Here in Alabama it’s been chilly and rainy. Mostly anyway. But sometimes the sun popped out.
And sometimes the sun happened to make a daffodil glow. Which made me smile.
I bet it makes you smile too.
Tag Archives: weather
Selma musings
Staring at the map from here in central Alabama I searched out places to explore nearby. Right away I noticed that Selma was only a couple hours away.
Why did I not know this? Why have we never visited before?
Selma on a pretty Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday, predicted to be a day filled with sun sandwiched by days of rain, seemed to be the time to go to Selma. So I did.
Armed with a map of Alabama for backup I memorized my route, I-85 to Montgomery, then highway 80 into Selma. I didn’t really figure how much time either leg would take, just went for the ride. I’m retired, I can take my time.
The trip started in grey fog, cold and damp.
I passed miles and miles of cotton fields, shorn of last year’s crop, waiting in the damp fog for spring.
Let me tell you, there’s a whole lot of nothing between here and Selma. Even the southern part of Montgomery wasn’t particularly interesting. Though I did see a miles long line of cars there, waiting, I’m guessing, to get their vaccines, complete with sheriff’s cars, lights flashing, managing the crowd.
That brought me back to reality. I’d been hanging out at the lake, no national news, sort of losing track of what was going on out in the rest of the world. That line of cars, all those people waiting, woke me up to the fact that things are still crazy dangerous.
Eventually I was driving through an area with strip malls, empty commercial spaces and tiny brick houses. Up a slight rise and I realized, with a quick intake of breath, that I was going over the bridge.
Suddenly I realized where I was.
The bridge where on March 7, 1965, Bloody Sunday, marchers for civil rights were met with violence. The bridge where just last year John Lewis’s body, in it’s casket, paused for a national moment of reflection.
I held my breath as I drove slowly over it and into the town itself.
I took these images after I had parked and walked back over the bridge. I walked over the bridge a total of 3 times, the light just kept getting better.
I parked near the bridge and walked back over it, stopping to take pictures of the backside of town, and of the river.
The Alabama River was still that morning. So was the backside of Selma.
There’s was a moment, at the top, where I had to stop and just be. I imagined what it must have been like, sounded like. Felt like. It seemed like a sacred place, even with cars speeding by only a foot away.
If these steel beams could talk.
Then I walked around downtown a bit. It’s in a sad state of disrepair. The whole place needs a huge cash infusion.
Closed for covid? Or closed forever?
I don’t know why there aren’t tours to be had. (Though there was one young man who offered to give me a tour.) Why there’s not a 1960 diner with chocolate malts or strong coffee.
No diner, but you can get a haircut!
Why there’s not a welcome center with a documentary playing around the clock in a little theatre off the main display hall.
Jubilee headquarters.
There is an interpretive center a few miles away, but I doubt that contributes to the revenue of Selma itself, and of course it was closed due to covid anyway.
A pretty staircase to nowhere.
There’s some beautiful old buildings, some are kind of restored, some are in disrepair.
I don’t think they had a room available. But not because they were busy.
There are several huge beautiful churches.
The Blue Jean church.
There was a bit of eccentric art here and there.
This poor little ghost was the character in a local author’s books, and moved around town as part of a promotional effort several years ago.
In fact there was an air of eccentricity over most of the town.
After market additions to this souped up chevy.
I found a couple of pretty places.
A Rotary Club park, with mural and benches where buildings once stood.
But mostly what I felt was sad. Sad that this piece of history is only acknowledged on anniversaries, or this past year, the death of John Lewis.
I hope this Board of Education building doesn’t reflect the condition of the school system. But it might.
Sad that I grew up during the period of racial tensions (the ones back then, they’re still going on, I know.) and I didn’t really have any idea.
I didn’t see a lot of evidence of living the future.
Sad that, if I’m honest, I still don’t really have any idea.
A little park, also falling into disrepair, at the beginning of the bridge.
