Waiting for the patients...

No photo yesterday--I was going to take one last night, only to discover the battery was completely dead. Today: busy workday and I only had time for one shot--just the clinic room, as I was waiting for my first patient to show.

Breakfast out

My husband decided he should take me out to breakfast, so off we went, Wall Street Journal in hand. He had the business sections. I had the special fashion insert to look at. Don't those striped shoes look fun? (And incredibly impractical and uncomfortable?)

Some books I hope to get back to reading

Some Debussy, some Brahms, some Mozart... I have not kept up my piano playing, all these years I have been in grad school. Soon, though, my time will be freed up again and I can return to all kinds of pursuits I used to enjoy.

Drip, drip, drip

The sun was out, working away at the icicles. Here's a shot of some cute little icicles hanging from the bench of our wrought iron picnic table. And....a larger view of the yard, with some icicles sticking UP from the bench. (Would those be ice stalagmites?)

One less teenager....

My son is officially no longer a teenager--he turned 20 today! I took him out to lunch, then we WERE going to shop for some clothes for him --but he had more important things come up (involving a girl!)  Not the best picture--I forgot I wanted to take one and had to shoot it quickly before I dropped him off. (Oh, and of course, HE doesn't wear jackets much either.)

Gotta love Minnesota....

It was a long work day and I was pretty sure today would be my first day without a photo (or maybe I would take that picture of my pillow that I threaten). But then my husband and son invited me to go to the gym and I figured I still had some photo opps.I grabbed my camera and my gym bag and met them outside, where they were getting the ice off the windshield of the boys' car (which sat in our driveway during the snowstorm and had not yet been driven).

 My husband filled up the wiper fluid reservoir and still had the hood open, for some reason, while trying to break up the ice that was gluing the windshield wipers to the windshield.

My son, looking on, in that ever-so-helpful teenage way. (And no, it is NOT cool to wear a jacket when you are 17.)

Tulips

The outside world is one color palate again (white) and I refuse to post another photo of this snowy bleakness.  The other day a friend of mine (who knows how burned out I am with school) brought me a bouquet of tulips and then dragged me out to the Conservatory to see the plants and feel the warm humid air on my face! (Ok, she didn't exactly have to "drag" me there!) Here is a tribute to my favorite flower, the tulip, which is beautiful when it is closed, open and even when its petals are falling to the ground! Could God have created a more beautiful flower?

Here we go again....

More snow. We knew the February thaw was just a temporary reprieve.  It is cold enough that the snow is dry, and windy enough that it forms swirly patterns on the highway.  I tried to capture the swirls in this photo--though I know that would be best done with a moving picture!
As I preview this, I'm surprised at how dark and bluish it appears, as it was taken mid-day--I guess that's the effect you get when you are taking pictures and the snow is coming down.

Some color, for a change

Made a little trip over to the Como Conservatory this morning, with a friend of mine. The warmth, humidity and color was a welcome treat! A couple of bonus pictures, as one was not enough:

Could it really be?

I stepped out of the house this morning and almost went into shock at this sight.  Had to pull my camera out to record it.  Yes, I think that is GRASS visible around the base of that tree! However, we Minnesotans know better than to get TOO excited about seeing the earth again.  We are expected to get a few inches of snow on Sunday. Plus, it is an oft-cited truth around here that "March is our snowiest month."

Foggy day

The view down my street as I was driving to Pilates this morning. It is now mid-day and it is still foggy outside, which is very unusual--especially for February.

Bummer....

My 17 year old son borrowed my car tonight to go the gym.  Unfortunately he misjudged exactly where his brother's car was parked in the driveway.  Looks like another trip to LaMettry's Collision with my Subaru (last time was because some jerk keyed my car outside Trader Joe's.)   As an aside: that's my red kayak leaning against the garage wall--with a bag of salt in front of it--I guess that illustrates the extremes of Minnesota weather as well as anything!

Spring is creeping ever closer....

Looking out at Lake Gervais again--the ice and snow are gradually melting.  The cones and roadblock are supposed to be keeping people off the ice under the bridge (on which I am standing) but based on the snowmobile tracks, no one is obeying!

Just forget everything else and relax with a good book!

Feeling very drained and tired.  As soon as I post this, I am taking my cat up on her recommendation.

Branches with leaves hidden within

Ok, I'm being an optimist here.  This bare branch will be bursting with green leaves in about....2 months?

This cannot begin to recapture...

How much fun this evening was for me! I went to a party hosted by the woman who teaches my Pilates class. It was SO much fun to just forget about my regular life (which mostly consists of school/work/making dinner these days) and just relax with other women and nosh on goodies.

