It's Spring!

I've finally committed to a Spring theme on the blog. Keith took a new picture for me over a week ago, but I was afraid that if I switched too early, it would jinx everything and snow would start falling the very next day.

Does this mean it won't snow tomorrow? Of course not! The first year we moved up to Cleveland, we had to dig out to drive to my parents' house for Easter. But I think I've waited long enough that you can't blame the snow on my blog header.

Outside!

In the past couple weeks, we've spent as much time outside as possible. All of Eleanor's outdoor toys have been dusted off and put to good use. The sidewalk chalk, tricycle, hula hoop, bubbles, sunglasses. I've gone for a run 4 times in the past week and a half. FOUR TIMES!!!

Two weeks ago, I would have said that I haven't run since last May, when I was 4-5 months pregnant with Declan. But the crazy warm weather has changed all that.

I promised myself that, every once in a while, I will actually step out of my comfort zone on the blog and say something that could possibly be construed as controversial. So: I believe that global warming is a reality. I believe that it is caused by human activity. I believe that it's not solely the fault of our generation, and it's definitely not the fault of our kids' generation, but we will have to find a way to fix it, or else we're all in big trouble.

Frankly, I really can't understand why that is considered controversial, and the fact that it is makes me a little sad. Why does empirical evidence need to be controversial?

But anyway: I have no idea if our current warm weather is related to global warming. If it is, that's shocking and wrong. ..... But for now, I am enjoying the sun and the warm breeze and having all of my windows open and wearing sandals. It doesn't mean I'm going to stop working on minimizing my carbon footprint, but I do think I need a new sundress.

February Update

Still here! We're all settling into our post-holidays routine. Well, some of us are. Declan hasn't been very good about sleeping through the night. I'm not saying he has to sleep 10 hours straight (although that would be nice ...), but after about a week of only waking up once in 7 hours, he's now gone back to waking up and eating every 2 hours at night. Not cool! Like many facets of baby behavior, I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope that this development fades away soon.

Something I never got around to mentioning earlier is that I am teaching this semester. I was on the fence about whether I was ready to go back or not. I told my department coordinator it would only make sense for me, fiscally, if I had an evening or online class so we didn't have to pay for childcare. At first there wasn't anything like that available, and I was equal parts disappointed and relieved. But then an evening class opened up, so now on Tuesdays and Thursdays I give Keith a quick kiss when he gets home from work, hand over the kids, and run out the door. I've really been enjoying it! They're a good class and it's a nice change of pace from being a SAHM. It's gratifying to do something that isn't undone a few hours later (changing diapers, washing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, making meals). I think it's a lot harder on Keith, though, to come home after being at work/commuting for 10 hours, to then be charge of the kids for nearly 3 hours. It wouldn't be that bad, except Declan has made it clear that he doesn't approve of this arrangement. We're both keeping our fingers crossed that he changes his mind soon, or at least stops protesting so vociferously, because if he keeps this up I think Keith might need a hearing aid by the end of the semester.

I think those are the only major developments. Our winter has been very mild, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues! When I need to get out of the house, I usually take Beckett on walks around the block (a mile). I've been much more prone to that since the snow melted and hasn't really come back. Plus, Eleanor has ridden her tricycle with us the past two times. I've been so impressed with her, riding for a whole mile! She's so motivated; not once has she asked me to carry her or push her along. Sometimes she needs one or two pushes to get over cracks, uphill, etc, but just for a few seconds and then she's off again. Watching her race ahead of me, it's almost like I see her growing up before my very eyes.

Yesterday she wanted something with her lunch. "After all," she reminded me, "I'm almost 4 years old."

I know, sweetheart. It will be here before we know it! And then, suddenly, you'll be 33 and living in a purple house and a professional ballet dancer, just like you're planning. Life changes so fast!

Photo Challenge: Green

This week's Shutterboo Photo Challenge is "green." Sometimes I think Keith likes not even worrying about the actual content of the picture, and thinking only about whether the overall impression is of the right color. It's somehow freeing.

This year, it's much easier to find some green at the end of September than in years past. The amount of rain we've had--and are still having--is a little ridiculous. I take it for granted, but every once in a while I look up and realize that all of the lawns, bushes, plants are still a lush, verdant green. The leaves on the trees may be changing color, but otherwise, it still looks like the middle of summer.