The town seems stuck in 1965, it’s moment of fame, but there are people living here that have been left behind, just like people in small rural towns all across the country. People in big cities too, if we’re being honest. Places where money and technology just don’t reach.
I agree, the name of the bridge needs to be changed if this town is ever going to move forward. Doesn’t have to be the John Lewis Bridge, but that would be nice too.
It’s a huge problem with no easy answers. But if more people visited Selma, found ways to spend some money here, maybe at least one historical place would begin to move forward, respecting the past but moving into the future.
Sagging under neglect.
Take a walk with me. But bring the map.
As you know I’m in Alabama. You’d think it would be warm being in the South, and it sort of is. It’s warmer than up where I came from. But it’s not really warm.
Looking at both sides.
I arrived late Friday night. Saturday was cold and rainy, but Sunday the sky brightened and turned into big puffy white and grey clouds and it got way up into the 60s! I just knew I had to take advantage of the weather, so I headed over to Smith Mountain.
The beginning of the fire road around the mountain. One of Katie’s favorite places to walk. Mine too.
You’ve heard me talk about Smith Mountain before. You can climb up the mountain and then climb up a fire tower that sits on top of the mountain and you have a glorious view of Lake Martin.
From another year, another hike up the mountain.
It’s one of my favorite things to do, but I didn’t do that on Sunday.
No, Sunday the parking lot was full of cars when I arrived and I didn’t want to deal with a fire tower filled with masked or unmasked people. Plus I wasn’t in the mood to climb the mountain.
So I took the walk around the base of the mountain. It’s one of Katie’s favorite places to walk, a big fire road that circles around to the back of the mountain.
The water is low, but the area behind the mountain is still beautiful.
She and I never tried to go all the way around the mountain, because I wasn’t sure if the road actually did that and I didn’t want to get stuck with her and have to make her walk all the way back. So we usually turned around on the backside of the mountain.
She was never happy about turning around.
Little stuff caught my attention too.
So this time I thought I’d just see if the road (which I used as a trail, though it is not part of the trail system, went all the way around. It made sense that it might end up right back at the parking lot.
Lots of interesting shapes and colors.
I was so confident I didn’t look at the map posted at the beginning. I figured it would all work out. I also didn’t take any water. And I accidently left my phone in the car. But I had my camera, so all was good. Right? Of course right!
Such pretty colors on Sunday!
I stopped and got lots of pictures, and when I got to the spot where Katie and I always turned around I figured since the road/trail continued, a nice wide path that had obviously been used, I’d just keep going too.
Hmmmm, are the clouds looking kind of stormy?
Eventually I got to a spot that said “To the tower this way,” and “To the parking lot this way.” Bingo! The parking lot was only .4 miles away! (disclaimer, I was already sort of tired and was disappointed it was .4 miles away, I figured it should be around the next corner.)
This looks promising!
So I kept going on the nice wide path, covered in pine needles. Which got narrower and narrower and there were no more signs and it didn’t seem to be going in the direction that I thought the parking lot should be.
Eventually I saw a pink mark on a tree, and I thought “GOOD! At least I’m on some sort of trail. Maybe I can figure out where this goes!”
Is this trail really going anywhere I want to go?
But shortly after that I saw houses off in the distance where there should be no houses, and water on my left when it should have been on my right. And I knew this was not going to get me to the parking lot. Plus I’d been walking a long time and surely had traveled .4 miles by now.
So I turned around and went back and eventually crossed a trail that had a blue mark painted on a tree and I figured maybe that was a good sign (if I’d looked at the map I’d have known I needed to stay on blue!) Using the sun as a guide for which direction I was going I headed out, hoping it was toward the parking lot.
Maybe THIS is the right way.
A fisherman came the other way and I asked him how far to the parking lot (acting like I KNEW I was on the right path) and he said about half a mile. Sigh. But at least I knew I’d get there eventually!
I see a car!!
