returns and buying more items than I returned, I found the birthday bouquet my boss and his wife sent me.
Here’s the last picture I took in November of the beautiful bouquet.
The pink rose is so fragrant. The curly daisy (which I’m not confident in calling it the right name) is so fancy. I had to take a few unique photo angles of it.
I think this might be my favorite one. What do you think of this unique angle?
As November ended and December arrived, so did light snow on the ground. We went for an early morning walk in not-so-fresh air filled with the smell of a skunk in the neighborhood. It was so pronounced. We glanced toward the pumpkin we placed out for critters days before and noticed that it had finally moved spots, meaning some critter had to have found it for a treat.
When we returned from the walk, I grabbed my camera and trekked back and forth to the spot to get some photos.
Yep, it had moved. Was it the skunk or something else? Who knows, but somebody had a snacking party with it before it snowed.
Yep, some critter had been munching on this slice of pumpkin (pie) with whipped cream. There’s that weird imagination of mine again.
I adored the peaceful morning surrounding me as I admired the snow falling and landing on surfaces it could.
The peace was interrupted by the sound of geese flying above. Memo to self, shooting in manual mode with your camera, you gotta be quick with switching the light balance and depth of field. If you don’t, you get blurs of the object you want and focus on the object closer to you. Duh. . .
Especially with geese, avoid trees in the way.
Ah, yes, this is better.
The geese have been on the move this week. They must know something is up.
The little birds seem to know something. They have been loudly cheering on Mr. to fill the bird feeders. The house finches, purple finches, and pine siskins have been going back and forth from the feeders to the trees to the deck and getting their fill.
It’s like watching a musical with dancing birds. In unison, they’ll fly from one spot to another without running into each other, singing all the way.
They’re especially chatty when one finds a sunflower seed and flaunts it in front of the others.
Don’t they have the cutest snowprints?
They were so busy. The activity even made the Downy Woodpecker pause to stay out of the line of noisy traffic. It had the confidence of an air traffic controller waiting for the peace in the sky before taking off the runway.
And, there you have it . . a few random weird moments I had the past week, and now I ran out of time and had to end this post as abruptly as I started it. But, there was so much more, but I gotta get to work on time. I may be 59 but I’m NOT retired yet!
Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hills’ Stream of Consciousness Saturday Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “confidence.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun! Terri Webster Schrandt’s Sunday Stills Dec 3 Waiting for Peace; Amy for Lens-Artists #278 Unique and last, but not least, Brian for Last on The Card, November 2023.
PS – What traditions do you do with your photography as the seasons change? Do you buy items and then return them and then buy more stuff while you’re in the store? Do you think the pumpkin critter was a skunk? Your turn…what title would you have given this post?
Hi. Happy birthday. You’re still (relatively) young!
Hi Neal, thank you for the birthday wishes! I’m as young at heart as I can be 💗
I’m not sure what I would have used for a title. I often struggle with that myself. Beautiful photos. Thanks for the look ahead into winter. We cut the pumpkins the squirrel planted in half. They stayed there for 3-4 days then someone ate them. I think a possum ate ours because they like to eat stuff that’s rotting.
Thanks, Dan, some SoCS days I struggle more than normal to find a title for my blog post. I think of you having to come up with 4 books worth of chapter titles. I think you do well!
Yeah, it might’ve been a possum. We have those around. I saw a little video on Facebook where the skunk and the possum were fighting over the pumpkin so maybe it was both as the pumpkin was moved several feet from where we had placed it.
I set the chapter titles when I have the thought of what I will write. At the end, I have to edit them base don what I did write. But having the title always seems to help. With SoCS, it’s hard because I’m not always sure where it’s going – I guess that’s Linda’s point 😉
Ah, that makes sense. As your buddy says, “The planning is the work” and that seems to work well!
Glad you had a nice birthday and the tree held. Loved this post. The fresh crisp snow is pretty even with the stinky skunk smell. I love the footprints and the bird prints. Artsy, aren’t they? Pretty bouquet. and yes unique petals.
Thank you, Donna, I always appreciate your comments and feedback!
I’m thankful every morning when I wake up and see the tree still standing.
We have a new fresh coat of snow this morning. When it’s all brown on the ground, the fresh white snow is enchanting.
Yes, bird prints are artsy 🧐😊
I just gave the bouquet some fresh warm water – it’s lasting a lot longer than I thought it would. That flower’s petals are very unique still.
Shelley, what a fantastic gallery!
Thank you, Egidio!!
The birthday flowers are very pretty Shelley and unique looking as well. Such a treat for the nose with the fragrant-smelling rose. How thoughtful of your boss and his wife to send them. I’m glad the Christmas tree didn’t go kerplunk and the superglue held. I like the tiny snow prints – they are so delicate. I always look at the prints in the snow in the yard so I know what’s lurking out back. The other morning I found some possum paw-prints/tail-drag prints – well, oh joy for that!
