more snow

we are expecting more snow. i love snow. it is pure. it is cleansing. it is cold. we have enough all ready. i am ready for springtime flowers and warmth. today i woke up with a sore throat and headache. feeling achy. marc is feeling dreadful too. hope its not the flu. 

i went to baby shower today for my friend sheri and her new baby boy, eddie. i decided to go as i'm not yet on death's door and i made it clear to her that i wasn't going to get close or hold him even though i've so been looking forward to it. sheri used to work with me, but left some time ago for a different employer. eddie is 6 weeks old now. he is at the stage where he wants to get up and get moving but his muscles are not yet developed and gravity is against him. he was cute none the less! he will be just adorable when he is mobile. 

i did drag myself out the back door early this evening to feed the poor birdies. i had not done that since before my florida trip because the snow was so deep. it was almost up to my knees. i don't remember when we've had so much snow and we are expecting more. maybe a lot more. we are supposed to get freezing rain first, then rain, then snow. again, poor birdies. they don't fair well in the freezing rain. i did fully stock the feeders, including the suet feeders. the woodpeckers will be happy once again. i took this photo of a hawk in my backyard, just over the feeders along the lot line. every once in awhile i see hawks, especially in the sky. occasionally i find a pile of feathers in the backyard, usually from morning doves. i suppose, by feeding the birdies, i feed them too. they are beautiful creatures. i saw a bald eagle a few weeks ago in the air a few blocks from my house. i'm glad i haven't seen one in my backyard. not that i don't want to see one, but i'd fear for my dogs lives with them around as they are huge! i also have owls. i hear them at night - many times they wake me up with their hooting back and forth to one another. i love birds of all kinds. 

much needed sunshine

florida is a wonderful place to visit in the middle of a midwestern winter. all week while i was there, the daytime temperature was 85 degrees and sunny, except for the friday before i left there were a few clouds and it sprinkled only briefly. the palm trees waiving in the breeze. the birds singing. the red breasted robins were down there, on their winter vacation. i said "hello" to them & told them how lucky there were to be vacationing down in this wonderful weather! how cheerful it was to see flowers blooming outdoors in February. it will be sometime before i see that at home here. by the way, i did not get to see the space shuttle launch. the individuals i was training with took us outside to see it, but they took us to the wrong side of the building, so we didn't see it from there. i was very disappointed. oh well. at least it went off without a hitch. the weather wasn't looking good just before & the weather forecasters had been predicting storms, but it turned out to be a nice partly cloudy day that day. 

i am home now. yesterday the high temperature was 2 degrees. windchills of -20 to -40. quite a difference. i am so glad i got to get away to the warm climate if only for a couple of days. i do need the sunshine. it makes such a difference. i went to the hard rock cafe at universal studios city walk in orlando on tuesday night (2/5). i was so excited to see such items as an outfit worn by freddie mercury - i had seen him in concert wearing that very same outfit for the day at the races tour. they even had johnny ramone's guitar. the next night we drove to daytona beach to see the beach. i walked along the beach, picking up tiny seashells while i talked to marc on the phone. he was experiencing a terrible snow storm back home. they got over 14" of snow that day. 

i must say that i although i miss the warm & sunny weather, i am so glad to be home. of course yesterday i had chores to do - laundry, grocery shopping and the like.  that means no time for studio work. that will have to come this week. tomorrow night i start my digital scrapbooking class. i cannot wait. i hope i like it. i do believe i will. how exciting! they haven't told us what we need to bring, if anything. i cannot wait to play with photoshop elements (PE) on my new iMac. how exciting.

 i do have more arial photos to share, of course! this is my green photo of wind turbines along the ridges of mountain tops between florida and chicago. 

Time

i am posting a photo taken on our return flight from orlando taken in october 2006. it is a beautiful anvil cloud taken from 37,000 feet. makes you think about life...

i have been so busy with everything. especially the holidays. i have made time for my artwork. I squeeze the time in every where i can. in the morning, while i have my coffee and think about the day ahead. at lunchtime. i am fortunate that i work so close to home that i am able to come home for lunch just about every workday. sometimes i can take a few minutes to finish up a project in the works, or maybe clean up and put my supplies away from a morning session. in the evening is the time i have the least amount of time available. my doggies, jac & guinness insist that i play with them and not ignore them with my projects. they WILL be naughty if i try to be creative for more than about 15 minutes. i am working a another challenge for QAM. more paper fabric in the works. i take an alcohol ink pen class this weekend for my rubberstamping addiction. i've also signed up for a digi-scrapbooking class that is several hours for 3 nights. i can't wait for that. maybe i'll finally use my photoshop elements. i need a new mac or more memory - i can't upload more photos or music to my imac. its run out of memory!

tonight i signed up for a class in madison. its a stampscapes techniques class. i'll have to take off work early to get there as its a couple hours away.