Thanksgiving and more November Snow 2010

From the blizzard that fizzled a few days earlier, I got a few interesting pics as well as Thanksgiving day.  We're missing Eric, who's in Kansas City, and Jenn and Zach who spent Thanksgiving in Idaho this year.

Here are progressive shots of the storm starting with the approaching front, and ending with blue skies the following day with one interesting shot of lake effect gathering moisture from the warmer lake waters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And Thanksgiving.

 

 

 

 

First Snow - November 2010

It came down hard for awhile and made the roads pretty slick.  I think we got 6 to 8 inches by this morning.  I'll go out and shovel at daylight and then I'll know better.  There are supposed to be three or four waves of this, with the second coming later today, another on Monday and one more on Tuesday.  Better to keep up on the shoveling than to let it pile up.  It's beautiful looking at it from the windows.

These shots are from last evening.  I'll add more once we have some good daylight here.

Finished first round of shoveling around 8:30 a.m. Had help from a neighbor boy or I'd still be out there. I'm guessing we had 10 to 12 inches in all. Fog has rolled in now and maybe the next wave is starting. Not bad work for an old lady, I think. Now for something warm to drink.

 

 

 

Ending with a spot of sunlight on pristine, white Antelope Island.

Going digital

I started a project to convert all the old family slides to digital photos.  It's just the start of a winter-long project to reduce various things I use to digital form.

The slides will be a slow project as I will pick and choose which ones to keep and which ones to skip.  Those slides are from the days when you had to get the film developed and for whatever reason, we kept every single shot -- good or bad.  But I'll be more selective.  I find I need to do a little color correction, too, due to the age of the photos.  The little converter I bought is cheap and doesn't do a very good job with any shots that contain a lot of white.  I'll set those aside and find another method of converting them -- may have a photo shop do them for me.  Once done, I can just store the slides themselves until I feel ready to throw them out, and I can get rid of all those reels that hold them now.

Another project is to convert CDs and vinyl to MP3 which will allow me to build play lists and to play through an iPod dock station, making my music more accessible and convenient.  Putting CDs in and out of a multi-disk player is slow.  Isn't that funny to think of that as slow?  I bought a USB turntable that will allow me to move some of my favorite old vinyl to MP3 as well.

Then there's that huge collection of CD's I hauled over from the ex's house after he died.  Most of them I don't want, but there's enough value in all of that to make it worthwhile to catalog and sell on eBay or some other way.  So that I will do as well.

Perfect jobs for cold winter nights when we just want to stay in.  The first really big winter storm is predicted for this weekend.  I'll get photos I'm sure.  Happily, I had Alberto and the guys here this week to clean up all the leaves.  As usual, they left my yard looking like a million bucks, cut down all the dead plants, raked the mulch, even cleaned the rain gutters and the street gutters.  All I need to do is cover the patio furniture now.

I feel prepared for winter this year.  Tonight I'll do all the shopping for Thanksgiving week in case I find myself really snowbound over the weekend.  And then I can sit in my cozy house and work on my projects and watch movies to my heart's content.

J. Brahms: Rhapsody in G minor Op. 79, No.2

I'm just starting to learn this piece.  It's moderately difficult but especially if played up to speed.  These old fingers may never be able to accomplish that, but I so love the depth of tones this produces from my piano.  It's a rare piece that uses the entire keyboard down to the very lowest A.  I find it inspiring to think of other hands that have played these very same notes over about 150 years, including the original composer -- that my own fingers walk in those exact same paths  Reading music is perhaps like learning a foreign language -- another language in which to express yourself.  Not unlike an actor reciting lines of Shakespeare, the notes connecting the page to the keyboard also connect you to so many others down through the years.  It's a rather thrilling thought.

Rainy Day

It's overcast and damp today.  I'll get the snow tires put on the car and run a few errands.  Then maybe a drive to the bird refuge to see some swans.  It's a birthday today.  We always remember the birthdays even when other things begin to fade.

Chopin

I am so uninclined to blog these days.  Took down many of my RSB posts.  But will share this lovely video this beautiful autumn morning.