Spinning Quite A Yarn

Today's photo is actually yesterday's photo with a little bit of manipulation. I took this picture when we visited one of the homes at Greenfield Village. I really liked the basket of colorful yarn sitting on the edge of the table and the overcast sky lighting the whole scene. I softened the focus on all but the basket to bring more attention to it. I realized after I finished that I did not do the little section between the basket and the handle, but I shall save that for another day.

Bottles & Watches & Bugs, Oh My!

Valerie and I spent Boxing Day in Dearborn at Greenfield Village. We had planned to go last Saturday, but that plan had been thwarted by the Legislature's meeting late on Friday and most of Saturday. I got Valerie (and me too, I guess) an annual membership to Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum, so we had the opportunity to use our new membership right away. The place was pretty quiet today, which made it easier to see everything without too much jostling with other patrons.

Today's photos are from a few of the buildings we visited. The bottles reside in the doctor's office and the watches were in the jewelry shop. The hilarious advertisement was in the general store. I love the talking roaches and their lament over the lost patriarch of their bug family.

All Tied Up

The hustle and bustle of Christmas has ended for another year. Last night Valerie and I spent Christmas Eve at Mom's house with Doug and Leigh. Today, Valerie's parents and cousin came to our house for Christmas day. Now I have to find room for new books on the already stuffed bookshelves and figure out where to store my new sweaters. Valerie got me a really nice new watch with the Michigan state seal on the face and also the bow tie in today's photo. She has been trying to get me to try bow ties for a while, but I maintain that I am too young to wear them. So, she got me a bow tie for Christmas. It took me about 45 minutes of trying to follow very poorly written and illustrated instructions online until I found a video showing how to tie the bow tie. The video showed an added step that made the whole thing much easier than the other instructions. I imagine that bow ties with me will be like Valerie and her hats. Sure, we'll look like we belong in an era that ended decades ago, but at least we shall look good while we are at it.

Snowy Thoughts

I had the opportunity to get outside today for a bit after running errands, so I stopped at Fenner Arboretum and wandered a bit there. I took a number of photos of various things, but I liked the ones of the ice and snow blanketing the dead and brown weeds of the open field behind the nature center. Today's picture sort of sums up a lot of things that have been going on lately in my life, mostly in my career. It has been a long year since my previous boss left office and I took my new job. But like the snow on the dead plants that will melt and new green foliage will appear, my tenure in my current post will come to an end soon enough and there will be new opportunities that arise. It is just hard sometimes to be patient and wait through the long, cold, dark winter for the warm, brighter spring.

Circles

Today, I got the chance to leave a few minute early from work. Having not gotten much fresh air, I decided to pop down to Cooley Garden before heading home. My photo selection today consists of the decorative work along the top of the fence that surrounds the garden. The circles in the fence have been adapted in some of the designs in the woodwork of the benches throughout the garden and also on the official logo for the garden. I really liked the perspective of the five circles on one panel of the fence framed within another circle on a closer panel.