Flights of Fancy

The first ice blobs of winter.

Turkeys Past

Today’s turkey is roasting, the pie is baked, and the cranberry sauce is chilling in the fridge. My mind wanders back to holidays past. One year, I was cooking a turkey at my mom’s house in California. It’s entirely possible that this was a Christmas turkey, but no matter. As always, I simmered the neck and giblets to make broth for the gravy. My brother came in the kitchen to help with the last-minute dinner preparations.

He thought that out of the goodness of my heart I’d cooked the giblets for his dog, Lady, who had also joined the festivities. My heart isn’t actually that good. At least it didn’t occur to me to prepare a treat for the dog. My brother dumped the broth down the sink and cut up the giblets for Lady. Boy, was I irritated!

In retrospect, the gravy was fine without giblet stock, my brother suspects I’m kinder than I actually am, and the dog was delighted. Maybe that’s what holidays are all about. 

Brittle

I took these before the thaw. Here are the first ice pictures of the season.

White Ducks

I don't have the right lens for these shots.

I believe these are feral domestic ducks. Please correct me if I'm wrong. 

We also saw the Loch Ness Wood Duck, but of course I didn't get a picture. 

Overheard #301

“Sometimes you suck it up and break out the Euclidian algorithm.”

Somewhat Bleak

We've had our first dusting of snow.

I put up a picture of similar berries last time. They're shriveling now. 

I still think of you - a tree with a broken heart

Overheard #300

"He expected to lose, which is never good for your chances to win."

Taupe

Q: What color is taupe?
A: Michigan in the winter.

view off a bridge: looking down, not up

It's hard to resist taking pics of red berries.

Fall Leaves

I took these a couple weeks ago, then forgot I needed to resize and post them. In Michigan, the leaves are all gone, so this is what it used to look like by the Red Cedar River.