Chapter 11 - Feelin' the Burn!! 5/31/20

I got an early start to this day. This pic was taken at 0357 and I was up already about 45 minutes by then. But it was good as I enjoyed working on the puzzle.

I have to pace myself working this puzzle or I'd try and do it all in one day. I like spreading the joy out over a week or so.

And, because the day started so well, I decided to take myself a long and leisurely walk. And I did. And in this case today, my notion of what a long walk definitely exceeded the ability of my legs to comfortably carry it out.

And so I began and I looked at the world around me. Like this fellow who has stood the test of time and has the scars to prove it. There were a number of small statues in this yard . . . this one had the most character. 

I've been making it a point to explore side streets where I would not normally go while on a walk. And up one of those streets I saw this pleasant scene. 

It was a nice home with a well-tended and decorated yard. Especially that piece on the right in front of that small bush.

And this part of it was what caught my eye. 



It was a day destined, although I didn't know it at the time, to be a day for flags. But I was on the road and seeing what I could see and the day was still young.

Then I spotted this happy gathering across the field in front of the City Government Center. Seems the Leonard Hall Naval Academy was holding its graduation ceremonies. I think this was before the actual ceremony started as it appeared they were setting things up as I looked on.

Wonder if these kids will go on to serve in the Navy?

A beautiful day to make this huge transition in a young life.

Rotsa Ruck!!

And one of the many beautiful houses on Hollywood Road. Notice the festive and patriotic bunting? The good folks of Leonardtown do it up for Memorial Day. 

And Nature was doing it up as well.

And this. My gosh, this is amazing.

Whup!! Back to earth. I mentioned this phenomena in the previous chapter . . . a new and easily recognizable piece of modern trash. 

C'Mon, people!! It isn't that difficult to dispose of these things. Jeez, Louise!! Idiots.

On to lighter things, like this bumblebee getting his honey on. This fellow was working fast and furious and I considered myself fortunate to catch him in this one, viewable, image. He wuz fast!!

And the flowers. It's fun to stop and take a good look at these flowers. Maybe it's a product of my age that I enjoy taking the time to see these flowers. I know as a young man I rarely stopped for them. 

And now I see them everywhere I go. And I am rarely disappointed. Rarely.

Well into my long 'walk' (read: trek), I neared the sleepy little downtown of Leonardtown. Busier than it has been on my previous visits. 

Oh, yeah, Governor Hogan has allowed restaurants to open with outdoor seating only. And, as you'll see, folks were out and visiting the restaurants.

Here's the outdoor seating area for the Olde Town Pub. The waitresses were wearing masks and the patrons were packed into nearly all the tables. 

And across the street the folks were dining on the veranda of The Front Porch. Happy to be open and the folks were happy to be eating out.

A quick grab shot of these two. It's like the one is checking to see what the other is up to. Songbirds, go figure.

And so they had some Adirondack chairs sat out in the island in the center of the plaza and I availed myself of them. I was feeling the distance and so I forced myself to sit for five minutes before I started out again. I get antsy so I have to set time limits.

And then I got into my inner B&W. Hahaha, I love me some B&W. It's a radically different way of seeing my world.

    
Because there was plenty of color to see. Everywhere.

I saw this wall with the stairway on it and wanted to try it out. The colors were good to me. They stood out and invited picture taking. 

I also appreciated the woman who walked by for giving the picture a little interest and additional color.

Then I rounded the corner and saw this!! Right in the residential area of downtown Leonardtown. Not two blocks from the Square. What an amazing place!! I've read where the osprey population was in peril 20 or so years ago and then they set up nesting areas and the raptors made a strong comeback.

Hooah!! What a life!!

What a kick in the pants. Talk about being surprised.

And, no, I have no idea why or how the traffic cone got up there. But, yet, there it is. Along with a nesting osprey. 

Oh. My. Gosh. I love this world.

I had seen on FaceBook a notice about this Brudergarten Beer Garden and I thought it'd be fun to walk there and have a Blue Moon.

So this was my goal today. And I made it. Barely. I was ready to sit down and enjoy a beer. This looks like a cool place. The inside is small and there are two garage-sized door to the garden.

I'm in the same position as the previous picture just turned to the right a bit. I wanted a picture of the steins but widened it up to get the whole thing.

And the garden. Kinda cool, eh? It was nicely done and the shade was great.

And I quickly gravitated to the swing for my solitary ale. Hahaha, it is a long story but suffice it to say there was a little bit of drama leavened with some humor in getting this shot on the swing . . . which I finally got on the third or fourth try.

Next door to the Bru is a trendy store with a number of stalls where the vendors display their stuff and you pay at the door as you go out. Interesting.

