The first snow of the winter - maybe the last?
As I went outside, Dr. Nick said "Are you going to make snowtographs?"
Yes, I did.
Labels: dr. nick, nature, snow, snowtograph, winter
¶ 6:35 PM 4 Comments
A cool, grey, and rainy day at Chez Nick & Heather WV. So I thought the photo above was appropriate. That's the shut-down post office at Thurmond, WV. If you're waiting for the mail, you'll be waiting a long time. I have that same kind of feeling of waiting for something today.
Dr. Nick is pulling up the nasty carpet in the bedroom, revealing the hard wood below. It needs some sanding and refinishing, to be sure, but it's still perfectly lovely hardwood. We are starting to think that the closets are not original; and then when someone did a shoddy job with the closets they also put down the horrible carpet, which somewhat covered that up. Anyway, Nick's doing the hard work - pulling up the staples and tacks & so forth that held the mat down - and I'm helping by moving things around and sweeping and rolling the carpet back a little at a time. Oh, we are making a grand chaos in the bedroom.
We've had a quiet weekend. I went downtown yesterday morning to the Library Book Sale (I only spent $5!) and the Capitol St. Art Fair. I ran into some artists I know, and had a few pleasant conversations.
I've still got hundreds of photos that are unprocessed, all the way back to May. I'm not sure why I'm dragging my heels, probably because I'm feeling a bit insecure. Surprise.
My novel-in-progress is going rather slowly, too. I have about 5,000 words on paper, but many more thoughts in my head. I am not out of the game yet, and this is no NanoWriMo. I consider any progress by the end of August to be success.
Still there are things to look forward to: we're going to Ann Arbor next weekend - and friends are visiting - and the upstate New York trek happens at the end of July/early August too. I'm not really in hiking shape, but there's still time to improve that.
For my friends who like 80's music, which is most of you, you might enjoy this John Maus album that you can stream at NPR First listen. It's called 'We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves'. Love it!
Labels: books, Charleston, dr. nick, NanoTime Photography, photography, Thurmond, travelling, writing, WV
¶ 2:01 PM 0 Comments
This is one from the archives, from our trip to Bemidji, MN last summer. It's appropriate.
1. It's pretty much summer here in tha WV, and hot enough that we've had to use the air conditioning already.
2. We had our Third Annual Memorial Day party on Sunday; it was a great day for it. Good company and food was had.
3. We reprised our party for an audience of two on Monday; Mohnacky, the guitarist from our wedding and much-missed Charleston friend, is visiting from NYC with his girlfriend Megan. So we grilled with them again on Monday. Also, we're taking a long weekend away with them starting Friday. We're heading to the wilds of West Virginia! We'll be bunking in a cabin in the Greenbrier State Forest and doing some day trips for activities and sight-seeing. For sure, we won't have internet for four days. I expect that to be lovely.
4. My physical copy of Kate Bush's new album came today (Thanks, Amazon Prime!). The photography in the liner notes is pretty great, and I recommend fans pick up a hard copy.
5. I won't have internet this weekend, but I will have my laptop along, so I can upload the (hopefully) many photos I'll be shooting, and so I can work on my summer project.
6. Which brings me the Summer Project; I feel I should come clean about it so people can help keep me honest. I'm writing a Young Adult novel in three months this summer, starting today, as per this blog post by excellent writer Theodora Goss . I've gathered a small but mighty crew, I'm aiming for 1,000 words per day and a goal of 75,000 - 90,000 words total. So that's happening.
7. Dr. Nick and I have been married now for three years. Yay!
8. Dr. Nick is making me his Caesar salad; and then we're going to watch more Farscape. I have no complaints.
Labels: dr. nick, food, friends, NanoTime Photography, summer, west virginia, writing
¶ 4:34 PM 0 Comments
Day 161 of 365.
And I do believe that catches us up.
Labels: 365, bokeh, Charleston, dr. nick, heat, hot, macro, summer, WV, YIP
¶ 1:42 PM 0 Comments
Day 129 of 365.
I've been shooting my photos, I swear: I've just had a strange aversion to spending much time with the computer, or with sharing them. I think this strange period is over now; and I'll post a few photos a day until I'm caught up.
