Photo-a-Day Week 50

We are getting close to the end of the year, and Christmas items are starting to enter my photo array. Hope you have been enjoying the various photos and maybe you would consider doing your own photo-a-day challenge for 2026! It certainly has been an interesting exercise in observing my surroundings and finding something to photograph. Some of the photos are interesting photo techniques, and others are purely subject matter-centered. Let's look at this past week's photos and the also-ran photos.

Day 342-

Lebkuchen tins. I have more than I would like to count. Each and every tin was purchased filled with lebkuchen. I can count seven more from my chair that are visible. Downstairs, there are more- another stack like this one. There are more in the closet with the Christmas decorations. We lived in Germany two times for a total of almost seven years. We like lebkuchen and I LOVE the tins. Each tin is different, a different decoration each year. When the girls were little, they had some of their 'treasures' in a tin, another had their artwork, and others recipes. Some of the tins still have a faint aroma of lebkuchen, that yummy gingerbread cookie from Germany. Our second time in Germany, we lived near Nuremberg, home of Otto Schmitt lebkuchen (these tins are from Otto Schmitt). Starting in October, you could smell the gingerbread in the air as they began the holiday baking.

Lebkuchen

Day 343-

These two items are from my mom's house. The Ruth stained glass window is in the Chevers chapel in the casement at Fort Monroe, Virginia. My mom, along with a number of other ladies from the Chapel of the Centurion at Fort Monroe did the needlepoint chairs for the Chevers chapel. Years later Fort Monroe ended up closing, and they closed the Chevers chapel. Those who worked on the chairs were able to have one. Fort Monroe is now a National Park facility. The Ruth stained glass window has the quote, "Whither thou goest, I will go. Where thou lodgest, I will lodge." A memorial to the Army wife.

Ruth window and Chapel chair

Day 344-

This is a pet peeve of mine. Bills or bank statements that come with an additional page printed with "This page left intentionally blank". Once those words are printed on said page, it is no longer blank. 

But is it?

Day 345-

Grocery shopping, looking for products that are gluten-free for when my daughter comes at Christmas. I took a photo of the shelf of breakfast cereal to see if any of these were of interest to her. She passed on these.  

Gluten free

Day 346-

After college, one of my friends and I went to Europe with Eurail passes and our backpacks. I bought a couple of pairs of wooden shoes while in the Netherlands. I like having them on the side table in the living room. I also have one of the others that my mom did some tole painting on. I can't remember where it is, will have to look for it one of these days. (not a high priority)

Wood on wood on wood

Day 347-

Our neighborhood book club has a cookie exchange in place of a book discussion in December. Others from in the neighborhood are invited. The group has grown over the years. A few years ago the option of not bringing cookies was offered. I am glad as we are up to baking eight dozen cookies. We share a half a dozen in each baggie or tin. Everyone who brings cookies takes home the same number of cookies they brought. The selection of cookies is always fun to see and sample! This is just some of the cookies, I put some into the red tin with the gold rim- to keep them fresh.

Cookie exchange haul

Day 348-

I got our Christmas cards done and in the mailbox to get mailed. Charlie helped me with addressing them. It was most appreciated as the list grows. Do you still send out cards? I feel like it is a nice way to stay in touch. As the grandkids grow, it is a nice way to share their cute little faces. Our kids don't want them on social media, which I totally understand, so this is my way of being the grandma showing off her little loves. 

Christmas greetings

A couple also-ran photos- 

Liebling was checking out the front yard, now that the leaves are down, the street is visible. She lets us know if anyone drives or walks by. 

She also likes to stare at me, hoping it is time to go out and play. Between her and Fiona, the plea to go out and play is strong. 

One of the possible choices was my plant window. I have grow lights to supplement the light from the southern window. Some years, I think about starting my indoor plants over again- that means tossing the leggy, not good-looking plants, and trying something new. 

Another sunset photo from a moving vehicle. It wasn't as bright and colorful as the sky, so I decided to use the mailbox full of cards.

Well, two more weeks!! If you decide to try this year-long challenge, let me know. I would love to follow your challenge. See you next week.

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

Photo-a-Day Week 49

Another week is in the books! Hope you enjoyed this week's photos. Let's take a closer look at each and see what might not have been selected. 

Day 335-

I hope you enjoy live music as much as my husband and I do. It is great to see artists in person and feel the energy of the crowd. This night was standing room only, and we were able to get up to the rail along the left side of the stage. This band is American Aquarium, lots of fun.

Live Music

Day 336-

I love our cabinet pulls; you saw some in a previous day's photo of the day. This door hook is part of the collection. It is a great spot to hang my aprons. 

Mustache

Day 337-

I planted a number of Illicium parviflorum 'Florida Sunshine' in the woods and along the driveway. During the summer, even though they are bright yellow, they don't pop in the landscape. In the fall and into the winter, once the other leaves have faded, these yellow leaves shine. The nice thing about the Illicium is that the deer don't like them; the leaves have a strong licorice aroma.  Their flowers are small and rather unnoticeable. During the winter, the low angle of the sun finds its way to shine directly on some of these shrubs. 

