Two Weeks in Winter Photos, Day 10 ~ Last Sunflare

I've been skywatching all year and have taken countless photos of sunrises, sunsets, sunflares, and clouds over Kentucky. Captured this sunflare around 2:00 p.m. today. A pretty nice way to say goodbye to 2011. If you look closely there's a little bonus among the trees--the rising moon.

If you'd like to join me in this challenge, just post your daily winter snapshot for the next two weeks. Leave a comment here and I'll let everyone know you're participating. Here's the list so far:

Janis @ As Jan Sees It
Kim @ Kim USA

I hope it's clear skies for each of you in 2012. Well, maybe just enough clouds to make things interesting!

Friday Fences and Winter Photos, Day 9 -Shaker Village

The very last seasonal decoration on gates at historic Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. The buildings in this settlement celebrate the best of Shaker design--simplicity,functional, and beautiful. I especially loved this ochre or mustard yellow building.

For more Friday Fences go to Life According to Jan and Jer .

Two Weeks in Winter Photos-If you'd like to join me in this challenge, just post your daily winter snapshot for the next two weeks. Leave a comment here and I'll let everyone know you're participating.

Here's the list so far:

Janis @ As Jan Sees It
Kim @ Kim USA

Two Weeks in Winter Photos, Day 8 ~ Scottish Highlander

Spotted this ancient Scottish Highlander at Shaker Village. No, he's not wearing black galoshes and yes, I could hear him clipping grass from over the fence. How thrilling if Colum MacKenzie's wild Highland clansmen had swooped down on a cattle raid about this time! :-)

If you'd like to join me in this challenge, just post your daily winter snapshot for the next two weeks. Leave a comment here and I'll let everyone know you're participating.

Here's the list so far:

Janis @ As Jan Sees It
Kim @ Kim USA

Two Weeks in Winter Photos, Day 7 ~ Snow Cardinal

Yesterday we had the first wet snow showers of the season. Even with camera set on special "snow" function I couldn't get an in-focus image. Still, this cardinal obligingly provided a splash of color in the winter landscape.

If you'd like to join me in this challenge, just post your daily winter snapshot for the next two weeks. Leave a comment here and I'll let everyone know you're participating.

Here's the list so far:

Janis @ As Jan Sees It

Two Weeks in Winter Photos, Day 6 ~ Last Leaves

The last leaves of autumn still hanging on this sycamore tree on December 23.

If you'd like to join me in this challenge, just post your daily winter snapshot for the next two weeks. Leave a comment here and I'll let everyone know you're participating.

Here's the list so far:

Janis @ As Jan Sees It

Two Weeks in Winter Photos, Day 5 ~ Rainy Stroll

A rainy stroll through historic Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky--a couple of days before Christmas.

If you'd like to join me in this challenge, just post your daily winter snapshot for the next two weeks. Leave a comment here and I'll let everyone know you're participating.

Here's the list so far:

Janis @ As Jan Sees It

Two Weeks in Winter Photos, Day 4 ~ Candle Glow Shaker-Style

Two different wall sconces provided soft candle glow in the dining hall at historic Shakertown yesterday. Simple, functional and beautiful--that's the Shaker style.

I hope your Christmas Eve is peaceful and glowing with happiness of the holidays.

If you'd like to join me in this challenge, just post your daily winter snapshot for the next two weeks. Leave a comment here and I'll let everyone know you're participating.

Here's the list so far:

Janis @ As Jan Sees It

Two Weeks in Winter Photos, Day 3 ~ Simple Gifts

A rainy day in the Bluegrass state. Spent the afternoon with friends at a holiday lunch at Shakertown, an historic Shaker settlement and farm at Pleasant Hill. The architecture, interior design, furnishings and the food displayed the Shaker belief in simplicity, function and beauty. Even the holiday decorations were simple and lovely.

If you'd like to join me in this challenge, just post your daily winter snapshot for the next two weeks. Leave a comment here and I'll let everyone know you're participating.