When I finally made it to the parking lot I smiled a lot, and then I studied the map, and figured I had taken some of the blue trail, some of the fire road, some of the pink trail and a whole lot of who knows what. I wasn’t at all sure where I’d been, but it sure had been pretty!
When I finally got home I had sweated through my shirt, sweatshirt and jacket. I opened all the windows, and enjoyed the lovely breeze.
After a long drink of water I decided to download the pictures, and noticed that the memory chip that belongs in my camera was sitting on the kitchen table. Which meant it wasn’t in my camera during that walk. Sigh. Double sigh.
I was really sad.
Monday it was very cold, no sun, sleet and rain. No walking around the mountain for me.
But Tuesday, oh Tuesday was bright and sunny! Not a cloud in the sky. I set out for the mountain, determined to retake the best of the pictures I’d gotten on Sunday. And ready to figure out the right way to walk around the mountain.
OK. Here’s the map. I’m sure you’d have had no trouble figuring this out. But most of the fire road isn’t even ON this map.
I studied the map again before I started out. I even took a picture of it in case I needed it out in the field. I am a slow learner, but I eventually figure it out. The fire road isn’t on the map, but it connects two sections of the blue trail and you need to stay on the blue trail to get back to the parking lot…except when it’s a white trail. Either way, DO NOT GET ON THE PINK TRAIL.
Tuesday was windy, with no clouds. The tall pines were waving in the breeze.
And just before I started I checked my camera to make sure the memory card was in there. And remembered this new camera has 2 slots for 2 memory cards. And guess what? There were two memory cards in there.
It was a beautiful day, not as warm as Sunday, so I wore my winter coat.
Which means there was probably a memory card in the camera on Sunday. Which means that the pictures I took on Sunday were probably on that other card. Which means that I really didn’t have to walk around the mountain again.
Pretty stuff everywhere. But pay attention to where you are this time.
Except I really wanted to prove to myself that I could figure out the right trail.
So I did.
And here’s what I learned. It might apply to life in general too.
When you come to an choice of paths to take and there are no signs, and one path seems easier, wide and sunny and covered with soft pine needles, and the other path looks tough, uphill, rocky and narrow, take the harder path, and look for signs that you’re on the right one.
This is where I made my mistake on Sunday. See that path to the left? I never saw it. The sign that says parking lot .4 miles? It has an arrow that points slightly UP. The correct path is the one on the left. The easy path is the one on the right. But that takes you to the PINK trail! WRONG WRONG WRONG!
The easier path will never get you where you need to go.
And that’s the truth. Every place I had to make a decision, if I took the easier choice I never saw a blue (or any) mark on a tree denoting the correct trail. So I’d backtrack and try the other option and there would be that comforting mark.
Even when it seems like you need to be a mountain goat, follow the harder path, it’s the right one.
Every single time if I took the harder option I soon learned I was on the right trail.
Keep your eye out for trail markings, those blue rectangles mean you’re heading in the right direction.
Let that be a lesson for us all.
If you just look there are always signs to point you on your way.
And may you always find your way, following your own personal markers in life.
Signs of spring.
PS: Happy birthday, Dad. I’m at your house, adventuring in some of your favorite places. I know you’re with me. But you would have looked at the map first. I know. Lesson learned. 🙂
Window of Opportunity
There was a weather window of opportunity and I took it and ran. In between major storms crossing the country were a couple of snow free days.
Interesting sky made me stop in mid-Indiana farm country.
It’s fourteen driving hours from my home in Michigan to our lake house in Alabama. And that’s if I only stop for gas and bathroom breaks.
Can’t resist a red barn glowing in what little light there was.
Seriously? What are the odds I only stop for gas and bathroom breaks?
The the sun began to fight it’s way through the clouds and this farm lit up.
Either way that’s two long days of driving, and this trip I had a meeting to attend virtually too. That’s an hour a half spent sitting in a parking lot while on the phone, making no Southerly progress.
They must have had an ice storm the day before, when the sun came out I could see the trees were covered in thick ice.
