Alien Spouse

Citikitty: This Weekend's Project.

After we left work this afternoon (Actually we got to leave early today because of the snow.  It's pretty and it's gets me out of work early?  I love snow!) we went food shopping, so we didn't have to worry just in case we did get snowed in. 
We also bought bird seed to keep the local birds happy and a large box of cat litter, because I am not going to be trapped in the house with two cats and no litter.

Then we went to the local hardware store to buy firewood, and I bought a stanley knife and a small handsaw.  I will be using them this weekend to customise the cat's litter tray this weekend.  I am absolutely determined that the citikitty training will continue and that it will work.

The cats have yet to comment.

Snow!

It really snowed last night!  This is a picture of our little car this morning (Sorry about the grid lines, our bedroom windows have an insect screen on them, which is what caused the cross stitch effect in the photo!)

The roads were very slippery and we actually had to pull off the road at one point, because Doc C just could not steer.  We sat by the side of the road for a while and at one point we thought we might have to abandon the car and just walk home, because that's how close we still were to the house!  The Doc persevered however and we did make it into the office.

I was almost an hour late, but actually I'm the only one here so far.  Classes have been cancelled until 10, and when I spoke to the director of my department she said that next time it'll be perfectly fine not to try and get in until the classes are up and running.  Which is good to know!

It is very pretty.  I have a large fir tree right outside my window, and that is covered in snow.  I am starting to feel quite festive already.

Snowbunny.

I grew up in East Anglia, which is famous in the U.K. for being flat.  So living on a mountain is really weird for me sometimes, and I can't get used to the abrupt changes in weather.

Yesterday it snowed all day and there must have been at least an inch and a half on the ground by the end of the day.  Today it was still chilly, but there was a blue sky and bright sunshine so by 11am there was very little snow left on the ground.  The only way you would have known about yesterday's white out, if you hadn't actually been here, was the occasional snow man built by the students.

This mini snowbunny was my favourite.

 

Sunday Morning.

It is really nice to get up after a long lie-in on a Sunday to find there is snow on the ground outside, and that your husband has built a log fire in the living room fireplace, done all the washing up, cleaned the kitchen,  and just put the kettle on to make a cup of tea. 

It was the icing on the cake to find that both cats were very friendly this morning; Nancy actually miaowed at me so that I would sit down and she could get on my lap.  Over the past week or so she hasn't been as friendly as usual, I think because of the steroids she was given for her allergies, so I was very happy about that. 

The only thing was that Edith was paying close attention, so when Nancy got off to go and do something important, Edith climbed on to my lap and curled up for a snooze.  This is highly unusual because Edith almost never sits on laps, she far prefers to sit next to a human, thank you very much.

Nancy was not impressed when she came back.

p.s. Nancy's eyes aren't that green really, I tinted them in Picnik to make the look of sheer disgust pop.

You Get a One-Way Ticket on the Ghost Train.

NaBloPoMo!  Go! Go! Go!

Yes it's National Blog Posting Month, and since Edith rampaged around the house at top volume until I got up to play with her, I may as well post.

The Ghost Train was SO much fun last night! The weather was perfect for being at an amusement park after dark; it was crisp and clear so you could see all the stars, and there was just enough of a nip in the air for hot chocolate to seem a very attractive prospect. When we arrived the car park was only about half full, which boded well, and it turned out that there really weren't that many people there (which I suspect was because of the big football game at the University; which was televised and which we won by a ridiculously huge margin).  This meant we could whizz around the park going on all of the rides, and didn't spend most of the evening waiting in queues.

We went on the Ghost Train first, and Jasmin established a pattern for the evening by being so easy to spook and make scream that the costumed staff wouldn't leave her alone.  It was hilarious!  I do have to admit that, although I am assured I did not actually scream, one of the werewolves did get a definite jump out of me.  As I suspected the Ghost Train is about 50% more effective when there is no-one on board with a torch (American translation: Flashlight), shining it out so you can see exactly where you are and what's going on around you.  It was just much more atmospheric and spooky.

