Finicky? Gumption?

When's the last time you heard/saw those two words? I was sorry the shop was closed. Would have loved to have met the person who wrote this sign!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

December is here . . . already

Everybody's gonna be saying it: "December already? This year's gone by so fast!"

So I won't say it.

The Winter Solstice is coming up. I was reading about it, what people do to celebrate it. And a lot of it has to do with contemplation, quiet, and simplicity.

The irony was that so many of the websites I visited to research Winter Solstice were packed with ads, encouraging me to simplify by purchasing books about simplification. Ads that blinked, changed colors, jiggled up and down, desperately wanting my attention so I would buy their products.

"Please, Carol, buy more so you can simplify your life!"

But what if I have no more room in my bookcases for yet another book? Well, then, there are links to Ikea, where I apparently have a huge selection of bookcases to choose from. Yes, maybe another bookcase will simplify my life!

But what if I have no space in my house for one more bookcase? Well, there are hundreds of DIY books all about home additions. Obviously I'll need some power tools. . .

Gotta love this Winter Solstice holiday. I'm going to relax, contemplate, and simplify. But first, I have some major shopping to do . . .

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Sign of the times

Found on a door at the boatyard this morning. I will say no more.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

It came out of the swamp . . .

More "boatyard art," this time from a vessel that had paint peeling off of it as well as some partially finished sanding. The trick to finding things like this is to look for an "eye." Once you have an eye, you just might find you have a strange creature. All you have to do is look...

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Found in a boatyard . . .

Ring-eyed Hullsider. Scientific name: Oculocirculus maritimus. Found on a boat being refinished at a boatyard today. Very rare. Obviously male.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh.

Huh?

What? You mean the bell will just ring? Without a bell to warn me that the bell's gonna ring? Do people in downtown Portland, Oregon really need a sign like this?

There must be a company out there making a bloody fortune creating signs that warn us something is going to happen without warning. Such as . . .

"CAUTION: Refrigerator light will come on without warning."

"WATCH THIS SPACE: Stupid signs will appear with no advance notice."

And if the sign painter is getting paid by the letter . . .

"ATTENTION: Stupid blog posts will suddenly show up for no apparent rhyme nor reason today or any day for that matter. Without warning."

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Consider yourself warned!

But, but . . .

. . . then who do we wave to?

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Things that probably only I find humorous ...

Walking along the street in Charleston, South Carolina. Luckily the two cars left just enough of a gap to let the store sign show through clearly.

It's just not funny if one has to explain these things . . .

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Signage . . .

Any questions?  :-)

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

"Tis the season . . .

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Nobody here but us wabbits!

Chris: "Carol, come quick! Look!"

Abby has jumped up onto what we call the "Holly Cabinet" and is sitting in front of a tall, carved, wooden folk art rabbit.

I grabbed the cellphone and took a couple of shots before she jumped down.

What's interesting is that when she was born, the people who had her called her "Bunny" because of the way she hopped around the house. A cat, apparently, never forgets her roots!

 ©Carol Leigh
 All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Just because I could . . .

Quinn and Betty celebrate the new year with their usual flair.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Burglar flees crime scene . . .

In yesterday's post I mentioned a break-in. Our shed was forcibly entered and a LOT of birdseed went missing from a galvanized metal trashcan. We suspected raccoons.

At 3:20 this morning I hear something crashing around in the shed. I lay in bed wondering if the raccoon could remove the 4x4 piece of wood I'd wedged tightly between the garbage can lid and the handle.

Lots of thumps and thuds. Forty minutes later I hear a crash and a sound not unlike a garbage can lid crashing into the shed door. Then silence. Then I sleep.

Later this morning, around 6:45, I glance out the window to see the culprit emerging from the smaller of the two holes he's made in the shed roof. Slowly he pulls himself out, gazing groggily around. Takes him about 20 minutes to figure out how to jump from the roof to the trellis to the deck to his final getaway.

He runs across the yard slowly. It's hard to run with eight pounds of birdseed in one's stomach...

©Carol Leigh

P.S. Photos hastily taken through a dirty window using a Lumix G2 at ISO 3200 before sunrise. Colors are wacky and light balance runs to a bluish green. Not unlike the raccoon, I was groggy and in a hurry!

Breaking and entering . . .

We have a shed in the back yard, maybe 6 feet by 10 feet, made of weathered cedar. The rudimentary roof is covered with cedar shake shingles, a few of which have blown off in storms.

Inside we keep typical sheddy things such as empty flower pots, lumber, rolls of chicken wire, and a small galvanized metal trashcan that holds a fair amount of birdseed.

We returned from vacation yesterday and this morning I wandered around the yard to see what was blooming, what was leafing out, etc.

I noticed a couple of largish holes in the shed roof. One of the holes was big enough to admit one, two, or maybe three raccoons. Uh-oh.

With a certain amount of trepidation I slowly opened the shed door. (Raccoons can be cranky when unexpectedly awakened from a mid-morning snooze.)

The trashcan lid tumbled out of the doorway and came to rest at my feet. Uh-oh again.

Even though the lid fits rather tightly, and even though there’s a metal loop that secures the lid even more, the raccoons managed to move the secondary metal bit, removed the lid, and have been gorging on birdseed. They also opened a large plastic bag of thistle (for the finches), which apparently exploded open as thistle now covers everything like black confetti.

Raccoons, so cute in TV commercials, a pain in the ass in real life!

©Carol Leigh

Fun in Camp . . .

I purchased this cabinet card in an antique shop because I liked the stony expressions on the children. (Click to enlarge.) I scanned the photo and added the background and caption. The caption reads:

Mummy, we are having ever so much fun in camp. Here we are being boisterous on the swing. Love, Hillary and Clare

©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . skydive with geckos! ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . chuckle a little. ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . wear orange shoes! ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . go birdwatching in Norway! ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . learn to paint! ©Carol Leigh