Greetings from Us

I hope your holiday was great, or at least very nice. I realize not everyone celebrates Christmas and not everyone has family or friends with them. I am fortunate that both of my daughters were able to be here.

Lynn and Marie fixed an excellent meal of prime rib and vegetables.

Charlie got excited by all the activity and the beef and presents. 
 

Here’s a cute picture that Marie took of Charlie with me.

I hope the rest of your week is bright and joyful!

Mosaic Monday

Christmas Eve 2023

The year went by quickly and I don't feel ready for Christmas. I haven’t taken good seasonal photos yet so I'll start with a computer-generated image.

Marie arrived last night. Today she wanted to buy Charlie a new harness so we went to Petco. A young woman helped us find one that fits him. It has metal buckles so maybe it will last longer. He like to break plastic buckles by crunching them with his teeth! 

Here’s Charlie wearing the new harness. We went to the dog park in Strasburg. It’s next to a tennis court. We had a tennis ball too but Charlie got tired of chasing it because no other dogs were there to compete with him.

May your Christmas Day be bright!

Critters on Festivus

Festivus is the day before Christmas Eve. It was made known by a Seinfeld episode on TV in 1997.

Decorated in Picsart for Caturday and Critters

Charlie celebrated by getting a hamburger at Wendy's and taking a walk at Seven Bends State Park.

A number of new benches are donated.

I scanned the sky for birds and saw a hot air balloon instead. It seemed like a cold day for a balloon tour.

I was hoping to get a shot of the balloon from the bridge, but it had moved on. A short while later I saw it just above the tree line on the far side of town. This farm is right on the southeast edge of Woodstock.

Well, Christmas is coming and I’m not ready yet. Are you?

Yesterday at Bolivar Heights

After some shopping yesterday, I stopped in the park on Bolivar Heights to eat one of the snacks I had just bought. I took a few pictures and met this friendly dog and her owner.

This hilltop is a Civil War site. In 1862, President Lincoln reviewed the troops here. In 1864, Union Major General Phil Sheridan’s army occupied this area.

Another New Little Free Library

Edinburg, VA

This book sharing box is in Edinburg Town Park. It was an Eagle Scout project with support from the VFW and VECCA. There weren’t many books in it so maybe I should contribute a few from my collection.

Water H2O Thursday / Skywatch 

I happened to notice that the sky was reflected in a puddle in the parking lot. Also, you can see the mountains through the trees.

Backyard Woodpeckers

It's winter and I'm feeding birds in my back yard again. Here's a red-bellied woodpecker. They are fairly common in Virginia.

The downy woodpecker is smaller and quite cute.

Sharing with Wild Bird Wednesday

Yesterday at Shenandoah River State Park

Bentonville, VA

Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday 

New Murals by Amanda Horn

Front Royal, VA

New murals decorate two sides of a building on N. Royal Avenue. The building is being remodeled and I read that it will be occupied by First Response Chimney Sweeps and Services.

Monday Murals / Blue Monday

It’s Winter

Today it rained all day. Snow would be prettier, although it can be very inconvenient. I suppose I need to find someone who can clear my driveway if we get a lot of snow. We didn’t get that much last year though.

Here are some winter pictures from years past as collages.

Mosaic Monday

And I feel that I am facing the winter of my years, as they say. I had a rude awakening early in the morning of my birthday, literally. At 3:30 in the morning, stabbing pain shot through my hip and woke me up. I’m familiar with it, I’ve had it from time to time for a couple of decades. It was diagnosed as piriformis syndrome, and it’s a lot like sciatica. I had warnings that that it was going to happen the night before, with some back pain and the familiar shooting pains. But usually it gets better with bed rest. 

It was awful this time, with a spasm and pain every 30 seconds or so. I woke up enough to remember that there were stretches that help. Actually, I do them every day because that’s what I learned in physical therapy. Don’t let that muscle get tight! I performed enough stretches that I was able to get back to sleep eventually. But when I woke at dawn, it happened again, and continued every few minutes for the rest of the day, although not quite as severely because I did some more stretching.

There are thoughts that you can’t help having when you wake up alone in the dark in severe pain. I wonder what would happen to my dog if I had to go to the emergency room. What if I got really sick or if I became disabled? 

Our days are numbered. I have only five years before I reach the approximate age that my parents were when they died. There’s a good chance I will live longer because I don’t smoke, and it was COPD from smoking that killed my mom. 

I don’t want to sound morbid. I tend to get a bit depressed in early winter, but it will lift just as that  pain did. Soon the days will start to get longer. 

Generated with StarryAI, then Cropped.

Deer, Dogs, and Effects

Virginia White-tailed Deer

The second picture has an effect added using Picsart. Here’s another Picsart edit; it makes Charlie look like a fluffier dog.

It’s time for a conventional portrait of Charlie, and a look at some friends he made at the dog park.

In closing, I have an amusing AI picture of a beagle. I named a particular artist in the prompt.