After surviving the Ghost Train trip through Werewolf country we watched the Main Street Dancers for a while, until they were about to segue from "Thriller" to the "Macarena"; at which point we went to buy funnel cake, and catch the ski lift to the top of the mountain.  We went straight onto the Tunnel of Terror, and I have to say I thought the Mad Butcher's heart just wasn't in it last night, maybe it's not so much fun if there aren't crowds of people, but he didn't bother trying to make anyone scream and didn't get on our train so he could menace us with chainsaws in the Tunnel itself.  We did still get a great scream from Jasmin, when something animatronic leapt out at her.  David and Doc C were almost crying with laughter by the time we got off.

Another good thing about going in a large group was that there was always someone willing to do whatever you felt like next, so David and I rode the Scrambler (one of those really rickety looking funfair rides that throws you around at high speeds), whilst everyone else watched and made rock signs at us whenever we were thrown towards them.  That was a great ride, not least for the excellent choice of music "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult!  Nice!

We also rode the Tilt-and-Whirl, walked through the 3D maze and the Black Hole, which were all things I hadn't done before.  The Black Hole is very odd, it's a walkway through a spinning tunnel of lights, which doesn't sound like much but your body see the movement and tries to compensate by making you lean so you end up throwing yourself against the hand rail, and staggering along.  We went through that twice!

I am very proud to say that this time I felt brave enough to finally go into the Haunted House and it was really fun.  We were all very nervous (except, obviously, for Doc C who just finds such things hilarious).  It was really cleverly done, so when you first arrived it was a hotel reception area, and I did not hear a word of what the man there was telling us, so I don't know if there was any sort of clear narrative to the house or if it was just a series of grand guignol vignettes.  From the reception we were ushered into a lift with a mad ghost bell hop, and that just shook us about whilst the bell hop laughed, and then were let out the other side to continue the tour.  It's sort of a blur because as a group we just decided to rush through, with ever-one holding hands like a crocodile of small children.  I forget what order it all came in but I know there was a girl covered in cobwebs screaming for help; a giggling lunatic; a very grumpy looking girl with a knife, a pram with something nasty in it and bloody eyes; a mad scientist in a bio hazard suit who had the only well lit room so we could fully appreciate the twitching bodies; a mad electrician (I think, there were sparks involved) who threw a switch and set off an electric chair with someone convulsing in it and then finally some sort of enormous demon thingy who followed us right up to the door.  It was really really fun!

We then went back to Main Street to take photos posing on the life size plastic horses before we left.  We actually left forty minutes earlier than Doc C and I did on our previous visit, but because it was so quiet we actually had packed in a lot more to our visit. 

My verdict: Two thumbs up, an excellent way to spend Halloween.

Number Two in an Occaisional Series: Frosty.

Otherwise known as the roof of our metallic black Mini Cooper yesterday morning.  It was cold.

Cats and Window

I literally just took this picture! The girls very obligingly posed next to the window for me, until Edith had an attack of love and ran over to me to be fussed.

It's such a gorgeous autumn morning, with nice bright sunshine but a frosty sheen to everything on the deck making it all sparkle a little bit.

I knew it was going to be cold today, because both of the cats slept on top of me last night which they have never deigned to do before. Edith nested on my ankles, whilst Nancy was on my stomach. I usually sleep on my side, so this wasn't comfortable for me; but, when I woke up this morning, I was on my side with one cat right up against my back, whilst the other one was in the crook of my knees. Very cute, plus Doc C complained of being chilly whilst I was toasty warm.

Cats and Window
Originally uploaded by Alien Spouse

I'm British - The Weather is Endlessly Fascinating.

As I mentioned yesterday the weather is starting to get a bit colder.  I've broken out the cosy undershirts that I like to wear layered under t-shirts and hoodies, so I am keeping warm.  One thing I really like about the change in weather is that it makes the cats much friendlier.  Nancy was taking an hour and a half to forgive me for giving her the bubble-gum pink antibiotics previously, but this evening she was on my lap within thirty minutes.

