Not Qualified for Photo of the Year

In the process of selecting my "Photo of the Year 2015" I discovered two things. One, there were many fine photos that I never posted; paging through my blog reminded me of many of them. Two, I have almost 60 that I did post that I marked to consider for this honor so I have to eliminate some of them just to narrow the field. So I am disqualifying these because they were not taken in my region, the Shenandoah Valley and surrounding mountains.

Assateague Island, VA

In Southern California

This picture of me holding a little lamb was taken near here but I didn't take it, Frank did. So I'm eliminating it from my list even though I like it.

I like the final photo too but I didn't take it; a robot did. Actually it's from a motion-activated trail camera. This was one of two times the camera caught the bear in our back yard. I think the bright spot is caused by the focusing beam that the camera sends out.

Well, 2015 is almost over. I hope that the new year is kind to you and peaceful for all.

Along Catlett Mountain Road

Here I was looking across the South Fork of the Shenandoah near Front Royal. And when I turned around, I saw a scene for Theresa's Good Fences linkup. 

Garden Statue at the Arboretum

In Harrisonburg, Virginia

Sharing with Black and White Wednesday

A Warm December Day

Yesterday in Harrisonburg, VA

Sharing with Today's Flowers
and Signs, Signs

and Wild Bird Wednesday
and Wordless Wednesday
and Water World Wednesday

Shelby at the Dog Park

Sharing with Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday and Camera Critters

Random-osity for Late December 2015

Through My Lens;
The Good, The Random, and The Fun

The Good: While Frank's grandsons were fishing the other day, I took this photo of the lake. Doesn't the sky look pretty? Evening was coming; the boys were reluctant to stop fishing and come inside.

Temperatures were unusually warm for this time of year, which felt nice but concerned me because it is not normal.

The Random: This is not the image I meant to capture. Through the viewfinder I saw a broader scene,  but apparently my Powershot is having problems. The zoom is "binding" again, as it was before I got it "repaired" by Canon... twice!

Several other images were also over-zoomed; in some the subject was completely out of the frame. The problem was not corrected until I turned the camera off and back on. It's still under warranty but sending it back is a nuisance.

The Fun: Susan and Kate's families left this morning after spending a few days with us and celebrating Frank's birthday. I put leftover photos from their visit into another collage. This time I used Fotojet, which not only lets me select from a variety of layouts but also lets me brighten individual photos. 

Full House

The last eight days have been busy, starting with a visit from my sister, her boyfriend, and Shelby the wonder dog. A day after they left, my younger daughter arrived on Christmas Eve. My other daughter joined us on Christmas Day, then on the following day Frank's daughters arrived with their families for a few days. They will leave tomorrow.

I took an assortment of photos, some of which I combined into this collage-type image.

Click to open a larger version.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday

Lynn and Marie

Doug, Josie, Sue and Flash

Rusty, Kate, Austin, Justin

Silvery Web

Sharing with I Heart Macro and Black and White Weekend

Flash Meets an Akita

Sharing with Saturday's Critters

Eight More December Scenes

If celebrating Christmas is part of your tradition, I hope your holiday was filled with warmth and joy.

These are Christmas-related pictures, most of them recent except for one (left) that is from last year's holiday parade in Front Royal. 

Sharing with Skywatch Friday

Two Different Christmas Trees

Old-Time Style in the Dosh House

Our Christmas Tree 2015

Sharing with Friday My Town Shoot Out: Christmas

Christmas Lights in Our Neighborhood

Frank helped with our community's Holiday Lights Contest.  Here are some of my favorites. I even found a couple of Good Fences for Theresa's linkup. 

Silvery Angel

Sharing with Wordless Wednesday and Black and White Wednesday

and Wednesday Around the World

Early Winter Random-osity

Today I'm using the structure of The Good, the Random, the Fun and also sharing with some other linkups. 

The Good: The muscovy duck family is thriving on our community lake. This summer the ducklings disappeared for a while and I was afraid a fox got them, but they reappeared almost fully grown. I guess their momma hid them well! 

The Random:  Think twice about buying fleece clothing! Polyester and acrylic microfibers end up polluting waterways and beaches. And since they are basically plastic, they don't disappear; they end up joining other plastics as a long-term problem, and might even wind up in your seafood! When scientists tested sand from 18 different beaches, they found microfiber in the sand of all of them.  Read about how many of these fibers reach the beach from your washing machine!

 Sharing with Wild Bird Wednesday

and Wednesday Waters

and Water World Wednesday

The Fun: My sister and her boyfriend visited us for a few days. Here Peggy and I are posing for a cellphone picture in the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.