Believe...simplify

Linked - Rivers April

2013-05-01T21:52:00.000-05:00

Wow, April has come and gone already. Time seems to move so much faster the older I get.
Because of our lovely Spring weather this year "snort" there still hasn't been much change in the Mississippi River, at least not where I live.
It has been steadily rising, but not yet flooding any of the markers we watch.
Our biggest marker for how high the river is getting is a fishing pier near Hwys 94/694

The water usually comes up over the top of the pier and floods the parking lot. yay I'm keeping track of it though, it's strange the things I find interesting and stimulating (I always liked going to the Emergency Department to draw blood when a trauma came in too).

I guess I never knew I could see three of the bridges from the walking path, maybe because there used to be a LOT more trees down here, more likely I'm just a lot more aware now that I'm taking pictures everyday.

This island used to be full of trees that were full of Heron nests...but no longer, some of the Herons relocated south and some relocated north to Coon Rapids. This rookery was so nice to watch because it was so close to the shore.

We decided to walk a different part of the river this week and went up to the Coon Rapids Dam. I don't think it's nearly as pretty up there, but then I don't live there, so I'm not partial to it. It's much flatter than by me, but it does have this dam, which was pretty cool and there are two Heron rookeries.

When I ran down to the river this last Sunday, in between spurts of rain, I saw these big puffy clouds and couldn't resist a few pictures of them.

Then there was this pretty rainbow...look how high the water is already. It will get higher, I will bet just about anything on it.

My friend Hanne and I are doing a monthly Linked river post...stop by and see her river...she's in Italy!

Linked - Simple

2013-04-28T22:22:00.001-05:00

I thought this word would be easy, until I started to think of pictures to go with the word, that was when my mind sort of shut down. I couldn't get past the word Simple and just a tiny bit of an idea. I ended up taking a breath and thinking of things that gave me simple pleasure, then I was on a roll.

sunsets

cherry and spoon with the minneapolis skyline

amazing sunset bursts on a drive home

rolling hills of St. Croix Vineyard

the Lowry bridge

flowers..anykind will do

big cats roaring...he was Not happy

eagles, I haven't been able to get a really good picture of my eagles in the wild, so this will have to do

gibbons, especially when they do their screaming call

sunrises, I see the most amazing sunrises from the parking ramp at work

Check out what Simple means to these fabulous ladies...they all got theirs done on time...not me though!

Amanda, Carla, Hanne, Heather, Rhonda, Jenn, Tracey and Tracy

Walking...

2013-04-05T07:18:00.001-05:00

A few more pictures by the river, taken with my phone.

Linked Rivers, Mississippi - Arno March 2013

2013-04-03T06:12:00.000-05:00

All of the following pictures were taken while on our nearly nightly walks by the river.
The Three River's Park District has miles of paved bike and walking paths that I feel we are fortunate to be able to use. Years ago, before the construction of Hwy 94, there were private homes, and 2 hotels built on the steep banks of the Mississippi.
I remember driving Lyndale every Sunday to and from church, and waiting for just the right moment to be able to see a small valley of Iris. We marveled over the beauty of all those flowers and who it was that grew and tenderly cared for them. We met Laura years later because of the garden we were trying to get started on our front bank. She was out for a walk, we were probably weeding and she stopped to say Hi and talk flowers and one thing led to another...we still have some of the Iris she gave us. When the homes were demolished, the planners chose to keep some plants and trees that were already established, and Laura had a Magnolia tree that was thoughtfully left in peace. Right now, it is once again loaded with little furry buds just waiting for the right time to burst open and reveal a beautiful white flower.

Native grasses were planted in place of one of the hotels (the scary one) and something I would call a water garden (my hubby and I were having a discussion about whether it was or not). My daughter and I saw tadpoles and frogs in the water there when it was just made, and I'm sure there still are, but now it's so established, it's hard to tell, and I for one do Not care for woodticks, so I'm not taking a chance of walking through the tall grass just to get a peek at a frog, nor do I want to pick a tick off Annie (after it's been on awhile and is huge and grey and disgusting).
The grasses are gorgeous in the summer, but I think they have a lot to offer in the winter too.