Here's the list so far:

Janis @ As Jan Sees It

Friday Fences - Bluegrass Horse Farm

This is a thoroughbred horse farm on an historic turnpike between Lexington and Paris, Kentucky. A confession-the photo was in my archives and I don't know the photographer's name to give the credit to. However, it was so appropriate for this almost Christmas edition of Friday Fences, I just couldn't resist. Hope you enjoy this beautiful photo from Kentucky. For more fences, be sure to visit Janis for the list of players.

Happy Holidays, Everyone

Peace on Earth

Two Weeks in Winter Photos, Day 2 ~ Morning Sky

After an all-night rain, this is the very dramatic morning sky we had yesterday to usher in the winter season.

If you'd like to join me in this challenge, just post your daily winter snapshot for the next two weeks. Leave a comment here and I'll let everyone know you're participating.

Here's the list so far:

Janis @ As Jan Sees It

Two Weeks in Winter Photos, Day 1 - Winter Snacks

December 21 - first day of winter in our part of the world. Thought I'd challenge myself to take daily photos of wintry scenes and subjects for two weeks, like this little snacker in a tree outside my window. What's your favorite snack? Mine is probably homemade Chex Mix with extra Brazil nuts.

If you'd like to join me in this challenge, just post your daily winter snapshot for the next two weeks. Leave a comment here and I'll let everyone know you're participating.

Here's the list so far:

Janis @ As Jan Sees It

A Carol for the Troops in 2011

( This is a re-post from December 2009. Two years later, the draw down of troops from Iraq is finally a reality, but the Middle East still claims too many young men and women. Unfortunately, the scenes described below will still be the reality for many families in the United States.)

"The Christmas Morning Furlough" was the cover for the 1863 Harper's Weekly. As the American Civil War waged on, a Union soldier managed to get home on Christmas Day. He wraps his wife in a loving embrace while his children surround them. The Christmas tree is ready and the stockings hung, all the plans have been made--just waiting for the soldier to return home from the war, even if for a few days.

This year, almost 150 years later, a different war rages on--this one in the Middle East, not on American soil. Military families in the United States and our allied countries try to celebrate the holidays without a central family member present--a husband, wife, father, mother, son, or daughter. They try to go on with the festivities or they wait, postponing the holidays until everyone can be together.

At Campbellsville University in south central Kentucky, Matthew Hodge, a 24 year-old graduate student in the music department wrote the music and lyrics to "What is Christmas?", a tribute to American troops serving overseas while their families carry on at home. The carol was first performed at the Christmas Tapestry concert by the Campbellsville University Chamber Choir. They received a first time ever standing ovation. People were deeply touched by the heart-felt lyrics and beautiful harmonies. More so, because the carol reflected their own personal stories of absent loved ones in harm's way:




On December 9 the entire chamber choir travelled to Nashville to do a professional recording of "What is Christmas?- A Carol for the Troops. CDs are now being distributed to departing soldiers as a reminder to them that in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season families and friends left at home are thinking of them and longing for the day when the celebrations will be complete again with their presence.

Merry Christmas, Everyone. Peace on Earth.

Friday Christmas Fences

This month I've been looking for fences that say "Merry Christmas!" Norton Commons is a new upscale community that I'm in every week for a pilates class. The houses are well-landscaped and tastefully decorated, so I was not surprised to see the fence at the entrance decorated with traditional evergreen swags and red bows. Personally, I think it's hard to beat this look for Christmas.



On the community square in Norton Commons this Christmas tree sales lot had been operating since just after Thanksgiving. Last week fence rows of evergreens were lined up so that shoppers could walk up and down, choosing the perfect Christmas tree. From the looks of today's lineup, business has been good at the little red-doored Santa hut.



I live in historic Middletown. In contrast-but no less festive-our Christmas tree lot is set up by the Marathon gas station on a very busy commercial street. The trees are behind wire fences and the sales are made from a little shed. At night everything is lit up with multi-colored twinkling Christmas lights.

It would be hard to resist the old-fashioned advertising "SNOWFRESH CHRISTMAS TREES"!

If you're not around for the December 23rd Friday Fences, I'll just wish you an early "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year".

Be sure to check out other Friday Fence posters at Life According to Jan and Jer .

