Bitter Cold, Sun, Snow, River Day

The sun was out, the sky was very blue, the snow was sparkling, so this was my mission. To go along the river to the dam in Hamilton and the overlook. I only took my 55-200mm AV lens. Unfortunately, what looked like sparkling diamonds in the snow to my eyes, got over exposed in the photographs. Still, I embattled the bitter cold of 10 degrees w added chill factor from wind. (fingers were so painful after 10 minutes, even w gloves, it was a long 5 minute walk back to the car & heat!)
Nevertheless, I caught a nice flag shot, some Canadian geese flying, log covered in snow stuck in the boil, and other random shots of snow on steps, rocks & water fountains. The church steeple you see used to be seen from my old apartment bedroom window at night. Still miss that view and the partial view of the Great Miami river. I even took a photo of some electrical wires as reminder they keep us ALL connected on our laptops, home power & such.

These are not fabulous pictures just some I wanted to share with others w/o clogging up the Twitter stream. A celebration of the beauty of sun & snow, amidst the bitter cold. Not to mention my need for an attitude adjustment to snOMG.

Above, ice frosted rocks.

Looking into the boil from above. Mixture of bubbles, ice bits & water.Below is snow and ice covered log stuck in the boil for a long time.

I'd love to have this old drinking fountain. Love the look.

When this photo was taken, looking back at my walk to the car, I honestly thought I had frostbite in my fingers, even with gloves on! Hurt, burning & getting numb.

P.S. IceFest is this weekend in Hamilton but it will be too cold for many. Shame, the ice sculptures are awesome!

Think Spring, Plan Ahead for Garden

This was our yard 4 yrs ago. Slowly over time, things went downhill for a variety of reasons. Then, last year some awful, plentiful weed had taken over our grass & garden. Some root bulb weed that can ONLY be removed with lots of digging up & our yard is big. So the plan is to get a tiller or something & remove lots of it. Replant the center plot with things raccoons & groundhogs don't like and use lots of mulch. Ground hogs will eat the Black-Eyed -Susans but thankfully, my neighbor has some to divide and share this year.

If you saw our yard last summer, it was pitiful & the high dew points kept me house bound so weeds really took over. It looked more like a cross between Sanford & Son and Green Acres, sigh. My neighbor next door (who's house you can see a bit) has FABULOUS yard & flowers. Very inspirational.

The other shocking thing is the evergreen tree on the side of the house has TRIPLED in size in four years time. What to do, or who to call, to trim it well & with affordability.. . . It's sixty feet tall.

But now is the time to put money aside & plan for the yard. I need low maintenance flowers and stuff that likes shade between the trees & the new stupid 100 foot long plastic privacy fence neighbor behind us has added to back of yards. Did I mention he's taken away our view of sunsets? The chipmunk is not amused, either.



Stay tuned~~Sophia

Happy New Year! Photo Reflections

Looking ahead

Weathered physical/emotional storms in 2010. Take nothing for granted!

Cherish nature, as usual, & capture more in 2011

Young deer was as curious about me & my camera as I was of him/her/it.

Looking forward to color in flowers. Miss this along the garage!
Make all feel at ease around me IRL & SM!
(IRL=In real life. SM=Social Media)
Remember the sun is always behind the clouds. Soak in the times it is out!

Look people in the eye & be present with their company. Put down the laptop, cell phone/smart phone and BE HERE NOW. Be more Zen-like.
May cities & states find better ways to improve rush hour traffic.
Learn the discernment of kinder self talk or when a swift kick is needed! :)

Happy New Year!
~~Sophia

Swinging Weekend in the Cat House

Outside, the weather was cold & frightful. Ok, not really frightful but cold enough to freeze your ying yang off.

My black & white Oscar was on the top tier of the cat tree, relaxing & grooming. Stewart wanted to play, then went for the cat toy on a string.  My room mate's cat, Smudge, is the other B&W. First photo she was actually squinting at the camera from the flash.. smart kitty! Then Speedy, the 4th cat has a bit of washed out yellow eye that I've yet to learn how to fix in Photoshop. This is what a real cat house looks like on a weekend. Exciting I know. Note, I didn't post the pictures with adult beverages. We don't allow the kids to drink.

