Merry Christmas

Early Christmas morning from the pasture behind our house.

Just Out

Yellow

Little plastic toys are good enough for some.

What Do You Want For Christmas?

Anybody ask for tools for Christmas?

My early Christmas present to me from my wife was my new Sony NEX7 camera.  I am still learning what it can do and how to make it do it.  These are a couple of examples from the garage last night.  I guess a new camera is a sort of tool for the hobbyist.

Have A Very Berry Christmas!

A random Nandina in the middle of the woods.  Probably spread by a bird . . . .

Bark Stuff

Some pretty weird stuff grows on the tree bark in our woods, and elsewhere I'm sure.  That pale green stuff is fascinating, and I didn't even see it until I was editing the photo.  This whole photo is about the size of a quarter.

December Sunset South

Same sunset that Virginia saw here, except I was about 40 miles south and this is what we call the backwash (the color in the sky opposite the actual sunset).  It's 68 F today, the last day of fall, and it's going to be 77 F tomorrow, the first day of winter.  It's supposed to be below freezing two days later.  Whatever . . . . winter in the South.

Stubborn

While most have given up, turned brown, and fallen to the ground, this one is refusing to go gently into that good night.

Wet Rear View

I hate running errands on a cold, rainy day.

S Car Go Attack

During a recent warm, rainy spell, our garage door was attacked by about a dozen snails.  However, this one was "booking" it away across the driveway (yeah, right!).

A Little Vanilla Bean . . .

With Your Sprinkles??

Crystal Trees

Thanksgiving morning in Pennsylvania it was cold and pretty clear.  There was a little snow and ice around the farm, but nothing serious.  Wide angle and telephoto not only gave a different perspective on the sunrise, the color looked different too.

 The trees on the mountain ridges to the east were thoroughly coated with ice and looked like crystals.

 The pond, while not frozen solid, was completely frozen over.

Even by mid-afternoon, the mountain ridges were still like crystal palaces.  I did not venture up there that day, even though the highway departments had most of the roads clear and passable.

Kinda Nasty

We drove to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving week, arriving Monday evening and expecting rain, snow and ice Tuesday night.  There was a lot of rain, but waking Wednesday morning, there wasn't too much ice, although a few branches did fall.

No cars were harmed in the taking of this photo, but the Lilac did get thinned in the process.

There were some pretty close ups,

and the wood pile made for a decent photo.  But overall, Wednesday was just nasty, cold and wet.