The Frozen North

Well winter is definitely upon Vermont. As I sit here I look out my window our yard. It is covered with 17" of snow which fell within the past 2 days. Since you can still scroll down and see last year's pics, I won't bore you with additional images—yet.

Before the snow, only a little over a week ago, we received one of those historic New England ice storms. For 3 days, trees covered with 1/4 inch of ice created a crystal forest. It was beautiful. It was dangerous. Limbs fell. Trees fell. One area in Westminster, looked as if a tornado blew through. Unrooted birch trees strewn across and on the roadside, taking out the power lines along the way. 

Fortunately we lost our power for only a day. It's been 10 days on and there are still electricity displaced people in NH.

Here's a couple of pics. I couldn't capture the sparkle as well as I liked. Note our tiny stream doubled in size. 

Finally Finished

Hi. 

I am so proud of myself. I finished a project I began around 2 years ago. I took a penny rug class at Brookfield Craft in CT. My teacher, Liz Albert Fay is amazing. Unfortunately after the weekend class, I put the project aside. It went into hiding until somewhat recently. I still need practice, but for a first-time effort, I think it worked out well. 

If you ever get the chance (and the funds) check out Brookfield Craft Center. If you are a New England crafter, it's worth the trip.

The Frost is on the Pumpkin

Wishing you a happy and warm Thanksgiving.

Looking closely in Vermont

I like to take photographs with my computer desktop in mind. Since I like a pretty clean desktop, it leads to some interesting shots.

I have a lot more fall images that I'll post at a later date.

Outside the Brattleboro Museum.

I couldn't believe how packed with apples the trees were.

This just looked cool.

A bit of spring.

The very bad blogger

Ok. So I guess blogging was not my forte this year. Sorry. Check in from time to time though. Who knows? Vermont's winter is around the corner... Staying in and writing maybe just the warm up.

Cat as Art

I have two cats, beautiful examples of the American Shorthair. I try to take time to watch them as they go through their day. I’ve come to understand why they are the subjects of many fine art paintings. When they don’t know you are watching, they proudly pose. I love when they are sleeping curled curvaceous, sometimes with paw over their eyes. Waking up they strike the most incredible visual of that “cat stretch”—their butts in the air, shoulders low and that enviable long body extension.

My illustrative talent not fully developed, I tend to use the camera as my medium of choice. Cats sometimes mysterious and playful, are oft-times difficult to photograph. Unless you are patient, quiet and quick with locating, turning on and focusing a camera, the best shots you’ll get are the cat moving quickly out of the shot or looking perturbed directly into the camera.

Midnight is a rich black cat who is hard to find (because she enjoys hiding in dark places). She is most extremely challenging to photograph. I can’t seem to ever catch the right moment in time. Because of this I have very few pictures of her.

When I think of the perfect image of my black cat in my head, the work of Théophile Alexandre Steinlen comes to mind. I visualize Steinlen’s poster La tournée du Chat Noir avec Rodolphe Salis, when she is sitting still and statuesquely. The poster’s cat is pictured chest high, curved yet angular, a bit reminiscent of the Maltese falcon. All that is visible on the face are bright yellow eyes staring out. A circle halos the cat’s head silhouetting whiskers at the nose and eyebrows, which explode outward. Now if I could only get that shot.

As you can see by the picture above, my gray cat, Neitzsche is a bit easier to capture on camera. She’s still not too pleased with me getting in her face.

