Autumn Sunrise

I got off work a little earlier than usual Monday morning, so I sat in my car a few minutes and waited. It was a partly cloudy morning, which generally means a colorful sunrise, and I was not disappointed.

I moved my car to a different part of the parking lot so I could get less obstructed views.

People were coming in and trying to park, so I turned to get back into my truck, and saw the first rays of the sun tip the trees on the hills behind me.

Then the clouds moved all the way in and the sun disappeared again and I went home to bed.

Through Rose-, er, Green-colored Glass

Back again, and feeling so much better than the last time I posted.  I really think I have been under the effects of S.A.D.--Seasonal Affective Disorder.  Despite having been born in the South and remembering November and February as the grayest months of the year, 20 years of life in New Mexico, Land of the 350 days/yr of sunshine, has left me ill-prepared to deal with all the cloudy skies again.

Nothing interested me.  I could sit for hours at the computer and play Farmville, because it didn't take much effort and I could forget everything else.  But movies? No. I've had the same 2 Netflix movies here for about 4 months.  Sewing? No.  I'd walk into the sewing room, and just turn around again and leave. I can't even remember the last time we went out to eat, but it had to be August or September. 5 bins of Christmas decorations still sat in the living room, ready to be packed up and put away in the garage.  It was all I could do to go to work.

I was just about ready to make an appointment with my physician and ask for anti-depressants.  In the meantime, I started back on my routine vitamins, and added 2000 IU of Vitamin D daily. It's only been 7 days since I did that, but I am feeling SO much better. The Physician's Assistant for my gynecologist tested my Vitamin D level in Dec. and they have been trying to get in touch with me to give me prescription-strength Vit D ever since, but we have conflicting schedules, and I just never got around to calling them the pharmacy I use.

Two weekends ago, it was warm and in the upper 40s, and I did some early spring cleaning--opened up some windows and cleaned half the windows in the house.  Took down some curtains to wash, did detailed vacuuming, etc.  (Of course, I might not have done that had I not smoked up the house with stuff that bubbled over in the oven and then burned toast the NEXT morning!) Got the Christmas bins put away and bought flowers at the grocery store to put in a couple of vases in the house.  This was before the Vit. D, and it helped some, but the difference in my energy level and just all-round well-being has been in the last week. 

According to my PA, Vit. D has been determined to be a big influence in boosting our immune systems, fighting some forms of cancer, regulating sleep irregularities, and even has an effect on cardiac  problems and insulin resistance.  As I am obese, diabetic, and a night shift worker, it stands to reason I would be deficient in Vit D. I know Cathi, who lives in Canada, says she takes extra vit D from October to June every year. Makes sense to me!

Okay, so that's your public health service announcement for today. In other news, here's the latest weather around Scrapsville:

This was all yesterday, when we were served another helping of winter snow--almost one year to the day from the last March snowfall.  (And yes, those trees are still down.  With the weather and my sleeping schedule, the guys just haven't been able to get them all up yet)

Tandi was having a grand old time in the loose, powdery stuff.  She came in with huge snowballs plastered to her ears and chest and belly--so much so that I had to plop her in a bathtub of warm water to get them off her, because they just weren't melting fast enough--and she was getting snow all over the carpet and sofa.  Baths are not her favorite thing, but I rewarded her with peanut butter doggy treats I baked yesterday, and she was satisfied.

This morning the sun is out, the sky is blue, and the wind has the chill factor down to 22, though the thermometer says it's 33 degress out there.

Most of these pots sitting on my back deck hold chives, and they were just starting to poke their little green heads through.  Don't know if they'll still be there once the snow melts!

The birds were more than happy to feast at the feeders

but this little guy was using his feet to dig a hole and look for seeds that had fallen below:

To help the spring come along a little more quickly, I put my spring tabletopper on the kitchen table, along with a thick-glassed old green pitcher I bought off eBay a few years back.

I love the way it looks with the sun shining through the glass.

Life is looking pretty good right now.  Amazing what a few vitamins can do.

I may even make it into the sewing room this weekend--and stay awhile!

Here We Go Again....

No, that's not the picture from December.  That's today, as I was leaving to drive to the motel down the road from the hospital.  Just once, I would really like to stay home during a snowstorm instead of go to work.  Just once.  I believe this is my 4th one--third one in less than a year!