The downside to this is: more grass-mowing and weeding. Also, my neighbor's house is still not done being painted. The one they started painting the first weekend in July .... of course, to be fair, I did put a stop to the work because of lead paint concerns. Then nothing happened for about a month while he found a new contractor. But even though the new (much better!) painters started work in mid-August, the job is still far from complete, due to the incessant rain.

When the first snow falls, will the house be painted? Will it fall on a freshly mown lawn?

Photo Challenge: Abstract

After having some difficulty with last week's "urban," Keith breathed a sigh of relief at this week's Photo Challenge assignment of "abstract." Urban is tough when you're camping, but abstract can be accomplished anywhere!

For this one, Keith walked down to the end of the street and took a picture of sky and our modernistic local library. I was shocked at how blue the sky was in the picture, because by the time I saw it 20 minutes later, the sun was almost setting.

It's been a gorgeous few days here that have felt much more like fall than summer. Particularly with how hot and humid this summer has been. Last night we turned off all the fans in the house for the first time in months, and it was so blessedly quiet.

I'm so ready for Fall. I'm not sure that I'm ready for all of the changes that this particular Fall will be bringing to our house: Eleanor starting preschool, the new baby arriving a month later .... but Fall is always my favorite season. I love when there's a chill in the air, leaves changing color, Halloween leading to Thanksgiving into Christmas, candy corn ... so much to enjoy! I'm just hoping that, this year, it doesn't all pass in a sleep-deprived blur, and I can appreciate it. Fingers crossed!

Photo Challenge: Nighttime

This week's Shutterboo Weekly Photo Challenge word is "Nighttime." Thinking about nighttime in the summer reminds of schedules in general. Or the complete lack thereof. Does any other parents out there get frustrated at how impossible it is to get the kids to bed on time in the summer, or is that just me?

The weekends are always a mess from May through August. Between vacations and camping and birthday parties and picnics ... if we get Eleanor one good nap and to bed within an hour of her bedtime on a summer weekend, we're doing great.

But oftentimes it seems like weeknights are just as bad. It's the damn sunlight! It can be something as simple as walking down the street, enjoying the weather, and talking with neighbors. We haven't really "gone" anywhere or done much of anything, but suddenly we're a half hour behind schedule. Last night, Keith's work gave out tickets to the Zoo. From 6-9pm. Usually (in the colder months) we start bedtime routine at 6:45 and it's lights out at 7:30. Last night, we were not even out of the Zoo parking lot by 9pm, and that was just a random Wednesday night!

Of course, the crux of the problem is that we want to do these activities. We want to talk to our neighbors and go to the zoo and go camping. But I want to keep her on a somewhat normal schedule, to be a well-rested, happy child. Are these two goals completely incompatible in the summer? It often feels that way.

At least, when Keith took the picture above, he was on his own. Eleanor was in bed, asleep, and I was on the couch, thinking about how I should be asleep as well. I love summer. But it's hectic and chaotic and by mid-August when we've had (at least this summer) ONE weekend with no plans since the beginning of May .... I'm longing for the shorter days, cooler winds, and relatively calmer days of Fall. Of course, ask me what's more frustrating in the middle of February when we're all tired of the snow and cold and being cooped up, and I'll laugh at myself for being so whiney about all our summer plans!

Photo Challenge: Anger

I personally thought "anger" was a tough Photo Challenge.Every time over the past week, when Keith asked for ideas, I just shrugged. As with some of the other prompts, the word felt very personal. Keith said his half-marathon finish time makes him angry. I said that a kitchen sink full of dirty dishes made me angry. (Didn't I just clean the kitchen, like, 5 minutes ago?!?) But it didn't really seem like the anger would come across. Traffic and dealing with idiot drivers always makes me angry, but he can't really have the camera out and shooting the entire drive to work. I mean, I'm sure people do it, but it's probably not the best idea.

So at 8 o'clock Tuesday night, still with no picture, Keith went outside to get some pictures of our backyard. I know I've been complaining about the weather a lot this Spring, but it has seriously been awful. I heard on the radio last week that this has been the rainiest year so far in over 50 years. And it's not just that there's been a lot of rain; it's been spread out so that it's been raining almost every day since mid-March.

Hence, the state of our grass. It's insane. Keith's cut the front grass a few times, but it's been too swampy to cut the back. Plus the backyard is Beckett's squirrel stalking grounds, so it's tall grass intermingled with doggy dirt paths. Very attractive!

