Tuesday.....

 

The morning sky was glowing for a short time  and I took a shot out in the cold. The sun comes up behind my neighbor's house but I still can see the effects from it. 

Joy is a gift of banana bread from a guest who arrives at our house for afternoon tea. It is filled with raisins and walnuts and that takes it further than just banana bread. It isvery large so we are going to freeze half of it.

My wife's village is a big hit for visitors to see when they come to our house. People ask as to how it gets to be a big collection. I say that she gets gifted a piece a year and in the past forty years of marriage she does get to have a big city. She didn't really start collecting them until the past 15 or 20 years. 

We got our first batch of Christmas gifts mailed out today. It won't arrive until after the special day but it is fun whenever they receive it.  Our other batch is one of many presents needing to be wrapped and then me finding boxes for the items to use for shipping. Our weather is better which makes going to do shopping more pleasant. I was out the past two mornings and it was almost tolerable. The crowd on Monday was insane as everyone looked like they wear doing panic buying. This early morning I didn't have any crowd to fight with and I finished shopping for our kids. I have some to shop for yet for my wife but that will be easy when you live in a big city with lots of stores that are less than five miles away from where I live. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Sunday's Greeting....

 

 

Random Visuals.....

 

 

 

We were iced in this day. I went to get the mail late afternoon and the sidewalks were still ice covered. Our temps just didn't get warm enough to melt it off. I will have to salt the sidewalks tomorrow as I am sure more people will be out and about. Thanks for checking in today.

Friday is a Freezing Hard Day

 It was too cold to go outside but I did rush out and snap this. It could have been more dramatic if I walked down the street but that wasn't going to happen.

 

 

It is warm inside and the crowd around the tree still are wearing their coats. The tree in the sun room is warm only when I turn on the heater out there.  

 

 

Another view of my wife's view shows people ice skating and sledding. It is a busy city with people practicing in the choir while a man is standing on the bridge yelling greetings. 

 

My last tree is up. I got frustrated with it but I do like it now. It is the excessive amount of wires that show that bothers me during the day but then when it gets dark at night it is fantastic. 

I made a last minute run to get groceries before the ice storm that is predicted to hit. We are stocked for quite a few days and I hope we just don't get the storm. Unfortunately all the weather casters have our state targeted for a hit this evening. We will stay in and wait for it all to pass.

Thanks for checking in today..

Chilly Cold.....

 The village is all set up. My wife will tweek it every once in a while as that is the fun of having it.  She has ordered lights for her big Christmas tree. 

The town square is a busy place and the kids are busy riding the horses. This is a day time shot but I will work at shooting some night shots. I am still short a few lights for the houses but that will be happening when I can get to the store. 

The wiring on the old fashioned bubble lights was scary. It had electric cords wrapped in a cloth-like material that poorly covered the wires. My dad finally threw away the set and fifty years later I can now buy them. I first saw them at a country school Christmas party where my brothers were attending. That had to be in 1953.

This tree is in front of the window next to the street in our spare bedroom.  I put lights on the one side just to make an impression for people looking inside. I put the bubble lights on the back side for us to enjoy.  They are a fascination for me from history and really aren't that practical.  I still enjoy them. I did not get to display them last season. Again I will try to take some more low light shots of them this evening. We  both are done with our projects. I don't like how many wires that are on the tree but at night it is stunning. 

Our lowest temp was at 5 degrees F. and our high was 17 degree F. It was cold out there to bring in the recycle bin. I will be glad when we get through the next day and warm up a little.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Again.....Middle of the Week!

 

The morning shot was done through the screen wire grid today. There was snow on the deck and it was too cold to go out there. I was too lazy to get shoes anyway.

The morning shot also shows we had a light snow. It isn't outstanding and our view isn't great either. We look out at the junky yards of our neighbors, looking down makes it easier for us to see it all. 

It also has snowed on the tables for my wife to start her village project. It starts with the merry go round and the one big town square tree. 

It is in progress in this photo but since then she has now added trees and people and horse drawn carriages. I guess she is ready for the electrician to come in and install the lights in all of her buildings. Future photos will be shared once everything is completed. My wife is quite a city planner with her placements of churches, buildings and houses. 

 

 Yes, they are bad soldiers because they can not stand in formation with uniform spacing. I guess I was in a hurry getting them set up. I am working on one more tree that lights up in a window for the neighbors to see.  We are getting closer to being done with the ornaments. It means I can sit and eat banana bread and drink coffee.

Tuesday is Today....

 The temperatures are dropping as is par for winter weather. The clouds in the morning sky are casting reflections from the sun making a great pink color. 

Some more ornaments were added but more are yet to come. I don't have the shot for the complete tree but it is done now being decorated. 

Our oldest son turns 49 years this day. Having three kids and a busy job he probably won't get to celebrate much. His birthday card is on its way but the reliable mail service wasn't yesterday. They didn't pick up the mail until about six o"clock in the evening. lHe knows he is getting a card so it will just be a day late. 

One last tree has been assembled. It is the one I put up so the lights in the front window can be seen from the outside. I did tell my wife that next year she gets the tree I assembled now for her angel tree next year as she is running out of room on her tree. I have bubble lights to put on this tree as well as antique larger glass blown ornaments. I won't get to that until tomorrow.

Thanks for checking in today.