The cooler weather also means that I have an excuse to crochet up a storm!  Doc C wore his scarf last weekend, and said it was very warm.

Today I took my skull and crossbones scarf to the wool shop with me to ask the nice lady behind the counter how much more wool she thought I needed, and whether blocking would help lengthen it.  When I took the scarf out of my bag and unrolled it along the counter, the two other customers in the shop came to have a look.  One of them was a sweet little old lady who peered at it, then gave me a big beaming smile and said it was very pretty.  I'm not sure she had her glasses on, bless her heart.

I bought the two balls of wool it was agreed should get the length I want for my scarf, and I also bought some lovely Scottish wool to make Doc a nice warm hat, which I think I'll attempt to felt.  However the hat wool was ten dollars more expensive per ball then the wool I made the scarves out of, so I think I'll do a practice run in nice cheapo acrylic first.

Worm of Wool.

This is a Woolly Worm.

This weekend there is a Woolly Worm Festival, where there will be Woolly Worm races, they are surprisingly nippy little fellas.

The main reason they are interesting is that they are supposed to predict the weather.  The more brown stripes there are, then the milder the winter will be apparently.  Wikipedia claims there is no truth in the weather predicting capabilities of our furry friends, but according to the Woolly Worm Festival website they have had an 85% success rate over the last 30 years.  Not bad!

I think this one looks pretty brown myself.  I'll report back in the spring.

I call it "Black Mini Roof on a Winter Morning"

It's getting colder now, so when we leave in the mornings the car is covered in condensation.

Which looks prettier than it sounds.

Halloween Records. Want!

I was thrilled when I saw these in a record shop window the other day.  They are, respectively, the soundtrack to the classic vampire time-travel soap opera "Dark Shadows" (I've only seen the remake, but I have heard tales of the originals genius) and a sound effects LP full of bloodcurdling! Terrifying!  Horrific!  "Sounds to Make You Shiver".

As it happens Doc C had the sound effects album as a kid and loved it, which explains a lot about his lack of reaction to horror movies.  I also know someone in London who would probably love the "Dark Shadows" soundtrack on CD, but I doubt an LP would survive the journey, even if he had a record player to spin it on.

I also can only apologise for the glare, Picnik helped dissipate the worst of it but I was craning around a rack of second-hand coats and just could get the right angle to eliminate the glare from the sun altogether.

Rain Day.

We were planning to go on a day trip to the next town over today, but we woke up to heavy rain that hasn't really let up all day; so Jason and I stayed at home instead. 

We had a leisurely breakfast whilst watching "Cash on the Attic" (it was a really old one because Alistair Appleton was presenting, what on earth is he doing these days?)on BBC America, followed by "You Are What You Eat" with the gnome-like Gillian McKeith.

Jason had thoughtfully brought his hairdressing tools with him, so he gave my Do a much needed tune-up.  Then I demonstrated my new method of mopping floors with the dutch rubber broom, which I think Jason was honestly interested in seeing.  Well as as a flat mate of mine for 7 years, me cleaning was probably something he didn't feel he'd seen often enough, so this was by way of a rare treat for him (Note to Mum: I am much better at cleaning than I used to be, and now I have an independent witness!)

If he's really lucky I may vacuum later.  Wild times.

Humming Birds and Halloween Fripperies.

The weather has been behaving itself beautifully (knock on wood) and we've had some nice bright sunny days.  Jason has been enjoying sitting out on our deck and watching the hummingbirds putting on their aerial displays.

After work today Doc C and I came home to have a cup of tea, and then took Jason into town to see all the Halloween stuff that's on sale.  We went to Kmart first of all and explored all the Halloween themed baking goods, candy and costumes.  Then we went over the Lowes hardware which has a great life size animatronic witch (stirring a bubbling cauldron) and some utterly ridiculous inflatables, but unfortunately the life-size mummy (with moving eyes, that mumbles at you when you move too close to it) had already been sold.