The following are of two different sites taken on March 3, 2013

It's not very interesting in the late winter, nothing really is though at that time in Minnesota. The colors are brown, varying shades of brown, but still brown. Yawn!

I keep waiting for the huge ice chunks to float down, but I've only seen a few last week...I'm certain they will be showing up any time now (my husband disagrees with me).

We did have one really exciting thing happen, because neither of us remember seeing these here before, Trumpeter Swans! We took a little drive up to Monticello last year to see the swans that hang out by the power plant up there and that was amazing...there were soooo many, but my normally very bird aware hubby doesn't remember seeing any here either. We counter six in all and are assuming they were all pairs.

I do not have a very high powered telephoto lens yet and I apparently am unable to hold still enough to take a clear picture (great camera.great lens.too cold.dog leash on my arm.heart beats to hard...and that's all the excuses I can come up with)

They put in some storm drainage holding ponds, so after a good storm, we hightail it down to the park and see how much water is being held...ladies with small children...see what you have to look forward to when they have flown the coop??? Excitement! snort

My eagles! Yes, I have claimed them because I don't think anyone else could possibly get as excited as I do when I see them, even though I see people standing on the trail with their hand shading their eyes as they stare mesmerized by one soaring overhead.

We've seen at least two adults and two adolescents.

I was fortunate to have my camera with me this day instead of just my phone, and I was still a ways away when I spotted them, and I quickly turned on my camera, took off the lens cap and started to say a little prayer that they would stay put until I got at least one shot of them.

I got about 1/2 a mile further down and one of the youngsters soared right over my head. I am a slow reactor and as I first spotted him, instead of reading my camera, which I should have left on in the first place, I dropped my jaw and made giddy noises, but thankfully, I was able to get a few shots of him.

March 17, 2013

No noticeable change

Every evening at dinnertime, flocks and flocks of crows fly south. They remind me of swarms of locusts.

The following were from our Easter Sunday walk and it was SUNNY, such a nice change.

Our son Ethan has joint custody of Kilo, (he and a female friend of his used to be roomies and decided to get a rescue dog. Kilo lives with my son, but has regular visits with his Mom)
Please ignore the nasty looking prong collar, I know this goes against manymanymanymany people, but we've been using them for ever and they Work! And we have never harmed one of our furballs.

This is as close as I was allowed to get to this Great Horned owl before he got irritated with me an flew off.

My friend Hanne and I both live and walk near rivers so we decided to do a linked series, hop on over and take a look at her first river installment.

Linked 2013 - (Furry) Faces

2013-03-29T21:51:00.001-05:00

It's amazing the things animal lovers will put up with to share their space with furballs.

hair
slobber
bad breath
drool
snot
sneezing
weeping eyes
cauliflower ears
chronic ear infections
growling
litterbox cleaning
sampling from the litter box
poop pick-up
emergency vet bills
greyhound teeth (syndrome)
cuddles
warmth
friendship
walking buddy
smiles
kisses
barking...nonstop
incontinence
puking
hairballs
garden digging
dirt
wet dog smell
cat toenails - ouch

I can't remember a time when there wasn't at least one furball sharing my space, except for a short time when I lived in an apartment.

This is Annie Belle, an eight year old rough coat collie with one blue eye, one brown eye and a very long snout, longer than what is normal I think. She has this habit of staring at me, just like the picture above. Every evening, she sits in front of my husband and stares at him, while Oliver, our orange tabby with the snotty, sneezing nose, that showed up in our yard three years ago, lies on his chest. He likes to have his face nearly touching our face and he uses his paw to touch our face and mouth (the yucky part, because I Know where those paws have been). He absolutely will Not just quietly lay on my lap, that is simply way too far away from my face, and I won't put up with him being that close to my face, but my husband and sons will, so he doesn't pester me as much, and I don't mind, because that's just a little too much fur, a little too close.