But what caught me in this tchotchke store was the number of Old Bay knick-knacks. Merry Land is DEFINITELY proud of their Old Bay Seasoning. They put that logo on a lot of different items. 

Walking out, I spotted this House Sparrow warming up a perch on the wire. I'm liking these small birds and trying to get them in my sights when I can. They're more elusive than you would think.

Some more of that Memorial Day thing. I don't know, it just reaches me to walk along and see these little displays of gratitude and thanks.

And they're Nats fans, too.

I saw these guys and was taken back to LCO. I shot a lot of these kinds of flowers in the yard of the house two doors down. A lot. 

It was good to see them again.

Just an interesting display. I don't know. I saw the one piece of bright green and liked it.

OK, I am at a loss as to the correct name for this bird. Larger than a sparrow and with a thinner beak, it has thrown me. I can't find any that look like this one with his white stripe and speckled chest. 

Any help?

Ask and you shall receive. I sent Carol a pic and she nailed it. This is a female red-winged blackbird. I was hoping it was a Northern Waterthrush but, no.

A tip of the hat to the Indomitable Carol for her Bird Knowledge!! 

The color. The form.

You've seen these birds before with different colors and presentations. This one is at the hospital for some odd reason. It struck me, after seeing all that Old Bay stuff in the store, to see this bird also hyping Old Bay.

Small world.

I know, I know. I was feeling my age along about now and so when I got to this wide expanse of green, I decided to lay down and take a breather. And while I did, I played with the camera. 

This was my view from my hot, fevered and sweaty brow down to my achy-breaky feet.

I've always enjoyed seeing trees. They're cool is all. 

I've tried capturing them but always, always fail. I tried again today. This beauty was reaching up into the sky from this ocean of green. What a neat shade tree.

And then, not 50 feet along my way, I glanced down the side street and saw this one. I've been by these trees maybe a dozen times now and never noticed them. Shame on me.

This little guy was scratching around the ground of a feeder. I likes me some Song Sparrows.

And the flags. I've visited this house before for its many flowers. Today it was the flags.

All over the place. It looked good. I appreciated it.

They put flags nearly everywhere.

And, of course, there were these other beauties.

One last one. I just liked the angle and the light.

I do like this Merry Land Tradition.

And so I ended my walk. I got 10,303 steps today. A personal best for me!! I think my prior best was in the 8,000 range.

It was a good day for walking. I'm glad I met the challenge because, to be honest, there were times along that little jaunt I was strongly considering calling Shelly and asking for a ride. But I persevered and made it. 

Hooah!!

Life IS good!!

Chapter 10 - I Walk the Line 5/27/20

And so it continues . . . This small studio has always intrigued me. The light plays on it and gives it a different character each time I pass by it. And I pass by often.

Most often there's someone in the yard puttering about and I just look but don't take a picture. But today, the light was right, the yard was empty (does that sound a bit pervy?) and I took my shot.

And I like it.

And I took another, iron hot sort of thing, right?

It is a pleasant as it looks, too. And every so often they rearrange things a bit adding and subtracting small things just to keep it fresh.

It being Memorial Day the flags were out. It is good to see these little tributes, reminders of the significance of this day. At least, that's what the flags bring about in me.

These flags are at the stop sign where Greenbrier Road runs into Hollywood Road.

The flags were the reason I walked down. There were some more just a ways down and on the other side of the road.

I appreciate this Merry Land tradition of recognizing a day with a small and personal display.

And as I was shooting across the road, I got photobombed. And it was a nearly perfect effort. Great timing!!

I noticed this odd scene driving back to my place the other day and I wanted to check it out to see if it were actually what I thought it was.

It was. What I'd seen was on the pole to the left of the flagpole in this picture. Can you see it? It has a small, box-like object on top of the pole?

Let's look a bit closer, shall we?

Haha, look at it!! How cool is that!?!

It's a miniature replica of the house. It's a bird house like the big house.

It was fun to come back and see it.

Walking back, I ran into this fellow catching some rays from the afternoon sun.

I've not given the American Robin its due, I think. It is, when you really look at it, quite a lovely bird. Unfortunately, it's so common it has lost any attraction or appreciation.

I'm going to try and give credit to this bird.

And just down from where I'd seen the first robin this Tiny Dancer was singing away on the wires overhead.

Nice coloring.

I got this fun puzzle from Joe and Sara. It was more of a challenge than I thought it would be when I first started it. Still, it was a lot of fun. 

Thanks!!

The first thing I noticed when I woke up the other morning was the fog. For the second day in a row, the morning was obliterated by a deep fog. 

Going to the window because I'm nosy, I spotted this cardinal fellow singing, there are a LOT of bird singing here in Merry Land.

So, naturally, I grabbed my camera and, mildly surprised he was still on the wire, opened the window and got this shot. Actually, I got around 10 or so.