(Tip of the hat to my friend Jennifer and her two cats. )

Disney Fantasy

Disney’s Sleeping Beauty synopsis: At Princess Aurora’s christening, the good fairies Flora, Merryweather, and Fauna arrive to bless her. Flora gives her the gift of beauty. Fauna gives her the gift of song. At this point, Maleficent, the film's villain appears. Upset at not being invited to the christening ceremony, she curses the princess to die when she touches a spinning wheel's spindle before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday. Fortunately, Merryweather has not yet blessed Aurora, so she uses her blessing to weaken Maleficent's curse: Aurora will not die when she touches the spinning wheel, instead, she will fall asleep until she is awakened by her true love's kiss….(highly edited from wikipedia)

There are very few Disney film characters I think about from time to time. I admit when I was young, I’d imagine Mary Poppins or the birds and mice from Cinderella doing my chores and cleaning. I loved the Small World kids after going to the World’s Fair in the 1960s.  (Great, now I’ll have that song going through my head for days)

Now that I’m an adult and a mother, the character Merryweather the blue fairy from Sleeping Beauty comes to mind very often. As the parent of a newly independent 18-year old, I realize my motherly advice is now weighed differently. As with anyone trying out new wings, her decisions will be mixed. Some good, some not so good. It’s those poor choices I’d love to undo or “weaken”. I wish for Merryweather’s timing, and her ability to lessen the consequences of any really poor decisions. But I know it’s our successes and our mistakes we make that shape character.

It’s hard for me not to shield my child from the harsh things in life. Fortunately, she knows I’m here for her even though I can’t fix things for her anymore.

Wait a minute, now that I think about it, I could use a few cartoon mice and birds--if they clean up after themselves.

 

Getting to Know the Vermont Winter

Moving from Connecticut, we've been used to New England winters. So, it didn't seem all that extraordinary to get snow before the winter solstice. We had a light snow cover Thanksgiving and a white Christmas. Very romantic. But the snow hasn't stopped since.

The depth has averaged around two feet after melting and the re-covering of each storm. The sad part is, though I want to be angry, I smile as I shovel. The snow has been the light fluffy kind. And it's so much more glittery than what we're used to. It falls on the trees like two inches of powdered sugar. I begin to hope the sun won't resurface to melt the fantasy away.  

But as the snow floats and accumulates picturesquely on the landscape, it's piling up on our tin roof. As the weather warms and refreezes, large ice filled chunks of snow build up and slowly make their way down to the eaves. This hangs treacherously until clumps plummet past the windows. On a warmer day this can occur frequently. At times it looks as if people are being thrown of the roof. It also creates a rumble and thud sound which is startling. A large bank is forming in front of the lower windows which looks like a solid wave crashing against the house.

The strange thing is that as I live in this "winter wonderland" my family and friends in Connecticut have had little or no snow. ' Just makes me smile.

Blogging First-timer, an Introduction

Okay. My friend said I should try out this blog thing. She told me it is good exercise. The sort that will put your your head in start mode and help with writing. Not one for exercise, I am probably not going to last long at this. But I'll give it a shot.

I'm hoping the hardest part of this process is coming up with a blog name. It took me two days. I have to say the name is appropriate. I'm always feeling like my mind is so filled with useless trivia that it dibbles out my ear.

So I need to share... Let me think, I tend to ramble. This happens especially when I'm writing. I hope I won't bore you to death with this blog. Please give me a few reads before you give up on me. Remember, I'm a newbie.

There have been some major changes in my life and lifestyle in the past year. My daughter grew up and now we are among the first "empty-nesters" of our group. My husband and I also decided to leave our life in Connecticut, put the house on the market and invest our money and our selves in creating and opening a mystery bookstore in Vermont. We named it, Mystery on Main Street (yes its actually on Main St). We found a great spot for the shop and within three months we were moved and the store was opened. I'm just beginning to get over the whiplash.

Here's my first (there won't be many, I promise) shameless plug for the store. If you are a mystery, suspense, true crime book aficionado, or would like to give one a try, check us out. The shop also carries a small assortment of games, jewelry and giftie items. If you are in the area stop by. Mystery on Main Street, 119 Main Street, Brattleboro, Vermont. There's easy access from Exit 1 or 2 on I91. Our web address, if you'd like to visit from the comfort of your home, www.mysteryonmain.com. Interested in reading another blog? My husband writes about what's new in mystery literature and what suits his fancy at www.mysteryonmain.blogspot.com. Plus, he's a much better writer than me.