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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 9h

Sóla’s Wednesday A.M. walk: 56F/86%/7 MPH NNW. Dogs:16; Runners:1; Wasp: 1. Mackerel sky today which might mean a little rain is coming or not. Roses continue to deliver beautiful color. Leaves are changing more and more. Organic garden is winding down. #roses, #dogsofbluesky

Pink miniature rose in full bloom with one tight bud. Green leaves in background.

Rain puddle in the street reflects a tree with yellow orange and red leaves.

A man in a gray jacket, cap and khaki pants walking uphill with a blue merle border collie on a leash. Long shadows, green grass and trees with shaggy bark are alongside the paved path.

Mackerel cloud formation, waves of white clouds that resemble scales of a mackerel, in a blue sky.

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 23h

I heard from M about these photos from Cuba just today and I had to see them for myself. They are very good. Anytime there are clothes drying on a line, old rusted out things or graffiti on a wall, I’m in. The old cars though, really special. Thanks for posting!

JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 1d

This glass artist is creating some interesting pieces. www.mercurynews.com/2025/08/08/m...

Meet the California man turning torched Porsches into stained glass art

Ben Tuna is good at transforming rusted-out, patina-eaten wrecks into art.

www.mercurynews.com

JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 1d

Sóla’s Tuesday A.M. walk: 55F/85%/10 MPH N. Dogs: 10. Rained or drizzled the entire walk. Love walking in the rain! It sharpens color, enhances the unseen, cleanses streets and clears the air. Sóla loves the way scents, long dormant, are released. She goes on a sniffari. #dogsofbluesky

Reflections in wet pavement of trees and a red brick two story building with lights on in the windows. Fallen leaves of color are scattered on the wet pavement.

A leashed blue merle border collie with gray, black, tan and white fur, a white fur shawl collar around her neck and mismatched spotted ears, peers into a rain puddle in a street. Reflections of trees and power lines are visible. Green grass grows along a gray cement curb.

Silvery rain drops are caught in a spider web stretched over green and brown leaves.

A man wearing a gray jacket, khaki pants and a cap walks alone down a street. A tree with fall colors (red, yellow and orange) appears on the left side of the street along with other trees still with green leaves. The sky is gray and overcast and the pavement is wet from rain.

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 2d

Sóla’s Monday A.M. walk: 60F/78%/13MPH N. Dogs: 16; Runners: 3. The hunt is on for color, anyplace it can be found. Pink skeletons? Soon the cedar waxwings will come through the area and get drunk eating the orange pyracantha berries. Sóla loves rain puddles. So do I. #dogsofbluesky

Two pink plastic skeletons sitting in two white wooden Adirondack chairs on a green lawn. One is wearing a white hat and an athletic ribbon with medal attached.

Bright orange pyracantha berries with little green leaves up against a tan brick wall.

Tall trees with green leaves with one tree in the middle beginning to show a change of color with red leaves.

Blue merle border collie leashed and standing in a rain puddle that has reflections of trees with yellow and red leaves.

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 3d

Some new and old graffiti at the Seneca Mill and quarry ruins, Seneca, MD. Have been following the graffiti here for years. Some new stuff, not fully pictured, refers to Turning Point.

Graffiti of two Egyptian eyes in red paint above the word “glory” and a white cross with green background.

Graffiti of two blue eyes painted on red sandstone with green vines.

Graffiti of two black circles with a black center, black dots on yellow outlined with white appear on a sandstone wall. Letters spell NTJ against a white background with green in the middle and a blue heart are below.

Graffiti painted on whitewashed sandstone are that of three stick figures in black paint; a purple circle, white center and black center; a face of two eyes and nose, plume with red and yellow beneath.

JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 3d

Took M out to Hughes Hollow to see a red headed woodpecker and he got a pic of a juvenile. Sóla loves that place and gets very excited in the country, being a farm dog. We saw some pumpkins/pickers on our way to HH, deer paths and protozoan bio layer at HH. Inhaled a gnat too, it happens.

