Friday, January 31, 2025

Goodbye, January

Very pretty day today. Lots of sun, mild in the morning, and warmish in the afternoon. One of those intense-blue-sky days with not a cloud in sight. 

They said on the evening news tonight that this has been one of the coldest Januarys on record in this area, even though we haven’t had a lot of snow or ice. So it’s really nice to have the warm weather coming back for February – which they’re predicting will be one of the warmest Februarys on record in this area. Weird. 

View from my front porch, near Lake Travis, TX

I guess I say something like this at the end of every month, but it is REALLY hard to believe this is the last day of January. How has a whole month of 2025 gone by already? And whatever happened to those New Year’s cards I was going to send? (In place of the Christmas cards I never managed to get sent.)

Sunday is Groundhog Day, and the experts are predicting cloudy skies in Punxsutawney PA, so Phil probably won’t be seeing his shadow this year. Which would mean an early spring, right? (Yay!) But Bee Cave Bob, the weather-predicting armadillo here in central Texas, will probably see his shadow, since Sunday is supposed to be another beautiful sunny day around here. And that will mean six more weeks of winter. There’s a little competition going on among the meteorologists of the two regions, about which varmint will be the better predictor. I’m pulling for Phil. 


Happy Friday, everyone! Stay safe - and warm!
And keep watching those skies!

For more sky shots, click on the button above.


Friday, December 15, 2023

Still Watching the Skies

Haven't posted any sky shots on the blog in quite a while. Well, actually, it's been over a year since I posted anything here at joysweb. 2023 has been a hard year for me, and I might write something about that later on. But for now, some sky shots.

I'm a terrible weather wimp. And now that the evenings are getting colder, I don't go out late in the day unless there's a good reason to. But we've been having some really great sunsets this fall, and I've been trying to remember to go outside around that time and take a daily photo or two. These are a few recent pix....


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That bright white dot near the top of the above photo is the moon. I kept trying to coax it out from behind the clouds, but finally got too cold and had to run back indoors! Told you I'm a weather wimp.

Don't these clouds look like they've been run over by a truck? Or maybe a celestial chariot! 

Happy Friday, everyone! Stay safe - and warm!
And keep watching those skies!

For more sky shots, click on the button above.


Sunday, July 24, 2022

Sunday Stealing and Hello Again


Haven't posted anything here at Joysweb in quite a while. But here we go again with a little Sunday Stealing (hosted by Bev Sykes, of Funny the World) — questions lifted from all over the blogosphere. This week's list was borrowed from Hodgepodge.

1. What's something you've recently accomplished solo?

Hmmm. That's a hard one. Since we retired, the hubby and I do most things together. I like it that way. 

2.  What's one product you use that never ever fails?

Ibuprofen.

3. Have you found your place in the world? Where is it?

Well, I'm too old to go looking for another place, so I guess I have found my place. Unfortunately, it seems to be Texas. 

4.  Worst movie you ever saw?

Wow! In my long life of movie-watching I've seen some real stinkers, so it's hard to name just one. But one that's certainly in the running for worst movie ever made would have to be Wonderwall — the 1968 British psychedelic film mostly remembered for the soundtrack with music by George Harrison. On the Internet Movie Database I gave it a single star, just to get it into my list of movies I've watched/rated. Definitely meant to be watched when stoned. Good music, awful movie. I waited almost 50 years to see it. That wasn't long enough. 

5. What's the last fun thing you did? 

This summer has been so hot, we really haven't been out much. So, the only fun things we've done have been pretty tame — like streaming the new season of Only Murders in the Building on Hulu. 

6. What's your favorite Italian dish? 

Marcello Mastroianni. Sorry. Actually, any kind of spaghetti, although I love ALL pasta. 

7. Have you ever been to France? Any desire to visit there, and if so what would site or city would you most want to see?

I've been to Paris once, and always wanted to go back. I'd also love to see more of the country, especially the Côte d'Azur. 

8. Have you ever been to Disney, any of the parks at all? Are you a Disney superfan or something less than that? They're open right now so tell us, would you go if you had the time/money/a free trip?

Never been to any of the Disneys. Not a huge theme park fan, Disney or otherwise. I suppose if I was offered an all-expenses-paid trip, I might take it — but it's not really something I'd spend my own money on.

9. Your favorite place to go when you want to be quiet as a church mouse? Would those who know you well describe you as more church mouse or perhaps more like mighty mouse?

I wouldn't say I'm church-mouse-quiet, but I'm not really a blabber mouth, either. I can talk a lot when I've got something to say (just ask my husband!), but basically I'm pretty much an introvert. Don't really have what you'd call a "quiet" place, though. 

10. Do you bake your own bread? Last time you had hot out-of-the-oven homemade bread? What's your favorite kind of bread?

I used to bake my own bread once in a while, but haven't done it in many, many years. My fingers are so arthritic now, I'm afraid my kneading days are over. I've always planned to get one of those bread-making machines, but so far I haven't done anything about it. My favorite bread is French bread — soft and chewy on the inside, nice and crusty on the outside.

11. What's something you might say is 'the greatest thing since sliced bread'?

The microwave oven.

12.  Share with us five little things you're grateful for today. Small blessings. One catch-they all must start with the letter T.

Gotta pass on this one. I'm not religious, but I am superstitious, and the whole "gratitude" thing makes me very nervous. 

13. Tell us where you were and something about what life was like when you were 20-21.

Well, back in the Pleistocene, it was really cold and we mostly just hunted mammoths and tried to keep ahead of the expanding glaciers. 

14. What's on the menu at your house this week?

No idea. I don't usually plan that far ahead. And we haven't been doing much cooking lately — just eating a lot of salads and sandwiches, to keep from having to heat up the kitchen. 

15. Something you recently purchased where a coupon was involved? Do you regularly shop with coupons?

I used to do a lot of coupon-ing. It got to be sort of a hobby. But now that everything is so computerized, all our discounts are digital. Definitely a time saver, but not as much fun. 

🙋‍♀️


Friday, January 21, 2022

A New Year of Sky Shots

Wow, January is almost over, y'all. How did that happen? I know the older you get, the faster time goes by, but this is ridiculous. Seems like just day before yesterday when we were pulling out all the Christmas decorations, and here it is almost February! Well, a lot has happened around here since the holidays (more on that later, maybe), but I've still managed to get a few sky shots. 

As usual at this time of year, some of the sunsets have been really interesting....



And recently I've actually been up early enough to snap a couple of sunrises, too!



Happy Friday, everyone! Stay safe - and warm!
And keep watching those skies!

For more sky shots, click on the button above.