Watery Wednesday - Eddie's Duck Pond

Yesterday I had errands to do that involved a drive out in the country so I took my camera along, hoping to find something interesting. The leaves are gone and winter is still a week away, but the duck pond on my friend's wooded property was still photo worthy:
On the lower side of the pond you can walk around the edges and look across to the wooded property, home to some very spoiled ducks:
There's this small evergreen point that juts out into the pond. Do you see the nesting box in the tree? Snapped this photo at just the right time to get some great reflections in the water:
On this more sheltered side of the pond there was still a skiff of ice on the water. Do you see the small hut in the trees? For spying on the ducks?

My friends were saying yesterday that their place was so beautiful in the autumn. Actually, I think early winter is hard to beat.

Want to see some more "watery" photography? Click here for the players.

Holiday Decorations and English Antiques at Science Hill

In late November a few old--as in long time--friends gathered at Science Hill Inn and Wakefield- Scearce Gallery for lunch and an afternoon of browsing through room after room of English antique furniture and assessories. Each room was all decked out for the holiday season--an excellent place to find some inspiration for your own holiday decorating. Science Hill started out as a girl's prepatory school in the 1800s by a Methodist minister's wife who believed that young women should learn more than the expected homekeeping skills, art and music--for example, science.



Now this historic building houses the Science Hill Inn which serves delicious southern cuisine such as shrimp and grits, Kentucky hot brown, hot water corn bread, and desserts too delicious to mention such as bread pudding laced with bourbon sauce. Other rooms are part of the Wakefield-Scearce Gallery which contains high quality English antique furniture and assessories, all for sale.

After lunch we wandered through the gallery. From the inner courtyard you can see by the architecture that this was once a dormatory. Here are views from below and above, looking very festive. I especially admired the ceiling light fixture for its simplicity and the old iron grillwork mounted on the wall:

Almost every room in the gallery has a uniquely decorated Christmas tree, including this towering beauty in the main room. Every year the tree is decorated with the same German glass ornaments, toys, and other fanciful pieces like this year's music theme (see closeup):



Then here are a few more trees that were especially pretty, like this "golden" one:Or this one decorated with , I think, English crackers:
Or this one that was decorated with fruits and shells: After the trees, the next favorite decoration would have to be wreaths: red ones with curling ribbons, a woodland wreath for a rustic door, or a classic evergreen to adorn a beautifully molded door:



Finally, a few examples of the fine English antiques and decorative assessories, like this desk and chair with a simple arrangement in green and gold:
The hearth and mantle dressed with a seasonal swag and antique fire tools:
Some fine birds for a table display:
English bone china for the holiday table:
Or my favorite, a painting of two pampered pooches:
I should have warned you that this lunch and tour took the whole afternoon. I hope you've enjoyed the holidays at Science Hill and gotten some inspiration for your own decorations.

Happy Holidays!

Friday Fences - Hanging on to Summer

I took these photos in my neighborhood on December 1. The owners of this house had not gotten around to putting up a more seasonal decoration for this fanciful bench/doublewide bird houses. I'll walk by there in the next week or so to see if there's a Christmas wreath replacing the flower-decked hat.

Thought this was a very good example of a white picket fence and it goes very well with the house. I'd love to spend some time on that screened-in porch reading.

Snapped this fence closeup so you could admire the pineapple-shaped post caps. In the south U.S., the pineapple is a symbol of hospitality. That quirky bench, shade tree, and porch just invites visitors, doesn't it--especially when you don't want to say goodbye to summer.

Janis is our host for Friday Fences. Be sure to stop by her place and check out all the different fences everyone has spotted. It's funny how participating in these memes makes you take note. Just today I spotted two Christmas fences for next week.

Watery Wednesday - The Composer's View

The photo above is the view of the Norwegian Sea and distant city of Bergen that the famous music composer, Edvard Grieg, would have had from Troldhaugen, his family home just outside Bergen, Norway. The little red hut is called the Composer's Hut. It sets just down a steep hill from the main house with views of the sea. Grieg is said to have retreated here to get away from the hubbub of children and house guests so that he could compose music in peace.
(Photos - Scandinavia Tour, August 2011)

Want to see some more "watery" photography? Click here for the players.