Christmas 2010 :)

Oh what a year it has been!

Three Year Wedding Anniversary!

Okay, I know this is really belated.  My three year wedding anniversary was in August! 
But I wanted to post my anniversary bouquets up.  Better late than never!

The one with the beautiful exotic flowers was from Robert and the beautiful basket full of happy yellow roses, daisies, lilies, alstroemerias and so on was from Robert's parents.  Pictures last a lot longer so I'll always have them to remember these by :)

Winterizational

Chickadee in my backyard! 


We got a lot of snow in Buffalo in the past week.  Too much!  We ventured out to Reinstein and couldn't get very far as we didn't have any snow-shoes.  Robert's a tall guy and the snow was up to his knees in some spots.  Reinstein has snow-shoes for rent for $2/pair but it was closed :( 

Oh, and yesterday it snowed a lot at my house and when I came home from school I was surprised to see a freshly snow-blowed driveway.  My neighbors are really nice :)

School is nearly over for winter break.  Next week is finals week!  It's uncanny how fast the semester is approaching an end... it seems like yesterday was the first day of school....  where has the time gone?  But I feel pretty confident that I'll do well as I've been doing well all semester long :) :) :)  Either way, I will buckle down and spend some quality time at the library.

Just wanted to post some updates for y'all out there... whoever's reading this...  anybody?

Penn Dixie Paleontological Site

I dragged Robert to the Penn Dixie Fossil Site this past weekend and he was kind enough to humor me :)  I've had this urge to find some fossils for a while but never pursued it.  When I was in 8th grade my Earth Science teacher took us on a field trip to collect fossils but I only vaguely remembered it.  I did remember that I had fun and that I found some neat specimens.

This trip/location was much different than I remembered... I'm still not 100% sure it was the same spot from over 10 years ago but it was neat.  Fossils were everywhere!  You can literally look down and see hundreds of preserved little things from millions of years ago... just lying there.  I think it's really amazing... life on Earth.

I am determined to find some decent trilobites so I will definitely go again. 









Digging for fossils is hard work!

The Moon

Robert borrowed the telescope from his brother again to check out some space junk. It was a cloudy night but the moon was visible between clouds. I took this photo with my Casio point and shoot by pointing it into the telescope lens and voila. It could be better.. definitely not NASA quality but I like it :)

I'm looking forward to more telescope time. I'd like to see some things on a clear night :)

My Study Buddy

Jack likes to make sure that I do my homework ;)

Wildlife Festival

Robert and I went to the Wildlife Festival last weekend at the Niagara Power Project's Power Vista, located in Lewiston, NY.  There were several wildlife rehab/rescue organizations showcasing the various animals currently in their care and discussing interesting facts about them.  I'm a big fan of these types of festivals because I love being around animals and learning more about them.  The highlight of the event was a falconry demonstration with a Harris Hawk and a hybrid Fiji Peregrine falcon.  Robert and I had a fun time! 

Some of the organizations were Hawk Creek Wildlife Center, Inc., (where Robert volunteers!), Nickel City Reptiles & Exotics, A.W.A.R.E. Wildlife Rehabilitation, and The Primate Sanctuary, among others.











"And please be careful that the eagle does not go for your jugular."  Haha made this one up but it looks like that's what the man is saying. 

What I Saw

When my husband and I can't think of anything to do we always have the option of visiting some nature preserves around the area.  I think they're fantastic and the WNY area has quite an abundance of nature preserves.  I think we'll visit each and every one this year.  Though they don't have as much wildlife as I'd like, when we do see something we get really excited about it.  When it comes to nature, I just can't take anything for granted. 

A couple of weeks ago we visited Reinstein Woods again (for the 3rd time this year, I think!) and saw and heard a few interesting things.

Happy Spring!

Just a coupla lil things...

First, I took some more photos of the powerlines and used the advice I got from fellow flickr-ites...

Some people suggested I try to minimize the foreground, as they thought it was too distracting. So I tried that.. but I didn't like the landscape wide angle as much as I liked the vertical.

There's something missing, though, and I think it's the lack of clouds.  And it also looks a little lopsided, but it may be the diagonals in the foreground playing tricks on me.  And I think the sky is a little too dark...  I didn't want to do too much contrast on it because all the white areas would get blown to smitherines, but I think if I work on it some more, I could still be better.  I guess I have more work to do!  ::sigh:: 

Anyway, the second thing is that I ordered some FREE Moo Cards.  They have this promotion going on for 10 Free business cards.  You don't even have to pay for shipping.  So no credit card information required.  Pretty cool.  The only downfall is that you get stuck with their logo on your cards, but that's okay.  For $5, I think, you can have them remove the logo but it sort of defeats the whole purpose of "Free". 

And what's cool is that you can choose 10 different designs for your cards.  I chose to have 10 of my Flickr photos featured on my cards.  The funny things is that I'm in no position to actually have business cards as I have no business to promote, but I'm anxious to see what they're going to be like!  I just liked the idea of "free business cards"!  Who wouldn't?!!

But for anyone in the market for some business cards, Moo Cards may be something to check out to see if you like it or not.  I'll write a review about them when I get them! 

Wintery

It's been so cold lately... Yes, yes, I know it's winter.

I took this photo on one of my many late afternoon walks with Robert and Charlie.  I brought my camera along for the walk since I haven't taken any new photos in a while. 

I miss the three best seasons (spring, summer, fall) so much....  *sigh*... Winters are really tough sometimes.  I just feel so achy, tired and unmotivated during the winter months.  I realize that being in the house so much should actually give me more time to do things I love to do indoors, but it doesn't always work like that.  I'm the kind of person that feels inspired by sunshine, by chirping birds, by blooming flowers...  So when all the flowers die and all the birds fly south for the winter and when most days aren't so sunny, it's really hard for me to feel inspired. 

And though winter has its own beauty, which I have seen and admire tremendously, there are some days - like today.. that it's just tiring and moody old winter that seeps deep down in my soul and makes me feel sad, tired, cold and worn out.  The worst part is that winter stays so long...  

Alas, I will stop my whining!