These two have a very strange relationship, we think, for a cat and dog. They groom each other's faces and necks. Oliver uses his paw to get Annie's face into the position he wants, then proceeds to lick her snout. Annie uses her long snout to be able to get into the nooks and crannies of Oliver's neck, gently biting his neck. He rubs his face all over hers, and when they notice us watching them, the looks on their faces is just a little guilty, like they were caught doing something they weren't supposed to.
Honestly, you'd have to see it to believe me. I've even felt a little uncomfortable at times.

Now, while Annie is officially My dog (got her for my 48th birthday), and my son considers Little-Bit, below, his cat, he's really mine. Every night he saunters over to me, meows in a certain way that means he wants to jump up on my lap and I automatically grab the blanket. I Always have a blanket on my lap when he wants to lay on me because he's been know to get startled and jump off quickly, using his toenails to help - Ouch!
Bitty has a very expressive face, he'll have his eyes 1/2 closed and if one of us asks him a question, he'll nod at us us.
He is sooo warm and sooo soft. I love the color of his nose and his long white whiskers, and I like to play with his ears as long as he'll let me.
We just realized he is 13 years old, three years older than any of my furballs have ever lived.

More of the "couple"
Photo overload, but you can just skip over them.

Check out my friends view of Faces...

Amanda, Carla, Hanne, Heather, Heidi, Jenn, Kristin, Rhonda, Tracey and Tracy

Linked 2013 - Comfort

2013-02-22T14:55:00.000-06:00

Comfort means different things to me at different times of the year..

When I get home from work in the Spring or Fall, the first thing I want to do is get some fresh air.
The clean air outside (certainly cleaner and fresher than the lab air) almost makes me giddy with
excitement. I feel sooo good after filling my lungs with outside air, and no matter how bad a mood
I may be in, after my walk, I feel much better.
I quick change my clothes, make a pit stop, fill up my water bottle and put on my walking shoes.
I call for Annie, stick a few dog treats in my pocket, clip on her leash, make sure my phone is in my pocket and we are off, down to the walking path by the Mississippi river.
Annie gets bored with this routine, but she's walking with me, and I like the path better than the streets, it's pretty by the river, I don't have to worry about getting hit by a car, I feel safe, and I have a better chance at seeing my eagles (we have two adults and one youngster)
I'm down here so often, I'm thinking of taking a weekly "from where I stand" photo of the same spot,
to show the change the river goes through.
The river changes even now, in February, two weeks ago, the river was almost completely iced over, last week it was almost completely clear and yesterday a lot of the ice was back again.
I really never took much notice of the changes the river goes through, until Instagram allowed the Android market...and I got my pretty new Canon 7D, now it seems like all I see is light and color and mood.
Thank you photographers for helping me to see the light!

During the summer, I usually wait till my hubs is off work and we've had dinner, then it's usually a little cooler
to walk and I don't worry as much about Annie overheating.

During the winter, I only walk when it's not really cold and windy because the only part of my face that I can't cover, (the bridge of my nose where my glasses sit) gets too cold and I guess I'm just turning into a wimp with my old age. I also tend to read more in the winter and once I'm engrossed in a book, that's all I want to do. So unless there is some errand I have to do after work, once I get home, I let Annie out,
change clothes, make a pit stop, make a cup of flavored coffee, let Annie in, stoke the fire, make sure I have my coffee, water, phone and book or tablet, sit in my chair, cover up with a blanket and read for an hour or so, until it's time to start dinner.

These things mean Comfort for me, see what Comfort means for these ladies...

