Day 10 of 365 - Hubbard Valley Park

The Medina County Park District has 15 parks where there are hiking trails.  Even though the spring flowers have not started coming out of the ground, there was beauty all around as I walked there.

Shagbark Hickory. This is a mature tree as younger trees have smooth trunks. This is the type of tree that produced the nuts from Day 4.

No green or colorful wild flowers, but lovely blue in the stream.  A fond memory of this day is of sitting on a bench with this view.

This tree with other fallen trees leaning on it is like a sculpture.  I am always amazed at the randomness of nature.  Not only are there no two snowflakes the same, neither are there trees or groups of trees.

Day 9 of 365 - Monday Night Group

     This group meets for dinner every Monday night, thus the name "Monday Night Group".  We rotate which restaurant we choose. The  number can be up to 22, but last night about half attended. Members of the group all ride or have ridden motorcycles. It isn't hard to guess what the topic of conversation is, particularly among the men.

     These people have all become friends.  We are there for each other through difficult  times as well as celebrating together.

     I do complain that I only can talk with those near me at the table and the noise level at times is high.

     

(It would have been a better picture had I taken it when we first got our food, instead at the end.)

Day 9 of 365 - A waffle pizza ?

A pizza made with waffle batter for the crust, topped with bacon, chicken, cheese and then maple syrup!  I decided to be brave and try something new.  It tasted a bit like a dessert pizza.  Thankfully the wine was good.  

G's short ribs were more like a roast.  The presentation was great.  (The real reason for posting this picture was to highlight his new hair style.)

We don't always eat this type of food.  The other night we had guests and I served a good old home cooked meal:  Pork tenderloin with cranberries, mustard and onions in the crock pot,  mashed sweet potatoes, green beans and for dessert Haagan- Dazs ice cream.  Oh, I forgot to list the wine.

Day 8 of 365 Coyotes and rabbits are safe

When our future son in law was first dating RM they visited us.  I had given some hunters permission to hunt rabbits on our property.  He kept watching them out the window, saying "They are still out there", meaning the hunters.   Only later did I learn that he LOVED animals and was distressed to see them hunted. Today a young man knocked on our door asking if we allowed coyote hunting on our property. I know we have them here because I have heard them howling near our house. But in Andrew's memory I said "no, we do not".

Day 7 of 365 - Convenient Culture

Oberlin College is only 25 miles from our home.  It is a top-ranking liberal arts college and world-class music conservatory.  (That description is from their website, but it does have that reputation.)  We attend lectures and concerts there.

 Last night was a concert by  Alessandro Deljavan an Italian classical pianist.  It was streamed live so I enjoyed the concert from the comforts of my office on my computer.  Deljavan loves Bach. Tonight he played the "Goldberg Variation".  He becomes so involved in his music that he contorts his face into grimaces and other expression as well as humming or singing along.  To see him and his manner of playing watch some of of this video.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEkJI7xFF64   

Day 6 of 365 - Success

On day 3 I made mention of a project that G has been working on.  For two weeks, sometimes working nearly all night,  he has been diagnosing and trying to repair the shop furnace.  Today this is what I saw out the kitchen window.

He has triumphed over the machine!

Day 5 of 365 - Rain and signs of Spring

No matter what the weather: snow, sun, or rain, I love seeing how it looks on the deck. 

There are signs of spring: one or two dandelions blooming and some of the Spring flowers are pushing out of the ground.

  The red-winged blackbirds and killdeer are back, and I saw my first robin today. 

Day 4 of 365 - Hickory Nuts

It has always been a mystery to as to what kind of nuts these are.  I have not been taking my tree identifying book with me when I walk in the woods.  Second best was to take a photo and then look it up online.

Turns out they are Hickory and there are a lot on the ground even at this time of the year.   I am going to bring some home. The article I read said they are extremely hard to crack, the shell being called an"armored fortress". But I am sure Gerry has some equipment in his shop to handle the job.  

Day 3 of 365 - Empty Inbox

I think this speaks for itself.  What will I do with my time today?  What an interesting dilemma.  If you know G and me, we always have more projects than we have time for in our life.

An example of a project for G:  He has a waste oil furnace in the shop which is not working and needs to be for a big project that will be worked on in a month.  He has worked on it for a week, taking it completely apart to find the problem.  He has more persistence that anyone I know.  A future posting will be a before and after picture of the upcoming project.

Day 2 of 365 - Doll

The flea market was over.  I glanced under a table and saw this in a box.  Twenty five cents!  I can imagine a grandmother sitting in a rocking chair, seventy five years ago, crocheting.  Even the undergarments are crocheted.   In the purse is a quarter from 1945.  I smile whenever I look at this work of love.

Day 1 of 365 - G Whitman painting

I read a blog where the blogger took one picture a day for 365 days.  I thought that was a great idea so I am going to try it.  

A few years ago G and I were at a garage sale.  At the end we found this in the trash.  Apparently someone had tried unsuccessfully to sell it.  It is one of my favorites and is on the wall of the living room. Gerry was able to decipher the  signature of the artist: G Whitman. From information online it is unclear who actually painted it.  One site said an art store commissioned several different people to paint them and sign his name.  Others say there actually was such a painter.  It does not appear I have a painting of great value. But I still love it!

My woods

I love my woods.  Guess I should say our woods, but I am the one who walks them.  It was raining when I went for a walk.  The temperature was in the 50s so I wore my rain coat and pants with waterproof boots.  Perfect. I was out there for at least an hour.  I say on a log with the rain falling on
my umbrella.  It reminded me of sleeping in a tent with rain falling on top.

There always are interesting things to see.  This fallen log appears to have hieroglyphics on it.  My guess is that the lines were made by insects.  But I choose to believe it is  hieroglyphics and I can make a story as to the meaning. The top wavy line is someone going through life as they choose, enjoying what is in their path with joy. 

Reading random blogs is fun too.  On the top line of the blogs there is a "Next Blog" that I click on to read.  I especially enjoy those where people share poetry they have written.  But as any online activity it can end up taking more time than I planed for. 

Repairing freezer ourselves

The other day I decided to defrost our freezer. Since we first purchased it several years ago it has always accumulated thick layers of frost on the coils.  I have had to defrost it every 4 months.  We had the repair man out two times when we first got it, but to no avail. So Gerry decided to do something about it.  We completely emptied it and re-caulked the seal.  It involved taking the door off and apart.






While the caulking dried Gerry managed to pack all the contents into the freezer part of a refrigerator.



The next day it all went back in the big freezer.  I am happy to report that the problem has been resolved.  It only took about six hours of work!