Ghost Train

 

Snow Day

Last One on the Gift-Giving

I should have mentioned in the previous post(s) that, while it looks as if Sam is wrapping delicious-looking candy, he is, in fact, wrapping delicious-looking polished beach rocks. 

With one or two exceptions, these delicious-looking beach rocks were collected this past summer while on our vacation. (The one or two exceptions were rocks collected years ago from this very same beach, conveniently stashed in a bag down the basement, apparently waiting for just such an occasion.)

For your enjoyment, here is a photo of the remaining polished rocks not yet selected for Christmas gifts. Currently, they, too, are now siting in a bag down the basement.

As always, click to enlarge.

Wrapping Up

Back here, I mentioned wrapping some gifts with Sam and along with my stimulating prose, I posted a couple of censored/modified (take your pick) photos, blocking out the original gifts so as not to spoil the surprise(s).

Well, here are the uncensored/unmodified photos ... and yes, I know, I didn't bother to erase the shadows. (I figured those shadows wouldn't give away any surprises.)

 

 

And here are a few bonus photos from that same wrapping session...

Today's Crew

At This Moment

  

I'm currently standing in somewhat unexpected rain, waiting for Sam to get out of work. 

Also, I'm waiting to get chewed out for only bringing one umbrella.

--- 

Late Update:  Sam was very understanding. It helped that I let him have the umbrella.

Today's Screenshot

 This appeared on my Google news feed this morning...

Who in their right mind thinks this is a picture of Vermont?

Grand Total

It's raining outside and it appears that there is some snow mixed in. This means that Sam and I will not be walking to his work - at least not this morning. We'll see how the afternoon plays out. 

As mentioned many times before, Sam and I go for a walk pretty much every day - not only on the short walks to and from his work, but also on longer afternoon or evening walks (weather permitting - which, currently, it is not). 

Anyway, as also previously mentioned (I think), when we go on our walks, we turn our Google Fit app. I think there may be a lot of things you can do with this app but the only thing we use if for is to measure the distance of our walks. 

For those that keep track of such things (like us), this can also be handy because, not only can we measure the distance of these individual walks, but at the beginning of each following month, Google thoughtfully sends me an email with information from the month just ended - things like places I've visited (usually almost nowhere), places I've driven to (usually almost nowhere) and total hours and distance spent walking (to almost nowhere, usually in what amounts to big circles - but a lot of it).

I've tallied these walking totals for all the months of the past year and I think, considering whom we're talking about (me), I think it's almost impressive (well, at least it shows improvement after a pretty anemic start). 

I should also mention, as I probably have before, that, when it comes to walking, all credit for any "success" (for lack of a better term) goes to Sam. Without his company and his desire to go for a walk everyday, all those hours spent walking would instead be added to the hours I spend on the couch each evening, trying to stay awake.

Quiet Appreciation

I feel a certain affinity for my Christmas Cactus. I like it's style. I've nursed it along through the years and though it has never particularly thrived, it hasn't died off either- not completely, anyway. It just keeps doing it's thing - always there, always seemingly content to just sit by the window.

I fed it a lot throughout the summer and while it produced a fair amount of new growth, there were no buds. This was unsurprising. 

In the past, in the rare instances where it produced buds, the buds always seemed to drop off before blooming. This, I think, is a sign that the plant doesn't like to bring any undue attention to itself by doing something as flashy as producing flowers.

Well, imagine my surprise when I looked a little closer the other day and saw not one but two blooms - both modestly nestled out of sight, discretely sitting behind the plant, against the window blinds. 

I've taken this is an expression of it's gratitude for the summer of extra feeding - but, in keeping with it's personality - it doesn't want to be all overly dramatic about it. 

So I'm trying not to make a big deal about it.

The New Year

Early morning and early evening walks to start the new year. So far this year (ha!), the weather has been cooperating. Special thanks to the Weather Gods for today's mild weather...