Saturday snow

Ah, a snowy Saturday... The sky is still wearing gray, but the light snow that fell most of the day seems to have tapered off.

It was a good day for a walk in the woods.

A planned escape from winter

Oh look! Denise listened to the thoughts I sent her through my wishing stone! We'll be heading out later in the week for what will probably be a too quick trip to southern California.

Where? Our destination is two new-to-us locations, Joshua Tree National Park, and a visit to the Salton Sea. Exploring new places is always fun, and escaping from winter temperatures will be a big plus too. Denise sometimes gets frustrated trying to make cold fingers work with her camera; I know she's looking forward to some warmer camera play. Soon...

--- Rover

No censorship!

I don't normally jump into politics here, but this is important.

If you haven't already, please tell your representatives that you oppose SOPA and PIPA. Censoring the Internet is a bad idea. Not familiar with the issues? Learn more here.

Tell Congress - sign the petition at https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/.

Color relieves gray

A winter's day... we had a dusting of snow overnight, and today's forecast calls for rain and snow changing to all rain. That probably means the gray will stay.

I need color today; a flower from last summer brings a smile.

Motion

The (very cold) air temperature kept me from camera play yesterday so I've pulled a photo from last March to share today.

Sanderlings skittering, quickly moving across the sand at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge... I remember trying to move with these very fast little birds, attempting to capture their movement.

Soup Sunday

A warm bowl of soup was just what I needed today.

I decided to try something new (for me), a sweet potato base. I started with about 10 cups of water, 3 pounds of sweet potatoes, a half of a pound of red lentils, and a pound of tofu. After about a half of an hour the potatoes were soft and my soup base was ready for the blender. After the blender gave me a smooth soup base, a little bit of spice and a lot of vegetables jumped into the pot - ginger, cumin, carrots, corn, zucchini, and portabella mushrooms. I simmered the concoction until the carrots were lightly cooked.

Ah, that was good! I had a big bowl of soup for dinner, lunches for this week, and some for the freezer for days when I don't feel like cooking. I think that base needs to be added to my list of must repeat soups.

Crisp

Today was cold, as predicted by the weather wizard. Crisp, clear, cold, windy...

I waited until the temperature reached 10 degrees before heading out to walk this morning. The air was brrr! cold but for the most part I was warm. It wasn't until I was close to the end of my hour-long loop when I realized I should have pulled some fleece over my face. That chill disappeared quickly once I was back inside.

The forecast calls for a low of 2 degrees tonight, warming to the high 20s during the day tomorrow. After today I suspect that will feel balmy!

Mirrored?

Funny, I can almost see a mirrored image here. The angle of the clouds and the angle of the waves don't match, but they draw my eye as if they do. The jump from rippled to smooth water is somewhat angled too.

A few more photos from today's very chilly wander can be viewed in the gallery New Hampshire coast - 2012 starting with this photo and ending here. More photos will jump into this gallery through the year; the newest photos will always be at the top of the gallery.

Replacing bridges

My wanders today took me to the New Hampshire coast and to Portsmouth, where I saw the (current) Memorial Bridge for probably the last time. Construction on a replacement bridge is about to start. The existing bridge has been closed to vehicles since last July, with the pedestrian crossing closed as of last Monday morning.

I'm fascinated by the replacement process. The three sections of the old bridge - the center lift span, and the north and south flanking spans, will be lowered to barges and floated to the old Quincy Ship Yard. Then the new construction begins. The design of the new bridge can be seen on the "New Memorial Bridge" page here.

I wish I could see the floating of the old bridge sections; unfortunately for me I'll be far from here on holiday on the days the floating is projected to occur. I'll be sure to watch the progress over the next year and a half though.

13 times 3

Today is Friday the 13th. Is that a good day for you, or a bad one? I suspect you'll be happier of the 13th is a good day for you because 2012 has three months where the 13th falls on a Friday. And, more than that - the Friday the 13ths this year are each 13 weeks apart.

Take a look at NPR's story Don't Like Friday The 13th? Then This Isn't A Good Year For You.