**To view full size, click on any photo**

Oscar's thinkin', leave me alone.

I mean it, buzz off. I'm not messing around.

Stewart playing with mice on a string.

Then Oscar got his nap.

Smudge is thinking, damn that's a bright flash on that camera, thus she squinted.

Still waiting for some food. Maybe if I ignore the camera broad.
Speedy near the furnace room, warmest part of the cold house.

P.S. Changed my mind. Here's a photo of my Irish Coffee from Saturday night. Oh, and I'm now experimenting with Seagram's 7. I'd lost ability to drink for years (Long story!) and am enjoying having liquor in the house again. I also think it causes me to take minutia photographs. Time will tell.

For Grandma

Discontinued NOISY Sunchips Bag

Ok, this bag was supposed to decompose in 16 weeks. Well, it only looks dirty with a few tears in it. Granted, some neighbor behind us added a privacy fence behind our pile (which added some extra shade time) and it's been a dry summer & we've not watered the compost pile. Still, we expected this 'unique green package' to disappear a little better than this one did.

Frito Lay has quit making it saying it's due to noisy bag complaints. Well, it was annoying but in the name of science, I had to share our experience in Ohio with this bag. I did not believe it from the get go. I also detest the fake "Green" packaging being bastardized in the same way the name organic/free range/cage free labels are basically lies, but I digress. Still I thought I would share our photographs.

The top one, has a log on it, as I dragged it out of the pile after six weeks for a photograph. Then the other photos were taken today. According to my calendar, this bag was supposed to completely break down by the 20th of October. Not gonna happen.

(Click on any photo to enlarge it)

So there you go. Sophia's experiment in the lies of packaging that is supposed to make us feel we are doing our part to make less garbage in landfills. Don't you believe it.

Just recycle the best you can, try not to waste things, and for goodness sake, enjoy your Sun Chips!

Cynical Sophia

p.s. And if you still buy plastic bottled water, shame on you! :) Get a reusable stainless steel one. They are really affordable these days and you can even find them at Kroger, Target, etc.

Squirrel & Cat Slide Show

My cats love to watch the squirrels & birds on the brick patio. There are three feeders, two bird baths in the yard, and a water dish outside the sliding door. It's true real HD tv viewing for the cats. Especially 16 month old Stewart, still curious about so many things.

First few photos are of the 'squirrel proof' feeder. See, if the squirrel doesn't trip the lever with weight, the squirrel can get some sunflower seeds. Hangs upside down to eat it! He worked so hard in the heat.

Stewart Video 1 yr later

I can see why I've gone one year between cat videos!!! Enough attempting cat video today with a webcam. Ya need a portable flip video for moving critters. And drugs...for the cat and the producer !--just kidding.

All I got was a bedspread and face full of fur for my attempt, though Stewart was purring his brains out. At one point he pauses the eyejot video & you can hear him purr---- have no clue how he did that, as he stepped on the keyboard! This is my first double-coated cat. Needs brushing/raking. It's hot. I'm done. This was the result. He was lying on the window ledge after this & now on side of bed, having grown weary of the fuzzy toy.

The video does stop abruptly with him looking lop-eared & bored (Though still purring) He meant to meow good-bye.

Next blog will be something easy to photograph..... my flowers. When it's cooler. Maybe October.

A Year +2 wks Ago Today New Boy

Here Stewart is now, and below, when I rescued him at Nine wks from a vet office near me!

Hueston Woods Slideshow

Remembering the cool weather break we had a few weeks ago, I escaped to Hueston Woods Lodge for the night. It was a pure nourishment of my soul for a glimpse of water, quiet & nature. The following is a slide show of pics with butterflies & some pics of the lake. Not all great photos but the clip of music is, Smetana's "The Moldau", one of my favorite pieces.