Necco Candy Wafers

This faded storage silo for the local division of the Stark Candy Company is painted to represent their famous Necco Candy Wafers. I recall as kid these were the best purchase, because for a nickel you got a whole roll of multi-colored fruity tabs! Although, now they have certainly lost their appeal for me - tasting mostly like sweet colored chalk. Ah, the sophistication of the adult palate. :-)

Moonscape

...or is it?

It's actually the same image seen below, with the colors equalized in PhotoShop. During our walk this morning, we could see what looked to be a sunken pothole in the snow alongside a subdivision street. After kicking away some of the snow, the sewer cover "sunburst" design was visible underneath.

'Tis

We walked past this charming little historic gallery on Cortez St. during our January visit to Prescott, Arizona. It was not open at the time, or we would have certainly wandered in. The above link takes you to their website where you can see the front view of the building.

Ruffled Feathers

While hiking on the Broken Hill trails, we spied this hawk perched high up in a tall tree. He was fluffing and preening his feathers in the cold, unfazed by the band of crows judiciously squawking at him from the grove of ash trees next door.

Amaryllis Redux

I know I've already posted images from my amaryllis plant earlier in the month, but the blooms of the second stalk are even more dazzling than the first, so I just had to share. As previously noted, I ordered a bulb from a girlfriend last fall who bought a package of a dozen from an online source. They were all mixed up and so we had no idea what color they might be. I potted it indoors in early November, and according to the directions, it was supposed to bloom by Christmas. No such luck. It only had a few inch-high leaves & looked like it would never grow.

By mid-January, suddenly several stalks shot up seemingly over night. The first foot-tall stalk had two flowers, but this one has four (!) dinner-plate sized blooms. There is a third stalk in the wings & hopefully, that will be just as spectacular.

SkyWatch Friday: Women and Cats...

...are entitled to change their minds.

OK - I know, I said I was done posting here. But I just had to share this chilly sunset with jet contrails creating a sunburst design in the distance.

See all SkyWatch Friday entries here.

I'm Over the Hill: Good Bye

As my masthead says: A year in four seasons. I started this photo diary of the Pewaukee area on January 24th, 2009 - and my goal of posting for (over) a year has been accomplished. I also included images from places we visited during the year, along with pictures of our pets and other objects of interest. It was a wonderful experience which helped me open my eyes to the simple (and sometimes stunning) beauty around us all. I also loved learning about many other new places via City Daily Photo, places I may never get to visit except through the wonders of technology. Thanks to all my "e-friends" who posted their comments and insight.

I will continue to post from time to time on my regular blog: MODERATION, a collection of recipes, nature notes - and anything else that strikes my fancy. Feel free stop by. Best wishes to you all!

The Oaks

"The Oaks" is a small, but nicely appointed, subdivision near our house. The only issue I have is that they had to cut down a few giant oaks to build the houses there, only to replace them with the twigs below....

Hopefully they will be as mighty as their predecessors one day.

Amaryllis

A close-up view of the amaryllis now in bloom in our dining room.

Back in October my friend, Juli, ordered a variety of bulbs from a catalog, and so we weren't sure what color this would be. The options were red, white, pink, or candy stripe. The goal was to have them bloom by Christmas. I did everything right (I thought) - but over the holidays, it was still nothing but a little green shoot sticking out about an inch above the pot. Suddenly, at the beginning of January, two flower stalks shot up over a foot high! I was so pleased to finally see the dramatic "Candy-Cane" striped blooms burst open last week. They will last for several weeks, and the other stalk right next to it is also ready to flower. The whole plant can be seen in the image below.

It's so nice to have a bright splash of summery color inside while the world is cold and blustery outside!