This past weekend, Keith finally attempted to cut the backyard .... and the lawnmower broke. Oh, and rain is forecast all this week.

That frustration—plus the annoying fact that neither of us are particularly concerned about having a fantastically manicured lawn, yet there's still a fair amount of effort required just to keep it looking a mite better than constant shagginess—is what Keith was trying to convey with the picture. But I don't really feel like all that anger really came across. He tried taking a few pictures with the lawnmower on it's side, showing the broken part, but I don't know enough about lawnmowers for that picture to even make sense. The first comment he got was, essentially, "Where's the anger?" A few of the other commenters, who live in the rain-soaked region, did identify with the anger and frustration of the situation, but only because they're also living it.

I think, for me, it's a lesson that not ALL pictures have to be universally understood. Maybe you do just need to pick something that makes YOU really, really angry and take a good photo of it. It might inspire anger in others ... or they may just like the composition and find it peaceful and soothing.

Finally! Spring Blog Update

Ever since I finally figured out how to easily personalize the look of my blog (to be fair, it's a LOT easier than it used to be last time I tried, I swear), I told myself I'd try to update it on a regular basis.

The first picture was very winter-oriented, so I figured I'd update it every season. How hard can it be to change it four times a year, right? Except, as I've complained about repeatedly of late, it won't stop raining! I wanted pictures of flowers and new life, but I feel like we're just drowning in day after day of gray, cold rain.

But finally I went back and used a picture Keith took of store-bought flowers my Mom had in her kitchen. For the past few weeks, I've also bought flowers at the grocery store. I need some color and brightness in my world! So if you usually check out the blog through a feed reader, go onto to the actual site for artificial Spring cheer.

Photo Challenge: Tracks

This week's Photo Challenge is Tracks. It seemed appropriate in that we spent the weekend running races all around Cleveland (more on that later). But actually, running the races made it very difficult for Keith to get any photo shoots in.

And it's STILL raining. This Spring has just been so cold and rainy .... this is the time of year that usually we're desperate to be outside, soaking in the sunshine, reveling in the feel of warm wind on skin. Instead, we're still cooped up inside, next to the fire, watching it rain. Again. Now my biggest fear is that it will switch from this cold, miserable weather straight into hot and humid, miserable weather. It's a very distinct possibility!

Anyway, so Keith stopped by some old railroad tracks today on his way home from work to get his "tracks" shot.



It's a very literal interpretation of the word, but I also think that it's unique, because how many people know of old, unused tracks that they can photograph so closely? Every week, he debates how literal to be with the inspiration word, and how to compose the picture. Sometimes he veers towards abstract, and other weeks he tends to create pictures that tell a story. One of the elements of his photography that I like is the versatility. He's open to trying so many new ways to compose and edit the shots that they all turn out very differently.

Speaking of other pictures, with the end of the semester, I never got around to posting about last week's Photo Challenge, which was Artificial. I think it does a pretty good job of speaking for itself!

Photo Challenge: Red

Thank goodness for these weekly photo challenges! Some weeks, I have a really hard time blogging. The timeliness of the photo challenges forces me to write something, which always helps with the writer's block. It's a reminder that the hardest part is getting started, so just sit down and do it already!

I've also decided, when dithering over what to write about the photo challenge picture, that I need to stop even trying to address the technical aspects of it. If you want to know how these images are composed and manipulated, mention something in the comments and I'll pressure Keith into adding his own very technical explanation paragraph. But I don't really have any part in that, so I can really just speak to the thoughts and emotions inspired by the pictures.

First of all, on that note, these are actually Eleanor's rain boots and coat from last year. They're too small for her (see the sleeves?), but Keith broke them out just for this picture. Because how much cuter is a picture with her in it, instead of just the accessories? He also had to create the puddle, even thought it's been raining here for what seems like weeks on end. For a few hours on Monday evening, the puddles had dried up. So Keith and Eleanor trooped outside, armed with a pitcher of water to make their own puddle. And—bonus!—not as many worries about how dirty the water is.

This Spring has been very rainy and cold, so I'm very glad that Eleanor enjoys splashing in puddles. And don't worry—she has new rain boots and a jacket!

Photo Challenge: Rural

Keith's greatest challenge this week was actually not finding something rural, but dealing with a recalcitrant, sugar-high toddler.

When he read that this week's Shutterboo Photo Challenge would be "rural," he knew immediately where he would head to take some pictures. Even though we live in an inner-ring suburb of Cleveland, we only have to drive 20 minutes East to find ourselves surrounded by parkland, trees, and rural-ness? Rural-osity? A pastoral landscape.

