Tag Archives: Christmas

Christmas Skywatch – 2024

Hey you know life goes up and down and so does Christmas. This year was a restrained Christmas in our family. My sister came to visit for a few days beforehand and that was definitely a boost. Other factors came in that kind of restrained things. So we had a quiet Christmas. The sun didn’t shine and it was kind of misty rainy so above is my Christmas Skywatch photo. I’ll take it. Not much of a sky but I love the tree. And yes that is a filter I used on my phone. About four of them in fact.

And this is a shot from our driveway a few days beforehand. I kind of liked it. A wag on instagram said that the chemtrails ruined the photo. Get this folks, chemtrails are not real. There, that is my Christmas message to the world.

Another day, same driveway, looking the other way. I used distressedfx on this.

And this is a jigsaw puzzle that I did on my ipad.

Another jigsaw puzzle.

About this time of year, if you are on social media, you get all sorts of hits about apps that will do a yearly recap for you. So I bit on one, I did a couple of 2024 rehashes, one was about my life in general and another about 2024 skies. I saved the resulting videos and then cancelled my seven day free membership. I then inputted the videos to youtube and so above is my 2024 skywatch rehash. It only lasts 30 seconds and then starts over so don’t do what I did and watch it over and over until I realized what I was doing.

I watched a couple of NFL football games including a miserable Baltimore – Houston game that ended 31-2. Tell you what though, Beyonce performed the halftime show. And what a show it was! Came in on a horse and just killed the performance. She should do the Superbowl halftime show. And I am not even a Beyonce fan!

I hope that everyone of you who celebrate Christmas had a good one.

Skywatch Friday

Christmas 2024 Happenings

(Photo by Ellen)

We had a nice surprise for Christmas this year. My sister, Ellen, came down from Colorado to visit us. (She is also a blogger, check out “Life on the High Plains“)That’s her on the right. We had a great visit.

We went to see our brother, Bob at his residence and had a meal with him and a little pre-Christmas celebration.

Ellen is a lover of all animals. Our Pomeranian Kodi loves her and even let her pick him up, for a little bit. He doesn’t let me even touch him. Our cat Lizzie loves Ellen as well.

We took her to the Tulsa suburb of Sapulpa to check out the Christmas Chute. We love the Chute. Talk about an extravagant display.

They block off a long section of their main street and put these steel frameworks in which they stuff with lights and decorations.

They have all sorts of various themes.

They provide a list of things to look for. They are hard to find but it gets you to looking hard at the decorations. The main one this year was Christmas Pickles. I had never heard of such a thing. We found a few of them. Check out the Christmas Chute web site for more info.

(Photo by Ellen)

Here’s my bride, Heather, and I looking for the items. I’m holding the checklist.

It just goes on and on. The crowd had a great casual fun energy to it. They have all sorts of opportunities to shop or get snacks.

We spent quite a lot of time there.

All good things come to an end. Ellen returned to her home in Colorado. We all miss her.

Kodi was not happy at all at her going home.

I am linking with My Corner of the World

Shadow Shot Sunday – Shadows on the Trail

During a recent hike on the YMCA owned portion of Turkey Mountain I noticed that they had new trail signs. (I also noticed that I had grown taller and skinnier, I should hike more often in the late afternoon!) So I said to myself, hmm and looked on the other side of the sign.

It looks like Boy Scout Troop 20 had something to do with sign. Way to go guys (and gals as the BSA takes girls now.)

A very Merry Turkey Mountain Trail Christmas to all who celebrate the holiday.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Saturday’s Critters – Peace in the House

I was home with son the other day and all was quiet and I came upon this scene. Lizzy the cat and Kodi the dog were laying close to each other without fighting. On these cold days they both like sunshine so they were enjoying each other’s company. Usually when Lizzy is in close reach, Kodi chases her.

They stayed that way for quite a while son and I gawked over them.

Kodi is enjoying the tree. Lizzy used to climb up in the tree and we had to perform several extractions, so far no extractions this year.

Kodi has really developed a taste for beef. We were reheating some leftover roast beef the other day and he decided wanted some. His system is delicate and so as a treat I give him deli beef used in sandwiches.

Lizzie found a Christmas throw on our sectional that she has taken over.

I wish each and every one out there in the interwebs a Merry Christmas, and if you don’t celebrate the holiday, I wish you peace and happiness. I get great pleasure and fulfillment from my “blog friends.” Photoblogs are the peaceful happy corner of the internet.

Saturday’s Critters

Getting Started on Christmas

Recently we visited Rhema Bible Church in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow. They put on a great show of Christmas Lights ever year. They have lots of lights and almost infinite parking and although traffic is congested it’s doable. We like to go when we can park the car and walk around.

I loved the carolers in a Victorian vibe.

Santa’s Sleigh and the Reindeer. I don’t know where Santa is.

One of my favorite things is the walk around the pond. There is always great reflections. And the ducks and geese think they are part of the attraction.

At home, my wife has decorated but that will be a different post. Looking at how she decorated the bakers rack I guess you probably saw right away that she loves Snowmen. We are invaded by snowmen.

I participate in a nice social media thing called Postcrossing. To simplify it is where you send and receive postcards from all over the world. I’ve been doing it for years. I’ve sent and received about 350 cards. I do about one a week. I’ve made some new instagram “friends” and even found a few geocachers out there. And it is free!! Except you know international postage is expensive and you have to buy the cards from wherever you buy cards. Check out postcrossing.com if you are interested. The above is a card I picked up in Santa Fe last summer showing Christmas in that town. I sent it to someone in Belgium.