* * * * * *
We went hiking about three weeks ago. On this hike, I acquired a tick which Dr. Nick removed. Ticks creep me out. We missed the tick that Blixa had, too, until the next day, at which point it was so engorged that we thought it was a growth and we took Blixa to the vet. We felt a little sheepish when the vet removed it easily; but I'm squeamish about ticks.
I'm also squeamish about snakes. On the hike back to our car, at one point I nearly stepped on a long black snake (huge!) lying across the path. I dashed back to Dr. Nick. He took a stick and tapped on rocks around the snake, but eventually had to prod it a few times until it got the message and moved away from the path. No WAY was I walking over it. Dr. Nick asked me if I wanted to go back and photograph it.
Ugh, no. While macro photos of snakes can be very beautiful, I will never create any. They creep me out too much.
Labels: 365, blixa, dr. nick, hiking, montgomery, west virginia, YIP
¶ 6:11 PM 0 Comments
Day 52 of 365.
Kurt Vonnegut thought that there shouldn't be just four seasons - there should be six. Winter (January, February), Unlocking (March, April), Spring (May, June), Summer (July, August), Autumn (September, October), and Locking (November, December). I think that this theory makes a lot of sense.
So today we went out for a long, long walk in the Unlocking; a hike really. The first true training hike to get ready for our Adirondacks adventures in August. By Dr. Nick's calculations, we probably hiked about 5 miles, and through 1000 feet of elevation. Not bad. Let it be noted, though, that a lot of that elevation still had mushy snow on it, and we slogged up a rather steep incline for an hour with inappropriate gear. Blixa came along, and we let him off the leash for the whole hike. He had the best day ever.
Labels: 365, blixa, dr. nick, hiking, kurt vonnegut, nature, unlocking, WV, YIP
¶ 5:49 PM 0 Comments
Day 45 of 365.
Wow. I can't believe I've done this for 45 days so far. I have yet to resort to posting a photo from the back stock. Even today, on an uninspiring (yet productive!) day full of snow and cold and blah photos, I found something to post (although I needed Dr. Nick's help to pick it out - I frequently do).
The laundry's done, I'm somewhat caught up on school work, the taxes are done (hooray for big federal refund!), and we got rid of a lot of paper clutter this weekend.
It will suffice.
Labels: 365, blues, dr. nick, productivity, winter, YIP
¶ 7:49 PM 0 Comments
A bonus photo - I chose the icicles for today's official photo because it's appropriate - the weather's nasty, there's another winter storm advisory, and its slushy, slush everywhere slush. Today I found something I wrote on February 11th of last year, when it was 68 degrees. Jebus. It seems like this winter will never end - I know that's not true, but that's the feeling of today.
So, this photo: not butterfly wings, but it reminded me of them. And even though today was nasty, it had its gifts: a really good yoga class, and a happy invitation that made me verklempt. My sister-in-law is getting married in October, and she emailed to ask if I would be willing to be a bridesmaid, since her sister is the maid-of-honor and she thought it would be cool if "her other sister was up there too". This means more to me than I can even say - Dr. Nick's family is straight up awesome, and while sometimes I've felt like the orphan with her nose pressed up against the glass looking in, today I'm inside and warm and cozy.
Labels: dr. nick, family, nature, photos, verklempt, winter
¶ 5:36 PM 0 Comments
Day 21 of 365.
As seen in the upstairs window on a walk in my neighborhood. At least, it didn't move. I don't think. Gulp.
I've been Grumpelstiltskin all day, so Dr. Nick took me to Lola's and my mood is much improved.
Labels: 365, Charleston, dr. nick, lola's, photos, WV, YIP
¶ 4:35 PM 0 Comments
Day 16 of 365.
Chilly weather, and waking up to snow. If you follow the photostream back to flickr, you may see evidence of a really awesome dinner at Lola's with some great friends.
Now, Dr. Nick & I rock the living room, firing up the dj gear and playing whatever we want.
Labels: 365, dr. nick, lola's, photos, rocking the living room, winter, YIP
¶ 7:57 PM 0 Comments