Tomorrow I still need to be in the office, but then I can take Thursday and Friday off so Jason and I are going to explore our town and the next town over.  Then on Saturday we'll see if we feel like exploring further afield on a day trip, before we take Jason to the airport on Sunday afternoon. 

It Doesn't Even Taste Alcoholic!

I am down to just enough Pimms to make one more jug, and I can't decide when I should mix that drink.  Obviously it needs to be saved for the last nice day of summer, but how do you predict when that will be?  And what if I get it wrong and we drink it on the last ok day of summer, and then there is a day that is just short of spectacular, with the only blight being the notable lack of Pimms?

It is a conundrum, but only because I can't buy any more Pimms here.  Apparently you used to be able to buy Pimms in the local ABC (which is an off-licence), but that is no longer the case. I asked them and they said that at one stage they did stock it, but then they stopped ordering it due to lack of demand.  There was a lack of demand.  For Pimms.  I couldn't quite believe it, but that is apparently the case.

So naturally I turned to my good friend the Internet and I actually did find the website of another off-licence, which is a mere six hour drive away.  They stock Pimms and do on-line sales, but when Ienquired as to the price of shipping they regretfully informed me that they could notfurnish me with a bottle of Pimms because of North Carolina's State Liquor Laws.  What sort of country has Doc C brought me to?  How is this a civilisation when I am prevented, by law, from getting any more Pimms?

Fortunately for all concerned, I do still have access to Gin and Tonic, Pernod and Red Wine; otherwise this would be a very serious matter indeed.

A Touch of Sun.

Doc has commented several times on how much better I am at handling the warm weather this summer; because I am not a fan of high tempratures and last year, I hate to admit, I did get very whingy.  This year I seem to have adjusted quite well, and it hasn't really bothered me as much - Which is a relief to both of us I'm sure!

Having said that it was very warm last night, even with every window in the house open and two fans turned on in the bedroom, and I found it hard to sleep.  Today it's still very sunny, and I feel very tired and a bit headachey.  The sun it is not my friend.  Still I hope it's like this when Jason comes to visit so he can get the full benefit of our balcony.

Stay C?????

You know what is really hard to take a good photo of?  Yellow chalk graffiti on a partially tree-shaded pavement on a sunny day.

Before snapping the digital shutter I was momentarily concerned that the yellow would be bleached out in the photos by the strong sun, and didn't appreciate that it was actually the pesky dappled shade that would make the motto illegible.

Anyway, it says "Stay Classy", it was scrawled on the pavement in front of the student union and I have no idea what it's in reference too, but I thought it was funny.

I'm A Girl Who Always Knows Where Her Umbrella Is.

It's been raining fairly steadily for the past three days, and it's supposed to rain for another three or four.

I like it, it's much more Augusty to me than all that sunshine we had before.

Organised Chaos.

Today is Moving In day on campus.

There will be thousands of students descending on us, and all with at least a car load of stuff with them.  None of the staff or faculty are expecting to find a parking space, or to get much work done today.

It was predicted that it would rain heavily today as well, it hasn't started yet, but the sky does look very grey so it may happen yet.

If I survive, I shall report back to you later.

A Saturday in Washington.

My feet are aching.  It was such a fun day, if a little too blazing hot for me.

We left the hotel at about 10.30, and we haven't stopped since.  We've been walking everywhere, past the White House, past the Treasury, through the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, through two art galleries and a sculpture garden, before finally investigating every square inch of H&M (We needed new clothes for work, we now have them).

I took the most photos at the Smithsonian, because they allowed photography and they had so many interesting things.  The moment we walked in I was immediately impressed by the Easter Island Figure they have just sitting in the Constitution Avenue entrance lobby.  I have always been fascinated by those statues, and this is the only one in America.  Inevitably I have a new Facebook profile picture with my stone-faced buddy.

