Friday Fotos 2026 #6

Photo by Designecologist: https://www.pexels.com/photo/image-of-river-on-smartphone-1398339/

Friday Fotos is a post where I can dump some photos from the previous week. The goal is to make me more aware of the beauty and fun in my everyday life. 

On Fridays during Lent, I pray the Stations of the Cross at my parish's Outdoor Stations. There's a lot of noise from the road, but it's easy to block it out.

This made me smile. I just picture a mom with her kids, who were enjoying the warm weather, stopping at this tree to play with the kids' meal toys. Hopefully, they came back for them later.

Dogwoods are coming to life!

Laika is hanging in there. She's doing pretty well since the vet prescribed some anti-inflammatories for her hips. She even got into the creek on the day this picture was snapped.

My neighbor's Kwanzan Cherry Tree

The women's group at church just finished our latest session. This was the first time I was the facilitator. We watched a series on The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. We learned a lot and had some incredible discussions.

These red maple pods kind of reminded me of the fuchsia in Ireland. Not nearly as pretty, but the way they drooped down!

Bat houses are all over the park. Hopefully, it will take care of all of the bug problems!

The 5th Sunday of Lent: Everything is veiled, even in the little chapel. In my parish, this happens on the 5th Sunday; some parishes wait until after the Holy Thursday Mass 

Stained glass windows and the Stations of the Cross (found in every Catholic Church) are not covered. Why do we veil everything else? The short answer: to remind us of the importance of Holy Week (the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday) and to keep us focused on Christ's Passion during this last week of Lent. 

Thanks for taking the time to see what I saw beauty in this week!

Friday Fotos 2026 #5

Photo by Designecologist: https://www.pexels.com/photo/image-of-river-on-smartphone-1398339/

Friday Fotos is a post where I can dump some photos from the previous week. The goal is to make me more aware of the beauty and fun in my everyday life. 

I love how, in the midst of trees that haven't woken up yet, the red buds start to bloom

The red buds are all over the park, painting splashes of purple where it's least expected

The starflowers (AKA Star-of-Bethlehem) are popping up in the most random places

Wildflowers are blooming all over the fields in the park

And then this happened on Monday

I made an Irish Cream Pie for dessert for St. Patrick's Day...it was yummy! I cheated and didn't make the crust; it made no difference and saved me a step.

I didn't take a picture of the sunrise on Wednesday, but it was one of the prettiest I've ever seen. There were multiple pale colors as the sun came up over snowy mountains. Gorgeous!

Thanks for taking the time to see what I saw beauty in this week!

Friday Fotos 2026 #4

Photo by Designecologist: https://www.pexels.com/photo/image-of-river-on-smartphone-1398339/

Friday Fotos is a post where I can dump some photos from the previous week. The goal is to make me more aware of the beauty and fun in my everyday life. It's been a couple of weeks since my last Friday Fotos, but this is #4 for the year, so I've already surpassed last year's postings! 🙌

The Bradford Pears in the back of the church. In the forefront to the left is the Columbarium. This is where CH's ashes are.

Smokey (OS' dog) enjoyed the warm weather

Girl Dogg at the end of a walk on a very warm day

I've left the screen door open to the back porch out of sheer laziness so I don't have to walk onto the porch to let the dogs out; I just opened up the sliding glass door. Then I saw this menace inside the porch. Guess I'll have to stop being so lazy. 🙄

My old girl had a recheck for a rash on her belly and some bloodwork done. She got a clean bill of health!

Since CH's passing, Laika has become a lot more vocal. I think she was trying to coerce me into an extra dessert (which is a chewy).

Thanks for taking the time to see what I saw beauty in this week! 

Friday Fotos 2026: #3

Photo by Designecologist: https://www.pexels.com/photo/image-of-river-on-smartphone-1398339/

 

Friday Fotos is a post where I can dump some photos from the previous week. The goal is to make me more aware of the beauty and fun in my everyday life. I missed last week because I didn't take any pictures worth mentioning.

It's been warm so the flowers are waking up in the park. This was the first bloom I saw in the woods.

The Lenten Roses are blooming right on cue!

Girl Dog enjoyed the sunshine on the porch

The altar just before Ash Wednesday Mass

Thanks for taking the time to see what I saw beauty in this week!

