"T Stands For Teddy And Gifts From CJ" - Photograph

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(Click on image to enlarge)

I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth for this week's T Stands For challenge found here.

This is my summation of the past week:

Teddy will be serving double duty as my main image plus as my "T-Day ticket" for my T-Day posts.

Teddy and I were surprised and thrilled to receive a thank you note and gifts in the mail from CJ this past week. (Note that Teddy is drinking an ice coffee in the first photo.) CJ does beautiful calligraphy work, and cleverly created a bookmark that summed up Teddy and my photography outings with a picture that tells a thousand words, as the saying goes. I love how she used the camera for the hollow space in the letter A. She also blended our favorite colors in the letter, and included the detail of Teddy's ear tag on the bear, which Teddy said looks just like him.

And Teddy has been inseparable from the Maneki Neko that she gave him. Back in November, Teddy happily showcased a magazine image of a large Maneki Neko statue, that he said he thought Bleubeard, Elizabeth, and CJ would enjoy seeing. Teddy also mentioned he wanted one, and unbeknownst to him, CJ filed away that information, and surprised him with one of his own.

During nice weather, Teddy and I usually go for outings with the camera, looking for birds to photograph while walking on trails, and CJ's thoughtful gifts, envelope, and note beautifully showcased those interests of ours. (Thank you again CJ!)

Speaking of the weather, my area of Connecticut has gone into a Level D0 drought. (United States Drought Monitor - Connecticut) Up until Saturday (6/27), we hadn't had rain in over two weeks. Everything was so dry that my forsythia bush leaves were extremely wilted, and I worried that the plants would die within a few more days, if we didn't get any rain. Fortunately Saturday we got a passing shower, that provided enough rain to revive the leaves. My lawn has turned brown in some areas, which usually doesn't happen until late July or August, so this has been an usually dry and hot June for my area. And the weather pattern seems to be continuing the same, where rain falls east and west of me, but nothing where I am.

My cat continues to improve, but I still have him on restricted activity, to limit his high jumping. I rearranged some furniture that he normally jumps up on, so that it is ordered in a gradual ascent, to help him strengthen his muscles without hurting himself. He has been sticking to jumping onto the lowest piece first, then continuing upward, and he does the reverse order when he comes back down to the floor, so he's aware of his limitations.

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I also completed my flower gardens project that I started at the end of May. It was a lot of work, but now, five weeks later, the work is done, and it looks much better than when it was overgrown with weeds / vines / etc. You can see all of the photographs of it here: Completed Flower Gardens

I hope to resume my usual blog activity within a week or so.

"T Stands For Teddy On Wood Bridge" - Photograph

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(Click on image to enlarge)

I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth for this week's T Stands For challenge found here.

This is my summation of the past week:

Those are photos of Teddy that I took during our last trip to the Audubon Larsen Wildlife Sanctuary about a month ago.

I needed a ticket into this week's T-gathering, so here is Teddy with another magazine image, this time showing people sitting at a table with beverages. Teddy said to make sure Bleubeard, Elizabeth, and CJ see this photo. Teddy said the statue in the foreground is a "Maneki Neko," which is the "Japanese/Chinese Lucky Cat or Beckoning Cat." Teddy said he read about them in a post by CJ. Teddy said he wants one of these, but in a smaller size.

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The weather here in the Northeast US has a mind of its own, and has been somewhat unseasonably cold, with more to come. Tuesday here in southern Connecticut we will get rain mixed with a possible dusting to a half inch of snow, then the overnight temperature will plummet to 15 F (-9.44 C). On Wednesday during the day, the high will be 32 F (0 C) but the wind chill will make it feel like 0 F to 10 F (-17.7 C to -12.2 C) 5 F to 15 F (-15 C to -9.4 C). But upstate New York is forecast to get 7 to 11 3 to 5 inches of snow, so I'm not complaining.

If anyone is interested in trying Linux (instead of Microsoft bloatware Windows 10) , I've been adding Linux links to the side of my blog. You can try it in a VirtualBox on Windows first.

I made a postcard: Sewing.

I visited one of my usual haunts (no pun intended): Union Cemetery.

I also made a road trip to the land of Hic Sunt Draconis (here there be dragons), as CJ would say. Northeast Connecticut is called "the quiet corner" and until recently, I didn't know many/any of the town names there. I live in the southwest side of Connecticut, and while I am familiar with most of the towns along the entire shoreline, the quiet corner was an unknown black hole to me.

The area is beautiful, with a lot of new growth forest. Within those forests are remnants of history, with stone walls and cemeteries revealing past use of the land. Everywhere I went, I followed the golden rule of "Leave only footprints and take only photographs."

I saw a Cemetery in the Woods, Old Ashford Cemetery, which had gravestones dating back to the first half of the 1700s, and nearby Ashford Academy.

I made a brief stop at Eastford Grove Cemetery, took a few photos of St Philip-Apostle Church, and explored Snow Cemetery. I also saw snow on the ground in one place, which I did not like seeing.

That early evening back at home, there were clouds passing in front of the Moon, making for some moody photos.

Over the weekend, we watched the following movies:

movies:

Paranoia (2013) (DVD) good

Annihilation (2018) (DVD) good

The Bourne Identity (2002) (DVD) very good

Niagara (1953) (DVD) very good

comedy:

Drillbit Taylor (2008) (DVD) okay

Dinner for Schmucks (2010) (DVD) very good

horror:

The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013) (DVD) very good