Our hamlet on a bright sunny day

I'm taking a break today. Stuff going on. Enjoy!

With Tasha.

Just for fun

And apropos of nothing, here's a random shot of the East River from the top of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, NYC. I think the date is sometime in May 1994, obviously prior September 2001.

One day I'd like to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

The bridge on the bottom is the Brooklyn Bridge and the bridge on top is the Manhattan Bridge. Outside of the shot to the left is the Williamsburg Bridge. 

At least it's not a snow plow

If I've seen one or two snow plows in the twenty-plus years that we've lived here, that would be a lot. When it's cold and icy around here, our roads get a layer of sand. There just isn't enough snow to justify plowing. So here's an agricultural plow on display in the Artsy Organized Neighbor's collection of curiosities.

I'm assuming that it's a plow and not the claw of some giant medieval beast..

I have to take back what I wrote yesterday about the car. The starter was not the culprit at all. The original diagnosis was correct: bad battery. It's since been replaced and the car starts up as it should. The pros tell us to run the car more frequently to keep the battery in shape. So, today, Ken plans a run to one of his favorite wineries about fifteen minutes from home. That's the spirit! 

The eye of the beholder

Yeah, but is it art? Some more of the Artsy Organized Neighbor's works. Those log piles in the background are not the same ones I posted yesterday.

Is that a wizard's staff leaning against the steel? Can you see it?

So, the car problem turns out not to be the battery after all, but a dead starter motor. The citroën is getting towed to the shop this morning where the transplant will occur. Should be ready by tomorrow.

Logs

Log jam or log preserves? LOL. It wasn't that long ago that the land owners around us harvested a good portion of their woods. The results are stacks of logs here and there. This one, I'm guessing, belongs to the Artsy Organized Neighbor or someone like him (as Ur-spo might say).

Each of these logs is one meter long.

We have a car problem to deal with today. The Citroën's battery has given out and, alas, the poor car won't start. Cold weather may be the culprit. Since cars are Ken's domain, he will do most of the work. That mostly means phoning the rescue folks provided by our insurance company and our local garage for a jump and possibly a new battery. We've been, as you might say, "down this road" before with the other car. I am here for support.

Fans

I woke up this morning to a strangely familiar sound. It sounded like airplanes of the propeller variety, but hovering in one place, like helicopters, not getting any closer, not getting any farther. Then it came to me: vineyard fans. They're used to mix the air on very cold mornings in an attempt to keep newly formed buds from freezing. The temperature is hovering around zero this morning, and I've seen buds in places, so that makes sense.

At woods' edge.

I'll have to try to take some photos of the buds as they become more numerous, not to mention bigger. In the meantime, here's some more moss in the woods out by the Artsy Organized Neighbor's property. 

Moss

All the rain we've had this winter has been heaven for the moss. It's thriving this year.

Moss grows at the base of virtually every tree in the woods around our local vineyard parcels.

I did decide to go out yesterday. It rained most of the day, as predicted. This morning is cold, below 5ºC. But there's no rain in today's forecast.