But on the whole I had a nice drive, the roads weren’t bad, traffic wasn’t horrible, and I got to see some pretty stuff along the way.
I stopped only five hours away from home but after more than seven hours of traveling, in Columbus Indiana. After checking into a room, I went out looking for something to eat. I ended up following the road right into the next town over, Seymour.
The bridge looking back toward the west.
Which happens to have a stinking cute bridge that perfectly frames their county courthouse as you travel west to east. I didn’t get a photo of that because I didn’t have my camera with me that evening, and because there was nowhere to park. So you’ll have to image driving up over a winding entrance to the bridge, and bursting out at the top to see the tower of the courthouse framed in the red tubes of the bridge.
An almost whimsical building, with fussy details and beautiful colors.
I went back to Seymour the next morning, found a place to park in town and explored the bridge, and the courthouse grounds.
This modern sculpture next to the more victorian architecture of the courthouse struck me.
I couldn’t resist checking out the tall sculpture, even though it meant more walking and it was a bitter 17F degrees.
Reaching toward the sky.
Turns out it is the county’s homage to their fallen war veterans. The interior walls are scribed with names and dates. And letters home.
There were long letters, and short, each with the name and date of death of the author. Some were killed only days after sending the letter home.
It was heartbreaking.
A grandson’s love.
After spending almost an hour wandering Seymour I figured I’d never make it to Alabama at the rate I was moving south, and I got back in the car, resolute not to stop again until I needed gas.
Five miles down the freeway I glanced to my left and saw white farms shrouded in a layer of fog rising from the snowy fields under a blue sky. And there was an exit right in front of
me.
Couldn’t NOT stop.
The fog was freezing thick on everything.
Nature’s art.
I was on a narrow country road with not another person or car in sight. So I stopped for quite a long time.
Frosty fencing.
But I knew time was flying by and I’d only progressed a few miles down the road, so as the sun rose I tore myself away, and headed back toward the freeway.
One more image. Really, only one more this entire trip. 🙂
By focusing on the road and not the pretty sights I finally made it to Kentucky.
Kentucky had snow on the ground! I chose to think of it as cotton instead.
But do you know what they have a lot of in Kentucky? Yes, you are right.
Saw this guy from the freeway, and there was an exit right there!
I only drove a couple miles down one little road which was running right next to the freeway and I found three barns.
A little jewel.
I call that a worthwhile diversion.
I turned around here, I’m sure there would have been more just over this hill.
Someday I’m going to have to visit Kentucky instead of just travel through it.
And then there’s Tennessee…
I always enjoy this sculpture at the Tennessee welcome center just across the state line from Kentucky.
… which thankfully is a narrow state if you’re traveling north or south. So I could feel like I was finally there when I got to the Huntsville Alabama welcome center.
Celebrating Alabama’s contribution to space exploration.
Of course it was a false sense of being home. I still had four hours of driving to go.
Welcome home, ya’ll.
By the time I made it all the way to the house it was dark, so no views of my lake. But I knew it was out there, and that was all that mattered.
I had a great trip down, and for those of you wondering where Katie is on this grand adventure, well, she is having some dad time at home. I thought about bringing her, she hasn’t had an adventure in a long time, but mama needs to get some sleep and Katie is a persistent little girl who has decided she wants her breakfast somewhere between 2:30 and 4:00 a.m. Every single day.
All I have to say is good luck daddy!
Remember you can make any image bigger just by clicking on it. I’ll see what I can find pretty down here, it’s raining this morning, but it’s not snow, so that’s a win in my book.
Talk later, as my girl says, time for mama to take a nap.
Edit: I thought that grey barn felt familiar. Turns out 2 of the three I found on that road this trip were featured in a post I did in June of 2018 on my way down to Alabama!
Sunshine smile
Late January, here in the Midwest, we don’t always get to see a lot of sun. It’s cold, sometimes windy, usually snowy, but not often very sunny.
