Where I live we’re currently under an air stagnation advisory. This means very still air – and since it’s cold and foggy we get hoarfrost. It’s very pretty – this certainly isn’t the most expansive I’ve seen, but I thought I’d share some pictures nonetheless.
fence post cap
redbud branches
dormant lavender
dormant Japanese maple
bamboo that is supposed to be hardy for this sort of temperature – I hope they’re right!
nature flocked my wreath on the fence….
Mom and I spent a couple of days this week working on this year’s gingerbread village. As usual, there was a lot of laughter – especially when mom was working on what she hoped would be a cute little person but who turned into a creepy stalker guy and finally morphed into some strange version of Mr. Bill from Saturday Night Live. Seriously. This is the table near the end. Yes, wine is an essential component of gingerbread. If you look behind the water glass in the middle of the table, you will see Mr. Bill. What was she thinking?
I hadn’t realized until I looked at the photos, but all the little houses I did ended up together (I didn’t do the snowman – that’s mom’s). The A-frame is my Broncos house for the year. Go Broncos!
Mom did the big house and the this smaller one next to it – she did amazing wreaths on that little house! I did the tree next to the big house and I am super pleased with that.
Here is a side view of the train – mom did the back car and I did the engine. We put the Mr. Bill stalker in the train car – he’s being hauled off to the loony bin.
The little guy I did is the train engineer!
And there’s this years whole village, lit from beneath. Looks good!
(all photos are courtesy of my mother. Thanks mom!)
I had an appointment today (actually today! The actual date of this post!) and afterwards I was drawn in by the sunshine and the nearby walking trail along the Columbia River. This is a few miles south of my normal walk into work. Just as beautiful.
One difference walking along this stretch is that it’s part of a very active park, and the wildlife are clearly very used to humans being around (actually, they mostly seemed shocked I wasn’t giving them any treats). Say hello to my squirrel friend!
The architecture and fountains were especially lovely at night, and I was fortunate to get a few decent pictures.
This is the outside of our hotel. Those arches are our room!
We went walking in another direction, rather randomly, in Madrid. We ran into one of many many roundabouts with fountains. This one featured Neptune and I waited and timed the photo to get it without cars. I’m rather pleased by that.
Across the street from Neptune there was a shop ostensibly selling art, but that art looked a lot like tacky souvenirs to us. However, we enjoyed the storefront with all the statues watching the people walking by (if I knew how to stitch this into one long shot I would – you’ll have to do that mentally):
Outside the Crystal Palace in Parque del Retiro was a large pond. There were many ducks, and so obviously I took pictures. SPANISH DUCKS.
It took a bit before we realized the pond was filled with turtles. And so of course I took more pictures. SPANISH TURTLES!
After a long walk around the park we stopped at one of the many cafes for a bite to eat. I finally had the first of many glasses of sangria. We were entertained by the little bowls of potato chips that were a normal item handed out (much like a bowl of nuts I suppose, but still…)
There were several palaces inside Parque del Retiro. Inside this one there was a modern art exhibit of Brazilian artist Meireles. Like most modern art exhibits, there were some pieces I liked very much, and there were pieces I found odd. Some felt manipulative, which apparently is his intent. A few were just ugly, which I don’t believe was his intent but I can’t be sure.
We followed a sign and my husband asked where we were going next. I said I wasn’t sure, but I think the sign said “Crystal Palace.” I was right. And inside this was another modern art installation – of random pastel dots. I’m not sure what message we were supposed to get, but it was very clear we were not to touch the dots (some were within reach).
Walking on from the monument to Alphonso XII, we found this fountain. I never have figured out its significance, but we liked it. (Not so much that we’d want it at home, but in a nice-to-see-on-vacation way….)
After a necessary nap in our hotel overlooking Parque del Retiro the obvious thing was to walk to the park. It turns out this park is on lists of the top things you should visit on the planet, so well done us! Admittedly, I had to look up what these monuments were after I got the pictures, but it was very impressive. In fact, the next few posts will all be from this park, which until sometime in the 19th century belonged only to the Spanish monarchy.
One of the first things we saw was the Paseo de la Argentina – beautifully landscaped with lots of statues (even of women, which I found a happy surprise).
The Paseo led us to the Monument to Alphonso XII – clearly a popular spot for people to visit and enjoy. Lots of families were here.
It’s that time of year when we get a lot of still air and moisture overnight with cold temperatures, which combine to flock the trees (and everything else) with hoarfrost. Cold, but pretty.
@KellyOSullivan 