Daily Reminiscence Of Our Lives
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“There is always, always, always something to be thankful for!” – Unknown
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I am grateful to myself for being a vegetarian.
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects a shocking 35 percent of turkey meat does not get eaten during Thanksgiving. Where does it go? Into trash cans. That equates to over 200 million pounds of turkey that finds its way into landfills.”
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11/1
Gorgeous day!
Gwynn’s Falls in Silver Creek park is rushing fast with the newly swollen tide. I was hoping to see the Bald Eagle but his perch is almost under water.
The view across the park is lovely with the ascending sun providing drama and fallen leaves setting the color scheme, gradually fading into the lime green grass.
Mag got a roommate tonight. Louie joined him in his crate after coming home from a vet appointment. He is suffering from kidney failure so Mag volunteered to keep him company.
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11/2
Even though I got up at 6 am we didn’t leave the house for our morning walk until 10. Chilly but sunny day.
Got my gloves out finally! After about 10 minutes into our walk I was ready to strip down though.
Thursday night’s violent storm has left its evidence all around us. The path through the forest looks like the bed of a fast rushing tiny river. Heavy, wet leaf piles gathered together everywhere and thousands of fallen branches scattering the ground.
The paved bike trail is barely visible under the colorful, fallen leaves slowly turning brown.
My favorite new discovery are these tiny Cladonia lichens. They look like tiny fairy forests. They thrive on top of certain fence posts where they get the most sun but can also stay moist.
We follow the blue markings up the hill, getting away from Franklintown rd. and slaloming through newly planted trees. This is a muddy shortcut which we both enjoy tremendously.
When we reach the top we start to race down the hill, towards the river and the parking area beyond.
There are six turkey buzzards circling above our heads looking for lunch. They’re mighty beautiful!
We’re keep following the bike trail while noticing that everything on our left is leveled to the ground. I am almost sure that Dead run was 4-5 feet above its bed, covering the paved path not even thirty hours ago. After crossing the foot traffic bridge, Gwynn’s Falls comes into sight, rushing passed us, swollen with pride.
Later on when heading up on Hutton ave. – which is finally closed off of traffic – we see more forest debris covering the paved surface.
The grassy area – tall grasses – on our right is full of doves. As we walk along they keep flying off of the ground, making their unmistakable departure sound. (Did you know that the whistle comes from their tail feathers?) It’s such a beautiful sight.
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11/3
Thanks to our awesome neighbor Jenyl we are visiting our first corn maze ever today! The theme is Toy Story….I didn’t even know there were themes….I thought we just going to wonder around in a maze of corn 😂. 5 acres of corn to be exact.
4 sections provide hours of fun while looking for Mrs. Potato head’s parts and a bunch of other “cut outs” from the movie. Even the aerial view reflects the movie.
Within the maze looking at the help tower.
Inside the maze there are specialty props we also had to find to be able to pass through each section.
This path at the Sunnyside board was a dead end….
This corn maze was a total blast! I would recommend it to all of you for next year! New theme though. We’ll be there!
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11/4
Another chilly but sunny day. We wondered underneath the light rail….
and still found some porcelainberries.
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11/5
We stayed home today to do some much needed yard work. Mag only came out after noon along with the sun. He took a little nap on his straw blanket.
I’ve also found a perfectly made little nest among one of my all time favorite plants, Mahonia. Along with a blue eggshell on the ground. I’ll check back next season to see if it’ll be occupied.
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11/6
I am either getting used to the colder weather or it’s really nice today but I don’t need a hoodie this morning. Feels really good walking under the rays of our sun.
Golden tones shimmer on these tiny acorns in Sudbrook park along with on Gwynn’s Falls surface.
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11/7
Sometimes waking up early pays off if I catch a gorgeous sunrise like this.
I am wondering how long the honeysuckle will hang on and pushing new blooms forward.
Chillier nights are visibly left a mark on the top of this small tree….
…. and on these once gorgeous porcelain berries.
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11/8
Wind and cold are our company at the morning walk along with fast rushing clouds. The sun still manage to peak through them occasionally, providing some dramatic effects with crystal clear blue skies.
There are some other tiny flowers still bearing the chill.
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11/9
We are walking with Jenyl this morning through Leaking park without driving. Door to door. That’s a first! I am excited.
View from Windsor Mill rd. over Gwynn’s Falls.
We have done 6.34 miles in 3 hours. Turtle style thanks to Mag.
My beautiful Knock out roses greet us upon arrival.
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11/10
Since today suppose to be warmer (58F) we do a quick walk in our neighborhood, then get back to raking leaves….yay!