Night off for the cook

My 17 year old relaxes with this week's Sports Illustrated, as he enjoys a burger and milkshake meal out this evening.

The "think" method of yoga

I sat down after supper to relax with a cup of tea and the Yoga Journal magazine that came in the mail today. Too bad my shoulder is injured at the moment--all I can do is look at the pictures and think about doing yoga. (Does that count?)

Procrastination

Today I enjoyed coffee with a friend, shopping at Target, a massage, and a visit to see the new baby across the street.  Then I washed the kitchen floor, vacuumed and put in some loads of laundry. I have "avoided" as long as I possibly could--but now I must get back at it.  Time to dig in to finish the revisions for chapters 3 and 4 and start my draft of chapter 5 of my thesis.  I tell people it's like writing a (really BORING) book!

Flouting Winter

Took some photos while I sat at stoplights on my drive home from my son's house this evening.  I spotted this greenhouse--all lit up and rather eerie-looking! I had to take the photo through my (dirty) car window with no time to play around with adjustments, so it's not a very good picture. But you can still tell that it is lush with greenery in there. Quite a contrast to the out of doors--it is going to be 7 below zero tonight and obviously there is NO sign of plant life outside right now!

Is this how YOU learned calculus?

Long day today--and no pictures yet! So I stopped in to my older son's room, camera in hand. He came over for dinner and is working on his calculus homework.  On his computer screen were these lovely colorful notes from class.  Geez!  MY math classes were all taught in "black and white," and if you didn't take notes in class, you didn't get a second chance to see what the prof. covered!

Cats are weird...

Two photos today. I had to capture my cat's strange preference for drinking water out of the bathtub faucet.  She waits until you are done with your shower, then perches on the edge of the tub and drinks the water that drains out of the faucet. When she is done drinking, she crawls behind this towel, which hangs from a ring on the wall. Why? See that baseboard heat behind the towel? 'Nuf said.  Two basic cat needs met: warmth and a hiding place.

Blueberries

I can't think of anything nicer than eating  fresh blueberries --it takes the edge off the nastiness of this endless winter.

Just another strange sight from this snowy winter

I stopped in to one of my clinics today and looked out the window of the room in which the nurses do their paperwork and phone calls.  Outside their window is what looks like a rock pile of snow chunks.  The snow from plowing the parking lot got transported over to the side yard and dumped.  The "snow rock pile" comes up so high that some of the bird feeders hanging from the branches are covered up by the snow.Somewhere under all that snow is a picnic table that the nurses will eat lunch at when the weather is nice.

Books

Ran out of time and ideas today...so you are being subjected to a photo (and not even an artistically pleasing one!) of a bookshelf. This is my collection of books on writing and editing--with a few of my medical/nutrition books sneaking into the picture on the left. My books are "my treasures," so for me it is kind of fun to make a record of them photographically--though terribly boring for the rest of you! (For those of you who are writers and teachers: my favorite book on  that shelf is "Style-Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace" by Joseph M. Williams. The author explains brilliantly how to make each sentence flow from the previous one, and how to kick any extra words out of a sentence! It's a good reference for people who wish to edit, as well as write.)

A Common Sight These Days

My next door neighbor, who is elderly and can certainly not crawl on the roof herself, hired a roofing company to help with the ice dams. The workers were right outside my window.  This winter, because of the record snowfall,  it is very common to see people up on the roof shoveling snow and chopping away the ice that gathers at the edge of the roof--a condition that leads to backup of melting water under the snow, because the roof is warm from escaping heat. This melting water gets stuck behind the ice (thus the name "ice dam") and the water finds other paths--often  INTO the house, which can be very damaging. The last time I remember a winter we had to worry about these ice dams was back in the 90's. We had water dripping down our bathroom window. My husband put the ladder against the house and  climbed onto the very high, steep roof of our St. Paul Tudor-style house to remove the snow and let the heat escape. I held the ladder as he left the roof, crossing that layer of deadly slippery ice to find footing on the ladder. I was SO afraid that he wouldn't be able to navigate his way off the roof, and I would be left a widow, raising two small boys all by myself. (As you can see, I have a very good imagination for horrible outcomes--LOL!) The roof in this picture is not nearly as steep, and it has that second lower roof right next to it.

Self-portrait

Tonight I got to pick up my new eyeglasses.  So, since I had absolutely no time to shoot pictures today, I am defaulting to another "self-portrait" with the new glasses as justification.

Hmmm, and now that I'm looking at the background of this picture, I can't wait to be done with my thesis so I can get around to painting this room and finding new window treatments!