Bringing Back Friday Fotos

Photo by Designecologist: https://www.pexels.com/photo/image-of-river-on-smartphone-1398339/

I decided it's time for me to revive my "Friday Fotos". It's a way for me to find the beauty in my everyday life and share it on Fridays. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this up, at least for a while. This post is a short one!

Gurl Dogg rarely gives me cuddles. The other day she crawled onto my lap and laid her head on my shoulder. 

I popped into the church and noticed the light produced a shadow of the cross behind the crucifix. 

During a walk, I noticed a branch fell and landed sideways with other branches holding it in place. Interesting.

If you read "An Opinionated Hodgepodge", you've already seen this picture. YS put some bird seed on the window ledge in my office so I could enjoy the birds up close & personal. This titmouse seemed interested in what I was doing before he grabbed a snack.

I took this as a sign of how safe the Small Town is. I noticed this child's bike the day before I snapped this photo. It was in the same place the next day. Gurl Dogg is checking it out.

What interesting and/or beautiful things did you see in your world this week? Notice the world around you and take a photo each day of something beautiful. 

Back in the Swing Friday Fotos

 

My last first week of school is in the books. 8 more until my last Fall Break. It's been an exhausting week and I haven't even started seeing my students yet!

I made scones from a King Arthur Mix and they were delicious!

Looks like I wasn't the only one tuckered out by the end of the week!

My stuff is back in the room but no flooring. I'm hearing over "break" but I don't think what break was specified. I'm glad they polished the floor, but the concrete dust was everywhere. 

After over 2 weeks the Mystery Machine is back! CH took her to a place for routine maintenance on the brake line but the people messed it up so he had to have it towed to another place to have it fixed. It was weird not seeing her in the driveway. I missed her!

Gurl Dogg was just too tired to chew on the chewy one morning but she kept it close so Laika wouldn't snatch it from her!

On Election Day I drove over to this restaurant in the mountain town to grab a sandwich.

It's right on the river so you can sit outside and enjoy the sound and the view. 

How cool is this? When you walk in you walk through the chapel to get to the bar area to order food.

As I said...1 week down, and 8 more to go until Fall Break. I'm really making an effort to be in the moment and not take pictures. With school back in session, there's not just a whole lot else going on!

Catching Up with Friday Fotos

 

It's been a while, eh? Here's a "catch-up" of my pictures on my phone over the past few weeks.

Proof that our strawberry plants produced fruit. We didn't get to eat them, though but I'm sure the birds enjoyed them.

CH & I took an overnight camping trip to Mile High Campground near Cherokee, NC. We stopped at Newfound Gap which straddles the TN/NC border and were treated with some spectacular views enhanced by the cloud cover.

The rhododendron were blooming. I don't recall ever seeing them quite in full bloom like they were. Just beautiful!

This is the view from our campsite. Mile High is one of our favorite places to camp and is a great place to escape the heat. We were there in early July and once the sun went down I was in leggings and a sweatshirt.

There are elk that roam the campground but our site was too far away from where they are usually seen. We saw this girl at the Okonaluftee Visitor's Center on our way out. I have to say this as a PSA: If you see these gorgeous animals, stay in your car. They are not pets and can do some damage. Some things are best admired from a distance!

I was walking Gurl Dogg one day and saw something moving in the distance. I thought it looked like a little alligator...what??? Alligators in East TN??? I was able to get fairly close to it, keeping GD behind me to get a better look. GD must have some smarts about her because she could have cared less to have seen this snapping turtle.

On another walk with GD, I saw this mushroom growing on a tree. It kind of looks like a patio umbrella for fairies, doesn't it?

On yet another walk with GD, I barely saw this rabbit. She did a good job of camouflaging herself against the pile of mulch.

We took another short camping trip as my last summer as a school employee wound down. We didn't get the elevation I would have liked, but this was a new campground for me and we wanted to try out the tent that attaches to the awning off of the van to see how I liked it. If you want to find out, watch for a comparison between that tent and the one we usually use on our Flyin' the Coop blog.

These 2-a-day walks make for one tired pooch!

That gets me caught up for now! Follow my IG account @mskicoop as well as our camping IG @flying_the_coop for more.