More snow

Today we shoveled snow and cleaned off the car. I've had enough home time and I'm ready to go. This is the snowiest and coldest December in a while. Nature's icicles helped decorate the house.

First snow

Today we are having our first significant snow fall. We expect about a foot by tonight. It may put a damper on plans for early tomorrow, but for now we are enjoying our "snow day". Once having been a teacher, a snow day the Friday before Christmas still maintains the special magic of a gift of home time and possibilities. I hope all the area's loved ones will arrive safely home and enjoy the lights and warmth of home, too.

The night the trees fell

Last night we were under siege. The bombs gradually began hitting the roof around 11 PM and continued intermittently almost all night. Ice had formed too slick on the paths to walk around the house and assess what was going on. We only knew the trees were covered by thick ice and it continued to rain hard. Try as we might we could not pierce the darkness through the windows. When we opened the doors we made quick retreats from the ominous cracking sounds. Most of the bombardment of the house was from the large maple near the back corner of the house over our bedroom. After several terrifying hours we retreated to the sleep sofa in the living room, but it sounded like the trees on that side were moving in, also. So it continued until exhausted we fell asleep for an hour until the dawn exposed the battlefield.

The big tree by the house is still standing notwithstanding the loss of many branches and limbs. A section of our neighbors fence has been damaged. A large limb of my loved Magnolia has been ripped off and thrown against the front of the house. The small woods to the rear of the house seems to have many trees down, but I need to wait for the ice to melt to make that body count and see if they can untangle themselves from their grotesque shapes.

This has been a long night. I am thankful the house and it's occupants seem to have survived intact.

Ice storm addendum

The sun came out for brief moments after 10 AM and gave us glorious ice pictures .

Thanksgiving

OUR HOST AND HOSTESS

We had a lovely Thanksgiving, satisfying in every sense of the word. Our son married a wonderful woman. On top of that, she has family to share for the holiday. I'm thankful for them. We love them as our own (maybe more). The rest of our family are either across the country or unable to travel long distances. We have so much to be thankful for. This season reminds me of this.

Now that we ate our fill, it is time to look towards Christmas: decorate, send those cards, shop, wrap and share the joy of the season.

More Fractals

Peacock

Ducky

What does it say about me if I always see people, animals or things in my fractals?

Another Sunset

How could I have forgotten to include the most spectacular sunset I've ever experienced. I'm not sure one photo does it justice. Each phase of this sunset was infused with a different vibrancy until nothing was left but the moon, stars and awe.

Oahu

Skies

From the time of my first painting class as an adult I have become fascinated with skies. I would be driving along and be enthralled by the sky ahead. Often thinking it would look unreal if painted. Of course, the most dramatic, memorable and most often photographed are usually sunsets. I love them for their rich colors and beauty, so I thought I would share a few of my favorite sunsets

Upstate New York

New York City

San Francisco

Puerto Nuevo

Puerto Nuevo

Autumn's Farewell

Today is a dreary, November day and it is supposed to go below freezing at night for the week. I'm mourning the ending of autumn and the inevitable approach of winter. My pond fish are taking one last exploratory swim and will soon be tucked under the ice for most of the next four months. I decided to take a lesson from Carl and see what I could find to photograph in my own backyard.


POND WITH 2 KOI - STAR AND TANGO

THE LAST OF THE AUTUMN LEAVES

Bright yellow memories

Shining through a grey day

DANCERS

My Life with Computers

I have a love-hate relationship with computers. When I took my first computer course there were only main frames, and so we learned flow charts and keypunch. I excelled at flow charts since I am naturally logical. Although, my husband would insist that I have many irrational moments. When my classroom acquired one of the first personal computers, a TRS-80, I was in my glory. You see, you could write programs. By today's standards, they were very simplistic. You could have little stick figures ski downhill in a race as a reward for answering questions correctly, and you could develop timed reading programs, etc. It was great! If something hung up, you could look at your little flow chart, pinpoint what the problem was and change a symbol or number so all was right again.
Somewhere along the way everything changed. We now have more working computers than people in our household. I can no longer comprehend the inner workings of my computers. They have many professionally written programs and I use most of them. I have difficulty weeding out the ones I don't need because I like the way one does this and the other does that. Every once in a while a newly acquired program will cause a glitch in another program. I am faced with choosing the one to keep since I can no longer find the conflict by looking at my flow charts. Even if I could, I would not understand the language they are written in.
My logical nature which makes me a big Sudoku fan, still takes control and makes me wrestle with a problem for days until it is solved or I give up. The other day I decided I wanted to network some of my files on all of my computers. I would get one set up, but not the other. Then, all of a sudden, one of the programs would no longer work. I tweaked, poked and deleted for many hours. Did I mention I am stubborn? Finally, by late last night I no longer had to put a picture on a flash drive and carry it down stairs to photoshop it. I could view my recorded TV programs on any computer. Most of all, everything worked! I went peacefully to sleep. Of course, I haven't tried it this morning just in case those computer gremlins invaded my computers again.

