Red Canyon Snowstorm

It snowed all day yesterday, giant clumpy snowflakes that looked like feathers falling out of the sky. Even though I'm officially on vacation, I had to go into one of the facilities to participate in a fact-finding meeting. The wind wasn't blowing but the snow was accumulating rapidly. I barely made it up the hill from Arrowhead to the main road out of the complex. When I got home the power started fritzing - going off periodically for a minute or longer. I shut down the computer so I wouldn't lose any pictures. We had ten or more outages during the evening, so I never did get to upload a posting yesterday.

Today, the snow continued, although the flakes were much smaller. We decided to go for a walk in Red Canyon Park, a couple of miles north of my home. The roads into the park had not been plowed, but my husband decided we could make it through anyway and we did, of course. Red Canyon is a beautiful place any time of year but especially in the snow. We have had a foot or so, so far, with more expected tonight. The clouds were hanging very low today, so it was one of those leaden skies, snowy days that was not too cold and windy - perfect for walking in the snow. I took a couple of hundred pictures, but will only post a couple here and some more on various stock sites.

Chaco and Bear - December 27, 2006

Took the dogs out for a run this afternoon. It was fairly warm. Storms will be coming in tonight and could drop a lot of snow. Ugh. I have to go to a meeting tomorrow. We'll manage.

Practice with the Tripod - December 26, 2006

I am home from work most of this week, and as a step in my "improving my photography" project, I decided to practice using the tripod. I was thrilled that I could make decent pictures at fairly long exposures. I even managed an entry into DPChallenge so am on my way to my goal of participating at least twice a week. My exposure on the first one was 1/6 second at f/1.8 and on the second one was 1 second at f8. ISO was 200 on both images. I can't decide which one I like better. I like the bokah on the first one, and the clarity on the 2nd. I also like that I can have these pictures of the ornament. I cast it and painted it ten years or so ago, and I'm always afraid it won't survive until the next Christmas. This entry is being posted a bit late as I am staying up waiting for my youngest son to get back home after a night out with the boys. He doesn't drink or anything like that, but I worry about other people on the road and just worry about him. I think it's a mom thing.

Starting Over

o.k., so I have this blog and I am starting over from last year. It won't take much to do better than last year - looks like I only managed to upload 2 images. This new languages thingy makes me crazy, but I'm going to try. My goal is to try to upload a photo a day most days and to also work on a weekly theme that will make me work outside my comfort zone.

Today is Christmas 2006 and I was privileged to have all four of my children home for a little over 24 hours. It's a riot when the kids are home and I hardly ever stop laughing because they are just so much fun. They have grown into wonderful adults and I love them so much I feel my heart will just burst when we are all together. They don't particularly like to have their pictures taken and they particularly don't like to pose for pictures, so it is a real challenge to get my "all of us together" pictures at these special times. Always there is one "special" picture which expresses their true feelings about the process.

01/06/06 - Pin

The first wrestling match after Christmas - Part II of the season. Tim is starting off well. He pinned this opponent and currently ranked 9th in the state. He was hoping for a higher ranking, but it's o.k. The team had its most difficult duals early on. The rest of the season before Regionals consists of fairly easy duals and harder tournaments - good preparation for the State tournament.

I'm nervous about the tournament tomorrow. My oldest son suffered a season (and career) ending injury his senior year at this tournament. My mind tells me that I should not expect the same thing to happen again, but my heart is just screaming. The primal motherbear need to protect constantly fights with the rational knowledge that I need to let him grow up. Usually the rational side wins, but I know that deep inside, I'm much better at giving my children roots than I am at giving them wings.

Thank goodness they have made their own wings.

Time of Change

I'm really rusty at this sort of thing. I'm hoping this new year will be one of growth. I know it will be one of change. My youngest child will be graduating from high school and leaving for college out of state, and for the first time in over 25 years, my husband and I will be home alone.

Like this soccer play, life's little surprises sometimes just smack you in the face. We've dealt with health issues this past year, the loss of a beloved family member, and major changes in our jobs. The new year, although destined to be a year of adjustment, also seems to be a year of hope and renewal.

School starts again tomorrow for my son, and with it, wrestling practice and the usual end of semester activities. He is currently ranked in the top 10 in the state for his weight class, and is working hard to increase his ranking. We will see what tomorrow brings.