I also fought through crowds to take a few shots in the Harry Winstone gem gallery, why hello there Star of India and Hope Diamond!  

Surprisingly it wasn't the gem room that I got completely snap happy in, mainly because there were just too many people in the way; in fact I took the most pictues in the skeleton exhibition.  I mean, who doesn't love skeletons?  Right?

Anyway, it's been a very exciting day.  I think I need a nap.

Leaf with Raindrops

After The Eye yesterday I thought I'd post a more soothing image today.

When we left work yesterday it had just stopped raining, so the tarmac was all shiny and the leaves had nice big raindrops on them.

Pretty.

Leaf with Raindrops
Originally uploaded by Alien Spouse

Stars and Stripes.

I'm not working today so we decided to go for a walk around one of the local lakes; at least that was the plan.  Unfortunately we couldn't park the car anywhere, because everyone else in North Carolina had decided to go for a picnic. 

So we ended up just driving around to see what our town and the next town over were doing today.  The answer was mainly displaying an impressively varied selection of American flags, or red, white and blue banners.

There are going to be a couple of big fireworks displays later, but I'm not sure if we will be going officially to either of them.  For one thing parking is going to be a nightmare, and for another there will be huge crowds of people, and I'm just not a happy bunny around huge crowds of people.  We are thinking about driving up to one of the overlooks on the parkway, and seeing what we can see from there instead. 

It's going to feel really odd watching fireworks on a warm night in the middle of summer.  I'm used to associating fireworks with bundling up warm on Bonfire Night in November and wondering where I can get a baked potato, or a hot drink.

The Sound of the Devil Returning a Soul Perhaps?

Doc C and I were watching the television coverage of Senator Hillary Clinton give her concession speech, and, at the very moment she said that she was now throwing her support behind Senator Obama, there was a loud peel of thunder out of a clear blue sky.

I'm not sure what that means, but it seemed portentous.

Rain, Rain, Go Away - Or Not, Your Choice.

There is one slightly odd thing that we have noticed about our neighbours, not our next-door-virtually-silent-neighbours, but the people who live across the street and down the hill a bit.  It's not serial-killer odd, but it is odd enough for both Doc and I to have noticed and been confused by.

They garden in the rain.

Which is strange, right?  I mean I know sometimes you simply have to get something done; but it's been more than once now and even I know that mowing the lawn in the rain is a bad idea, because the grass gets flattened down by the water and it also can damage the mower blades.  There have also been sightings of someone weeding in the midst of quite heavy precipitation, and surely there has to be a better time to do that too.

This also coincides with my observing that the students will happily walk around in quite heavy showers as if nothing is going on.  There are no umbrellas, no rain coats, not even a slightly more urgent pace of walking, or the pained facial expression the English adopt when caught in a shower.  It can feel very surreal, because I will momentarily wonder if I am simply hallucinating the rain. 

So far that has yet to be the case, but it's one of those moments that's oddly unsettling.

Saturday Night Plans

It is a gorgeous sunny Saturday, and so naturally I woke up turned to the Doc and said "Sweetheart, I really want to Febreeze the sofa today".

Because on closer acquaintance I found a label on the sofa that indicates it was made in 1975, making it as old as me, and the upholstery does have that distinct charity shop aroma to it.  It's not over-poweringly terrible, it's just there and I would prefer it not to be.  Also, as I don't know what cleanability code letter W designates, I am really hoping the Febreeze works.

So we went out to buy the Febreeze, and some lemonade to make Pimms with.  At the same time we also stopped off at the video store to rent a selection of films with which to fully appreciate the new TV, and I bought the old fashioned un-popped pan-style popcorn.  None of this micro wave or pre-popped nonsense for me, thank you!

From that shopping list I'm sure you can gather that our evening is going to be scintillating.  We intend to kick back on a newly un-stinked sofa (I have just finished spraying, and used almost the whole bottle of Febreeze), with a bowl of popcorn and a glass of Pimms whilst we watch "Ratatouille", "Once Upon A Time in The West" and, if we can squeeze it in, "Hit-man".

