Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

2010 was good, bad and ugly, depending on the moment. I think this about par for the course. I took 5,785 photographs, mostly of cats, but also including snow, flowers and medieval events. This is actually down by over 1000 shots from 2009 but up over 300 about 2008. I actually picked 12 photos, one from each month, to represent the year. By the by, it’s hard to pick just one per month. It’s also hard not to put in the photos of the various damage the house suffered this year. (That would be the ugly: hail and plaster giving in to gravity.)

Unsurprisingly, I take a lot of photos of cats. Occupational hazard, I guess.

I’m not sure my photography saw any significant improvement this year. I took lots of shots but didn’t really work on my technique. I did take more shots of people this year and spent more time thinking about composition in those photos but I really only did that on two occasions so I’m not sure it counts as real work, despite the 1500+ shots from those two occasions.

However, the future looks rather promising.

In exciting photographic news, I got a new camera for Christmas from the fabulous Fop! (A Canon Rebel T2i.) And there was also an Epiphanie Bag. (Ginger in black with BRIGHT PINK lining!) This means the camera will probably hang out with me more often. And there will be more photography-oriented adventures this year too. I haven’t been to see the polar bears in ages.

2010, photographs, random

We drove approximately 8 hours each way to Vermont for Crown Tournament. This is farther than we drive to Pennsic. Weather reports were dodgy earlier in the week and implied cold, wet and miserable. Luckily, that didn’t happen.

The day was bright and cold and breezy in somewhat equal proportions.

For the record, it takes a while to pare 1200+ photos down to 377 – i.e. the big set. It also takes time to make them upload to Flickr. But, at the end of the sorting and upload, there are a ton of Crown Tournament photos over on Flickr. I had way too much fun taking pictures of people and fighting and generally gorgeous, bright day.

Fear not, for those of the faint of heart, or just not looking for hundreds of Crown photos, there’s a shorter photo set that features lots of people and highlights. And, of course, there’s a version of the shorter set on Facebook as well, for your tagging pleasure. I am terrible with names, so please do feel free to tag or label people!

crown tournament, east kingdom, photography, sca, vermont

Northern Vermont was gorgeous.

Lake Champlain looked chilly.

The trees were amazing.

And the full moon was fabulous.

And I slept really well.

The North Hero In was comfy, cozy and lovely.

It was a great trip with friends in the car, friends at the Inn, and friends at the event.

Eight hours driving up.

Eight hours driving back.

It was a great weekend.

autumn, lake champlain, photography, travel, vermont

So, in addition to an idyllic weekend in Massachusetts on top of a mountain out of technology’s reach, we also went to the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival. We wandered around for 6 hours, had some warm cider and cider donuts, and generally enjoyed all the awesome sights to be had on a gorgeous autumn day. There was also kettle corn (which sustained us as we tried to get out of the parking lot) and maple cotton candy (which is an amazing invention). I came home with a couple skeins of fun yarn and lofty project plans, of course, as well as some local wine and super-tasty hot sauces.

The hour sitting in the parking lot was spent calling stores looking for pumpkin Woodchuck cider. We eventually caved and reserved some at a store that was not on the way home. Pumpkin Woodchuck is very yummy but not what I’d expected. It’s fruity and bright and lacks the cinnamon and other spices of the pumpkin beers. Yum!

autumn, ny, photographs, rhinebeck sheep and wool, travel

Last weekend I visited autumn, the season not the person, and J & t up on their mountain in Mt. Washington, Massachusetts. Autumn is my favorite season to begin with so I was giddy to get up into New England in mid-October. There are some pictures of pretty colors and trees here. The colors and trees aren’t as spectacular as they could be since a blustery storm came through Thursday evening and Friday before I arrived. And the colors aren’t quite as spectacular as the colors in the photos my mother keeps sending me from Maine.

Driving up the mountain, my driving lights on the Mini paid for themselves once again. Fog lights, headlights on high beams, and driving lights make for a much easier drive when you’re heading up an unfamiliar mountain on unlit roads late at night. With all the lights on, I can light up the tops of the trees in front of me and half the planet in front of me!

J & T have a great house, no cell coverage and no high speed internet. It was an ideal spot to spend a weekend AND they cooked me dinner and breakfast all weekend. Pancakes! Two mornings in a row!!! It was a glorious weekend!

autumn, colors, fall, photographs, travel

Don Target. Yes, it’s hazing.

Congrats to all those who received awards and recognitions! :)

coronation, east kingdom, photography, sca

The roses really started to open up May 1st. There are tons of buds on both the front and back rose bushes. It should be a good year for roses!

The seedlings are almost ready for planting as well. And I’ve got a shrub out front that’s dead that I get to replace too. I’m contemplating putting in white irises or maybe purple ones. The location is actually right next to the roses seen here. (And on the other side of these roses is a bright pink azalea. I need to be careful about too much crazy color. Maybe a white lilac bush…)

The heat has hit and I’ve switched to iced coffee. Despite all the exercise, sleep is not as easy as I think it should be so coffee is an imperative. Then again, when isn’t coffee an imperative?

coffee, gardening, photographs, roses

A minute of kitten cuteness… because, when you’re a kitten, a bath is perilously close to a battle.

bath, battle, bengals, kittens, mini-cats, movie

Oh look, a shadow of a seagull on the sand. I’m not a big fan of seagulls, honestly, but they’re entertaining when you’re hanging out near the ocean and happen to have left-over bagels.

Another weekend gone. Stuff was accomplished and amusement was had. Many people appeared in the living room after Noisemakers Saturday night and, after a short adjustment period (and a Pumpkinhead beer), I had a highly entertaining evening. Thank you to everyone who stopped in and drank beer! We’re still trying to reclaim the fridge from beer bought (rather over-enthusiastically) for the New Year’s Eve party and finally a dent has been made!

I didn’t quite accomplish everything I wanted to this weekend but it was a good weekend. This week should b a little less crazy work-wise so hopefully I can not be completely wiped out at the end of the day and I can reclaim my evenings from utter exhaustion.

entertainment, photography, random, seagulls, weekend

I went out this morning in the Eye of the SNOWPOCALYPSE.
There was no precipitation when I started clearing the 4-5″ of snow that fell overnight.
Then it started to lightly mist and rain.
Then sleet.
Then snow for a bit.
Then back to sleet.
Then freezing rain like little snowballs.
Then it rained again for a bit.
At one point, I think it was snow, rain, sleet and freezing rain all at once.

Clearing the new snow wasn’t a problem. Clearing the snow the plow had shoved up over onto the sidewalk and in front of our driveways was the challenge. The Best Neighbor in the World loaned me the wee electric snowblower again and then came out to help too. The snowbank at the end of our driveways was really too much for it and I finished clearing most of that with the shovel. But with the 2 of us, we got down the sidewalk.

Since then, the full-force of the storm has hit. Proper white-out conditions and everything!

And there go the big, gusting winds we were expecting.

I’m going to have to go out there again… probably in the next hour… just to keep up. I love this!

snow, snowpocalypse, photographs, weather