After Effects

Sometimes I wonder "Why do I live up here?" Usually those times come when I'm on the handle end of a snow shovel or sweltering in a July heat wave. But there are reasons, and yesterday Mother Nature showed me one reason why.

This is a neighbor's house, not mine, but the snowpile at
the end of the driveway is very similar. I really liked
the snow coming over the eaves of the driveway.
DH would have pulled that snow down by now. 

It was a stunning day. I admit that I awakened to 2"-3" of new snow added to the 6"-8" we had received the night before, so my day started out with more than a half hour of intense snow shoveling, but when I got to the pool, I was one of the few who braved the roads and I had a lane to myself for the full hour of my swim. What a treat! The day got even better from there because we had one of those rare 'day after the storm' days that remind us of how beautiful it can be up here.

Looking through the tree that stands at the end of
my own driveway, you see hints of that bright blue
sky and my snow-covered front yard. 

Moving toward the house, this was my view of my front yard.
The central tree is my silver maple. I love the way the snow
perched on the branches. 

To the west of my driveway are these larger evergreens that
mark the boundary of my neighbor's property. With the snow
on their branches, it looks like a perfect holiday card. So pretty! 

It was a stunning day - a clear blue sky with crisp, cold temperatures in the upper teens F (around -7C for my Celsius friends). The sun was shining like crazy causing a serious melt even though the temps were way below freezing. It was so beautiful. Today will probably be icy as I drive to the gym, so I'll need to be cautious, but it was absolutely worth it!

Wednesday's are $6 sushi days and I often check it out. They
don't have the crunchy rolls on sale, so I nabbed one when I
saw it. So good! 

I was so happy looking at the beauty that I treated myself to sushi for lunch. A crispy roll - very yummy - and their wasabi is hot, Hot, HOT! Awesome and the perfect lunch.

Every good thing has to have a reverse also. This is my fly
in the ointment. 

But there's a fly in every ointment, right? Yesterday, apparently one of my customers at the shop complained that I was "weird". Well, yes - I admit that I am a bit weird. That's why I had the guts to open a store. It's why I am a designer and an artist. It's why I have had a fabulous husband for many years. I'm not boring, that's for sure! When my Assistant Manager posted that on FB, several other customers jumped to my defense (thanks, all). But I was a bit surprised by the fact that being called weird actually bothered me a little. Is my thick skin suddenly getting thinner?

Well ... yes. I am weird. But I think that's a very good thing
when it gets down to it. I don't follow pipers very well, and
I make my own pathway through life. 

Oh well - maybe I'll work out this stupid angst on the elliptical this morning. It's been a week since I was on the machines and I know they'll kick me into the next county - LOL. Here's hoping you have a great Thursday. I know that I will.

Thunderstorms

Because my day off was shortened, I didn't get as much accomplished as I had wanted to. Not good! Last night we were hit with severe thunderstorms just pouring rain down on us as if a faucet had been opened above. It was quite dramatic, but moved in waves so we didn't flood because it wasn't constant for us. The winds yesterday afternoon and evening were extreme, up to 75 miles per hour, which actually shut down our airport for a while. Once the sun set the rains came. I'm quite sure that there was some flash flooding and I might have leaked at the shop which won't make me happy but which is a regular problem from Day 1. *sigh*

Since we had thunderstorms, and since inspiration to write is tied up in my characters for NaNoWriMo right now, I offer you four pictures of lightning and unusual thunderstorm clouds instead as a visual apology for lack of words.

This pic had some amazing lightning behind the clouds, almost like looking at an atmospheric volcano.

This pic was probably a composite, but still - such beautiful lightning.

I don't think I'd like to be living on this atoll just now...it's rather spooky to look at this.

This pic is similar, but this time the cloud is over Florida. Aliens anyone? 

 It looks like the Mother Ship has arrived.

Have a wonderful day and wishing Happy Trails to Aearwen as she and J head north to visit Squeek. Have a fabulous time!

Homunculus...

My muse seems to have gone on a temporary vacation. I feel her floating around the edges of my life, but I'm too involved in reading right now to open her door. She'll have her opportunity in another 48 hours or so - just one more book to go and then I can allow my life to return to "normal" (which is, of course, a very relative term when applied to my life). So, since my brain is on vacation, it decided to visit the strange today. Today's discussion - the creation of a homunculus.

 Two marvelous oil paintings by Fred Einaudi - The Homunculus and The Specimen

One of the characters in the latest book I am reading is a homunculus - a miniature human being created artificially using the bodily humors of a host mixed with chemicals, spells and formulas. I was vaguely familiar with the term, but wanted more information on it, so looked it up this morning. I found it pretty interesting, so I'm sharing with you today. The creation of a homunculus does seem to be highly associated with alchemy, and in the book I am reading it also is the creation of an alchemist. But there were many different recipe possibilities throughout human history, as well as many different uses to which they would be put - everything from guard to basic caretaker and housekeeper.

One ingredient agreed upon by most of the recipes was sperm. At one point in history, each sperm was thought to be a fully formed individual in extreme miniature that would be deposited in the womb and be nurtured there until birth. Supposedly any characteristics of the mother were imbued during this nine-month period. There have also been speculations of homunculi inside our heads. But some of the more interesting things were the recipes presented to make a homunculus of your own. Are you interested in a little helper of your very own? Check out the Wiki on it and start planning for the next full or new moon.