Monday, March 25, 2013

A Cup of Cocoa...Snow...and Hope








Happy Monday!

Sipping hot cocoa and rethinking the whole  "...maybe get a jump on Spring Gardening..."  thing.

Broadsided last night out of the Great Plains with about 6 inches of new wet snow.  Drifting in the valleys and stuck to the firs. This morning, all that was missing were the Christmas Lights :)   It's warming up, now, though...and all around is the sounds of clumps falling from trees and gutters and downspouts...and water dripping.
Everywhere. 
                And the robins, thrilled over the bread I've tossed outside.


All things considered it is very good for the soil, and will make Spring planting easier when the temperatures rise.

In less than 15 days I will be headed toward Spring: Tennessee-Style (...no...the Opossum Fest is a bit later in the year...closer to the car show...yes there REALLY is one...) but Angie reports that the trees are blossomed in Memphis...the bulbs are up...Spring and the pollen is in full swing so

 "...don't forget antihistamines..."

~laughing~

 The girl thinks of everything! Going to do some Southern-Style Cooking together...and of course Duplin Wine and Dark Chocolate!  Can't wait! Have an idea for an in-the-studio photograph I think she will love!


This week's book:  Eight Girls Taking Pictures

by Whitney Otto. A fictional portrayal of eight female photographers spanning 1917 through the end of the 20th Century. Taking a close look at the "conditions" specific to female photographers...and sometimes just females during those turbulent years. My favorite passage uttered by Cymbeline Kelly (1917):

"Men ban women (photographers) from the battlefield, then they tell them that the only important pictures are taken on the battlefield."

This book inspired by the real-life works of eight prominent female photographers...with the author projecting a story and a pseudonym for each of them.  A book to be savored a life-story at a setting.
Excellent piece of work.

So...hoping for warmer weather soon. Gained back 10 of that 25 pounds I lost last year.  It's always the same 25 pounds. Starting to realize it fluctuates seasonally...and that it isn't the snow so much as the hot cocoa and homemade breads and thick stews and soups. Okay, and maybe the desserts...lol...Maybe it is just the way we are programmed. Squirrel fat...for the winter.