The Thief of Hearts...

It is really unfair you know, that a heart can be stolen so easily by a child. I couldn't stop looking at her, being charmed by her smiles, her looks, and her huge saucer eyes.
She is Lily. And she is a precious child like a flower.
She just turned three years old before Christmas. She is my youngest son's daughter. A joy to behold in so many ways.

She and her dad visited for 4 days.
Sigh.
I so hope that it will not be another whole year before I see Lily again.

Back in Time

I'm taking a moment to take a leap back in time. These photos were sent to me by my brother after he read about Uncle Freddie and Santa. He said these would have gone well with that blog post and I have to agree. I am the one in the glasses.
Always wanted to be a cowboy, yes I did!
I noticed the stick horse in my cousin's baby carriage. I have to grin. My sister and I were dressed as cow-girls and my cousins are dressed...as well, little girls.
Guess I was just meant to be a 'tom' boy.
And wow check out those great cowboy boots I am wearing!

Um...I still have a stick horse, but not the kind that grandma used to make. That particular horse had to have it's stick replaced by midsummer.

Great memories. Thanks Brother!!!

The Incredible Journey

I awoke from to the noise of gale force winds Sunday morning. I looked as I let Morris outside as quietly as possible-- so as not to awaken my son and his wife.
Poor Morris went flat on his back when he hit the concrete driveway. Overnight it had rained leaving ice in spots. I listened to the winds howl overhead and the branches creak and clatter. The sounds were ominous.

By 1:30, I'd decided that I'd go ahead and drive to my Stepdaughter's house -- generally it is only a two hour drive. The DOT site had said the roads were in good driving condition.
Gee, little did I know.

I'd told Steph my route I planned on taking and stated *If I'm not there by dark come looking for me*.

What I didn't know is that it had begun to snow and the 50mph+ wind gusts were creating whiteouts and blizzard conditions on the route I'd chosen.
I was in the Gallant Cavalier, as I now have dubbed it. [I'm sure this will amuse my son who was the previous owner of the Cavalier]

I had planned on driving with music playing, but with the roar of the wind and the rattle of the GC, I was terrified of something being blown off the car. Bits and pieces of trees were pelleting the vehicle along with occasional periods of pure white blindness. At one point I wished I could find a spot to turn around and head back to my son's house. But the section of road I'd just gone over was so bad, I was too frightened to face driving it again.

Morris curled up quietly on my heavy winter coat on the passenger seat next to me. He'd lift his head when I cursed or nearly came to creeping crawl. He was a comfort, although I'm not exactly sure why, it wasn't like he could save me!

The roads in fact didn't get better, they got worse. I didn't think I could drive in worse. But thank goodness the other people on the road were not in a hurry or foolish. Perhaps they were afraid as I was.

When I finally pulled into my 'daughters' house I was exhausted with relief. I was pleased though, that I'd just made their place--before darkness.

Uncle Freddy & Santa

This is a true story as best as I can remember since I was a 4th grader.
It was getting to be that age where Santa was questionable.
My schoolmates of course had told me there was NO such thing as Santa.
I was one of those modest, quiet types in school ... but this generated a call to arms and resulted in some punches being tossed and a trip to the Principle's Office.

That Christmas Break we traveled North to where Grandma and Grandpa lived. A long trek in the 60's.

That Christmas Eve we went to Aunt Marian's house to stay. I can remember groaning a bit at first, then getting excited for the opportunity to spend time with my two girl cousins! The only drawback to the whole scenerio is that my aunt and uncle had not yet put in 'indoor' plumbing. The outhouse was a long walk through deep snow.

The tree was magnificent of course, it must have been 100 feet tall. [kid memories are distorted, you know].
Our mom's could barely get us to bed, we were so excited! But finally under some sort of threat, we ended up in the bedrooms, each of us bunking with a cousin. Of course we couldn't go to sleep right away, we were too excited.

We listened to the adults talk downstairs through the heating vents.
Then IT happened.
We heard sleigh bells. We looked at each other wide eyed! Jingle Jingle Jingle.
Then the tell tale: *HO HO HO, Merry Christmas!*

We leaped out of our beds and ran downstairs. There he was as big as life itself. Santa! He had a sack of toys that we ripped into all the while watching him grin through his beard. [If memory serves me correctly, I think my Dad was somewhere with his camera.]

