Outside My Window ~ 2.14.10

Outside My Window…is 30ºF, sunshine and clear, blue skies at 9:30 this morning. We currently have a wind chill of 21ºF with a mild breeze outside….enough to make my wind chimes sing to me. Our forecast today is sunshine with a high of 41ºF. Can’t complain too much about that. I did wake up to light snow yesterday morning….that was the third Saturday in a row we have had snow. This was not much of a storm though……very light snow flurries, maybe a half inch accumulation with all traces gone by this morning. The one thing that has struck me as I have driven around is the mountains of snow still remaining in the parking lots in the area. These are piles that were plowed up from the storm we experienced the end of January….they are still around, and still quite large. It just amazes me that we have had snow around this long. Last week our forecast was calling for more snow on Monday and Tuesday….I just saw on the Weather Channel that it is now calling for rain on Monday and sunshine the rest of the week. Perhaps we will dry out a bit ~ we could stand a little drying out. When filling the bird feeders yesterday morning, I noticed a few weeds and pulled them from the flower bed….they came right up, almost as if they were floating in the soil. Might be a good time to weed, but I would definitely get muddy doing so.

I am thinking…about how nice it is to hear a forecast for the week that doesn’t include snow! Don’t get me wrong, I really do like snow….I lived in Denver, Colorado for years and experienced lots of snow in my time there. I would sometimes go into the mountains to seek it out. Difference between here and Denver…..people there knew how to drive in the snow, for the most part. People here ~ not so much and they tend to panic. Also, Denver was well equipped to take care of the roads when snows came…….because we don’t often get large accumulations in our area, they don’t have the fleet of vehicles to take care of the roads. Another issues, there is not a route I can take from my home to work and back that doesn’t take me over several bridges and/or elevated roads, some over water….and they can get quite icy!

I am thankful for…my family and friends. Without you, I wouldn’t be near as happy as I am. 🙂

From the kitchen…my delicious Cinnamon Hazelnut coffee at the moment. I have had a request for my homemade nachos for this afternoon…and for dinner tonight, I’m going to make crab cakes. I will share my recipe with you later this week.

I am creating…other than photo processing, not so much right now. I have a few things on my mind, but nothing coming to fruition at the moment.

I am going…to be doing quite a bit of cleaning today. It seems everyone has the cleaning bug in the house ~ we are organizing and purging all over. And I believe I will be taking a break to enjoy some of this sunshine at some point.

I am reading…blogs I follow, and continuing to discover my PSE7 book for Digital Photographers. I have been paying particular attention to processing photos in RAW….or digital negatives.

I am hoping…everyone has a wonderful Valentines Day. And if by chance you didn’t receive a Valentine this year….consider this message my Valentine to you! Happy Valentines Day!! 🙂

I am hearing…the sounds of my coffee maker as it finishes up my coffee….my wind chimes singing to me…..the Weather Channel local weekly forecast.

Around the house…laundry, both to wash and put away…..bags of clothes to donate….plants to water….normal life stuff.

Plans for the week include…taking Cailin driving again after a short break ~ poor thing, the weather has not been very cooperative for a brand new driver to practice in. And while I know she needs the practice, there is no drug on this planet that I could take to calm my nerves enough to let her drive in the type of weather we have been having recently. 😯

One of my favorite things…is the scent of fresh, crusty bread right out of the oven and fresh vegetables. I think I may make some bread this week. It has been awhile since I made bread, and looking at the cost in the store, it may not be a bad idea to make it a lot more often. I only wish I had the space to plant a vegetable garden….unfortunately I don’t know of too many veggies that grow well in the shade and well, that is my tiny backyard pretty much all of the summer.

A picture I’d like to share with you…are three photos I took yesterday morning during our snow shower……the first is a mourning dove sitting in my backyard tree…(to see an even larger view, simply click on the images)