Geeky Joy!

The Story of Our Bedroom Furniture.

We spent most of yesterday waiting for The Doc's brother Rich, and his buddy Kev, to arrive with some furniture that Rich was giving to us.  He was driving it down from Boston, and we were told to expect him on Sunday morning.  At about mid-day we got a phone call to say they were in Pennsylvania, so we knew it was going to be awhile.

Through out the afternoon we were anxiously watching the weather, because the furniture was being moved in an open-bed truck, with a tarp tied over the top of it.  When it started to rain, we were concerned. When it started to rain really hard, we made detailed plans for how best to protect the brand-new cream carpets from the wet furniture.  We were particularly worried about the sofa.  How would we save a water logged sofa?  Would there be any point in trying?  How much Febreeze would it require to really get rid of that mildew smell?  Which local thrift shops did furniture collection?

We got a couple of progress reports through out the afternoon that did nothing to assuage our concerns; the tarp had been ripped to shreds by the storm and they were stopping to buy a new one; they'd been the front car in a triple rear-ending, but it was ok and they were back on the road now.

In the end they arrived at about midnight, and immediately unloaded all of the furniture, which was surprisingly dry.  Rich and Kev even lugged a chest of drawers, a dressing table and various bits of bed frame upstairs to our bedroom.  Clearly to Bostonians driving for 17 hours is no obstacle to completing a job properly.

We needn't have worried about the sofa; it hadn't fitted on the truck, so they brought a small desk instead.

Gusts of Up To Sixty Miles an Hour.

On the coast of North Carolina there was a tornado yesterday.  It was only a small one, compared to the ones in Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma.  However, Tornado?  Like the one in "Wizard of Oz"?  Ooh!

Living up in the mountains, we don't get actual tornadoes because the mountains break them up, but that does mean you get very high winds.

Last night we could hear the whole house creaking and ended up sleeping on the sofa, because our bed is right next to a window, which is right next to a tree, and the whole thing was unsettling.  I'm convinced I felt the bed move, but Doc C doubts me on that.

When we woke up this morning, our window hadn't blown in, or anything dramatic like that; but the house across the way had lost some panelling.

As you can see from this photo, we live in a house made of Styrofoam.

The University That Hippies Built

I believe I may have mentioned before that this town is popular with hippies, and that is definitely the case with the University too. 

As soon as the sun comes out a large proportion of the students start wearing tye-dyed T shirts and busily stringing hammocks or tight ropes between any suitable trees on campus.  It becomes hard to walk anywhere for fear of rogue diablos, devil sticks or juggling clubs.  Not to mention the frisbees.

It even extends to the bathroom graffiti, I noticed today that one cubicle door was now exhorting me to "Commit Random Acts of Kindness Every Day".  My italics, their underlining.

It's like being in a time warp sometimes, but it's sort of sweet.

Snowy Blossoms.

I took this photo a couple of days ago, the same day I had to unpack my summer shoes and I got a little bit sun burnt on the back of my neck.

Today, whilst we were walking a little bundle of mad love called Lulu, it started to snow.

I cannot get my head around the weather here. 

Alien Spouse Supports Barack Obama.

After work yesterday we went with Randy and Jasmin to attend a meeting of Obama supporters, and sign up to help with voter registration this weekend. 

We thought there would only be a few people.  Evidently the organisers thought there would only be a few people.

There were many people in quite a small space.

Then there were speeches, which were interesting and inspiring (Our Mayor seems nice, by the way), but by half way through the third one I was thinking "Keep it together Jen!  You can breathe!  The table you're jammed up against looks sturdy, you won't break it if you faint, so that's fine! Also it's fine if these nice people want to stand right on top of you, and you have no space to move! Yes, it's getting very warm in here, but you can see the door still!  Well. Ok, you could see the door, but you know it's just behind those people. Eeeeeeeehhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Yeah, I'm not great with crowds.