Blue sheen on water with green aquatic plants, green grasses and brown dying plants along the edge of the pond.

Field of orange pumpkins with people selecting pumpkins. Green orchard in background.

Path split in the aquatic plants and bushes possibly by deer. Trees and gray clouds in background.

Large body of water covered with green aquatic plants, clumps of green grasses and trees in background. Gray clouds overhead.

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 3d

#dogsofbluesky

JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 3d

Sóla’s Sunday A.M. walk: 61F/79%/15 MPH NE. Dogs: 13; Runners: 1; Sleeping Bees: 2; Tennis players: 1. Of note: strong breeze and puddles from o/n rain. We really miss Venice and Ravenna and happy that Sóla received such great care by the pet service we used so we use them again.

The head and front paws of a tan-colored curly haired dog looks out a second floor window. House is tan with brown trim.

Blue merle border collie looking up while standing over three fallen green walnuts on a sidewalk.

A wet sleeping bee sitting on a petal of a dying pink zinnia. Green leaves beneath.

Beige and white dog stares at a blue merle border collie who stares back.

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 4d

Also seen on Sóla’s walk today: syncretic display? Some of our neighbors combine the Festival of Lights with Halloween every year. Yellow roses are particularly nice too.

Close up of a skeleton wearing a red sari and flower garland while sitting on a chair in a yard of grass with long red and orange garlands hanging in a tree. There are five orange pumpkins on the ground beside the skeleton.

Skeleton wearing a red sari with flower garlands hanging in a tree and pumpkins on the ground.

Full bloomed rose with tiny pink spots on the yellow petals. Green leaves below.

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 4d

Sóla’s Saturday A.M. walk: 48F/78%/3 MPH NE. Dogs: 10; Deer: 3; Runners: 1; Tennis players: 4; Sleeping skippers: 1. White schnauzer, Bentley, was met today. Feels heavy with dark clouds. Rain later on. Blooming: Roses, iris and Jerusalem artichokes. To do: cut basil, make pesto. #dogsofbluesky

A small brown-winged insect with large black eyes is resting under the petal of an orange flower. Green stem and leaves are below the flower.

Three brown deer are running across a street with two houses visible.

Small white dog on a leash standing in the street.

Man standing on a hill is wearing an Irish tweed cap, a gray hooded jacket and tan pants while holding a leash attached to a blue merle border collie. A green playing field marked for soccer with goal posts and nets and a black chain linked fence for baseball are on the field. Dark clouds overhead.

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 4d

A hybrid tea rose is thing of beauty! My dad, an avid rose grower for years, planted this rose for me 34 years ago when we bought our first/only home. He was a past president of the SC Rose Society and knew his horticulture. This beautiful rose always connects me to him and to his love of roses.

Two fully opened hot pink hybrid tea rose blossoms.

JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 5d

Sóla is obviously overjoyed with the return of her family. She can hardly control her excitement. Silly dog!

Blue merle border collie is sprawled upside down on a black leather chair.

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 5d

Sóla’s Friday A.M. walk: 44F/90%/5MPH ENE. Dogs:6; Runners:4; Deer:3. So good to be home. Returned to the cold - first time this fall wearing my fleece-lined Carhart, AKA, “dog-walking coat” and lined cap. Since our return, Sóla won’t let me out of her sight-a dogs’ love. #dogsofbluesky

Blue merle border collie with sun “halo”shining through her fur as she stands in the street.

Purple and white iris blooms with green foliage beneath.

Yellow bloom of a Jerusalem artichoke atop green leaves. A tiny gray insect sits on one of the petals.

A family of three tan deer (doe with two young) standing in a yard of green grass with a gray chain link fence behind.

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 5d

Just a note to say we had a smooth experience flying home from Rome to IAD yesterday. The only event we experienced was a woman having a grand mal within inches of us while going through passport control. A flock of US nurses and Italian EMT quickly responded. Hope she did not miss her flight.

Image of the Italian coastline: beaches houses and blue ocean with white sailboat.

Image of the shadow of a plane, a silver and blue plane engine, green sea with white beach, white sailboat and houses.

