Pinecone

Past, Present & Future

I shot some family photos with a friends family this weekend. We picked an unconventional location for some of them, but it really worked.  I think it gave the photos a sense of past, present and future.

And {{{hugs}}} to my friend who just said farewell to her father who passed away after a long illness.  My thoughts are with you all.

This Morning

This morning the dogs made me get up at 7:30 even though I didn't sleep well last night and moved from bed to sofa and back again. 

This was my reward for going outside with them.  You only have my word for it that these colors occurred naturally - no retouching. It's every color of the rainbow, except green.

Love!

Reflection

Still

It's sunny, and when you step outside you hear drip,drip,drip and still there is a fair amount of snow still on the ground in my yard.

I recall a big snowfall in the 70s but I don't recall it lasting this long and shutting down everything.  Many people didn't go to work until Friday.  No mail ran in my neighborhood until Saturday.

But!  The dogs and I walked a long time yesterday, and again today. 

Yay!

Heart

This heart formed when the Sunday evening snow didn't hit the deck directly under the table.  Each day that there has been a little melting reinforced the shape.  For the last few mornings, I've gone to the back door and peered out to see if the heart was still there. 

Today temps rise to 39 degrees, so I expect my heart will disappear today.  It's a price I will happily pay to have the ice gone from our lives.

When I call the dogs in from the back yard, as they walk the broken pieces of ice-snow clink like broken pieces of glass. 

Ready for some more moderate temperatures.

Popsicle Bullets

• Sunday 8:30 pm, snow starts.
• Monday morning, freezing rain on top of snow.
• Monday, stay home.
• Tuesday, stay home. Hopefully clean ice covered snow blanket from car.
• Wednesday morning fret about staying home or trying to get to work.
• Soundtrack from Sunday to Wednesday:  Weather Channel
• Wednesday my office only had a handful of folks in it - and I almost chickened out but I made myself drive in while there were fewer people on the road.  Whew, not so bad I thought.  Until I had to drive home.  On the ride home, I discovered I have trust issues with drivers with no snow/ice driving experience who blow by at 40 mph when there is precisely 1.5 lanes open heading up Peachtree Street at 5 pm on Wednesday afternoon.
• Today I got a ride to/from work with a co-worker.  [thanks, Cindy!]
• On one side of Atlanta: frozen tractor trailer trucks. 
• Other sides of Atlanta:  restaurants and grocery stores with no bread, among other things.
• At my house you can skate from the street to the front door, if you don't fall down.  Just sayin'.
• One dog got stuck on the deck:  couldn't decide whether to press on and go or come back to me. 
• Dogs do not like skating.  Just sayin'.
• The 5"-6" of snow was no big thing.  The ice. is. a. big. thing.
• At least the power hasn't gone off.
• After apocal-ice 2011, I am buying some Yak Trax and maybe a wood burning stove or insert. 

1.11.11

The backside of the deck stairs I haven't dared descend during Snowpocalypse Twenty+Eleven.

Snow Day: To & Fro And Mrs. Cardinal (for Merry)



Anything you can sniff, I can sniff better.  I can sniff anything better than you.



Wait for me!



Eat snow, slowpoke!





Whee!



Here I come!



I think the female cardinal is beautiful.  Sure the male cardinal has all that bright red, but red is red.  The female has such subtlety and variety.  Plus she's the boss.



9:15

It started around 8:30 last night. 

When I peeked again around 9:15 it looked like this:

I stepped onto the front porch, and as I tried to find an aperture or shutter speed, or heaven help me, an ISO that would let me capture this purportedly apocalyptic snowfall, I couldn't believe my ears.

From up my street came the unmistakeable sound of tires spinning and spinning in the snow. 

I know, that is the same word that came to my mind as I peered up the street to see if a car was lit up.

Somehow we made it until 9:15 this morning before the dogs HAD to go out. 

When we did go out,Gus and Cotton exhibited some concern and curiosity about why their feet sank a minimum of 3 inches and squeaked faintly when they took a step.  They quickly shook that off that intellectual puzzle and sprinted around the back yard.  I'm sure if they could they'd have been shouting 'yee-haw! this is fun, wish we had a sled', but they settled instead for shoving their noses into the snow and snorting wildly, flinging snow into the air.

Hope you are warm and dry, wherever you are.

On Photography

Some people take photos of themselves no matter what they are doing...some people are taking photos of what is going on.

Jay Maisel to Scott Kelby

Best Foot Forward

On the last day of the Twenty-10, I got to do a family photoshoot.  We found 3 great locations in my home town. 

Unfortunately I found one not so great location when I was so intent on what I was doing I failed to notice the ant bed I was standing in.  But because my pants were a little long, only a handful of ants actually bit me, and the rest were brushed off my pants.

I'm starting a new job at my same company, so I'm pretty absorbed in what I'm doing and posting might be a little intermittent for a bit. 

Hope your new year is off on the right foot!