Photos: to Norfolk, and Home Again

2:00 this afternoon found me sitting in the Jeep at a truck repair place in Norfolk waiting for Larry to get in and drive us back home. He’d driven his truck there to have it repaired, and I had followed him there in the Jeep. 

I’m not sure what was wrong with the truck. Something about it not wanting to go... not wanting to reverse... that must be a transmission problem, maybe? He told me, but I’m not good at other languages. 😉 

Our wood-burning stove is going, and it’s toasty warm up here in my quilting studio, because the chimley (as one of my kiddos – was it Hester? – used to say) runs right through it, against one wall. 

I spotted a hanging nest of some sort in the maple tree out front, so I ran for my camera and 300mm lens. The nest had been hidden until the leaves fell. Then, there were such pretty views from both windows, I took several more photos. 

I dashed back downstairs to get the binoculars, took a closer look at the nest, and determined that it’s a Baltimore oriole’s nest. 

I discovered that, with the leaves gone, I can now see Jeremy and Lydia’s house. I’d be able to see Teddy and Amy’s if a shed wasn’t in the way. Teddy and Amy’s is about 1.5 miles away, as the crow flies; 2.5 miles by road. Jeremy and Lydia’s is 5 miles away. I can see the steeple and the front of the church, 6.5 miles away, the water tower, 9 miles away, and the corn plant, steam rolling from its smokestacks, 12 miles in the distance. When I’m on the upper deck, with a radius of 180°, I can see half a dozen grain elevators in small towns up to 20 miles away.