Wow. That was fast. January sure flew by.
I am in New York this week for some meetings. It is unseasonably warm here, as it is in other parts of the country this winter. It was in the 50’s and 60’s today. No snow on the ground. This tree, outside of my hotel, is covered with big buds already getting ready to pop.
February has 29 days this year. I’m going to savor each one!
Tonight Sue & I went to an art studio called Painting with a Twist. They hold a painting class every night where everyone in the studio paints the same picture. Oh, and you can bring your own wine and snacks to help get the creative juices flowing (that’s the twist part). You can choose which session you want to attend by checking out their calendar and signing up ahead of time. They have studios in many cities, check out their main website if you’re interested. Tonight’s piece is called Moonlit Cherry Blossoms.
I know friends that have tried it, but this was my first time. It was FUN! The pic above is one I took of my painting after I got it home. I look forward to trying this again.
Look out people, ARTIST COMIN’ THROUGH!! 😀
My Uncle Bill passed away this morning – 1 month since his brother died, and less than 2 months since he learned that he had cancer. My heart goes out to my aunt and my cousins who have had their world turned upside down so quickly. He is loved and missed terribly by his family.
It is startling to realize how quickly our lives can be taken out of our hands. And that as much as I fret about things day to day, I really don’t have any control at all. I guess what’s important is that we get the most out of each day we have.
The shot above is of the sun dropping low in the sky on a crisp winter day. The tree in the foreground has lost its leaves, but you can already see the buds along the branches getting ready to pop in a month or so. Life goes on….
This afternoon, though it was very chilly, we headed to the lake for some fishing. We picked up Joe, Kurt and Wally and motored over to the docks across the lake. Wally caught the first bass, and Monte caught 2 more.
We headed back to the marina as the sun was slipping away. I love the light at this time of day on the lake. It is the golden hour. The shot above is of monte’s 2nd fish, lit up by the golden sunset.
The shot below is of the sun as it was setting.
The shot below is from the cockpit of the catboat, after the sun has set. I love the colors of the sky at dusk.
And this last shot is of the crescent moon, with Venus to its left, as viewed from B-Dock, through the Christmas lights on Allegro’s rigging, as we were heading for home.
A good day, indeed.
We spent the night in Arky South cove. We enjoyed more laughs, music and good company last night. Mike and Kathy joined us on Soul Healer yesterday for a few hours, and Lori, Dave and Jake joined us this afternoon on Camelot.
Shortly after we woke up this morning, we were treated to a beautiful sunrise, coming up right behind the Commander’s Point lighthouse (well, water tower really). A lovely sight.
Then, later in the morning a funky fog bank sunk over the lake for a while, but shortly lifted for a beautiful, sunny day.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention… we have christened this and any future such auspicious gathering a Riff-Rafft-up. For obvious reasons 🙂 In attendance this weekend were Wally & Kurt on Dancer, Joe on Prelude, Monte & Sheila on Cupholder, and Marty & Sue (and Koko) on Caribbean Hug.
Have a great week!
Headed back to Austin for a laundry run. It drizzled in Dallas this afternoon. On the approach to AUS I was hoping that was a thundercloud, but it was not.
Today is the last day of Summer 2011. Sad, but hoping cooler and, more importantly, wetter weather lies ahead.
The moon is full, so it’s a full-moon raftup weekend! We joined the raftup at about 6 pm in Arky South – Rory & Greg and their friend Jane (who has her own boat on c-dock) were on Sapphire, Ramon on Y No Hago Mas Na, Robert & Tony on Voodoo, Kurt & Wally on Dancer, Pat & Dave on Va Bene, and Monte & me on Cupholder. Bay & Donna arrived on Red Sky right before sunset.
I can’t take a decent full-moon picture with my camera on a boat that’s rocking. I know this photo is blurry, but I posted it so you could see how beautiful and bright the moonlight was. We had a stern line to shore, so our bows were pointed east and we had a great view as the moon rose above the horizon.
The anchorage was nice, had a good breeze all night long. Amazingly, we did not play iPod wars on this raftup. That didn’t stop us, however from staying up until the wee hours. The party started on Ramon’s boat, and moved to Rory & Greg’s.