Image of a small island with tiny houses visible further out in the sea off the coast.

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 6d

Ciao Roma, Ciao Italy!

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 7d

Last day in Rome. Heading back to DC tomorrow. Have missed my poor Sóla and am looking forward to seeing her. Noticed there are not as many dogs in Rome as in other parts of Italy. Probably because we are in a tourist area. Doggos are at all home.

Man in a red apron, white shirt and white hat cooking chestnuts on a hot griddle on a street corner. Behind him are various bicycles, motorcycles, etc.

A green gallery is placed on a large building (Napoleon’s palace). Below the gallery and to the right are large posters advertising an art exhibition. Many people are on the street below.

A dead saint dressed in a red and white vestments lying in a glass coffin below an altar.

A fountain in a large square (Piazza Navona). There is a church in the left background and an obelisk in the center background.

JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 7d

Okay, not gonna be nice after standing on line for 45 minutes to see the ceiling of San Ignacio Loyola church via mirror. People were coming in to steal a view we paid to see and I had enough. Go to the back of the line, I said. And I said it to a lot of people. Rude American? Don’t care anymore.

Mirror reflection of the ceiling of Chiesa San Ignazio Loyola

Saw this guy with the shirt in the church while we stood in line and then again much later in Rome.

A large Baroque church with three doors and ten columns stands in a piazza. Above the main door is a window. Numerous people are gathered outside.

A beautiful mosaic of Mary, in a blue cloak, with Jesus, in a red dress, against a gold background flanked on either side by angels.

JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 8d

Cats are only seen in a special garden in Rome, the one where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death. There is a cat refuge (they take blind, deaf and diabetic cats) there. Last trip we visited it. The line was too long today.

White and gray tabby cat sunning him/herself.

The head of a cat is the only part of the cat visible in the ruins.

JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 8d

Walked miles today and went to places we had not seen last trip: the baths of Carcalla; the Arch of Octavia; ate fried artichokes in the Jewish Ghetto; went to boatloads of churches with mosaics. There were masses being said in all. We are feeling holy. Passed the wedding cake bldg tonight.

Mosaics in one of the churches- over the altar. Depicts man and a woman wearing crowns with sheep beneath them.

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 8d

Graffiti in Rome is over the top in many places, not a nice look, with few exceptions.

Graffiti of a young Jack Nicholson inside a TV.

Graffiti of an Angel wearing a flak vest with PRESS on it and carrying an infant wrapped in a white shroud.

Graffiti of a man in a dark hoodie holding the spirit of a man wearing shades and holding a dove in his hands.

Graffiti of an Angel carrying a cross while wearing an old motion picture camera on her head.

JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 8d

Raphael never imagined his “The School of Athens” quite like this. There was a couple before us who I overheard saying, they have every single one of them. Not being Italian, I wonder who “them” is.

The modernization of Raphael’s The School of Athens as seen as graffiti on a wall in Rome.

JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 8d

Funny thing happened on the way to the forum, make that coliseum, cheesy shot! There were literally thousands and thousands of people waiting to see the coliseum so TG we saw it 3 years ago and didn’t need to see it again.

Two people wearing hats standing in front of the coliseum.

Long knew of people waiting to see the coliseum.

The arch of Constantine with coliseum beside and lots of people.

JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 8d

Rooftop terrace view from our current accommodations. Three years ago, we were within a stones’ throw of the same place. It was during Covid and the place we stayed was rebuilding its business- we had a huge room with a kickass view of Rome. Now that same place is ruinously expensive, if available.

The “Wedding Cake” building. White building with columns and statues on top

Roman ruins, arched bricks and part of building with portico. Wedding cake building to right.

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JBR @jbred56.bsky.social · 9d

This is inside the church where Pope Francis is buried. It is really beautiful with mosaics and sculptures. So many people were there and multiple masses were being said. So many prayers being said. The number of nuns and priests was very high. Pope Francis’ tomb is spare and simple.

Nuns gather outside a chapel as mass is getting ready to begin.

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