The James Scott Memorial Fountain on Belle Isle in Detroit.
So last Saturday, when the weather people were actually right about the fact we had sun, I knew I didn’t want to squander it. But I also wasn’t sure I wanted to go to my regular parks, they would likely be overrun with people just like me, out to catch a few rays, on the lookout for something spectacular to photograph.
This pair was pulling up lunch from the bottom of the pond.
I’ve been seeing in a Michigan wildlife Facebook group that there were special things down on Detroit’s Belle Isle. I figured there was more space there, and maybe fewer people, so I decided to see what I could find.
Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory.
The color in these images haven’t been touched up, it really was a spectacular blue sky with lovely soft light making everything glow.
Detail of Belle Isle Casino
And it was busy. Most of the parking spots on the western part of the island, the part which gives you the best view of the Detroit skyline, were full. That’s OK, I just parked further away and walked back.
Detroit, with Ambassador Bridge to Windsor on the left.
It felt good to be outside walking around.
I drove around the perimeter of the island several times, catching glimpses of things I wanted to photograph, and stopping back to capture things on my next round. I didn’t feel like I was taking a lot of pictures, but I was pleased with those I got.
Saw this bridge out of the corner of my eye, stopped for a photo the next time around.
Did I ever find the special image I was looking for? Well, yes, yes I did.
For some time I’ve been reading about a pair of bald eagles that live on the island, but I’ve never driven the hour down to Detroit to see for myself. On this beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon this guy was hard to miss.
This is the guy I drove all the way to Detroit to see.
My first clue was the number of cars parked on both sides of the road. The second clue was the brilliant white head and tail feathers, just glowing in the afternoon light.
He was very good about posing for us down below.
I and a couple dozen of my closest photographer friends spent 30 minutes or so watching him watch us. He would look to his left, to his right or straight down at us, but he never moved a wing. When a kid skidded a rock across the glassy ice below him he watched with interest, but he wasn’t fooled into thinking it was anything but a rock.
“You people need a different hobby!”
I was smiling the whole time I stood there…and even now, just thinking about him being amused by all of us makes me smile again. The only thing that would make me smile wider is if I were to buy myself a bigger, longer lens.
Yep. That would surely make me smile.
What’s made you smile this week? Write a post and link it to Trent’s. He’ll gather them all together and post a recap on Monday. We could all use a smile, share yours!
Nancy Brown Pearce Carillon.
Escape to the lake side
Here it is Saturday already, and I’ve inadvertently left you hanging on my last two posts. Wednesday many of you wanted to know, “What IS that?”
What??
and in the post before that you wondered where I went on my little mini adventure.
From a crispy but beautiful morning.
Both posts were related to the same adventure I was inspired to take last weekend, on our one completely sunny day so far this year. After so much rain, snow and dark skies I eagerly set out early Saturday morning anticipating bright blue skies and endless sun, looking for something magnificent to photograph.
But, as those of you who have been reading know, I got tangled up in beautiful frost before I made it more than a couple miles away from the house. Not a bad thing, you understand, but it certainly slowed me down.
So nice to see sunlight!
My first stop was Katie’s park right in my own town, where the tall grasses were shining. The Wordless Wednesday post was in the parking lot there, a car had driven over the unplowed lot, probably the day before, and then deer had crossed that track. In the early morning light what was concave appeared to be convex and I couldn’t resist capturing the image.
As to where I went next? Well, I had no destination in mind, and even though the sky was bright blue and there was still a little snow on the ground, as I drove nothing in particular caught my eye. So I kept going.
Surely I can find pretty stuff on a day like this!
Eventually I found myself half way to my favorite lake, so I went for it and headed for Warren Dunes State Park, someplace I’ve always wanted to visit.
I’ve always liked images of sand and snow. Blue sky doesn’t hurt either.
It’s down near the Michigan/Indiana border, quite near Chicago. I didn’t know what to expect, but the first sight of the giant dune sure made me smile.
