Valentine's, Snow and Followers

Valentine's Day is fast approaching. You know what that means? More posts about crazy love and sweet romance. Those of you who were with me last year said you enjoyed reading my posts on love and romance so let's do it again. I'll write and you can read.

Oscar and Percy are in the photo above and they are showing us some real brotherly love.

Anyway, I would really like to get off the subject of snow and shoveling and brutally cold weather. But it's hard to think of anything but the snow and weather when it snows all the time. And 2 more storms are headed this way. At least this time we'll have company and you know misery loves company! So anyone who lives in the Midwest or the East will be affected by the monster storm (the weatherman's word not mine). Maybe there are more areas in the snow zone, I wasn't totally listening to the forecast. It was so disheartening I tuned out after hearing that we could get another 18-24 inches.

Lastly, I lost a follower today. Some of you probably don't even know if you lose one because you have so many. All I know is I had 120 followers yesterday and 119 today. So it makes me wonder, did I offend someone? Or bore them death? Am I supposed to visit every follower's blog every day? Surely, I can't do that. Personally, I follow a number of blogs and many of them have never visited my blog. Anyway, I won't dwell on it too much. It's just a mystery to me.

Snow Fatigue

Photograph from Twitter

You can’t get too much winter in the winter.
- Robert Frost


I love the poetry of Robert Frost but he's wrong. We have already had too much Winter in this Winter. We are getting more snow overnight tonight, could be another 10 inches. I think we are all suffering from snow fatigue.

Thinking warm thoughts of past Summers, dining on seafood by the ocean in Maine, watching the sunset in Rockport, shopping on the Vineyard last August.

Seems like Summer is just a distant memory.

A Visit from Jack Frost

It's been so cold the past few days and today was the worst. It hit 8 below zero and that was the temperature not the wind chill factor. Not too comfortable for outdoor photography but I did manage a few shots.

I thought the little girls looked so cute all bundled up outside of Frannie's restaurant on Saturday morning. Their friend was taking their photo from inside the breakfast place.



On the way home I noticed the snow in the cemetery and thought I would stop to photograph it.



The Stonham common and Congregational Church made a pretty scene. The town hall is behind the snow mound.



Days before that, I walked around Winchester and thought the birds, the steeple and the moodiness of the sky would make for an interesting shot.



At home, I caught Percy in a stretch after his cat nap.



And then it was right back to sleep but in the dining room instead of the bedroom. It's warmer there.



Oscar hunkered down in the living room chair near the fireplace. I was a little jealous of the kitties as I got up for work this morning. I knew I would have to brave the bitter cold to get to work and they could just relax and sleep all day.





Molly put her face towards the sun hoping for some warmth, but, alas there was none.

I reluctantly bundled up with gloves, scarf, hooded coat, and boots, looking like Nanook of the North or maybe the Michelin Man. The weatherman freaked me out by saying that some people could have car trouble and could get stranded in their cars. He suggested bringing a blanket to keep in the car just in case. So I bundled up in case I got stranded on my 10 minute commute to work. Ha, ha!

The forecast? Warmer temps (in the 20's) and a possible storm with a foot of snow from Wednesday into Thursday. Affecting both the Wednesday evening commute and the Thursday morning commute. Now, I really want to be my cat!

Eat, Pray, Shovel

It feels like all I've done this week is eat, pray, and shovel. I think we had about 3 snowstorms this week. Each day I was praying that the roads wouldn't ice up until I arrived home from work.

And there's another storm headed here tomorrow. I am hoping it clears out for the weekend so I can take advantage of the photo opportunities.

To those of you anticipating tomorrow's storm, drive safe.

Stepping out of my comfort zone

So I am thinking of participating in the 100 strangers project. Do you know of it? You can read about it here

I have taken photos of strangers from afar, but, to go up to a perfect stranger and introduce myself, ask permission to take their photo, and then get a little story out of them? That's kind of nuts.

But I want to do it and I hope you will too. Just think of the interesting people you can meet and the stories you get to tell. It speaks to the photojournalist in me.

So who's game? Anyone out there want to sign up to meet 100 Strangers? And just for fun, you can listen to my playlist for inspiration. It's at the bottom of the blog.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Another blizzard today and I had a snow day from the bank. Looks like we got 18.5 inches so far. I decided to walk around the neighborhood before tackling some shoveling.



This is the house across the street. The trees are really weighted down and that makes for a dangerous situation. I just heard about a tree branch that fell on a fire truck and one of the firefighters was injured.



Lots of people without power in Massachusetts, I think the newsman said 101,000 without power. Thankfully, I have heat and electricity because it is bonechilling cold with the wind.



The houses in my neighborhood look absolutely gorgeous with all the snow.




As you can see, it was really coming down when I was walking around and I could hardly see through the lens. I didn't want to wreck my camera so I didn't stay out too long.



Here's the view looking down my street.



This is my neighbor Emily. The two of us shoveled some of the walk and parking lot.



Emily's husband dug their car out, what fun!



This is what my sleeve looked like after I shoveled. I had so much snow on my coat after taking my walk around the neighborhood Emily said I looked like the abominable snowman.

Well, it is really pretty and tonight it's supposed to end. And the sun will come out tomorrow. (I suddenly feel like singing).

Mosaic Monday- Coffee

What better way to start the week off than with a nice cup of joe? These are some new and old images from my vast collection of coffee photos.

Going for coffee is one of my favorite ways to socialize and there is no shortage of good places to find the perfect cuppa in the Boston area.

Please join Mary of Little Red Schoolhouse for Mosaic Monday and check out the other participants too!