So when some other people left I told the Doc I'd wait outside, and stood in the rain (under my ugly kitten umbrella), until the crowd had thinned out.

Then I went back in, and signed up to help with voter registration for an hour on Saturday.

Obama '08.  Yes We Can!

Inconsistent Weather Pattern.

So on Wednesday it rained heavily all day, on Thursday there was a light sheen of ice on our stairs and it was seriously windy, then on Friday there was a visible heat haze and the Doc took me out for ice-cream after work.

Apparently next week we'll have those weather conditions again in a slightly different order.

Which makes it very difficult to advance plan a wardrobe for your day. I was going to say is what you get for living on the side of a mountain, but then Mum told me it's pretty much the same in lovely flat Norfolk.

The Lomo Button - Now Available to All!

I am excited that Picnik has started selling advertising space on their website.  Not because I am so very keen on adverts, but because this means that most of the tools that were previously for premium members (who paid an annual fee) are now free to use.

Hoorah!

This photo of raindrops on one of the trees outside our front door was taken yesterday, and was frankly a little bit washed out.  One click on the Lomo button, followed by a click on the rounded corners button and it's a lot better looking.  I love that.

The Doc is, frankly, already sick to death of hearing about how much I like Picnik and the last couple of days have sort of been a high pitched incoherent babble of joy about the many new things I can now do.

What can I say?  I'm a nerd.

Ice. Sometimes It Is Really Pretty.

We went for a walk today around one of the local lakes, it was nice and bracing. The sky was blue, the water of the lake was sparkling clear and the grass was sort of green; except for the grass around the very edge of the lake. 

That particular grass was white with frost, and was frozen into some very avant garde ice sculptures combining organic bubbly forms with spikes.

I know I keep posting pictures of frozen things, and yes I have actually seen ice before.  It's just the ice I'm most familiar with usually comes in nice neat cubes and keeps my G&T at the correct temperature, it's domesticated ice.  The ice I'm taking photos of is feral ice, it's got it's own ideas on what shape it should be and it's never even heard of a slice of lemon.

Trees Without Leaves.

Another picture from the Biltmore Estate, I like the contrast of the stark winter trees against the bright blue sky.  It was a beautiful day.

Earthquake!

I cannot get my head around the fact that the UK had the biggest earthquake for twenty years, and I wasn't there to experience it.  I miss all the good stuff!

My Mum told me the quake woke her up, and she just thought "Hmmm, that's not the wind making that noise.  And the house appears to be shaking, so it's probably an earthquake." then went back to sleep again.  So nonchalant.

Here we have had fairly impressively heavy snow all day, which I find odd because it was really quite warm not two days ago.  I'm not used to the weather chopping and changing quite so dramatically, and I keep putting away my woolly scarves only to have to break them out again.

Still, it's not the biggest earthquake for twenty years now is it?

Broken Limbs.

There have been several gales over the past couple of weeks, and when we went out today we saw many trees had lost branches in the strong winds. 

It's always sad to see trees looking broken, but I do like the contrast between the creamy clean-looking wood and the rough lichen covered bark.

 

Short-Shorts. I'm Serious, These Things are SHORT.

One thing I couldn't help but notice about the young ladies of our little town, is that they favour short-shorts.  The really tiny kind, sometimes with writing on the back.

The girls at the University wear them all the time.  On campus in the summer you couldn't throw a stone without it ricocheting off someone's short-short clad derriere.  I understood then the need for short-shorts because it was hot.  I will admit that I even bought a pair myself, although mine were very sensible ones bought in the M&S sale for about 50p, they are strictly to be worn only when I'm doing yoga and no-one can see me.  That is the only situation I can imagine myself wearing them, and it's only because I found it difficult to hold the tree pose without being able to anchor my foot properly on the skin of my leg.

So I do get that short-shorts are occasionally necessary, and appropriate.