It’s a long way to the top.
I watched families as they trudged up the dune or ran back down. Everyone was having a lot of fun on a chilly but sunny Saturday afternoon.
A long line of trees led to the water.
Of course I couldn’t be at Lake Michigan and not walk on the beach, even though the sun was beginning to descend and the shadows were growing longer.
Pretty patterns.
So I headed down the beach, just for a bit, so that I could say hello to my lake. There weren’t many people out there, the wind was picking up and my fingers were chilled. But I know there’s always something pretty to photograph when you’re walking on a Great Lakes beach.
A chilly afternoon on a beautiful beach.
And of course there was.
Ripples in the sand, driftwood, and the brilliant sky.
Soon enough, though, I knew I should head for home. I hadn’t seen the St. Joseph lighthouse, something I really hoped I would have time for, but it was 30 minutes further south, the wrong direction. I checked to see what lighthouses might be north of me and found one near Saugatuck, not so far away. I put it in my phone and headed out.
Not real, but still pretty.
Turns out it was a replica of a lighthouse, tiny, being used for educational purposes. But it was still photogenic. As was the giant tug boat moored next to it.
All prettied up in festive holiday colors.
It wasn’t what I was hoping for, but what the heck, it was still an adventure, so after a couple shots I headed toward where I thought the freeway to home should be.
I was wrong, and ended up lost in Holland, which turns out to have several murals painted on the sides of it’s downtown businesses. I only stopped for one, because it had a parking lot where I could park and get my bearings, study the map, and set a true course for home.
One mural in Holland, there were more.
Early that morning I set out to find some barns, always a goal of mine on any adventure. I didn’t find any on the way over to the lake, not because they weren’t there, I suppose, but because my heart needed something more.
The last light of day made the barns glow.
Satisfied by a visit to my lake, I found several, all red, on my trip back home.
Worth stopping for.
Since last Saturday we haven’t had another day that was all sunny. No bright blue sky, no warming rays.
Just waiting for me to find it.
But I know we will again someday. And I hope, when the sun shines, I’ll be off on another adventure.
There’s always my lake.
You just never know where or when.
Every sunset promises a new tomorrow.
First there was frost
Saturday was predicted to have sun, the first day of sunshine this year. I needed to get out of the house, where I’d been stewing since Wednesday, the day our Capitol was stormed.
The early morning road was calling my name.
I planned on taking a little photo road trip, to parts unknown. But first I couldn’t resist shooting some images close to home. I was headed out of town when I passed Katie’s park and noticed the hills were all silver with frost.
Our local library, next to Katie’s park, with preservation hills behind it.
Turning around I tromped around a field of grasses, noticing how their details were more beautiful with the beading they were sporting.
Everything was etched in sparkles.
I got pretty cold, and time moved on without me while I was there, still only a couple miles from home.
Early morning light always makes me smile.
Eventually I made myself leave, the sun was rising and I hadn’t gotten anywhere yet. But only another mile down the road I had to stop again.
One of my go-to places where I can see the open sky.
There’s some wide open farm land there, and an old farm, that if you look closely, is falling into dumpy disrepair. I’m sure it won’t be there forever, and I’ve always meant to stop and capture it.
Somebody’s farm in the early morning light of a new day.
So I did.
Plus, where I happened to stop there was this fence…
The fence was glowing as the sun was rising.
…with barbed wire along the top. All of it incrusted with frost.
More time went by and the sun moved higher. If I was going to find more pretty stuff I needed to get moving.
Should I go that way? Or the other way?
But where did I go? What did I find?
I guess you’ll have to wait until the next post to find out.
At least the blue sky prediction turned out to be true!
Sharing sheltie smiles
Hey everyone! Katie here, checking in to see how all your new years are starting out. I have to say that mine has been stupendous! Cause we got snow both Saturday and Sunday! Fresh, pretty, light, beautiful, photogenic snow!
