10 AM

Day 5 is fairly self-explanatory. It is a sleepy Daly as the lock screen of my phone at 10 AM.

A Stranger

I am a fairly shy person when it comes to strangers. My classic line is, "My parents trained me so well that even 30+ years later, I still don't talk to strangers." I knew getting a picture of a stranger for the February Photo-A-Day challenge was going to be just that, a challenge. These days I spend most of my time at home, at work, or commuting back and forth so running into a stranger is not a common occurrence. Additionally, Day 4 was a Saturday which meant that my main tasks for the day would be church and homework in the evening. Now I usually take the free ride and carpool with my parents for the 50 mile ride to church (I know that seems excessive, but I enjoy getting to see all 3 of my living grandparents each week), but my mom was sick and Dad had been up all night with her. Since I was slated for my first public outing as the new church treasurer--giving the offering call--I couldn't forgo the trip and visit a closer church. But, I digress. Since I know the majority of the church members at least by sight, I couldn't snap a pic there. In the end I decided to go with a shot of the driver in the car behind me as I was about to turn into my neighborhood.

Hands

The inspiration for Day 3's photo was hands. I was thinking of taking a picture of Daly's paws or a close up of Titania's polydactyl pretties,but forgot to do so before leaving for work. In the end I chose to share a picture of my hands as they often are in my cold office--gloved.

Words

Here is my picture for day 2 of the Feb Photo A Day challenge. It is a photo of one of the texts I am reading for school. It is about Strategic-Focused Pastoral Counseling.

A (P)Interesting Thing to Do

A couple of days ago while browsing the wonderful time-suck that is Pinterist, I came across a fun looking Photo-A-Day guide for February. I would have probably forgotten all about it if a friend hadn't emailed me this morning encouraging me to do it with her (and her fans out in radioland). But with her encouragement, I've accepted the challenge. Additionally, since my blog is kind of on the slim side, I've decided to upload my daily photos here for anyone who may stumble upon it. (Of course, that is all based on the assumption that someone other than myself checks out my blog occasionally.) Anyway, Day One is "your view today". I was hoping to get a pic of the Boston skyline that I see everyday on my way in to work, but the soupy fog that lingered during my commute blocked it today. So, instead, I give you a picture from my 3rd floor office office window. I usually keep the blinds closed due to glare on the computer screens, but today I parted them for a few hours. Without further adieu here is my view of the Mass Pike, trees, and one of the other radio stations here on radio row.

Company for Dinner

O'Malley has some stomach issues so it is quite common for me to come home to some new piles of chunky cat vomit (due to her gum disease, she doesn't do a good job chewing her dry food). Today I was trying to figure out why it looked so strange. Upon closer inspection, I saw that a whole family of ants had found a new buffet. Since O'Malley made her mess in the middle of the room the ant trail was quite long. Needless to say, I quickly drove to Rite-Aid and picked up a can of Raid for ants. It was quite satifying to see them die on impact.

The Day is Dying in the West

While my pastor and his family were on vacation I offered to help out facilitating their Sabbath evening Bible study (5p-7p). I was looking forward to it since I've never really lead out in a guided Bible study like this. Unfortunately, none of the members of the study showed up on either of the two weeks that I was supposed to fill in. I found this disappointing. Each week I waited an hour before I decided it was time to head home. But this week I was feeling a bit restless, so I took to the road and went exploring. I'm not usually one to just drive aimlessly around so it was an adventure for me. I ended up following Macon all the way to Fisherville, TN. What a beautiful little drive. It just so happened that the sun was setting as I was heading back. I don't remember the last time I was able to just sit and watch the sunset. In the winter I'm stuck at work and the rest of the time I'm usually too busy with grocery shopping, watching TV, or any other number of activities. It was the upside down cross pattern in the clouds that grabbed my attention. I'm fairly certain it wasn't an airplane trail due to the angles and thickness of the clouds, but even if it was it was a great end to the Sabbath. Luckily I had my camera in my purse. Here are a couple shots for your viewing pleasure.

Spring Has Sprung

The days are getting longer and the roads are lined with blooms. This afternoon when I went to change the church sign I noticed that there were some beautiful pansies and flowering bushes (I'm really bad with flower names) that were begging to be photographed. Too bad my camera batteries are dead. I'll have to fix that tonight. Here is a sampling of what Memphis is showing off these days. They are from the entrance of the Memphis Botanical Gardens. I snapped them as I was running to the airport after setting up for our job fair. Hopefully this Sunday will be nice and I can spend some time soaking in the Vitamin D.

January's Ice Storm

I'm a little late posting these pics. So sue me :)

O'Malley just loves the snow (It's her New England roots). Daly refused to go out.

The ice weighed down this branch. It is usually above the fence.

Just a Little Late

It's hard to believe that I've only been back home for a little over 2 weeks. It was great to visit with family and just chill for a week. We spent a lot of time on the road--driving to Avon to check out the fully restored Enchanted Village at Jordan's (twice), going to the Natick Jordan's to check out Avatar in their IMAX 3-D (and wait in an obnoxiously long line even though we pre-purchased tickets), heading to Stoneham for church both weekends, meeting up in Saugus for Poppy's pizza birthday (he turned 80!) at Leaning Tower, and fighting Route 2 to go to work for a day at the Boston office. And that doesn't factor in the trips out to eat at Mae's and Jon's Pizza, trips to the ABC, and all the other errands life throws at you. Thankfully, my parents did most of the driving so I was able to finish up a couple of books and this little beauty for my friend. Pink and green were her wedding colors so I thought she would appreciate it (and I was right).

