Fifteen years ago today I had a baby boy.

This red tailed hawk perched in the sycamore just long enough for me to get off two shots, neither of which is that good. But the weeds waited patiently with no time restraint.

The Sparrow

Cold.
Deep January cold that makes you dread the journey from the car to the house, or the parking lot to the school or the store. Cold that bites your skin, warning your instincts that it is no minor thing to be trifled with, and you had better hurry. Cold that negates the shining sun and tightens up the twinkling of the shivering stars. It makes the waiting cat change her mind about going outdoors, even though she despises her litter box.
And the sparrow fluffs out its feathers and says, "It is nothing."

Monday night I took the back roads again. The sky was a mix - a little bit of everything: blue sky, dark clouds with snow swirling out of them, golden light, I ws stoppping about every three minutes. It's a good thing Sam and Emily weren't with me. They would not have appreciated me making a half an hour journey into an hour and a half. But, as you can see, it was worth every delay.

the lady in the rocking chair

the lady in the rocking chair
Originally uploaded by tp.

This is a photo by Tania, a woman who lives in Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic. She does exceptional photos of people. I will be going there in two months with the senior class from my school.

A warm wave from the south melted almost all our snow. Lucy and I went picutre taking in the woods until dusk. The darker it got, to more my photos began to take on a blue tint. Correcting them with the automatic setting on the microsoft photo program only made them bluer. I like it.

Surprise! The school day turned into a snow day. I started working on my exams and correcting papers - then I shoved it all to the other end of the table and put on my coat, wrapped a blue scarf around my head, put my husband's hat on for coolness, and put my digitals in plastic bags so the snow wouldn't get them wet. Then Lucy and I went for a snow hike in the woods. Many more photos of the morning on Flickr, CaptPiper.

January 8th, 2005

January 8th, 2005
Originally uploaded by CaptPiper.

The forecast was for maybe one inch of snow, but we got about four or five inches. I woke up, threw on my coat over my pajamas, and got out there before the wind took all the snow off the tree branches. The floating clumps of snow are what has been falling from the trees.
Of course, Lucy came with me.

January 8th. It was forty years ago on this day my mother died.