Keith and Eleanor headed out on Easter Sunday, late morning. It was a very gray and rainy day—so pretty much, like any day around here for the past few weeks. But it wasn't the weather that Eleanor had a problem with. She was in sugar-withdrawal and very tired. We had celebrated Easter with my family on Saturday, and she really was adorable in her dress.

That girl loves to dress up. What do you want to wear? A dress! A fancy dress? Even better! But it's the BEST if there's also tights and fancy shoes and not just one, but TWO ponytails! (I can't call them pigtails because that confuses her.)

She had a wonderful time showing off her dress (and tights/shoes/etc.), and playing with Gavin during the Easter egg hunt and blowing bubbles after dinner. And did I mention the candy? I'm sure I don't even know how much sugar she ate, and I'm equally as certain that I don't want to know because I would be horrified.

So we had a wonderful time. But we got home late and she was, shall we say, reluctant to go to bed. Even though she fell asleep nearly 2 hours later than normal, she still woke up at a normal time on Sunday. She was tired and cranky because she kept asking for things (SUGAR) and we kept saying no. Why can't she have sugar before breakfast? For breakfast? All the time? What about now? How come she never EVER gets to eat chocolate?!?

I got a break while Keith and Eleanor went to take photos. (I was grading, so it wasn't much of a break. But still, there was no whining.) Usually Eleanor delights in accompanying Keith on his photo jaunts. The old schoolhouse he photographed for the challenge "Past" is on our way to the grocery store, and now every time we're approaching it she says, "That's the school Daddy and I took pictures of!"

But sugar monster Eleanor was not having it. She didn't want to get out of the car because it was raining. She then fell asleep for about 15 minutes in the car, which meant she refused to take a real nap when she got home. Keith put her down at a typical naptime of around 12:30, but she didn't fall asleep until after 3. Sugar monster Eleanor is stubborn.

In the end, Keith did manage to crop and color boost his way to a good-looking rural photo, even though he only had about 6 pictures to choose from. And we all learned a valuable lesson about staying away from refined sugar. Of course, having said that, we still have leftover Easter candy in the house that sometimes I think about just throwing away, but of course instead I throw into my mouth every once in a while when I pass by the bowl. I always thought that I kept Eleanor away from sugar for health reasons. I didn't also realize how important Eleanor's lack of sugar is to my sanity!

Photo Challenge: Purple

The photo challenge this week was another color: purple. (Last time it was white.) Eleanor is a big fan of purple, so we have plenty of purple options around our house. But Keith, of course, is never satisfied with what's around the house. Usually, he's looking for an excuse to get out and go on a photo adventure.

Our adventure took us ... to my parents' house! Crocuses are just starting to bloom around here, and we've seen a lot of purple ones. So Keith took his camera when we went over on Sunday, hoping to get some good, Spring flower pictures. And it was a sunny day, but my parents live just one block from Lake Erie, which means their yard stays cold longer in the Spring, with the cold winds coming off the still-frozen lake. No such crocuses.

Instead, Keith took pictures of the purple flowers my mom had inside the house: living violets, and some cut flowers in a vase. The sunlight on the flowers was nice, but he also had a sneaking suspicion that flowers would be a very common picture for this week's challenge.

So on Tuesday night, as per usual, he was still prowling for that perfect picture. He had an idea for a very abstract picture, to ensure that the focus was truly on the color and not on the object. The necessary ingredients were: a flashlight, decorative purple glass vase filler gems (not sure if that's a real term, but that's what Amazon called them), and a piece of white paper.

It took quite a few attempts for Keith to get the light to really bring out the color of the gems, instead of them looking washed out. The key was that he actually took off the top of the flashlight, and put the gems inside the flashlight, completely covering the light. Then he taped a piece of white paper to the flashlight to catch the reflected light. Here's the set-up:



















And here's the final shot. When choosing it on the computer, he said, "I might not do any processing with this picture! I know I say that every week, but it looks really good as is ...." And, of course, he changed his mind. He darkened the overall image so that everything else really dropped away except the purple. I like that, even if you had no idea what the photo challenge was, there's a good chance that "purple" would be the first word that comes to your mind to describe this image. I also like that it's so different from many other pictures he's taken. He's really utilizing the opportunity to expand his abilities. Next week: Circle!

