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Thursday, December 1, 2022

Black Friday in Winston-Salem

With only a few blocks remaining on my Black Friday late afternoon walk, the Western sky made clear that we were in for a spectacular sunset.

[Side note: in 2003, walking in the same block but closer to Poplar Street than Spruce, I snapped a setting sun photo. It was a Saturday night, when I snuck home between the two movies showing at the Cinema Society's Films on Fourth at the Stevens Center: Dirty Pretty Things and Man on the Train.]

Anyway...I picked up my pace and diverted my normal path slightly so I could dash up the stairs to the top floor of the Center City parking deck across from the house. From there I was able to snap several shots.

The colors were glorious and the nexus of the retreating light lent to the scene a fortuitous artistic juxtaposition.

In my 19 years here I’ve witnessed—and occasionally photographed—amazing sunrises and full moons over the city skyline. It occurs to me that this is my first remarkable sunset backdrop to frame this great old manse.

As long as we are on the topic of colors, it’s as good a time as any to share a few yard shots, occurring without any recent meaningful landscaping activity on my part but lovely nonetheless!

Mums left in planters enjoyed our recent regular rainfalls as well as the much cooler weather, apparently. They did better without my care than they normally do under it.

The camellia at the front wall overflows with eager pink blossoms...

...and another camellia, by the steps to the porch from the parking lot, gives off a seasonally significant deep red and gold.

Oh, of course the bloom-again azaleas did not disappoint and the crazy ones by the movie screen have once again been pumping out lavender beauty since August.

And the award for the most unusual dead bird to find on the seldom-used north side of the porch goes to this sad but huge pileated woodpecker:

Confession: I’d much prefer a live giant woodpecker to this live normal-sized rat:

Sumner was an intense and dedicated hunter of said rat:

We have visitors we like much better.

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