A Couple Spots of Sunshine

Day 338-

This is my cereal bowl, full of plump blueberries. I liked how the milk settled into the recesses of the berry. 

Blueberries with Milk

Day 339-

This time of year, I find myself at the post office mailing our family calendars across the country. I put these calendars together every year. All the members of the family have their photo on their birthday date, and each month is a photo of something blooming in my garden. It is fun to see how the little ones grow and change over the years. We currently have two birthday doubles, my grandson and my brother, and my granddaughter and my sister. There's a new member of the family due to be born around the grandson/brother date, so we shall see if that date will have three born on that day! 

PO Box

Day 340-

We had a cold blast of weather this week, and it is nice to be able to turn on the gas logs to take the chill off the room. These are vent-free logs, so they do warm up the room nicely. 

Cozy

Day 341-

I know many of you have Robins in your gardens, and they aren't a novelty. I noticed a large flock of them in my front yard, high up in the pine trees. They were making a lot of noise, fluttering and calling to each other. If it were springtime and a nest was nearby, I could understand the commotion, but that wasn't the case. I did a photo book of the birds in our neighborhood, but there were no Robins. I have updated the book a few times with newly observed birds, so it might be time to update the book again!

Robin

And the also-rans- 

I took a few photos of the band and the stage for the photo of the day- trying to get that perfect shot. The black and white one was kind of flat. The one with the yellow spotlight didn't measure up either. 

Driving to the concert I tried using a slow shutter speed and get the lights of traffic. Will try this again in the future. 

The day I posted the fireplace, the frozen bird bath caught my eye. Again, it was kind of a meh, not too exciting.

The last one not used was a flock of Canada Geese swimming on the lake. Getting a photo through the trees was not easy. You can see the gray, dismal day.  The fireplace photo took the spotlight for that day.

Thus ends another week for my photo a day! Come back again next week. 

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

Photo-a-Day Week 48

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. Ours was quiet, but we are looking forward to a full house at Christmas. Let's see what we had this past week with the photos. 

Day 328-

I bought this planter after one of our Flings. I had seen it in one of the gardens, and I loved it. After a Google search, I found him! I change out the plant material every so often. Currently, there is a pup of a Color Guard Yucca and some 'Angelina' sedum. Our front porch is home to countless Anoles. Seems like every time I take the dogs outside, the first statement out of my mouth is, "Leave the lizards alone!"

I have an Anole on my face

Day 329-

The crescent moon was bright on Monday night. If my ride to bridge had been a few minutes later, I would have taken the photo from my driveway. She was right on time, so I waited until we got to our neighbor's house where we were playing cards. I wasn't sure the photo would come out because as soon as we got out of the car, her motion sensor lights came on. I tucked around the corner of her garage and captured the moon through the branches. It is not easy to photograph a bright moon with a cellphone.  

Crescent moon

Day 330-

The rain came, and there were ripples and splashes of water on the deck. Shadows and light are a great way to show off ripples of water. 

Ripples

Day 331- 

After a light frost, most of the herbaceous plants have disappeared. This little volunteer seemed to appear overnight. The little ray of sunshine made it really glow. I think it is another of the Golden Asters that have been volunteering in this area of the yard. Chrysopsis mariana, a lovely little native plant. 

Golden Volunteer

Day 332-

Not sure if this is the first hard frost, but when I finally rolled out of bed, there was still a good bit of frost on the deck. First frost or not, I love the water crystals. 

Frosty

Day 333-

There was a lot of bird activity in the side yard, and I decided to get the big camera and zoom in to see who was flitting around from branch to branch. Turned out it was a flock of Eastern Bluebirds. I like how this male Bluebird was staring at me from afar. There were a couple of not chosen photos, check them out below. I love Bluebirds! 

What are you looking at?

Day 334-

The bird feeders on the deck attract lots of birds and a few squirrels. The dogs are on alert; unfortunately, they will bark at the birds in addition to barking at the squirrels. Liebling, the German Shepherd didn't used to bark at the birds, but now with Fiona, our Border Collie, there is a lot of barking. We are working on it. 

On bird/squirrel alert

Our not chosen photos are as follows-- like I said before, I love Bluebirds!! I just thought the photo of the one looking at the camera was my favorite. 

On the frosty morning there was also ice on the top of the hose caddy, where there was once ripples of water. 

The skies before the rains and the cold weather were kind of cool. Not used, but still an interesting sky.

This brings us to the end of another week of photos. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. You can comment on Blogger, on Substack, or on Facebook. Thanks for visiting.

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

Photo-a-Day Week 47

The days are continuing to grow shorter, the leaves are falling, and my year of a photo a day is drawing to a close. Only five more weeks of photos. Hope you stay with me to the end. Please be thinking about your favorite photo or photos from this challenge. On January 1st next year I will post a link for a slideshow of the entire series. 

Let's look at this week's photos. 

Day 321-

The front of our property, near the street, is the sunniest part of the garden. I have a couple of varieties of Opuntia sp. Prickly Pear cactus. I like the red seed pods on this one. It is a pass-along plant from my brother in Illinois. This one's blooms are bright yellow with red centers. The other one I have is all yellow. 