We knew it was coming--and it's supposed to be worse than the last one. I left J-Man at home with a 102 degree temp and Tandi for company. He says his temp's gone and he feels much better now, which makes me feel better about leaving him. After all, I don't even work until Sat. and Sun. nights, but with the prediction being 10-14 inches this time, I'm not sure the snow plowing will be done in time. The snow wasn't even supposed to start until this evening, but when I got out of the grocery store at 2:30, it was already snowing AND sticking. And it's supposed to keep snowing until about 6pm tomorrow night.

Thank goodness I had already reserved a room.  I must have seen a dozen employees here already, and the parking lot is filling up. Since I was bringing food, I booked a room with a refrigerator.   There's a microwave, too, and even though it's not working, the one in the little dining room of the motel is. When I went to heat up my Lean Pockets, I heard tales of people who have come because they can't travel any farther.  One gal is here with her husband, 2 children and a bun in the oven. She thought to buy a gallon of milk and had one bottle with her for the baby, and they stopped at a chicken place to get chicken and fixin's--but the servers forgot the chicken part of the dinner.  I offered to bring them some of my food (I brought LOTS), but she said they were fine.  Another gal was getting stuff out of the vending machine to snack on.  It wasn't much, she said, but then she thought about the folks on "Survivor" and those who might be stuck in their cars and said she was fine, too. Perspective.

I'd thought to make it a bit of a party--got snacks, got a scented candle, a couple of paperbacks, even brought a movie, but there's no DVD player in the room. (Was I overdoing it just a little?)  But hearing those few stories reminds me just how serious things can be. I'm hoping we don't lose power at the house. If so, I'll leave and go get J-Man and the dog and bring them back here.  And lots of food for stranded travelers. 

That's looking out my window and up toward the roof.  I can't figure out how to quicken the shutter speed a little so you can see those big fat individual flakes coming from the dark sky, but that's pretty neat, too.

This is what it looks like outside my window right now.

We'll see how it looks later.

BRRRR

It's still lower than freezing here--25degrees with a windchill factor of 14F.  I can't get my truck out of the driveway.  Tried to start her the other day, after slip-sliding across the frozen tundra to get to it.  Poor Rose, she gave a mighty effort, but finally couldn't even turn over.  I'm thinking we may have to call our auto service here in a few days to jump start her. In the meantime, J-Man and I continue to share the SUV--when we're absolutely forced to leave the house.  I have yet to reschedule my missed dental appointment and my missed bone density scan/mammogram.  I am going to have to bite the bullet and get my haircut, though.  Carrie hasn't seen me since before Halloween. Then there's that pesky rule the hospital has about not issuing paychecks unless the staff actually shows up.

The birds are having a turf war at the feeders.  Just watched a possessive male cardinal literally chase a little song sparrow all around the feeder until a tiny Carolina wren scared them both away.  Usually it's at least a half hour after filling the feeders before the birds venture over, but it was less than 10 minutes today.  It's difficult for them to find anything to eat these days. The ground is so hard that I was able to take the yard card down today, but not the stakes holding it or the spotlight or the extension cord stakes.  They are frozen in place.  Maybe next week, when we get that heat wave of 44 degrees they're predicting....

Can you see the snow boulders still lining the streets?  That snow was almost 3 weeks ago!  I know you folks north of the Mason-Dixon Line aren't impressed, but we Southerners are ready for some warmer temps to go with this lovely cloudless sky. 

Guess this little guy will hang around just awhile longer.

After the Snow

Well, the snow surely threw a monkey wrench into all kinds of works this weekend!  I think we got a total of about 10 inches--and it was a wet snow.  There are some pretty sizeable snowpeople around town.  Wal-Mart and the little neighborhood mall  plowed the parking lots, but piled it up in random spots, so cars are parked crazily throughout--and this is NOT the time to be skimping on parking spots.

I shoveled snow for 5 hours on Saturday just to get out of my driveway.  The plow was late getting our street done, so the neighbor's car had to be manipulated to the side of my drive so I could get to work.  I went out Sun morning and brought in my day nurse replacement so I could sleep there at the hospital and work Sun. night, then took my aide home Mon. morning.  Some folks just worked their buns off trying to get in to work--and some didn't bother.  It was an unusually tough weekend at work anyway--only the sickest of the sick were there--and the scant amount of personnel really made the workload heavy.  When I left to come home Mon. morning I warned everyone the phone would go unanswered if they tried to call!

DD got about 2 feet at her place and she was homebound from Fri. evening to this morning.  She stopped by the grocery store on the way home to stock up and said the Blockbusters in town were all empty--there had been a run on folks stocking up for the weekend.  Here's a photo of her car after it quit snowing:

That black spot is her driver's side view mirror!