Photo Challenge: Past

This week's photo challenge was more on the abstract side. I'm getting the sense that Keith really likes the concrete words, like "curve," and he gets a lot of solid ideas for them. Past? That's a bit harder to pin down.

Or rather, it's hard to convey to complete strangers, without using words. We were down in Kentucky over the weekend. Does he take a picture of something from his own past? Except it probably wouldn't mean anything to most people participating in the Photo Challenge, only resulting in a lot of shrugged shoulders, scratched heads, and quick clicks to the next photo.

But it's hard to find a picture of something clearly Past without being too over the top. I'm always drawn to the idea of triptychs, like 3 pictures of Eleanor, starting from the day she was born to today. But is that cheating? To convey past through multiple images?

In the end, Keith and Eleanor took a trip to an old schoolhouse in our city and snapped a few shots. It's a little more spelled out than some of the other photos, with the sign and all .... but how else to do it? It's a difficult concept to convey in a single image.

Before he added some effects in Photoshop, the light was very flat since it's another cloudy, drizzly night. (You know how I knew it would rain tonight? Because it's Tuesday, and our trash pick-up is on Wednesday. So it seems like it rains every Tuesday night!) He warmed up/deepened the colors and added a blurred effect. I guess technically he "de-colorized" because the whole photo is more brown in tone, but to me that made the color that's there more prominent.

Yes, the picture does make me think of the past. But looking at the sad, naked bush and patchy brown grass really makes me think, "Man, I'm ready for Spring!"

Spring Break! ... in Cleveland

Today is my first day of Spring Break, and this is what it looks like. Keep in mind that, as of yesterday afternoon, all of the snow had melted. It had been raining for two straight days and the backyard was a total mudpit.

So, on the plus side, I won't be spending my week off wiping down Beckett twenty times a day and occasionally throwing him in the shower.

But, on the downside, SNOW!! More freakin' snow. It doesn't feel much like Spring. Or look like that. Oh well, no matter what the weather does, it's still a week off from classes. So the "break" part holds true.

"I want to look at my options."

Or: random Eleanor stories.

1) Eleanor LOVES the snow. Even now, when the rest of us are sick of it and yearning for Spring, she wants to get bundled up and go make butt prints. (She knows about snow angels, too, but doesn't like those as much as the simple butt print.)

Today, my one weekday off, we got all bundled up and played in the snow on the way to the library. Of course, that meant after about 4 houses, I carried a massive bag of books AND Eleanor the rest of the way to the library ... which was closed. It's just at the end of the street, but still. It's a long way when trudging through snow, carrying a 27-lb child and 20 pounds of books.

2) In the morning, when I try to pick out her clothes, she pushes me aside, flings open the bottom drawers and says, "I want to look at all of my options."

3) Before our failed trek to the library this morning, she was pretending to put her stuffed animal, Loopy, down for a nap. She would get him settled and tell him, "Cry if you need me!" and then run and hide behind the shower curtain. I got to play Loopy, and was supposed to start crying for her as soon as she was hidden.

I took immense pleasure in making all the same requests of Eleanor that she usually makes of me when putting off bedtime. "Loopy" would cry and Eleanor would run over to him, saying, "What's wrong?"

"I need a blanket!" I'd whine.

"I had a bad dream! Hold me!"

"You didn't sing me THREE songs!"

"I need a nose wiper!"

And she'd say, "I'm sorry, Loopy!" Then she'd run and get whatever "he" requested. What a good little Mommy! She was so solicitous with him, I have hope that my complete irritation with these bedtime requests isn't broadcasted to her, and that she just feels loved and cared for.

4) Speaking of her clothing options, she's all about dresses lately. Which is fine, except she keeps trying to pick out light Spring dresses that are totally inappropriate for the 10 feet of snow outside. I know, sweetheart. I want to wear a t-shirt, too. But that's not going to happen for another month or two.

I love that girl!

Dam(med) Ice! House Repair # 2,463

For those of you wandering over from Facebook, you may not be aware of the fact that our house is a money pit. We moved in June 2006, so not quite 5 years here. In that time, we've spent:
$8,000 new roof and gutters
$12,000 new windows
$13,000 new siding
$1,000 new garage doors
$34,000 TOTAL

In other words, we've spent almost 20% of our house's value (or should I say former value, since it's dropped so much) on additional improvements that we hadn't been planning on. This isn't counting 1) a few jobs less than $1,000 or 2) the optional improvements like adding a deck, patio, landscaping, etc. All of the construction ended last May, and we've been living in relative peace and comfort since then. Until The Ice.