Andrea, Amanda, Carla, Hanne, Heather, Heidi, Janet, Jean, Jenn, Kristin, Rhonda, Tracey and Tracy

Linked 2013 - Fresh

2013-01-24T21:46:00.001-06:00

fresh

vegetables
fruit
flowers
eggs - if i had chickens
chickens - if we were allowed
bread - grinding my own flours

for the past few years, i've been planting herbs in a large pot that i sit out in the garden
(they are extremely easy to grow) along with other vegetables and fruit.
i can't wait to have fresh lettuce again, there's nothing like tearing off a handful of different
lettuce leaves for a fresh salad...yum.
once all the other vegetables have produced and are dying, i clean off the herb pot and bring
it indoors for the winter, so i can then have fresh herbs for cooking until approximately april..
they just won't last any longer than that, at least for me.

well, this past summer, instead of planting herbs in a pot, we planted them directly into the ground
great idea - they grew like weeds - but we ended up having nothing to bring indoors to savor over
the long cold winter

for me, january is a fresh new month of a fresh new year and i find myself cleaning and purging and
simplifying my surroundings. i make plans for the much anticipated spring and summer, usually
while soaking in the tub ( i do my best thinking and planning in the tub). i look for new recipes
and call my son for help making those recipes taste good when i need inspiration, and i love
to use fresh herbs in those recipes. i've usually been able to find already potted herbs at
bachman's, the home depot or cub foods, so now that i've got the craving...
you got it, there are NO potted herbs to be found, except for a few rosemary and sage.
i bought one of the rosemary, don't want the sage and basil isn't out yet. i'm hoping there
was a run on fresh basil and by next week, one of these places will have more in stock

i could certainly plant them from seeds, but right now i want instant gratification

visit these ladies and get some fresh ideas...

Andrea, Amanda, Carla, Hanne, Heather, Heidi, Janet, Jean, Jenn, Kristin, Rhonda, Tracey and Tracy

Arise, shine...

2013-01-07T21:13:00.002-06:00

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you,

Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Arise, arise, and shine like the sun

and all nations shall come,

and all kings will be drawn

to the brightness of your rising.

The sun shall no longer be your light,

nor the brightness of the moon by night.

But the Lord shall be

your everlasting light,

your God will be your everlasting light.

Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Arise, arise, and shine,

and all nations shall come,

and all kings will be drawn

to the brightness of your rising.

Arise, shine for your light has come.

The song our choir sang today...

Holidazzle...

2012-12-15T20:18:00.001-06:00

Last evening, it was 34 degrees, very mild for December 15, and perfect for standing outside to watch a parade. Only normal winter clothing is needed, not snowsuits.

I don't know if other states have parades in the winter months, although it isn't officially winter yet, a week yet to go, but there is snow on the ground, enough to have to shovel and snowblow, so I'm going to say it's winter, but we sure do...we have a winter carnival too!

Each year, starting the day after Thanksgiving, to the the 23rd of December, Thursday through Sunday, Minneapolis has a winter parade down Nicollet Mall, from 12th Street to 4th Street, with illuminated floats and storybook characters. Each night, different people volunteer to bundle up in warm clothes and get fitted with an illuminated costume and depending what costume get, they will either be strapped into a harness on a float, or walking with others. There are marching bands in red and choirs with stars around their necks, way up high on a float. Santa always ends the parade, riding in his sleigh, waving and Ho Ho Hoing to the crowd.

You might think people would be crazy to stand out for more than an hour in the cold and the down drafts from the tall buildings to watch a parade, but the Holidazzle draws a crowd of about 300,000 a year, and it's great business for all of the stores and restaurants.

We are Minnesotan's...we live in the frozen tundra and we are a hearty bunch, don't cha know!

Up early...

2012-11-24T16:35:00.000-06:00

I was blog hopping this morning, in between getting some chores done, and while at Nancy's blog http://www.aruraljournal.com, she wrote that she had stopped by here http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com and decided to give it a try, and I thought I would also.

