Sunny weather

Spring-like temps this afternoon. A good day to climb the trails of Camel's Back. (Enlarge the photo to see the people taking in the view from the top)

Will March come in like a lion or a lamb?

Marking time

We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams.
~~ Jeremy Irons

Directions?

I wonder what the other sign says....

Sunburst

We've had some amazing clouds lately.

Neighborhood reflections

It's all in the perspective....

Glow

Bare trees of winter warmed by the sunset.

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The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Sky watching

Magnificent cumulus clouds around sunset.

If you look carefully, you'll see a person sitting on a fence watching the sky.

For Valentine's Day

Tulips in the morning
tulips in the park
but the tulips I like best
are the two-lips in the dark
~ Unknown

Hope Cupid has been good to you this weekend. :)

Intersection

As seen early one morning on the way to work.

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And it's early in the morning
so early in the morning
it's early in the morning
and I ain't got nothin' but the blues...
~ Harry Nilsson

Water music

Taken from a bridge that crosses a creek at the Nature Center. The gentle rushing sound of the creek is always soothing to me.

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Water Music

The words are a beautiful music.
The words bounce like in water.

Water music,
loud in the clearing

off the boats,
birds, leaves.

They look for a place
to sit and eat--

no meaning,
no point.

~ Robert Creeley

Sunday sunset

End of another weekend. Dinner out, special coffee, discussions, music, walks, playing piano. Not quite ready for Monday yet....

Even tho I'm not much on football, I'm glad the Saints won the Superbowl. About time for some good news for New Orleans.

Liquid jewels

Rainy here this morning. When I looked up raindrops, I learned this from a science site:

Raindrops are not tear-shaped. Very small raindrops are nearly spherical As raindrops increase in size, they become flattened at the bottom due to air resistance. The largest raindrops split into smaller raindrops due to air resistance.

After the storm, drops hung like little round jewels from branches, leaves, and vines.

Designing ice

The lily pond in winter at the Nature Center.

Designs that occur naturally fascinate me, as do the multiple systems in nature and how they all interweave.

Balancing act

Lots of geese around right now. In fact, while driving by the Capitol building today, traffic was stopped, waiting for two geese who were shuffling from one side of the street to the other.

But wait. Maybe they weren't really geese. Maybe they were two of our legislators in disguise trying to escape nasty budget hearings, or perhaps a legislator and a lobbyist heading out for a drink and some "conversation."

One thing is clear; it would be easier to sleep balanced on one leg than to balance the state budget this year.

A little sunshine...

...for a Monday.

Wonder what the weather will bring tomorrow for Groundhog Day? Will spring come soon? Or will we have more winter? What will Punxsutawney Phil predict?

Reflections on January

There are two holidays during the month; New Year's day and Martin Luther King day. It often snows, in fact, it snowed here today.

A month of finishing year-end tasks and starting out new.

January is also a month of birthdays of several friends and family, including my mother's. She gave us this little snowman a couple of years ago; she liked sweet things like this. She also liked romantic comedies with Cary Grant, the song "Deep Purple," and roses.

Although the holidays are well over, the little snowman is going to stay out for a while longer. His sweetness softens the harsh cold of winter.

Wolf moon

The moon tonight, which is the first full moon of the new year, will also be the largest of the year, according to online science news. That's because the moon's orbit will bring it to the closest point to earth, right as it is in full moon phase.

And the name, Wolf moon? It's of Native American origin, according to the Farmers' Almanac:

Full Wolf Moon - January: Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Native American villages. Thus, the name for January's full moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Some called it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the next moon.

Do full moons cause craziness? Some people swear it does. Many moons ago when I worked in an ER, we tried to track whether patients and other things during our shift became crazier during full moons. It didn't prove to be true, at least through our research. We just had cycles of crazy, regardless of the phase of the moon.

May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night and a smooth road all the way to your door.
~ Irish blessing

Seeing red

Red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky at morning, sailors warning
~ Proverb

A story about red: Scientists have found that at least one dinosaur may have had reddish tail feathers. They came to this conclusion after examining fossilized remains of the Sinosauropteryx. The feathers were more like bristles than feathers, but have some of the same type of cellular development as feathers.

Of course, there are other scientists who disagree with these findings. I guess you could say they were seeing red in a different way....

Caught

Reminds me of a small piece of stained glass, reflecting the winter light. Fragile leaf. I wonder how long it will remain stuck in the branches?

Speaking of fragile, saw in the news that a woman attending an art class at the Metropolitan Museum of Art lost her balance and fell into a Picasso, leaving a 6-inch rip in the canvas. Museum officials said they can repair the painting to where the rip is not noticeable. The article didn't say, but I'm guessing that if the woman was injured it would have been mentioned.
The embarrassment would be bad enough.

Berries

For birds and squirrels in winter -- and for photography nuts who happen to be wandering around clutching a camera. :)