And here's one of her parking lot and neighborhood townhomes:

Looks like a Christmas card, doesn't it?

Now I would have loved to be homebound for 4 days with plenty of food and movies and snow on the ground and nowhere to have to be, but she was having major cabin fever.  The HOA plowed her parking lot, but the street to the main road didn't get plowed until yesterday.  We were afraid she wouldn't get to come home for Christmas, as there is another front coming in on Thurs., but she's leaving this morning.  Hurray!

Just a couple more pictures before I finish getting the house ready.

This is the yard card that goes up every year in front of our house:

See that white glow out in front? That's not a UFO--that's the spotlight that shines on the card.  It's buried.

It occurred to me that with the spotlight and the cords submerged under the snow, we were just asking for an electrical fire, so it's all been turned off for a few days. Mon. evening after I got up, I decided to take a wooden spoon and scoop snow away from the lights and outlets.  Now the top of the snow is all crusty and Tandi can run all over it, but not an overweight adult female.  I lost my balance and fell face forward into a snowbank.

Dignity is my middle name.

BTW, the wooden spoon was no match for crusty snow.  Maybe it'll melt down enough today that I can turn the lights on to welcome DD home, as I'll be at work before she gets here. 

Two more nights and I'm off for the weekend!  Woohoo!

Snow!!

Look what's going on at our house!

It started snowing about sunrise and has been going all day long.  There must be sleet mixed in, because it's not a quiet snow at all.

Our neighbors can't get up the hill to their house, because her tires are bald, so they've backed into our driveway for the time being.  Fortunately, I don't have to work until tomorrow night, because we can't get out of the driveway now. It's usually my lot to have to work when it snows--but I lucked out today! 

There's beef stew in the crockpot and flannel sheets on the bed and the rest of the ornaments to put on the tree and a great recipe for caramel apple cider ready to be tried out and a Christmas movie playing on the TV.  Could it get any cozier?

Actually, there needs to be a quilt here somewhere.....

A Celebration of Sorts

J-Man and I never got to celebrate our anniversary the end of September.  I worked that weekend, and the next one was when he was so weak, just before the hospital admission, and well, you know the rest of that story.

So today we went to The State Theater of North Carolina--the Flat Rock Playhouse--and saw The  Woman in Black.

They did an AWESOME job!  It was a 2-man play within a play, and the two actors played every part.  There was absolutely no doubt as to when they switched characters, and even roles, as the younger man portrayed the older man in his youth.  Sounds confusing, I know, but it was so well acted, we had no trouble following along. 

The story is based on a novel by Susan Hill, and was adapted to the stage by Stephen Mallatratt.   The Fortune Theatre in London where The Woman in Black has been running since 1989 is reported to be haunted by a ghost - a woman in black - who began appearing shortly after a break-in at the Covent Garden theatre. She was witnessed being in the wings by all actors mid-performance, watching in silence.  Isn't that creepy? It's especially creepy if you know the story--but don't google it--that will ruin the storyline for you. Just mark it down as one to see if you ever get the chance.

J-Man mentioned wanting a season ticket to the Flat Rock Playhouse for next year, which I think I might just get him for Christmas. Then, we read in the program that the theater is having a raffle for two free passes for life--at $2.00 a chance.--so we bought 10 chances.  The drawing is Dec. 21, so keep your fingers crossed for us.  What a Christmas present that would be!

Graveyards, Part 2

The same afternoon, I made a trip to another cemetery, that of Mud Creek Baptist Church, a very large, modern church not to far from the tiny Mud Creek Church.  They are as different as night and day, as are their graveyards.  This one was larger, better tended, with most tombstones larger in size and more ornate.
(click on photos to enlarge)

There were unusual shapes and carvings, some very detailed and elaborate:

A memorial stone:

:

I find it interesting that they listed this man's name, but not his wife's name:

Someone admired this woman very much:

 There were whole family plots, some with very sad stories to be read:

This must have been Drake's first wife, but not the mother of his children:

And this may have been another wife, but also not the mother of ALL his children, though maybe one or two of them:

There were a lot of Drakes in this cemetery. Here are a few more:

I love what they said about this Drake lady:

And then I stumbled upon this gravesite:

She was my patient.  It was very startling to come upon her stone--I had no idea she was buried here.  I pass her house almost every day; she always decorated for the seasons and I used to look forward to seeing what she had up next.  Dixie would have had cute autumn decorations on her front porch by this time.  It appears her husband still lives there, but these days the porch stays bare.

(To Be Continued)