Snow Place Like Home

Kinda soon for another post but I figured "why not?" Alexia spent most of the morning trying to get me out of my funk... I guess she had a few good suggestions: Get outside, take some photos, quit whining LOL. So...I decided to fill the Mazda up with gas and head out into the cold with my wide angle. It was decidedly cold this morning but nothing like the rest of my family is experiencing (from Boston to Presque Isle, ME). Let's take a quick tangential moment to talk about Presque Isle, Maine or more specifically Wade, Maine which about 3% of the population has heard of (I have not statistics to back that up LOL). Mom always said that she wanted a cabin out in the middle of nowhere with a small parcel of land so that she could enjoy nature. Nature Mom? Really? I respect the Sequoias and of course the National forests spread across the US but you live IN A FOREST :D Weather: 12 degrees... FAHRENHEIT and that's during the day!! Tonight is going to be a balmy umm I don't know THIRTEEN BELOW!!! for a RealFeel of -10 LOL. Honestly, there is no place like home and Mom and Jim, your home is no exception. Truth be told, you would have to be crazy NOT to want to live up there... just make sure to have a couple of time shares and a condo somewhere balmy from October through February. Here's the evidence:

Back to my scheduled post though. Driving around Ayden, NC and surrounding area wasn't too eventful although I wished at many points that I had my zoom lens with me. A sparse brushing of snow early this morning left many trees with a stark outline that I rushed to capture. I was a bit too late given that the sun came out at around 11AM and melted most of the snow away. More on the zoom lens though, starlings are out in full force. These little black birds are incredible! They roost and flock in the thousands and are not afraid to fight even turkey vultures in numbers. Carla and I once got some great shots of one of these flocks but sadly I lost those photos. I did happen upon an empty field to drive into and get a couple of photos of which this was my favorite:

I particularly liked this shot because it captured both blue sky and snow... which is not always easy to do. Chances are that if I was caught by the right person on this road that I could have been shot (or worse). Luckily I managed to escape with little more than some mud and a few photos to document the experience. All in all a fairly productive morning in that I got to go outside, take some photos and quit whining.

Our grandma Rosie

Some of my earliest memories are from 184 S. Mauer playing under a lemon tree at grandma's house with Sophie, Adrian and Carla and Annette (if they felt like it). Grandma would sit in her kitchen and smoke all the while keeping a close eye on us through her blinds to ensure that we didn't ruin any of her pristine flower beds- afterall, she new Bear, her German Shepherd was on duty. Eventually she would come out and sit in her metal wicker(esque) lawn chair and feed us all the kool-aid (pronounced koolay) we could drink. After hosing us down and letting us dry like the ever-present laundry in her backyard, we were allowed to sit at her table for lunch strictly if we were dry enough to not leave footprints on her floor. She made us her famous recipes including sopa with conchitas, chicken and ginger soup with tortillas, pork chops or any other number of delectable meals and always with an array of side salad and cucumber or nopales. I have vivid memories of napping on the floor LOL not on the bed lest we ruin the hand paved perfection of her sabanas :) We would all settle in together and sleep in the splendor of the swamp cooler in her back room. Grandma's refrigerator was always full of jicama marinated in salt and lemon or the very popular bowl of freshly seeded pomegranate that was up for grabs (when Carla was done) :). I'll always remember our hike to the grocery store over a seemingly tortuous hill in the blazing California heat but it was ok... once we saw 8-10 market we new we were in the homestretch. We would never stop and sit during our trek over the foothills for fear that the lizards... nah nevermind. Grandma taught us to be tough but also to appreciate the world around us. She taught us to fear God and to thank him everyday for anything and everything. Grandma did her best to prepare us all for her passing (I had 25+ years of warning), however it never makes any of this easier. The smell of magnolia and orange blossoms, canela, and atole will stay with me forever. That is a picture of one day in my childhood with such an amazing woman. She always said that we should not cry when she died- rather that we should smile and thank God for all the time we had together. I miss you Nana, I love you, thank you for everything.

Panchito