Last week, we were running around shoving towels into window wells because the ice and snow from the roof was melting down behind the gutters and running down the side of the house. Our screens were caulked into place, and didn't have weep holes, so the water was pooling between the screens and windows and seeping under the windows into the house.

After that fiasco, Keith and my dad drilled some holes into the bottom of the screens and Keith also knocked off a lot of the ice around the windows. (We still have towels in the window wells, just in case.) And yet, the home disasters don't stop!

We spent most of the day Sunday at my parents' house. When we got home Sunday night, around 7:30, Eleanor and I came inside. Keith parked the car, and Beckett came inside with him and went straight to the back door to go outside. I think I was the one who let him out and saw that the back porch was falling apart. The railing nearest to the house had somehow broken. What the ....?

"Hey, Keith!" I called. "Come look at this!"

I think Keith is the one who lifted up his head from what was directly in front of him and realized that the damage was a lot more extensive than I'd realized. Looking to the left of the porch, huge blocks of ice and twisted metal (formerly the gutters) littered the ground. Looking up and to the right, we could see that the only remaining section of the gutter on the entire back of the house were the 3-4 feet attached at the corner. Gazing out into the backyard—where Beckett was happily roaming—all of lines from the back of the house (power, cable, phone) were also on the ground. Hmmmm .....

The good news is that everything was still working. I put Eleanor to bed while Keith called the electrical company. They came out later that night to temporarily reattach the power and told us we'd have to call the cable and phone for the other lines, but it would be safe for Beckett to go outside until they came. This is a good thing, because cable said they'd come on Monday and still haven't shown up. The phone company was a bit more realistic, cheerfully telling me that it would all be taken care of by Friday.


I guess this doesn't exactly fit in with the other household projects mentioned earlier, because the insurance company should be picking up the tab. But we still have to go through the process of finding the contractors, scheduling the work, and either getting reimbursed or getting insurance to pay up front.

How much is all of this time and angst worth? I can calculate how much money we've spent on the house, but the stress and worry all of the repairs (and financing of repairs) has brought us is incalculable. I know it's unrealistic to think that we could go an extended amount of time without any minor house repairs. But it would be nice to get to the point where it doesn't feel like the house is falling down around my ears.

Photo Challenge: Sign

This week's Shutterboo Photo Challenge is Sign. Or in our house, the challenge of 1,000 ideas that didn't pan out. You know how some weeks, it's hard to choose which photo you like best because you have several different shots? That was not this week.

When Keith asked for ideas, being the literary-minded person I am, I immediately started thinking of plays on words. What could be a sign of the times? Or a "sign" as in predicting the future? But everything seemed too abstract.

Keith had a particular location in mind that he sees from the train into work. There's "No Dumping" signs, and also tires in trees and plenty of evidence that the signs are not being followed. He liked the idea of juxtaposing the sign against the opposite scene nearby. But, as you can probably guess, it's not the best neighborhood to show up with our fancy Digital SLR and start taking photos.

By the weekend, he hadn't really found anything he liked. On Sunday we went sledding with some friends.

It was Eleanor's first time and she LOVED it. As soon as the sled stopped at the bottom of the hill she'd pipe up, "Again!"

One somewhat unique feature of this sledding hill is that it's actually the 11th tee of a public golf course. Keith took a picture of the sign out front, letting everyone know to head for the 11th tee, but there wasn't much visual interest there.

Much like Keith's contrast of the "No Dumping" and the trash, I really liked the idea of the tee sign juxtaposed with the snow and the sleds. However, more like the sledding sign, I think the angle of the tee sign made it hard to take an interesting picture.


By Tuesday evening, Keith still had nothing. He'd tried taking a few pictures downtown, but didn't get anything he liked. We were heading to a friends' house for dinner, so Keith swung by the small, independent movie theater near our house. Eleanor and I waited in the car for about 3 minutes while Keith hopped out, took 6 pictures, and got back in the car.

And there you have it! The 5th idea, on Tuesday night, finally gave Keith something to work with. Here's the final shot.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Yesterday was a crazy, crazy day. I thought Monday's snow was bad, but yesterday was so much worse. It was fine overnight, but it started snowing at about 9 o'clock in the morning and still hadn't stopped by 7 o'clock that night, when I was trying to get home from work.