Here are some pics of the crew that went to the Enchanted Village. The first trip was with my cousins, Aunt & Uncle and my grandparents. Round two was with my nephews and brother and sister-in-law. We decided that since Santa wasn't using his chair, we could. Also there was a strange art piece on the ceiling of upside down invisible people in white. It was a bit unnerving at times. I of course had to take a shot of the twins one for E&J.

Poppy didn't seem to mind. The polar bears were animatronic as were all of the "people" at the Enchanted Village sets.

They are such good posers.

Still in love after all these years.

Wish It Was a Sunday

Today was a rather low key day. Instead of marking any items off of my "to do" list, I lounged with the girls. I made some nutmeg and cinnamon pancakes (Daly was excited to get a small piece with peanut butter on it) and settled in for a day of DVR watching, knitting and having my lap be a cat bed. As you can see below, Daly was a big helper. I'm about half way done with my ninth scarf--a Christmas present. In the next couple of weeks I hope to learn to make some dish clothes from my friend J.

I Made That

Last month I ventured into the world of stamping and card making. Stamp Club meets once a month and at my first class we made two cards (I can't show pics since they've been sent out already.) Tonight was my second class. We made holiday gift tags. I had fun learning to emboss and even tried a bit of coloring in on the black embossed postal stamp tags. Here's a look at my handiwork.

Making A Difference

Many companies these days are having annual Make A Difference Days. Mine is no exception. In the nine years I've been with the company each market has done their own project. Some of the ones I've done are organizing books for a prison library mail program, cleaning up various parks and zoo gardens, and sorting toys for a local charity. This year we teamed up with the Wolf River Conservancy and worked to clear privet in some of the protected areas around the Walnut Grove Lake area. It was fun and rewarding. (It also was a reminder that I do not like yard work.) Here are some pics from yesterday's MADD.

Beware of Radio employees wielding sharp tools

This is Lovett Lake where my group was working. We had to cross this little bridge to get to the privet.

Privet

Deer tracks from the night before

Vintage

Tonight I'm exhausted. I spent the morning at our annual Make A Difference Day (I'll update on that later, too tired now) and had to rush home after work to shower before heading to the Extreme Faith meeting. After the meeting I taught a woman how to knit and chatted with the Pastor and his wife for about an hour. But since I'm committed to NaBloWriMo I knew I had to write something tonight. So I dug up a couple pictures from earlier this year. This is about the closest my girls get to each other and only on the rarest occasions.

Morocco

Since I've been back from vacation for three weeks now, it's about time for me to update the blog with some of the trip details. I was able to spend 5 days in Casablanca, Morocco with my mother's parents. Nanny & Poppy and I had a wonderful time. The long plane rides (about 11 hours from Boston to Morocco via Paris) were broken up a bit with movies, sleeping, and reading. Needless to say we were a bit cranky when we arrived and were waiting in line to pass through customs.

From Morocco

The innumerable people returning home from their Ramadan pilgrimages to Mecca that morning added to our frustration. After what felt like ages but was probably only two hours, we were met at the airport by our friendly taxi driver and headed to the hotel for some Welcome Tea and a nap.

From Morocco

Thankfully we adjusted fairly quickly to the four hour time difference (5 hours for me) and were able to enjoy all of the sights and sounds Casablanca has to offer for those in their late 70s and their granddaughters. The first day was full of browsing in the Old Medina and bazaar and getting our bearings. We also made plans to visit the Hassan II Mosque (the 3rd largest in the world) the next day (Friday, the Muslim Holy day). What a beautiful place! I wish that we had worked out our timing a bit better so we could've gone inside--it's an open mosque, both women and non-Muslims can tour it--for one of the scheduled tours.

From Morocco

Next we took a taxi across town to the El-Hud lighthouse. It is not a tourist attraction, but it was one of the most peaceful places that I think we went to. Then again, there was so much calm and beauty in the country that the entire trip was peaceful. (The leisurely meals and daily naps didn't hurt either.) I had to take this pic for my lighthouse obsessed mother.

From Morocco

On Sabbath we walked down to the post office to mail some postcards and hung out at the local park. The afternoon was full of people watching and soaking in the sun. I also started to notice the stray cat population. As much as it pained me I held back and only took photos. I didn't want to run the risk of bringing back some Moroccan Cat Sickness to my girls.

From Morocco

Sunday we took the train to Kenita and Rabat. My grandparents used to live just outside of Kenita so it was a nice homecoming for them. A lot had changed, but the downtown streets were still recognizable 58 years later.

From Morocco

We spent most of the day in Kenita and by the time we got to the King's Palace in Rabat it was closed! Thankfully we had one day left and once again boarded the train to Rabat on Monday morning. We were able to walk to the Palace and take some pictures, but since it is a functioning government building we couldn't go in.

From Morocco

The last time my grandparents had been to the Palace the Sultan was receiving his annual payments from the Berber tribes. The Palace at that time was in the middle of the desert. My how times have changed. I didn't even see any sand! We also took some time to see the Unfinished Mosque and the Mausoleum of Mohammad V. Unfortunately, our luck held and the mausoleum was closed in preparation for the King's visit.

From Morocco

All three of us stayed in the same hotel room for the duration of the trip and as was to be expected we had our frustrations with each other.

From Morocco

But all in all we had a wonderful trip. I would go again in an instant!

From Morocco

To check out all of the wonder pics, (if you haven't already done so on my FB page) just click on the this pic to take you to them.

From Morocco