And switching gears a little I am back to doing online jigsaw puzzles on my ipad. I had misplaced my ipad charger and ordered another and fired up the app. I love it. I have to tell you sensory wise, the cardboard back side of real life jigsaw puzzles is a No Go for me. Plus what do you do with the puzzle when you are done. What I really love is that once you place your last piece, the jigsaw lines disappear and you can save it as an image. Plus there are no lost pieces and it doesn’t take up your tables, and the pieces all oriented right.

That’s all for this week. I’m linking with My Corner of the World.

Christmas 2023

Christmas and the end of the year buzzed by really quickly this year. Sorry I have been incommunicado all the sudden but hey, I’m back. So I’ll bring you up to speed.

A few days before Christmas we joined another couple for a Christmas music show at historic Cain’s Ballroom featuring several very talented local singers and musicians.

Isaac Hanson, of Hanson, showed up and played a couple of songs. Heather and I remember when he was just a little boy and played for free at local events with his brothers. He’s all growns up now and has a whole bunch of kids of his own.

Heather made her traditional gingerbread cookies. They are always a hit.

They go fast.

We made a visit to my brother Bob at his residence.

And gathered around the tree.

On Christmas Day we went to my MIL’s house and we opened gifts and had steak and baked potatoes for Christmas dinner. Bad blogger me, didn’t get any family photos.

A couple days later Heather, son Logan, Kodi, and I drove a roundabout route to Colorado Springs. My sister and BIL were hosting their family for Christmas. We hadn’t seen them for years so they graciously assented to our presence.

They are an active and fun loving bunch. If you are going to hang with them you better get up early and be prepared to stay late. They were very welcoming to us crashing the party.

Here is Logan with my sister and BIL’s dogs. The little dog is Maisey and is very sweet the big dog is Aspen. Aspen kept trying to play with our little dog, Kodi but Kodi was intimidated.

Sister and her husband treated us all to the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs. It was great. There are lots of things to look at and videos of past performances and artifacts like the costume above worn by Peggy Flemming who won the Gold Medal in figure skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics. I always thought she was classy and elegant.

Back at my sister’s house, Kodi went for a walk and got to meet Jasper the horse and get sniffed and inspected really good by the horse. I think our city dog thinks he doesn’t want become a ranch dog.

On the drive back to Tulsa Kodi found an earth cache. A specialized form of a geocache. So now I call him Kodi the Geodog.

I also got a shadow photo of Kodi so I guess he is a shadow dog as well.

So anyway, that was our whirlwind trip!!

I am linking with Skywatch Friday, Saturday’s Critters, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and My Corner of the World

Saturday’s Critters – In the Woods, On the Water, Covered with Leaves

I went on a hike the other day and encountered some deer. I love seeing deer. They are so beautiful and graceful. They are not hunted on Turkey Mountain and so are not skittish at all.

I went geocaching at a local park and saw some ducks paddling around on a pond.

Kodi and I were playing in the backyard and he decided to take a little rest break in the leaves.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!!

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Kodi and Lizzie

Here’s Lizzie, our Christmas kitten. She has always loved Christmas. She likes to lay under the tree when the lights are on. When she is younger she used to climb up into the tree and so we had to perform a “Catectomy” pulling out of the tree.

And Kodi the Pomeranian. He loves to play.

He loves my wife. This is what he does when she leaves the house for any reason.

He loves walking so we do that a lot.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters

A Late Autumn Hike

I went on a late afternoon hike recently at Turkey Mountain. They are putting a new sign up. Kind of cool in that it is also a topographic map of the park. I think maybe they are going to make it into a planter of some sort.

I took the Lo Chi trail which goes downhill to the Arkansas River. It passes this beaver pond on the way down.

And the trail goes under this flyover for one of the downhill bicycle runs. I guess this is technically a table top because you don’t have to catch air. But you can if you want. A real flyover would be a gap. Talking to the bikers they have their own language. Many older people like me would “roll over” this rather than try and jump.

And I found this baby backhoe that the contractors use to build trails. I’ve lost track on the new trails. This looks like they are building a new trail already.

Lo Chi doesn’t get as much use as some of the other new trails. I only saw one other person on my two miles outing.

And the sun started setting. I was on the east side of the ridge so it immediately got a little cooler.

We still have some pretty good fall color on the mountain.

And some more color. I walked a short segment of the RiverParks bicycle trail as part of my route.

Only two miles but hey I had a good time.

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Back at the parking lot, these two women had set up their apparatus on one of the pavilions and were having a lot of fun twirling around. I don’t know what you call this but it looks challenging.

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Pretty darn athletic is what I thought. They would climb up to the top of the pole and invert with the their legs holding them up. I couldn’t do that in a million years. Got to have a strong core for just start plus not get dizzy twirling round and round upside down.

Changing course, one morning in our back yard.

Found this giant Santa Claus inflatable in a nearby neighborhood.

And we are slowly getting our house decorated for Christmas.

Jigsaw puzzle

And after a long hiatus I started doing jigsaw puzzles again on my ipad. I love doing them even though they take a lot of time. A great advantage is that you can’t lose any pieces and I use the option to orient the pieces in the right direction. Plus the texture of cardboard gives me the heebie jeebies and so I avoid that as well. And! there is no table with the puzzle on it when you are not working on it.

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And today (December 7) is Pearl Harbor Day. Let’s not forget the heroes that day.

And, I am linking with Skywatch Friday!