I really shouldn't complain about my drive, however. It usually takes me 20-30 minutes to get home from campus. Yesterday was more like 45 minutes (an hour if you could the time that I spent even cleaning off my car before I could get on the road). On the other hand, my sister drives across town to watch Eleanor for me on Wednesdays. It normally takes her about an hour to get home. Yesterday it took 4 hours. 4 HOURS! She could have made almost to Cincinnati in that amount of time.

Today, however, there's a beautiful blue sky and the sun is shining brightly—blindingly on all of the pristine white snow. I do think that all of the snow (once it's off the road) is beautiful and festive. After all of this, we'd better have a white Christmas!

Image Credit: "Photos: Feet of Snow Bury Great Lakes" article at Weather.com

Fall Fest

Luckily for me (and the state of the blog), Keith uploaded pictures directly from the camera onto my Netbook from this past weekend, so I actually have something to show!

We went to a local fruit farm this past weekend for their Family Fun Fest. It was awesome. There were the usual enjoyments of a Fall outing:

• gorgeous blue sky with fluffy white clouds, contrasting with brilliant red, orange, and yellow leaves
• weather cold enough for a jacket, but warm enough to be comfortable outside
• apple cider
• pumpkins.
  

Plus, they had so much more:

• Many, many slides
  
  

• A clubhouse in the woods (with additional slide off to the right)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A corn maze
  

• A wagon ride
• Tee pees
• A sunflower field

I don't even know what else. I definitely can't describe it all. We got there and Eleanor was immediately in love. I asked her what she wanted to do first. She flapped her arms, as she tends to do when incredibly excited, and said in awe, "I don't know!!!"

It was a really good time.

Vermont in the Rain

Our Vermont trip was fabulous. It was 9-10 hours in the car, one way (including gas and food stops), and Eleanor was amazingly patient. We had a few testy moments in the car, like when she kept putting her foot on my drinking straw. So I moved my drink out of the holder to get it out of her way ... and then Keith accidentally knocked it over with his elbow.

But only a few bad moments in 20+ hours in the car is not bad at all, I think.

We got to the state park where we were staying late Saturday afternoon. We stretched our legs and set up camp. We had brought some hot dogs to cook over the fire that night, figuring we'd do a bigger shopping trip once we'd been in town a day or so. Pretty much we just settled in and soaked in our reality: We were on vacation in Vermont!

I was very proud of myself: I brought nothing "useful," other than a baby blanket I'm knitting. I brought no work-related materials, no computer!, no cards I've been meaning to write, no books I should read. Just fun books, a puzzle book, and a word game.

Sunday was another laidback day. We went to the Bennington REVOLUTIONARY WAR Memorial (speaking of which, I had incorrectly put "Civil War" in my earlier entry, which makes no sense. Either you were kind enough not to call me out on it, or as inattentive to detail as I am;) Sunday evening, it started raining about 7 o'clock and didn't really stop. So we were stuck in the tent with Eleanor, which meant we ALL went to sleep about 8 o'clock. I woke up many times throughout the night, and every time it was still raining.

The rain continued on into Monday. We put off any plans for hiking, canoeing, etc., and instead went to visit the Park McCullough House (Victorian mansion) in Bennington. It was a perfect rainy day activity, and another first for Eleanor. We've taken her to museums in Cleveland, but we've never taken her on a museum tour, where there's a group of people trying to listen intently to a guide.

Again, she surprised me with how well she behaved. Did I get to listen to every word that was said? No, of course not! Eleanor and I spent a lot of time on the fringes of the group, whispering about something in a nearby room, so as to keep her entertained and relatively quiet. I caught snippets of the tour guide, but at least I did get to see everything and read a few informative placards along the way. Keith offered to take her for a bit, but Eleanor was not okay with that plan, so she and I stuck together.

And I was much more relaxed about it than I would be back home. Because it was vacation! We got lost on the way there, trying to see a few covered bridges on the drive. But it was okay, because we're just on vacation!

I do love vacation. By mid-afternoon Monday, the clouds were clearing away and we were looking forward to more outdoor activities. However, the firewood was soaking wet. Both Keith and I tried to get the fire going and it would not happen. So we ended up at a pizza parlor for dinner. We went back to the campsite, and went to bed pretty soon after. There's not much point in staying up when there's not a fire to enjoy.

But that was okay, because we were still on vacation!