Sleepy Dekay’s brownsnakes litter the soil underneath the piled up leaves. I just relocate them to a safer spot. I think they are breathtakingly beautiful.
The kids are enjoying the sunshine as well.
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11/11
The weather people predicting another nice day so we’ll get back to raking some more leaves. Celebrating this gorgeous day at Leakin park with 3 miles of hiking in the woods….
…. through the meadows….
….over the river….
…. and up the hill.
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11/12
Rainy, cold, windy day….brrrr 🥶. It’s getting harder and harder to find interesting subjects to photograph.
This image looks like an oil painting in my opinion.
Mag says he cannot work in these conditions.
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11/13
Thankfully Mag is always handy when I am in a bind to find a mug. When he is wearing his hoodie you know it’s chilly outside.
This fella was heading over to Leakin park in the afternoon.
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11/14
Thanks to my flex schedule we are able to walk a little bit later in the morning even though is still chilly. This colder weather also favors the introvert in me since there are no other people out in the woods but us. We’ve noticed that even the birds are silent today until we got to the east side of the arboretum where the sun has shown. All the sudden, there are Blue-jays, woodpeckers, cardinals and all sorts of other small birds flying away from us with loud chipper.
Unfortunately there were several big trees down on Ravine trail, including two huge oak trees. They’ve both lost their lifelong fight against gravity.
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11/15
Quick one miler to beat the chill.
Colder weather is the only reason I could’ve taken a picture of this artificial bee nest.
Roughly 100 Canadian Geese flew over our heads.
Louie is enjoying some much needed sunshine.
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11/16
Lower 40s all day today so we are taking our time to get to our destination. We park at Prettyboy Reservoir at noon. Starting the 3 mile north trail from Masemore rd. My pictures will never do justice to this beautiful, enchanted forest and Gunpowder Falls but I try anyway.
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11/17
When temperatures are in the low 40s it’s always a good idea to visit Soldiers Delight. It’s an easy hike through wooded trails and savannah. I like to park at the Visitor Center and start our loop from there. I did bundle up and even took my gloves but by the end they all came off.
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11/18
Louie has crossed over the rainbow bridge today. My heart is shattered.
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11/19
My world is black and white today….
….but Mag is still in colors.
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11/20
Silver Creek park is more of a fading yellow going into browns except this one, red hued fallen leaf.
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11/21
This is one of my Christmas cacti in full bloom waaaay before Christmas.
Mag always has to rest his brainiac head on something. I am going to make a Pretzel costume for him for one of the upcoming Halloween celebrations.
Spud and Mag absolutely love each other. Thanks to one of our awesome customers she visits the shop a lot so they can get it on!
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11/22
The huge oak tree in the park still has all the shrunken leaves attached and they’re making a quiet, rustling sound stirred by the light breeze (no pic).
Mag got a bit startled by a bunch of crows screaming above us.
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11/23
We are heading over to Alexandria, VA to meet our friends new puppy, 5 month old Mick Wu.
Even though Mag thought at first that Mick was super hyper and loud they hit it off after testing each other’s buttons for a while.
It seems like they will become best friends. More visits will be scheduled ❤️.
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11/24
Another rainy, dreary day. We got lucky enough at 11am to be able to walk without getting wet.
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11/25
Bit chilly in the morning but by noon we’ve had crystal clear blue skies and balmy temperatures (upper 50s).
For our evening walk it was still gorgeous so we walked almost 3 miles in our hood.
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11/26
Beautiful Cylburn Arboretum.
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11/27
Rainy, windy morning walk in Silver creek. Had to run back to the car half way through, caused by sudden drops.
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11/28
We’ve took our time this morning getting around to walk. Even though it’s not too cold but the wind is restless.
My two black kids were sharing the room by the time we’ve come back from walk. That pretty much never happens. Even though if in two separate corners.
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11/29
Chilly but clear with lots of sunshine.
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11/30
True to myself I didn’t want to go anywhere today but then I remembered that we ran out of chicken 🥺😲🤭. So here we go, heading to the store then to Oregon Ridge. It’s 40 degrees but the sun is peeking through the clouds.
There are still some interesting subjects in the forest if one is alert to the surroundings.
The temperature seems to be warmer in our neighborhood and we manage to walk our usual 3mile loop with Jenyl.
When I went to feed Halo, a super sweet smell hit my nose in the sunroom. Took me a minute to find the source….my 10+ year old corn plant is in full bloom for the first time! The fragrance is absolutely amazing!
I hope you enjoyed our November! See you in December. Have a wonderful last month of the year!
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The Longest Route 