It just makes life better, this picture-taking thing. It colors and informs my world.

    

Hahaha, this was the way I started each day for over a week. A hot cuppa and some work on the puzzle. 

My rule is simple. I work on the puzzle for at least two cups of coffee. During that time I must place at least 10 pieces of the puzzle into place.

This regimen allows me to stretch out the days I get to enjoy the puzzle. It gives me something to look forward to in the morning.

 Here's the final product. And, yeah, it was fun.

I did the characters first and then worked it from the bottom to the top.

The kids have been kept apart for a long time and, finally, Michelle and Sara felt comfortable enough to let them get together for some fun. It's a small group as they don't play with others. They enjoy the heck out of it each time they get together.

And Michelle got some 'me' time to work on her own stuff while watching the kids.

Frances loves being the baby-sitter. She's kind of the odd one out, age-wise, among the girls and she gravitates to the younger ones so she can run herd on them.

Ellie and Delaney made a couple of key-chains. When they showed me I caught on quickly that they were key-chains but I totally missed the other half.

Ellie's key-chain is an egg while Delaney's is a piece of bacon.

Eggs and bacon.

Hahahaha, wonderful!!

There it is. It's been ready since the third week of April. It's been sitting fallow all this time.

This is the brand-new Library and Senior Center. Hahaha, I was really looking forward to, hopefully, getting involved in some fun activities at the Senior Center. Maybe find someone I can teach dominoes to or play some cribbage with. But, alas, it is not open. And won't be for some time into the future.

Ratz.

Taking a walk, I get to see some of the greatest things. My joy is in looking for pictures in whatever I'm seeing. 

I realize most, 99.99%, of all my pics are bland, banal and boring but they appeal to me. It really is a good life to travel through with a camera and see.

I'm seeing leaves a bit differently these days. I especially like the backlit leaves. I look for those now.

Hahaha, bear with me, will you? It won't hurt too much.

Ka-POW!!

I've learned to, when I see a butterfly, stop and wait to see where he goes. I spotted this fellow flitting about in the trees and stopped. He began moving away and so I followed as best I could. 

He lights!! I bring the camera up and watch as he takes off. I followed him and watched him land in the leaves of the tree.

This time he stayed in place long enough for me to get a good shot. Oh, yeah, I have also learned that it's important to get 'A' picture. It doesn't have to be wonderful but, for me, it's important to have that visual proof of what I saw. So I always shoot early and then, once I have that one in the bag, I zoom in some more and compose the picture best I can.

Which I did with this male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. How cool is that, eh!?! This one is a guy as the females have much more blue scaling on the hindwing.

And these. I have a couple things I always shoot. Birds, scenics and flowers. I enjoy each for its own particular reason.

For flowers it is that they are there!! They're waiting and ready to pose for a great picture if I am artful enough to 'see' it.

Honestly, at times it is almost too easy to get the average good shot of flowers. I get those, it's my metier I suppose. And I seek the above-average shot. It's there, I just have to see it and then capture it.

The saying is, "Photography is painting with light."

I like that sentiment. It is true. While I am still in the finger paints part of painting I am, at least, in the running. And enjoying it tremendously.

And despite my clumsiness and ineptitude, bottom line, photography, this painting with light, allows me to see and appreciate moments like this.

There are times when just a vista, a scene that really appeals to me. That touches me. 

Like this. I have not failed yet to get a good picture of this pond. I've shot it from several angles and all of them give me one image that sings a bit to me. 

Look at that green. The clouds in the sky.

BAM!

A common Canada Thistle. And it is beautiful. I really revel in shooting the small world around me. 

I see these small beauties everywhere. 

And this one got into the clay, too. Don't be deceived by how skinny this Minnie is. She can put down some food when it strikes her fancy. 

So it was no surprise to me that she decided to make a donut with her clay. And she did a pretty good job, too. I think I'd eat that donut if it were real.

We're in Phase I of our Ray/Aina COVID Recovery.

And that means some close socializing with a small nod to distance. Very small nod.

Alexis and Cade sent me this puzzle. 

I know, it looks like a lot of fun.

It might be tricky but I think I'll enjoy it tremendously.

Here's part of my collection of puzzles to do. I'm working on the Wolves one right now. 

Not pictured is the Texas puzzle I got from Michelle. I've got to figure out some way of doing that 1,000 piece puzzle. 

Lots of hours of fun.

Michelle got in touch with my sister, Darcie, and asked her if she had any recipes from my Mom. Darcie did and sent this one written out in my Mom's elegant script.

This was just nice to see.

And that's it for another couple days in my life. I am tired of being in my apartment. I know I'm self-quarantining and it is already gotten old. I'm pretty sure in a wee or two I will be going around and doing something more than just stay in my apartment.

Life is good.