Friday Fences - Early!

I am off on the road again tomorrow, and I have SO missed playing along with Friday Fences, so I thought I would sneak one in today, just a little early!  Hope I get a chance to link it up with Jan and Jer when they go live!

We traveled over toward the mountains last weekend - hoping to see a little snow and get a carriage ride in it (Dianna at These Days of Mine made me so jealous with her lovely photos from Vermont!) and maybe get some nice photos.  We arrived at my aunt's house on Saturday and there was a small dusting of snow on the ground, but the temperatures were expected to get into the upper 50's so I was not expecting it to last long.  It didn't, but it was pretty while it lasted!

However, I did expect to see snow at the resort, because it is farther north and west.  I was very disappointed not to see any at all!  And, they told me they hadn't really had much when it did snow.  So, I had to be content to take a buggy ride in the cold, without the pretty snow.  Guess the gorgeous blue sky was a nice trade-off!

Sam, our guide, and Sparky, our noble steed!

Linking to Friday's Fences (when the link goes live).

Inspiration - Revisited!

When I first started blogging, in December, 2011,  my 2nd post was about my mother.  Since I had almost no readers at that time, there were lots of people who never got a chance to know about my mom.  I thought I would "recycle" the post here.  She is definitely a lady worth knowing - another year older, and still going strong!
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The holiday season always makes me think of family.  Today, the subject of my thoughts is my mother.  She turned 80 this year and is still going strong, managing a volunteer sewing group in Florida.  They make clothing for children, quilts and walker bags for nursing homes, and this year have even made blankets for the local animal shelter.  Over the course of 3 years, her group made over 30,000 diapers out of recycled T-shirts.  These were sent to Guyana to the Amerindian tribe there.  I am always amazed at her energy ( when I was a child I used to wonder if she ever went to sleep!).  Through one of her outreach projects, she developed an email correspondence with a Pastor in India.  The orphanage he oversees "adopted" her as Grandmother, and last year, on her 79th birthday, had a celebration in her honor, complete with banner and a cake!

She is an amazing woman!

Getting My Mojo Back...Maybe!

The biggest problem I can see with a blue funk is that you can get mighty comfortable there...TOO comfortable!  It becomes easier and easier every day to just drift along, accomplishing nothing, doing absolutely nothing productive that isn't necessary for life to continue, and sinking deeper and deeper into that sticky morass of yuk!

I have not even wanted to take out my camera, finding nothing that sparked a flicker of interest.  I did the dutiful Christmas photos of the lights, yada, yada, yada, but didn't even take the Christmas photos with the family, leaving that to my niece!  Talk about pathetic!

Well, tonight, after a successful trip across the river to see and purchase a gorgeous treadle sewing machine for my mother, I was feeling pretty good about the day.  Christmas decorations down and put away; extra Christmas decorations donated to Goodwill; house vacuumed, things back in their places.  With the tree down, I even got my side table back, so I can put my cup or glass beside me instead of on a small footstool.  (Are you hearing the whine yet?)

Because I try really hard to never leave home without the camera...well, we did have to return to the house to get it today...I had the opportunity to photograph a gorgeous sunset.  And, because I did that, I thought about how truly blessed I am, and began to feel just a glimmer of excitement about my photography again.  Dan even got off the interstate and pulled into the boat launch area so I could take full advantage of the evenig light.   And, as I clicked away, I realized that today I did have something to share with my readers.

The skyline, looking over the Norfolk Naval Base, from the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel

So, here you have it - I think I am starting to commence to begin to rejoin the world  (no, I am not crazy - I realize that is a whole lot of redundancy there...but my Dad used to say that, and I always thought it was a great way to say you were fixin' to do something).

The bridge crossing the river by WIlloughby Spit.

Lights on the water...what a way to end the day!