P.S. In which case I will probably break down and call my very talented son.

Fractals

What fun!! Fractals are computerized abstract art. I will be trying this again.
Thanks Carl and Janice for the "how to" info.

Mothers and Daughters

My friend leaned close and asked, "Do you have trouble sleeping through the night?"

I answered, "Of course. I wake up between 1 and 3 and have trouble getting back to sleep."

(I'm not sure whether or not this is an affect of not having to get up at six A.M. since retiring.)

My friend said, "I keep thinking about my mother. I wish I had known what she was going through."

This spoke to my own sadness over my mother. My mother is still alive in a nursing home, but her mind is no longer clear. I recently delved into her life while making sense of those accumulated family photos without names and dates. I realized there was much disappointment in her life. I did not feel particularly close to my mother, even though we spent many family weekends and vacations together. Today she gives me a smile that lights up her face and says, "I love you." I am grateful even for this. I remember mostly criticism as a youngster, although I assume she must have loved me as her child. We rarely had meaningful conversations or shared our thoughts. We didn't even have real arguments.

My friend said, "If I had known maybe we could have helped."

I related a time in my mother's life when in retrospect she had said she had barely enough to get by. Although she joined us every Sunday for dinner, I had no idea.

My friend said, "It must have been a generational thing that our mother's didn't share their lives."

I am reminded of my mother, in one of her lucid moments, saying of her mother, "She didn't deserve the troubles in her life." I wasn't aware of these either. Some came to light only years after my grandmother passed away. If my mother and grandmother discussed their lives, I was not included.
********************* I GUESS IT WAS A GENERATIONAL THING ********************

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN

Congratulations America! Yesterday, individually we cast our votes, and together we elected the first black president of the United States. This accomplishment is most outstanding because he could not have been elected by only one race. It took Americans of all races to see the worth of the man and respond to the hope he offers for a brighter future.

Fall Back

This is the day when we turn the clocks back or, rather, we are given the gift of an hour to do what pleases us. When I was working and much busier or would socialize to whee hours, the hour would be cherished for extra sleep, but now I enjoy thinking of the possibilities that an uncommitted hour holds and cherish the possibilities. I could enjoy hot coffee on the deck and listen to the birds announce the dawn and watch as the darkness disappears slowly into light, or I could enjoy the sweet stillness of the house and, perhaps, meditate. I could write, or work on my photography, or even read. There are so many enjoyable possibilities that I think I will consciously give myself an hour every day just to be me.

Fleeting Moments

OCTOBER SNOW

The weather here yesterday was awful. The wind blew in strong gusts. The rain drummed against the windows, and we even had some snow showers. Areas further north had some accumulating snow. October is much too early for snow here. I haven't even dug up the dahlia bulbs to be stored until spring. There is a lesson in nature's unexpected turns. That scene I drove by and said I'd capture tomorrow is not the same. The rich colors are faded yellow and brown. The beauty of some moments must be captured and felt as they present themselves. Their ethereal quality makes them impossible to preserve forever except in our minds or hearts. Store up moments of beauty, really see and feel them. They change by tomorrow.

Autumn's Paradox

When Autumn arrives I can feel my innards cringing with dread, but at the same time my eyes are dazzled by the fleetingly vibrant world. Sadness and joy grip me in painful confusion. I run outside with camera in hand hoping to capture the dazzling sights before they fade and bemoan the wind that carried so many leaves from their perch. Cold comes creeping in putting garden plants to rest and taking my pond from friend to icy harbor of my almost still koi. No longer do they gather at my feet splashing and dancing for the food I bring. I, too, begin the pulling back from my outer world and seek the warmth and comfort of fire and home.

FIRST POST

This is my first post on my first blog. Since I'm not sure where I'm going with this, it may not be indicative of future blogs. As an artist I dabbled in oils and photography over the years, but today my medium is digital photography. I will be posting some of the photographs that particularly speak to me and I may, also, share those snapshots that illustrate a post. I did some writing in my college years and have the rejection slips to prove it. I know many people say they have at least one novel in them waiting to be written, but mine are more vignettes or short stories. I doubt I will ever write THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL. Many of the blogs I have visited have blown me away with the talent and wit they display. I hope in time to achieve their status as a blogger.