White Madness

So I'm driving back home from visiting the folks in New Hampshire yesterday, and when the rain started about forty minutes outside Montpelier, I thought, well this sucks, but at least it was beautiful all weekend. I try to be an optimist.

Then I got about ten minutes outside Montpelier and that rain turned to snow, and I thought, It's April 27th..........................

WTF????

This is ridiculous!!!

See how quickly that optimism can disappear?

I tried my best to "enjoy" this freakish weather by taking some pictures, which worked temporarily. Then I got up this morning to a perfect ground covering of (what did they say on the radio?...SIX INCHES?!).

Come on, Vermont. There's a reason the song isn't "I'm Dreaming of a White Mother's Day."

Play Date

When I drove out to my friends Sally and Cindy's house last weekend, I actually wasn't sure I was going to make it.  They had warned me that it would be best to park at "The Shed" and walk in to the house, and then they'd called me again and said I should just park at "the bottom of the hill" and they'd come get me, since there had been some rain and the road was "a little rough."  But I quickly realized I hadn't fully grasped the big picture.  I arrived at "the bottom of the hill" and sat, car idling, gazing up at the long and winding mud ditch otherwise known as Ridge Rd., where they live.  I looked up and saw them waiting at the top of the hill, so I decided this wasn't the place they had said to stop, even though I was unsure of my Toyota Corolla's ability to brave the elements, no matter how good the front-wheel drive was.  When I finally got to where they were parked, they said, "We didn't know [the neighbor] had fixed it!"  Uh-huh -- fixed.  Right.  We then parked at The Shed and proceeded on the "short walk" -- a fifteen minute hike -- to their house.  I briefly thought, maybe I should've brought more gear.

It turned out to be a fabulously great time, though, and I was fascinated by their house -- which Sally designed and built from the ground up, with her actual hands.  And I loved meeting their chickens and goats, particularly Gus, who was aptly described as a "lap goat."

  The best part of the night, though, was the four straight hours Sally and I spent playing music -- she on guitar and me on drums -- with Cindy jamming away in the background.  Adult play date!

East Middlebury Falls

Last Saturday was a beautiful day, so Indy and I drove out to the falls near the Green Mountain National Forest, just outside Middlebury, VT -- a favorite spot of ours.  These are some shots from that day.  On the left is a really cool piece of wood I found -- every time I look at I see a lamb, but that's just the way it naturally was (not carved or anything).

Indy was mostly occupied with trying to teach the water a lesson -- it was not cooperating with her when she tried to take a drink, so there was much barking and pouncing, which of course led to getting wet, swimming, and then shaking herself dry at my expense.  A good time was had by all I'd say.

Things You Learn Through Experience

Sometimes Life gives you lemons and then cackles hysterically as it screams, "We're out of sugar, so good luck with the lemonade!"

Note on Blogger's Facilitation of Graphic Design Creativity

It's really frustrating to try to fix a post layout the way you want in Blogger.  (see previous post)

Fire and Ice

Helen and I seem to gravitate toward sunsets.  OK, so maybe I gravitate toward sunsets all by myself.  Either way, I find myself taking lots of pictures of them lately, an activity which satisfies me on several levels.  I mean, there's my obvious love (ok, let's say obsession) with sunsets; then there's my love of photography (which seems to be growing now that I have a partner in crime); and then there's just something about spending a lot of time watching nature in action -- sunrise, sunset and all that.  Of course I generally miss the sunrise part, but you can't have it all.  It just seems like I can be having the worst day imaginable, and but then I take a minute -- or an hour or two -- to watch the sunset, and my mind clears.  Nature breathes for me.

When we came upon the beach at Oakledge,

we were greeted by these ice formations.  We both took scads of pictures of them -

- they fascinated me to no end, and I tried desperately (as I often do) to capture the real beauty in my photographs, but this is as close as I could come.

One time I took a photography class, and the teacher, who was basically worthless for most other things, gave us one piece of advice that has been 

indispensable in helping me catch some of my most awesome shots.  He said, "Whenever you're in awe over a breathtaking scene, and you're clicking your shutter as fast as your camera will let you, turn around.  Usually the most incredible stuff is behind 

you."  After I'd taken about a hundred shots of ice sculptures and sunsets,

I turned around, and this is what I saw.