Friday Photo Dump

I have some photos in my blog file on this computer that I have been holding onto, waiting to find inspiration to work them into blog posts ... inspiration has been elusive.  I just got the idea to lump them all together into one post.  No rhyme or reason, just little slices of life and images that I was fortunate to catch in the moment.

1.  Last month, I saw a link to the Sotheby's web site with the online catalog for the estate auction of the Duchess of Devonshire.  I was so impressed by the first few pages of the catalog on my iPad that I clicked over to their online store and ordered a hard copy to savor and to have forever.  The auction was on March 2.  Click HERE for a gallery of items and results.

The portrait of the Duchess on the cover of the catalog tells me that she must have been a very unique person.  Carefully staged with ancestral portraits, sculpture, formal gown, jeweled tiara ... and flopped-out sleeping dogs.  Love it!

2.  Here is an example of what water can do when it freezes.  This antique soft-fired brick (or what's left of it) is laying near the outlet for our rain gutter, so it was saturated.  Repeated cycles of winter weather freezing and thawing completely blew it apart.  This is the power of science in action.

3.  Early in the morning, I regularly run out to the front porch with my camera or phone or iPad to try to capture colorful sunrises when I see them.  This was one of the prettiest, and I was lucky that my photo captured it nicely.

4.  I snapped this photo of Ruby the other day.  I was reading, and she was in a sunshine spot at the other end of the sofa, sound asleep.

Yes, she was snoring.

5.  While Ruby was snoozing, Dorothy was behind me on her rug in the windowsill watching birds.

6.  This is my most recent awesome thrift store purchase.  Our grandson and I went to Salvation Army last week with a load of stuff to donate, and we cruised through the store to see what we could find.  At $3, this cordless electric wine opener was worth taking a chance on.  Plugged it in and charged it overnight, and found that it works perfectly!

7.  In winter, this girl's attention turns to boots.  These are my newest.  An ad for them popped up on someone's sidebar last week, and I loved them instantly.  I went to the Country Outfitter site, the boots were on sale with free shipping, saw overwhelming favorable reviews ... add to cart ... click!  They arrived yesterday, just in time to bring them along with me to this weekend's American Rose Society Colonial District Spring Meeting.  I love them even more in person, and they are really, really comfy.

It's easy to capture little moments as they happen, with a camera phone in my purse or pocket, or an iPad at arm's length most of the time.  I get the feeling that the Photo Dump, as an easy way to share, may become a regular theme around here.

A Random Sort of Weekend

Like most weekends around here, this one was full of random things that aren't very interesting by themselves.  When gathered together like this, I think you can see that it makes for a really fun few days.

On Friday, I had lunch and went shopping with a friend.  I'm on the hunt for a cardigan sweater -- one I can wear with practically everything and use instead of a jacket.  Sweaters are super hot right now, so you would think that finding one I like would be easy ... WRONG!  Everything is too trendy and we didn't find a single one that I wanted to take home.  I did find these babies, though ...

Leopard/Rose print rubber cowboy boots ... the only pair in the store ... on the clearance shelf ... $20!  I'm not sure there's any way to make me much happier for $20.  I wore them to dinner on Friday, and all day yesterday.  Aren't they great with jeans?

One day, I'll get the nerve to wear my jeans tucked into the boots.  For now, having them peeking out at the bottom is perfect!

Let's go from beautiful boots to something that is perfectly hideous.  This was what I saw while I was sitting in the drive-through at McDonalds ( medium Caramel Mocha, please).  As if red or black dyed mulch isn't bad enough ... now they have ORANGE.  The contrast between the sickeningly orange mulch and the yellow-toned shrubs was more than I could stand.  Who thinks this is stuff up?

The herbicide that I sprayed on the area that will become my Labyrinth Garden is doing its thing.  The grass and weeds in that area are looking pretty sickly.  I should be able to lay paths and edging later this week.  I may spray another coat on the areas that will become the rose beds ... just to be sure everything is dead.

The same day I sprayed the Labyrinth, I also sprayed the edge of my English Rose Garden ... being especially careful to keep the chemical well away from the roses themselves.

Weeds are still a bit of a problem, though some of them are lovely, and we really ARE making progress in eliminating them.  How can I get too upset by these white asters (though they are huge and everywhere) when the flowers are so irresistable to butterflies?  At one point while I was standing there watching them, there were FOUR Monarch butterflies on this one weed at the same time!

We had a Greyhounds Rock meeting this weekend.  Our "Take a Bite Out of Canine Cancer" event is four weeks away, and there are a thousand details still to be dealt with.  (and there's still time to register to attend.)

Taylor and Quinn are standing at the door, watching the neighborhood children play in the cul-de-sac.

I'm so glad that so many of you enjoyed my series about my visit to Hollywood Cemetery last week.  I had no idea that it would take four posts to show you my one afternoon's worth of sights.  If you missed any of the posts, here is a list of links:

Carved in Stone (cemetery monuments and sculptures)

Rockin' the Red Roses

In the Pink, and Yellow, and White

The Circle of Life