So many things to sit in front of!
Well, not as photogenic as me, but still pretty. And of course mama said we had to get right out in it so as to enhance the photogenic-ness of our yard. On Saturday I wasn’t sure I wanted to go.
It’s pretty nice out here, mama.
But once I got out there and realized that mama and I were going for a walk in my yard and she wasn’t just leaving me in my pen, well, then I decided I’d have a good time!
I kept posing for her, even when she was trying to get a photo of some stupid leaf. I’d just go around in front of her and sit. Repeatedly. Even after I figured out she hadn’t brought any treats for me.
I wonder if anyone over THERE has any treats?
Eventually she got the idea and took some pictures of me before she went back to her artsy fartsy stuff. I swear, I don’t know why anyone would want to look at anything besides me.
Mama kept looking over my shoulder at this stupid leaf. She thought it was cool.
Then on Sunday, oh my, oh my, oh my…this is what we woke up to!
Isn’t this amazing??!
It was even more beautiful than Saturday’s snowfall! Mama and I just couldn’t wait to get out there with the camera.
Let’s go exploring!
I was less interested in posing for her Sunday. After all, I’d sat for a bunch of pictures on Saturday and gotten zero treats. I figured she wasn’t any more organized Sunday morning and I was right.
What? I’m not sitting in front of this bush, I did that yesterday and it netted me nothing.
But I did grant her a picture or seven dozen. Sigh. You just can’t get mama to stop taking pictures, even when there are much more interesting things to do. Like breaking up sticks. I found this perfect stick and went right to work on it.
This stick is oversized and needs to be reduced in length. Pronto.
Mama said, ‘stop baby, you don’t want to hurt your teeth.’ But I kept on working on that stick because it needed to be broken up into little tiny bits.
Yep, it’s a pesky stick, that’s what it is.
It’s my purpose in this world to break up sticks. And protect mama from squirrels, but a girl has priorities and Sunday morning it was all about stick breakage.
Come on you stubborn stick!
So mama kept shooting pictures and I worked on that stick until it was nothing but stick dust.
Take THAT you stick!
And then I thought maybe mama was laughing at me, and I was not happy.
What? You think this is funny woman? You don’t know what I sacrifice to make you safe from stick assult!
I expected to get a treat for my bravery in defeating the dangerous stick.
I would like extra treats please.
Mama felt bad about almost laughing (and also about not bringing treats), so she asked me if I wanted to chase a snowball or three. Really mama!?!?!
I’m ready mama!
Throw it, mama, just throw it!
I’ve got it mama!
It’s mine, mine, mine!
Everybody back off, this one is mine!
You can’t get away from me, snowball! I will chomp you with my teeth!
I’m a natural, I tell you!
Here comes the world famous stick breaker and snowball chompper!
Making a run for it.
Well, geeze, mama, if you’re going to throw it way over there….I’m not going to go get it. You can find it yourself.
Really, mother?
And so the game was over. Mama failed miserably at making sure I could catch that last snowball. Sometimes she forgets I’m a princess and a princess should never miss. Therefore the princess servant should make sure to only toss things that are catchable.
Sometimes mama forgets.
After all these years I should not have to explain this to her. Again.
Anyway, don’t tell her, but I had a fabulous time and when we went inside I happily spent time pulling tiny snowballs out of my furs and depositing them all over the house so that my folks could enjoy the full meaning of winter wonderland even while they were inside.
Good thing I’m beautiful.
They haven’t thanked me for that yet, I’m sure it’s just an oversight on their part.
Mama says she guesses she’ll write about the pretty snow in her own post. She says I have hijacked this one and it’s all about me. As usual.
Me and my yard.
Well of course it is, mama.
I always say you should give the people what they want. Right? That way a sheltie-princess can share the smiles…another life purpose, but don’t tell mama. It would ruin my image.
Outdoor lights make people smile too, so I have decreed that they will stay lit until spring.
Change Is Hard 