On Monday night, ironically as we were on our way back from the Gloria Steinem talk, there were legions of girls everywhere in these tiny things.  I think that there had probably been a sporting event, or a training session for one of the girl's teams.  Fair enough, the shorts are needed when you're playing sports, but this was after the game and they were walking along one of the main roads in town. 

Please note that I'm not being prudish, the girls all had great legs and were all rocking that look, but bearing in mind the University had been shut down three days earlier due to heavy ice, I think it's fair to say there was a bit of a chill in the air.  How were these girls not cold?  Isn't that where tracksuits come into play?  I don't get it, I was freezing in jeans, a jumper, a coat and a scarf, and I was in a car. They were strolling along in minuscule shorts and t-shirts.

I think it must be like the flip-flops in winter thing.  Maybe I'll never understand either of these behaviours, but it's certainly interesting to observe.

Walking on Thin Ice.

It was a lovely sunny day yesterday, so Doc and I decided to got for a walk.  We drove to one of the local lakes, and strolled round it, it's probably about a mile or so.

Although it had been quite warm when we left the house, the lake itself is higher up in the mountains and it's in the shade of the forest, which meant part of the path was still very icy, and the lake itself had a thin layer of ice.  You can see from the photo that it had already started to melt in the sunshine.

It's a popular place to walk, so several other people jogged, or dog walked past us, and then we noticed a group of four or five people at the other side of the lake.  They were taking photos of each other standing on the ice. I don't think they were locals, because they were doing this right at the very edge of the ice, which is where the ice starts to melt first, so that's actually the weakest point and therefore the worst place to test your weight.

We stopped to watch this demonstration of idiocy, and we weren't exactly surprised when one of the braniacs suddenly yelled his foot had gone through, and that the water was really cold.  No kidding?  Really?  Wow, the water in a half-frozen lake is cold.  You heard it hear first.

   

Bracing

This morning the Doc had an early breakfast meeting, so he drove over to the restaurant.  When he got there he couldn't open the car door.

It had frozen shut in the ten minute drive.  He had to climb over to the passenger side to get out.

That is how cold it is here today.

Wedding Anniversary Dinner

We had a lovely anniversary, thank you!
The Doc had made an early reservation for dinner, so when he came home from work he told me I had an hour to get ready.  In that time I managed to try on pretty much everything in my wardrobe at least twice, and then finally settled on a grey pencil skirt with a black slash-neck top, accessorised with an over-sized diamante cuff and three matching diamante vintage brooches.  So I was very shiny. Doc C wore jeans with a striped shirt and a brown jumper, characteristically he didn't accessorise with any diamante.  The Doc doesn't really do shiny.

The restaurant was really nice with a roaring fire, and comfortable wooden booths.  It's true that there were rather more stuffed bears than I would have personally chosen, but that's just me.  And, as rumoured, they did indeed have real napkins.

I had salmon baked in a horseradish and herb crust, with wild rice and asparagus. I love salmon with horseradish, it is one of my favourite combinations of flavours, so I was very happy.  The Doc had chicken stuffed with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes in a cheese sauce, with mashed potato and asparagus.  He was also very happy.  We shared a lemon mist (it's sort of like a lemon meringue pie, but without the meringue and it's more of a cake then a pie) for dessert.  That made both of us very happy.

It was snowing last night, and the flat was freezing when we got back so we decided the best thing to do would be to turn up the heating, make hot chocolate and watch "Heroes: Season One", via Netflix, on the laptop in bed. 

Which meant we were in our pyjamas by 9.00, but that's us married types for you I suppose.

Shiny!

The recent snow having been followed immediately by bright sunshine, naturally means that most of the snow has melted, but it's still really cold.  This in turn means that we now have a super-impressive collection of icicles, and when the sun hits them in just the right way they glow. 

They are very pretty.

I'm sure having icicles probably means that the gutters on this building have insufficient drainage, but I still like them.

Snow on the Wing Mirror.

Our car doesn't have a garage to keep it nice and warm, so the snow builds up on it.

Poor little thing.

Footprints in the Snow