Inside and Outside

The other night I took a walk at 4 AM. An hour through the woods, around the meadow, checking out the pond. Only a couple of times did I need to turn on my flashlight, mostly to ward off an aggressive yappy little dog whose handler was deficient in handling skills! 😛

But I can’t do photography in the dark. So yesterday when I was traversing the same route, I did take some pictures.

The woods is waterlogged at this time of year:

Heading out of the woods toward the meadow:

Out in the meadow, I took some long shots showing my condo, and then zoomed in. My condo unit is on the far left. It is the very last unit in the development, which I like a lot:

But first, to walk around the meadow and over to the pond:

Here’s the path leading to the pond:

And then the pond, which is a City of Columbus stocked pond, a godsend to fishers both human and waterfowl:

Back out to the meadow:

Heading down the path, at the end of which is the side of my condo, I spied a man with a dog. As they got closer, I recognized my old neighbor Jason and his bloodhound Hannah. Jason mentioned that he and Hannah had been missing my cats Black Bean and Kiwi, who used to frequent the neighborhood. In Black Bean’s case, somewhat notoriously! 😛

Sadly, both Kiwi and then Black Bean died this past year, in the spring and then in the summer. 😦

But here are Jason and Hannah!

Jason and his wife used to live on the same street that I do. Then about 8 years ago they bought a house two streets down, where they happily raised chickens and goats, until the neighbors threw a fit about the goats. Now they only have chickens. But they are going to get a permit for goats, which only necessitates that they build an extra enclosure for the goats inside their already-gated yard. They continue to rent out their condo.

It was great to see them. We talked about the local wildlife. Since Jason and Hannah go out at daybreak and again at sunset, they regularly see the deer and the coyotes. Hannah alerts Jason to the presence of the coyotes long before he is aware of them. There’s even one coyote who follows them to the boundary of the pond area, then sits and watches them proceed into “civilization.”

The only wildlife I saw yesterday was a single bunny. Usually they are out in the meadow in great numbers.

Approaching home, I saw that a garage sale was planned for today. But we don’t usually put out much of a show for garage sales, although in earlier years we did. I haven’t yet ever tried to sell anything, although I’ve tried unsuccessfully to give away some of my sons’ skate ramps, including a very nice quarter-pipe that takes up a whole bunch of my garage! 😛

A selfie on the porch with the big lawn behind me. Between the big lawn in front of me, and the meadow and woods and pond across the street, I hardly feel like I live in a development at all.

Another selfie once I get inside. I like this one because it shows my new Pusheen-reading-a-book hoodie. I love both Pusheen and books!:

Speaking of kitties, here are my two “girls.”

Sissy:

And Ophelia, who first was “helping” me make more Coronation jewelry until I let her have her own satin cord with findings on it as her toy:

Well, a post of mine about the indoors of my place would hardly qualify as such without some photos of my latest book acquisitions. But I really MUST stop buying books–I have absolutely no more shelf space, and no more wall space for more bookshelves. Still, when I see a good, likely, book, it somehow ends up making its way into my home. 😛

I found a really good clutch of books on the Vikings the other day that I just HAD to have, one of which is a second edition to which I’ve long had the first edition, A History of the Vikings, by Gwyn Jones, a seminal work published by Oxford University Press:

The Penguin Atlas  of Vikings is fun. And the Somerville & McDonald volumes comprising many works written at the time of, or shortly after, the Viking Age, are invaluable resources.

So there you have it: my place, inside and out! 🙂