let it snow - Indiana 'Icepocalypse' 2011

We've encountered a spot of bad weather here in central indiana.
Tuesday was mostly sleet with a nice crust of ice equally about an inch or so of the offending white stuff.
After their day with me at work the boys had fun trying to chip the ice off of the deck railing around the house.



I've also got some pictures from today's commute to work to share:


Above is a view of the road in front of our house- not a plow had touched it in about a day and a half.


Here is the main road, but it was more open to the blizzard-like winds we've been having- creating some visability issues. Not too bad, however. I'm holding out for the drive home to see how the drifting has settled in while I was at work today.

My favorite blogging tool

Lauri graciously invited me to contribute here several months ago. Until today, I couldn’t think of anything suitable to post and felt guilty about not participating. So here’s something that might be useful:

I have no way of knowing, but I suspect most people who use Blogger.com for their blogs, compose their posts within the Blogger online software. That’s what I did for several years before I discovered Windows Live Writer.

It comes as part of a suite of free software from Microsoft called Windows Live Essentials and gives me much more control over sizing and placing images and videos. If you’re using a Windows operating system and want to try it, you can check it out here. The suite also includes Windows Live Mail, which makes it a breeze to manage multiple email addresses.

Cat portrait

It's very hard to get a good shot of a cat that's in focus. Darn things are skittish and tend to freak out from the flash.

Frozen Wasteland

Bitter Indiana cold often leads to bitter frost on everything.

Winter time thoughts

I wonder if birds have a secret dancing language like bees do.



I've had plenty of snow this year to ponder the question of bird language. We normally think birds use their voices to talk to one another. But I'm wondering if there isn't a more intricate dance involved with them. Look at the legacy of their movements. You can see how they move, swivel and dance...

Pinot trivia

A good friend, Howard Hewitt recently posted a video on his blog Red for me, about blind taste testing of two Pinot noir wines.

I thought the concept interesting, and might try it at home soon.

I had never thought to try to 'geo-locate' a wine to its growing region by taste alone. That might be a big challenge!
Here's the video of the experiment.

A long holiday

I've been taking a long holiday from my blogging. I've had so much to do!
I was terribly ill over Giftmas with a flu bug- but that soon passed and the New year was upon me. I survived another trip round the sun with no problem. I celebrated with my family, a close friend and her 2 children and one of my husband's good friends, Chris. He's my hubby's 'Barn Buddy' they go to the barn and do man stuff to trucks, while drinking utility beer.

I received a great gift from John and Maria on the 12th day of Christmas... It was a hand stamped box which you can read about John's stamps here.
And a lovely quilted table runner that had chicken's on it! It matches my kitchen perfectly and now holds a spot of honor on the kitchen table.


I've increased my BeHance portfolio recently. I thought it would be best to try to keep up on the old portfolio. If you don't save the files while you work- you tend to forget what you've been working on. Behance also gives me a chance to look at my work as a progression. A critique if you will of where my design style has been- and where it's going.