Opuntia

Day 322-

Nothing is prettier to me than the calm waters of the lake with the reflection of fall colors on the other side. I was quite lucky to capture this image as within two days all the leaves across the lake were gone. 

Reflection

Day 323- 

I brought the Snake plants inside a few weeks ago. Two of the planters have flower stalks with lots of buds. Some folks tell me they never knew that Dracaena trifasciata, or Mother-in-law's tongue, bloomed. I was a little confused on the botanical name. I thought it was a Sansevieria trifasciata, but apparently the name changed in 2017. (according to my reading in Wikipedia and further reading on the Kew website)

About to bloom

Day 324- 

Driving home from Greenville, I had a few items I wanted to try and capture for a photo of the day. This tower is near Hickory Tavern, SC. We always take the back roads, the road less traveled, and enjoy the scenery. Not sure what this tower's job might be. Looks like a lead into an airport, not a cell tower. I will have to look more closely next trip.

Tower

Day 325-

The Camellia sasanquas are blooming now. The C. sasanqua 'Yuletide' is a reliable bloomer. I like that it has the bright yellow anthers for the pollinators to enjoy the pollen available. Some of the Camellias are doubles or more, covering the anthers, providing little to no pollen. 

Yuletide

Day 326-

Greenwood, South Carolina, had a number of textile mills. Over the years, most have closed, but Greenwood Mills Harris plant is still operating. There are two water towers near the plant. There is a lot of history throughout South Carolina with the textile mills, the mill villages, and the communities that grew up tied to the Mills. 

Water Towers

Day 327-

My Hydrangea quericfolia 'Ruby Slippers,' is really a stunning fall performer. The deer have nibbled down two of the three that I have. I will be more attentive next year with spraying deer repellent. While during the growing season this hydrangea is like any other oakleaf hydrangea, come fall, wow! Its color just pops. 

Ruby Slippers

Thanks for visiting once again for this week's round-up. Be sure to come back again next week. 

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

Photo-a-Day Week 46

Week 46! We are closing in on the end of the year quickly. Here is last week's photos with some rejects and explanations of the photos taken. 

Day 314-

We have had a crazy fall, drought conditions, and then a big rainfall and warmer temperatures. My spring-blooming azalea started blooming again in the fall. So I have a little fall color where none was expected. 

Mixed up Coral Bells

Day 315-

My husband won this truck and tank set earlier this year. So many others had photos of their veterans on Facebook, I chose to share a fun military vehicle set. At some point, our grandson will get the set, still a little young for now.

Happy Veterans Day

Day 316-

This oak leaf was dangling on a thread of spider web, twisting and turning as the breeze blew. A little portrait filter, blurring the background, and a light adjustment made for a super photo. 

Leaf on a spider web thread

Day 317-

We went to another concert, surprise, right? While waiting for the show to start I took a few photos of the lights, the stage, and my surroundings. I liked the two fiddles on the stand best of all. There's another one below, my beer glass with the blue lights behind it. We saw Kelsey Waldon, a Kentucky country/Americana music singer. We saw her at Albino Skunk fest a few years ago and really liked her. 

Twin fiddles

Day 318-

My Christmas/Thanksgiving cactuses are getting ready to bloom. Nestled in one of the pots is a little garden gnome that I bought on one of the Garden Flings I went on, though right now I can't remember which one it was, maybe San Francisco?? Or Denver? Or Portland? Who knows, but I like it in my cactus planting.

Pot Gnome

Day 319-

While walking the dog in the late afternoon, I noticed how blue and clear the sky was. The pines, standing in a line, left after the lumber harvest, made a good foreground to set off the blue. Enjoy our sunny day.

Blue Skies

Day 320-

Kind of at a loss for what to get a photo of for the day, I was taking the bird feeders out of our new trash can, where they reside overnight. The raccoons are too destructive to leave the feeders up after dark. I put my Bird Buddy back up with a cage around it to deter the squirrels, the lightweight cage would not hold back Mr. Raccoon. Anyway, the empty can has a nice pattern in the metal, making for a good photo.

Night home for bird feeders

The also-rans- photos thought about using but decided against them-

While going outside after dark, I noticed the leaf with its shadow on the stone wall. It caught my eye but I still felt like the daylight photo was better than this one. 

Beer with a backlight of blue. I thought this was going to be "the" shot, but after we got home and I looked through the other photos taken at the concert, I liked the fiddles better. 

 I shared a number of our Aurora Borealis photos on social media, pretty excited to have the experience AGAIN! Seeing the Northern Lights has always been a bucket list item. To see them twice in South Carolina was amazing.  I read we would have more on the following nights, while the reds and greens didn't show, the lights and clouds made for a cool photo.  

Late afternoon walks with Fiona are a great time to see low-angle sunlight through the trees. My neighbor has an American Beech in her front yard and this time of year it just glows.

That's all for this week, thanks again for stopping by. Let's see what next week brings!!

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.