Thank you, Linda, I’ve been giving the bouquet fresh warm water every other day and they’re lasting surprisingly well. It was very thoughtful of them indeed.
The tree is still standing, thankfully!
There’s a new fresh coat of snow that the birds will redo their prints in this morning.
Oh, dear…I hope the possum was just walking through on its way to someone else’s yard!
That’s good the bouquet is lasting so long Shelley. You don’t want your tree tipping over – yikes, with the ornaments and all. Would scare the furkids. We were predicted to have snow/ice this morning and there was none and it is out of the forecast for good. ??? – go figure with the weather folks sometimes. Well interestingly, the possum was on the back patio and cut through the rocks that were placed where the groundhog burrow had been. It wasn’t big at all – the tail drag and tiny star-shaped footprints were maybe a juvenile possum. I hoped it didn’t linger.
Yes, I’m surprised at how long it is lasting. It’s nice.
I dropped the tree and it crashed right next to the two cats, they’ve been not interested in the tree since. 🙄🎄🧐
I think the possum probably moved on, you don’t have any food for it to eat.
Good thing about the cats not interested in the tree. I think I told you my friend/neighbor Marge got a shelter pet after Missy died. Marge had a Victorian tree in her living room, a cream-colored tree with lots of trailing ribbons, pastel lights and tons of bulbs and the new cat knocked down the entire tree and broke a lot of ornaments in the process. I think I’m done with the possum too.
Yes, I’m glad they’re not interested in the tree. Oh, yes, I remember that about Marge. I’d be so sad if that happened. Our tree adorns fake/plastic ornaments just in case. The angel on top though is our first topper that we bought when we got married. I’d be sad if something happened to her.
It’s amazing how many critters roam your neighborhood. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the possum has moved on for good. On a fun note…we checked on our pumpkin yesterday and all that was left was the stem. So whatever critters found it, they ate it all!
Marge’s new cat went straight back to the shelter the next day. She also pulled down all the living room sheers, ripped them to shreds and pulled the tree down … Marge said she pulled up in the driveway and could see the curtains and no tree and couldn’t get into the house fast enough. Funny about your pumpkin – they enjoyed it and they don’t do stems. 🙂
Wow, Marge’s cat was a maniac! Yikes!!!
Yes, I’m tickled that they ate all of it. 🎃
Yes, she was and Marge named her “Sassy” – aptly named! She got a dog after that and it lasted a little longer, but the dog, also a shelter pet, was a little terror. She had to put it in a cage while she was out of the house and she finally got rid of it and got fish. 🙂 Very fun giving it to the deer – you have to do it again next year and get their picture. Today on Twitter I saw picture of two deer nibbling on pinecones – beautiful shot. I wouldn’t have thought they ate pinecones, but the park service said if thy can’t find food, they are a food source. The squirrels eat the pinecones when they are soft and green, but not when they open and dry out.
Yes, Sassy fits! It was wise of Marge to opt for fish.
The wild critters are resourceful. It’s fun to draw them closer, we need to get our trail cam fixed so we can get photos of who comes to visit at night.
I didn’t know that about pinecones, interesting!
Yes, a perfect name for her … she got into a lot of trouble in her short time at Marge’s house. It would be fun to do a trail camera – I think you should do it again next year! I had no idea the deer could eat the dry pinecones – it would seem they would be scratchy and lodge in their throat?
I need to remind Mr. that we should get that trail cam fixed.
I think a hungry deer will eat just about anything that is edible to them! 😆
Belated Happy Birthday, Shelley. Loved your post, especially the birds, too cute!
Thank you, Sofia, much appreciated. I so enjoyed your enchanting post with the photos you featured along with the history. Well done!
Belated birthday greetings Shelley, glad it was a good one! 60 won’t be so bad I promise 😊. Loved the little foot/paw/bird prints
Thank you, Tina! It’s weird that your comment came through as Someone but it had your correct Gravatar. A bit of Harry Potter going on and carrying over to my blog from your enchanting post about Scotland? 🧐 Having said that, I should’ve commented on how clever it was that you showed the Hogwart’s bridge and a Harry Cow – such a fun connection in the post.
I’m holding you to the promise that 60 won’t be as bad! So far, 59 is off to a smooth start. 🤞🏻
Belated Happy Birthday, Shelley! Longlasting bouquets is what we all want! And footprints in the snow – yes, I love them too. I have many birds visiting as I feed them the whole winter – many footprints to see and try to decide what birds they belonged to…
Thank you so much, Anne-Christine. Some of the flowers are still going strong. It’s kind of fun to see which ones last the longest.
I’m right there with you in enjoying the feeding of birds and watching them. The mess they leave behind will take some major cleaning up in the spring, but until then, they’re having as much fun as we are.
I’m looking forward to seeing what prompt you come up for Saturday’s Lens-Artist!
I enjoyed your photos a lot! The close ups of the flowers are beautiful. I have some similar ones that I took years ago of some dahlias. I also just had a birthday..the 9th. Turned 55.