The lake is at 643+ and dropping fast. Both Ramon & Kurt’s boats got hung up on the emerging wall at the entrance to the cove on their way in. The sheer pin on our propeller broke right as we were coming in to tie up, so we had to drop a quick anchor ourselves so that we could fix it.
A little excitement, but everyone was rafted up in time to watch the sunset, which was beautiful, as usual.
When IBM employees reach their 25 year service anniversary they enter the Quarter Century Club (QCC). One of the perks is that IBM will foot the bill for a dinner with 10 or so of your closest colleagues. Many of the people I work with are in the QCC zone. Boy, I must be getting old 🙂
One of my colleagues, Frank, from Raleigh had a QCC dinner tonight in Austin. I’ve worked with most of the folks there for over 10-20 years, and with Frank for over 15 years. IBM also has a tradition of compiling a book of letters from colleagues that is presented to the person. Each time I write one of those letters it’s always a nice trip down memory lane.
I had a good time. Lots of strories were told, and lots of laughs. Whenever these get togethers break up people always say …. let’s do this again soon. But time flies.
Oh, that reminds me… I said I would host the next happy hour the last time a bunch of the old Boca bunch got together. I better get on it….
A long day of meetings. I spent time at the hospital later in the afternoon. Then Noreen and I drove around and checked out several of the local rehab / acute care facilities… probably the next step after mom gets discharged from the hospital.
Good night!
This is as close as we’ve gotten to rain in a long time. It blew by well south of us.
I was mesmerized by this shape-shifting cloud this evening. I could not get a clear picture of it, though, what with the power lines, trees and roof tops blocking the way.
Even so, pretty awesome.
Look at that – blue sky! The forecast for today is continued rain showers with a slight chance of patches of blue clouds.
I ran out to get a shot during a break in the rain. This is looking west — the Olympic mountain range is hidden behind that low bank of clouds.
Today all my siblings got together for a long visit, and then we went to dinner with mom.
It’s been a while since we’ve all been together, just us. It was nice.
Today is the 1 year anniversary of my starting this blog. To mark the occasion, I made a collage using all 365 of the moments that I’ve posted here.
I can recall taking each one. 🙂
I started this in early March last year, in time to capture the signs of Spring, and into the Summer as things began to warm up and as we spend so much time on the lake… then through the changes in Fall and Winter when we spend more of our time on projects and playing with friends on land. I’ve come full circle, and am looking forward all the moments from the coming year.
Happy Mardi Gras! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lori and to Mary!
Today’s post makes the 365th moment that I have shared with you. This is a shot of one of the geraniums I planted yesterday that I took today during a break between conference calls.
I’m very pleased that I have stuck with this post-a-photo-per-day-for-a-year project. There were some days that I found it difficult to see something worth sharing. But I have to say that most days I looked forward to toting my camera around with me, and was usually pleased to find a moment that was either a photo that I liked or at least made for a nice story to share.
Wow, a year. 365 moments. It goes by fast.
I look forward to keeping my blog going. I don’t know that I will be posting something every day, but I am definitely looking forward to posting more moments worth sharing.
A colleague of mine passed away over the weekend after a fight with cancer. He was only 51.
I can only hope that you all have many more years left on this earth to share with your friends and family. But since we never know when our time will be up, we have to take the time to enjoy and be thankful for each and every day that we get to spend with them. I have done that for a year. And I hope to from here on out…
My blog is featured today on a website called 365: Make Something Everyday and Change Your Life — a bit of a thrill for me, as I near the 1 year anniversary of starting this photo-a-day-for-a-year project (just 1 more week to go).
I’ve really enjoyed this project. Yes, the year has flown by. Like all the others. But, I can honestly say that doing this photoblog has made it just that much more enjoyable and memorable – which will soon become a wish fulfilled.
This is shot of a ceramic gazing ball / garden globe that adorns one of my garden beds. I like how it caught my reflection with the sky as a backdrop. I’m also trying out the color accent setting on my camera.
Sheila365 