Outside My Window ~ 4.17.11

Outside My Window…is bright blue skies….lots of sunshine….some wind….and about 59°F at 11:15 a.m. this fine Sunday morning.  Our forecast high is 67°F with lots of sunshine and wind.  That is to be expected after a cold front moves through the area I suppose..the wind.  Yesterday was quite different ~ I woke up to cloudy skies, the kind that are dark and heavy and move quietly over you.  I don’t believe the sun made an appearance at all yesterday.  Later, the television began a series of warning alerts with advisories that we had severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes moving our way.  As the sun set, the alerts came more often…the skies darkened…and the winds picked up.  Soon we were experiencing heavy rain with thunder and lightening.  It appears as if a tornado touched down in Grove, a small area just outside of Williamsburg and close to Busch Gardens.  Reports said downed trees, power lines and damage to homes.  There was also a tornado in Gloucester…which lies across the York River from Yorktown…a heavily damaged middle school as well as many other things.  April is turning out to be quite a volatile month.  Yikes!  😯

I am thinking…that I am not so fond of micro managers who love to assign lots of pointless projects on top of all the other things that need to be done.  I am also thinking that I’m really glad I took the time to get to know the state directives because I knew what I was talking about and could provide the proof instantly.  Just saying.

I am glad…I attended the training class this past Monday on FEMA and how to recover funds that are spent after a disaster.  Granted, this knowledge doesn’t apply to my home or personal items, just for businesses and state agencies, but I did discover that having this training plus the know how to complete some applications and what not is a big feather in your resume cap when applying at other jobs.  I have plans to seek out the knowledge for completing the applications because you never know when it will come in handy.  And while the training was geared toward businesses and state agencies, it did give me a better understanding which can only help in the event that myself or someone I know needs their assistance after an event.  I’m also glad I went because it gave me the opportunity to see the beautiful campus of Christopher Newport University.  It is located in Newport News…the same area as the Mariner’s Museum so basically just around the corner from me.  They have been doing quite a bit of construction on the University for the past several years and it is still on going.

From my kitchen…is a simple cup of French Vanilla coffee at the moment.  Later today, there will be bread.  Fresh bread…fresh from my new to me bread machine.  I’m quite excited to try it out and while my youngest is dying for me to make “regular” bread as my first loaf for her…we need to finish the one I bought from the store right after we arrived home from vacation first.  I, on the other hand, have run out so I will be making a loaf of Rosemary and Olive Oil Bread.  Now because this machine is new to me, and because I don’t know how to translate this recipe into a normal recipe (for those without bread machines), I will do the next best thing.  I will give you the recipe for my Crusty Bread ~ a recipe that was originally published in Mother Earth News lo these many years ago.  It is a wonderful bread with a fabulous flavor.  The crust, well it is crusty…but the center…yum!  An oldie, but definitely a goody.  Give it a try.  🙂

I am currently working on…a new watermark design for my photographs.  I think I have one I like now.  I am also working on my photographs from my vacation…I didn’t do a whole lot of computer work this past week.  I guess I was still enjoying the disconnect from the previous week.  I did catch up on some blogs I follow and while I didn’t leave comments on each day, I did enjoy the posts.   Before we left for this vacation, my youngest asked me not to spend a lot of time on the computer so I honored her request.  I did download images, did my Sunday post and checked in here and there for a little bit a couple of nights before bed…but for the most  part, I was disconnected.  It was nice for me…especially since last year I was doing a post a day and I was determined to finish that task.  This year I did let my Project 52 lapse…I mean I took photographs during the week but didn’t post them to the sites I was participating in.  I may still post images here…or I may try again at a later date…I haven’t decided yet.  Point is, I wasn’t going to let anything stress me out during vacation.  I was beginning to feel like the projects were beginning to do just that…I would realize on a Thursday I hadn’t done my project photo and would start worrying about what I would shoot, or if I would get it posted on time, etc.  It suddenly dawned on me that they weren’t fun any more…and that photography projects should be fun…not mind numbing or stressful.  When that happens, it begins to act and look like work…and those projects are not fun…at all.  So I let it go….I didn’t worry about it and I enjoyed myself.  I’m still enjoying myself…taking photographs and not worrying whether or not I get them posted on time…and if I did get them posted on time will the determining party deem them not suitable for the theme, etc.  Not saying that these were unreasonable or hard people to deal with…they weren’t.  I’m just saying for me, I made photography fun again….and that is what counts.

I am going to…work on my vacation photographs…but not today.  There are far more pressing issues around the house to take care of today.  It is amazing how quickly clutter can take over a tiny little house …. I need to get it under control quick!

I am currently reading…some photography magazines this week.  I don’t think I picked up my Harry Potter book at all this week…not that I can recall.  Perhaps my brain is on strike until I get a Kindle…sigh, I did notice they were on sale on Amazon but not happening for me right away.  I don’t know why I didn’t read, guess it just wasn’t happening this week.

I am hoping…the slowest dentist ever picks up the pace tomorrow when I take Cailin in for an appointment.  She goes to a different one than I do…and she likes her a lot…but good lord are they slow.  It is all I can do to stay awake in the waiting room waiting for her…and on one occasion I failed.  It wasn’t as if I was laid out in the chair and snoring or anything, I just dozed off briefly while looking at my 100th magazine.  And because she caught me, I am warned each and every time we visit that I am NOT to fall asleep in the waiting room.  Apparently it is embarrassing to a 16 year old ~ but I wasn’t embarrassed so I don’t know what the big deal was.  🙂   I better pack some caffeinated beverages in my purse before we go.

I am hearing…the hum of a far off plane going overhead…neighbors coming and going outside…the ticking of my many clocks…birds singing outside…my wind chimes singing to me…the hum of my refrigerator…when I stop and think about it, it is kind of noisy around here today….shhhhhh!

Plans for the week include…finally getting my vacation images edited…spring cleaning that I didn’t do last week, thus the clutter this weekend…get my seeds into the ground because I think spring is finally here to stay…dinner and a movie with my sister on Saturday after two scheduled photo shoots that afternoon.  Fingers crossed we don’t get rain that afternoon.  🙂

One of life’s little pleasures…is how clean and green everything looks after a rain.  The pollen has been thick all week, so think everything had a greenish yellow tint to it. The air even had a powdery look to it.  Before I went to my dentist appointment on Wednesday, I rinsed off the car.  A half an hour later I walked out to leave, you wouldn’t have known I had rinsed it off…covered again.  Today, there may be a light dusting but nothing like it was before the rain last night.

From my camera…the azaleas are blooming!!  By the way, how do you like the new watermark?  Notice the sparklies?   🙂