Too quickly Santa told us that he had other children to visit and needed to go. His reindeer were pretty fired up and wanted to get going.
Awesome.
We heard more sleigh bells and hollers of *HO HO HO!*

While we sat on the floor and played with our toys, Uncle Freddie came in from the barn, his face flushed from the cold. We excitedly told him WHO he had missed! He seemed amazed by it all, why Santa must have come while he was working in the barn!
In fact, that would probably explain all the reindeer tracks around the house.

We of course had to go see. And in fact, yes there were reindeer tracks in the yard!

I went back to school 'all knowing'. I'd seen Santa for real, heard his sleigh bells, and seen the tracks. My belief in Santa had been renewed.
And I made more trips to the Principle's Office for fighting about it.

What I didn't know at the time:
Uncle Freddy had dressed up ... he was not working in the barn. He led two of his tame heifers around the house to make 'reindeer' tracks. He was the Santa. How could we have not known?
All it took was a little magic and we believed.
The kid in me says--it wasn't Uncle Freddy, it really was Santa.

And I'll fight anyone that says different.

Whether or Weather

If one were to believe the people that call themselves 'weathermen'...or is it 'weatherpersons' now [one needs to be politically correct right]? ...We are in for dire weather these next few days!

In that case I will have to dig out the Tonka Truck from the garage from the last storm when I played with it...[helping hubby clean up snow...he was amused].

One weather forecasts FzgDzl for tomorrow morning and for Friday too! My question is this, what is FzgDzl? The picture looks like ice.
Ah hah.
Freezing Drizzle. We also have the following choices, Wintry Mix, and Patchy Fog.
Put those together.
FzgDzl, PtchyFg, WtryMx, and it sounds like something gone very very bad. But!
Hold on there is more! There is also Rain/Snow Likely.

The forecast has changed three times in the past 8 hours to include all of the above choices in the next 48 hours. But being from Wisconsin, we shrug and look up. If there are snow flakes, it is snowing.
If the sun is shining we simply smile and admire the blue sky.

I'm thinking the weather forecasters ought to just simplify things by saying:

We don't know, but there is going to be weather!

I'm banking on the fact that by the time I am ready to travel across the state, it will have changed again.
Just in case though, I'll take the Tonka Truck with me.

Discoveries

Today I discovered a wickedly wild and funny blog, I'd read some of her stuff before and was incredibly amused and entertained. Her style of writing is witty. I wish many days I could find that kind of crazy wit.

All I have is a JRT named Morris The Cat, who isn't sure if he is a dog, a cat, or a person. He is rather sure though that things should NOT be moved in the yard without his perimission or he will have to growl and bark at it...[a pile of snow...or a vehicle parked in the wrong spot].

Then there is the issue of the dog that keeps appearing in the mirror unannounced at the bottom of the stairs. Morris will see this mirror image of a JRT who looks exactly like him, but surely must be an impostor in his house. More growling of course.

Last night he was quite perturbed that I had not re-made the bed by the time he felt I should be going to sleep. He kept pacing back and forth until I tossed the last blanket on. With a leap and a very audible sigh, he settled in for his evening rest.

Well back to my discovery...if you get a chance to stop by and visit All 23 Bunnies, do so, you might just make it a favorite like I have.
I just love the explanation about Rudolph, it makes so much more sense now!

Winter Sunsets...

I don't really know why, but as soon as I got home, I grabbed Morris and we took a walk 'to watch the sunset on the ridge'. The sunset was really beautiful ... not in the spectacular bright color beautiful, but in the subdued pastel beauty that can come with a cold winter's eve.

I wanted to see where the sun was setting so I could go up Thursday night and mark the approximate spot of the winter solstice [Friday night should find me in Kenosha].

I like to watch the sun crawl across its axis [is that the right word?]. I like to keep track of the movement in order to 'shoot' the best sunsets I can. Years of watching have been paying off. I can nearly mentally know where the sun is going to set on my landscape at any time of the year.

I think it is the job of a good photographer to learn these things. That and patience! I've been by this particular spot many times on walks, rides, and driving to work. Yet I have never stopped to look at a sunset from behind the beat up mailbox.

Frankly I was surprised at the image I got. It caused emotion. When it causes emotion to me, then I have got 'it'.

Getting 'it' is what photography is all about to me. Someone else may see the same photo and not get the excitement I did, but that fleeting moment will come back every time I view this particular shot.

Wow, I felt good tonight.