Zeldamom's: The Simple Woman's Daybook

Outside my window -
The sun is just starting to rise, showing off with pink and orange streaks of beauty

I am thinking -
I really need to get the rest of my windows cleaned so I can close them up for winter.
Last week's weather was so beautiful, but not quite long enough for me to complete the job

In the kitchen -
The dishes that were drying in the rack are all put away and fresh coffee has been made

I am wearing -
Grey print knit pajama bottoms, a pale grey tank top and a brand new, soft grey Hane's zip up hoodie

I am creating -
A colored pencil name drawing for a work friend's baby girl

I am going -
Shopping today for a pretty sweater to wear with a black velvet dress I bought at the thrift store,
a pot for a plant that needs help and a can opener to replace the one that just broke

I am wondering -
Should I make door draft stoppers for Christmas gifts as long as I'm making a couple for myself?

I am reading -
Nothing at the moment...I need to get this name drawing done first, once I start reading, I just don't
want to stop

I am hoping -
That I am able to get in a nice long walk and maybe see my eagle

I am looking forward to -
Soaking in my claw foot tub

I am learning -
To see light and form and how I want my photographs to look...and to realize that just because
some bloggers have a lot of followers and get a bunch of comments, it does not mean I am less
than they are (that's very difficult)

Around the house -
Dust will be banished, carpets vacuumed, bathrooms rid of germs, laundry washed, dried, folded
and put away

I am pondering -
Why some bloggers participating in Linked 52 only comment on a few of their fellow participants
posts and don't or won't take the time to visit and comment on all of them, even though they are
all posted on time...

A favorite quote for today -
In a world where YOU can be anything...Be Yourself!!!

One of my favorite things -
I love to go for drives away from the city...old white farmhouses, red barns and silos, cows, sheep,
chickens, buying fresh brown eggs, eating a picnic lunch in a park, talking, and most of all, open,
rolling hills...sigh

A few plans for the rest of the week (I'll just say next week, seeing as how this is Saturday) -
Put up some Christmas decorations, take my mom to see the two blue lighted bridges here in Minneapolis, that she hasn't had a chance to see yet and play with my new camera

A peek into my day -

Linked 52 - Gathering

2012-11-23T00:29:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving

gathering...

family, the one I was born into and the one that I helped make
friends
eating turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, broccoli, jello
not eating stuffing, dinner rolls, green bean casserole
mom's pumpkin chiffon pie and leaving the crust
arguments, can't get away from them
laughter, always lots of this
talking, usually hogged by two
gazing off into space after eating too much
gabbing with my sister while washing dishes
letting her know I'll take mom christmas shopping
looking through the black friday ads
taking turns talking to kira on the phone
skyping with andy
loving that my children are adults, yet missing how they were when they were little
looking toward the future
loving that my mother is still with us
wonderful co-workers
a pretty okay day at work
gorgeous sunrise yesterday
even more gorgeous sunset
64 degrees and joggers in shorts on thanksgiving eve to 23 degrees and snow on thanksgiving night
my sister not drinking
all of us pulling together and not drinking with her
a glass of wine when I got home
son and his girl off to find some deals
hubs starting a fire in the stove
falling asleep on the sofa because of that fire
all in all a wonderful thanksgiving 2012

Please leave me a comment...be sure to see what gathering means to them.

Believe...simplify

Linked - Rivers April

Linked - Simple

Walking...

Linked Rivers, Mississippi - Arno March 2013

Linked 2013 - (Furry) Faces

Linked 2013 - Comfort

Linked 2013 - Fresh

Arise, shine...

Holidazzle...

Up early...

Linked 52 - Gathering

Linked 52 - Music...

Linked 52 - Wind...

wind

Linked 52 - Texture...

Halloween and the letter S...

Linked 52 - Memories...

Linked 52 - On the Shelf...

Linked 52 - Color...

Linked 52 - Tools...

Linked 52 - Autumn

Linked 52- The Kitchen...

Linked 52 - Spice...

Linked 52 - Sunset...

Linked 52 - Peace...

Linked 52 - Shadows