Sheep

As we drove around the back roads up in the highlands of Scotland, this seemed to be a common site - sheep along the road side.

Castle Dunvegan

We tried to get to this castle by sea via kayak but the North Sea was very unfriendly that day so we ended up driving there. From the parking lot it was quite a hike to get to the castle ruin. That's one way to keep your enemies at bay.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family. Bob and I are sharing Thanksgiving with his parents.

Here's a blast from the past.

Vacations past

While I'm away for the Thanksgiving Holiday. I will be posting photos from vacations past in the interim.

This is from Scotland in 2005. We were on a tiny back road enroute to the Glen Livet distillery when we can across this phone box in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere. But, there must have been a reason to put a phone box there or why else would it be there?

Salt and Pepper Santas

This is just a shot of one shelf in my curio cabinet that holds a few hundred salt and pepper shakers.  This shelf is full of Christmas ones.  I will use some for the holiday table and some will be used just as decoration.

First real snow of the season

Snow Dog

Here's Piper out in the first snow of the season.

Stuck in Traffic

Yesterday I was stuck on Route 202 for over two hours.  After sitting there and getting bored, I remembered that I had my camera with me.  So to amuse myself and help pass the time, I took several pictures like this one so you can see that I'm still in the same spot and time is passing.  (This is the only one of these posted here.)
This is the view outside the driver's window.  Notice the snow on the side view mirror.
As I sat there, down the shoulder of the road, over the course of the 2+ hours there came, 3 ambulances, 1 fire rescue truck, 1 fire truck, 1 police car, 1 highway salt truck and finally, one tow truck.  I didn't have my camera handy for all of them.  It was rather boring just sitting there takings pics from inside the car.
Remember the photo above and the side view mirror, here it is hours later and you can see the snow accumulation.
Hours later, the accident was cleared and we were able to proceed.  See the traffic on the other side of the highway?  They closed the Route 1oo exit ramp going north, due to icy conditions, so this traffic is from people having to take an alternative route to get to where ever they are trying to get.

Soap

For Christmas I decided up make fun and cute soaps for the younger ones on my gift list.  They can use the soap and then have a little tub toy to play with or just have some cute soaps.
Right now the soaps are curing on my dining room table soon to be festively wrapped and tagged.

Christmas Cactus

I bought this cactus a few years ago, after the holidays for 99 cents.  And, every year, it has bloomed for me.  It sits quiet and still all year and then about now, bursts into bloom. 

Found . . .

 . . . in the rain gutter when Bob was cleaning the leaves up.  How?  When?  Who? Why?  Where did it come from?

Hanging out at the corral

These people were watching the horse and rider teams practice dressage.  

Ludwig's Corner Horse Show

Bob and I stopped by a local horse show one gray and very chilly Sunday afternoon recently.  By the time we got over to the jumping ring, we only saw the last two horses go through the course.  Next time we know, skip the dressage and go right to the jumping ring.

Autumn Red

The sun peeking through the leaves of our Autumn Red maple tree.  The leaves aren't autumn red yet but they are starting to turn.

Peeking out

This little gnome was peeking out at me from behind the front steps.

Mums the word . . .

The white mums were the last ones to bloom in the garden this year.

What I saw.

Rusty things

Rusty fragment from something.The flash went off when I took a picture of this rusty bolt.  It almost looks like it's glowing red hot.

Roadside America

Since we were in the area, Bob and I stopped by Roadside America.  The last time I was there was about 12 years ago.  The place didn't seem to have changed at all.

A fall outing with Woody . . .

The changing of the leaves

Another use for a bird bath

We are done using our bird bath as a bird bath for the season.  Not sure whether to store it in the basement for the winter or not, I ended up plopping a big mum in it.  Our neighbors call it an ice cream cone.  I wonder if this will start a trend?  Or, has someone else done this somewhere before?

Wooly caterpillar

On a beautiful fall day, we saw several of these wooly bear caterpillars as we walked around the countryside.

Behind the barn . . .

Valves and rivets

Wooly mammoth

Bob found this wooly caterpillar in the yard.  It's the biggest one I've ever seen.  It measures about 3 inches when fully extended.

A pox upon our pumpkin

It looks like our pumpkin has a pox.  We believe that the squirrels in the yard have been nibbling away at him.

M and M's for Halloween

This shot was taken as a reflection in the powder room mirror.These fun loving little M and M characters adorn our stairs at Halloween.