Hi there. Right now I'm sitting cross-legged on my bed drinking grape soda and listening to The Beatles, I sorta feel like a teenager again. Sorta. I have a few more lines on my face these days but at least I'm acne-free. Phew! I've been slacking on the blogging lately so I thought this was a good time to sit down, relax with some good tunes, and catch up with you folks out in cyber-land. Little T is sound asleep, wheezing and snoring on her bed next to me. Be grateful you can't hear it.
Over the winter I wasn't all that into photography so I didn't take many pics, relatively speaking. But I was still into nature walks and at the Eastman Nature Center I became interested in birds. I started watching them outside the window because I was bored one day. They have signs up depicting the species found in each season and soon I was familiar with and easily able to identify the "winter" birds from the sign and even some that weren't on the sign. On one trip to the nature center I met a retired gentleman from Wisconsin. He's an avid birder and he taught me a lot. We were sitting there quietly enjoying the birds when I spotted one in the distance that didn't look like or act like the others. I pointed it out to him and he took a picture with his awesome zoom lens and determined it was a varied thrush. According to him this is a fantastic and pretty rare sighting for the time and place. Most people might find it boring, but I thought it was pretty exciting and so did he. I started journaling about my bird and wildlife sightings (with pen and paper). I don't have many photos to share because my camera is a cheap model and very limited when it comes to zooming and motion shots, so most of the time I didn't even bring it with me. But I had a lot of cool sightings, I'll list a few: deer, coyotes, barred owl, wild turkeys, bald eagles, ring neck pheasants, many species of birds including trumpeter swans recently.
I found another new hobby during my long winter hibernation - baking. I found that I'm actually pretty good at it. I was always terrible at baking in the past because I never really learned how and didn't much like it. But this winter I taught myself and now I love it. In fact I'm having a bake sale in the yard next week. The weather is supposed to be great and it should be fun.
I learned that my little sister is expecting her first child in September!
** Spoiler Alert** She wants a little boy and everyone thinks it's going to be a boy, but I know it will be a little girl :) and I've been crocheting a blanket and pillow for her. (Hopefully my sister is like everyone else and doesn't read my blog, otherwise she'll know exactly what my baby shower gift is.)
Let's see, what else is new? Oh, I changed my hair the other day. I took a scissors to my ponytail on a whim and now it's really short (boy-length), black, and spiky. It's the shortest my hair has ever been and I know the style isn't "me" at all, but I'd like to think that I am always changing, evolving... (read "I'm impulsive and get bored easily").
BEFORE:
AFTER:
wth?? Hey! Who posted that pic of Bob's Big Boy? I'm so offended! :-p
I noticed the resemblance after I snapped the pic of myself. It is a little uncanny but unplanned.
The faux-hawk was a surprise. The stylist left it longer on top and the hair just sort of went that direction on its own. **Update: I've taken some more length off the top since this photo was taken and it looks better now. When I got home from the hair salon it was even higher than pictured here, I had already cut alot off. I'm not sure what the stylist was thinking??
Alright, let's get to some more photos.
JANUARY:
Elm Creek Nature Reserve
Brrrrrr!
Eastman Nature Center
Great Horned Owl
Lives in captivity at the nature center. No, he's not winking at you, he was born with only one eye.
The following photos were taken at night leaving the shutter open for maximum light and cool effects with the lights of the passing cars on the highway.
FEBRUARY:
I made a sled for Tee-Tee out of a plastic Sterilite storage bin. I pulled her behind me a couple of times before the snow melted, around the yard and on trails at the Elm Creek Nature Preserve.
Tuckered out from sledding.
Sadly, that was pretty much the extent of my outdoor activities in February.
MARCH:
Tee and I took some walks on and around our land. We found an interesting animal track.
Once again Teepa was wiped from the strenuous activity. Hey, it's tough being a senior citizen! :P
Okay, I think we're all caught up. I doubt I'll be blogging much this summer. I do have a trip planned to the north shore this summer though and I'll be sure to bring my camera!
