Inspired by the Olympics

The winter weather has been lingering on.  So what is a person to do? Well, I have been watching the Olympics this past week and they are pretty inspiring.  Say,  I still have my old cross country skis in the attic.  Could I still possibly use them?  I hate to say that the last time I used them was in my mid 20's, but hey, why not give it a shot.  I waxed them up and headed to Illinois Beach State Park.  The first time on them was not too pretty.  I probably didn't wax my skis quite right and I spent more time on the ground than skiing.  And my gear is pretty old and so the rubber lock releases broke off as did the pole baskets.  The next day at work I was pretty sore, some serious muscle strain.   I came home and watched a few videos on You Tube on how to wax skis and how to ski correctly.  I went out today and things were a bit better.  I had a goal of going around one trail at Illinois Beach and I made it.  Senior Olympics here I come!  Ha! 

Extreme Window Frost

What is there to do on a cold winter afternoon?  I did something I haven't done in years.  Took pictures of window frost.  The last time I did it was when I used a film camera.  All of our downstairs windows have been replaced since that time and so there is no window frost.  We do still have some older windows upstairs.  With the cold weather we have had this winter I was able to think again about doing some shots.  And now digital is great as you can see immediate  results and make changes as needed to get the picture.  Lenses have also improved.  I have a 1:1 close-up lens.  I used some of my older close-up filters with this to get an even closer look and it was pretty easy.

 

Winter Sports

At this time of year many people are in watching the Superbowl playoffs.  I prefer to do some outdoor sports.  And what better thing to do than to go photograph the American Bald Eagles at Lock and Dam 14.

Winter Walk through the Ravine

After a snowfall last week I took a walk through the ravine a block from our house.  I found some beautiful things to take pictures of.  It just shows that you don't have to travel to distant places to get nice photographs.  A local place can be great too.  Just get out and take advantage of various weather conditions in the different seasons.

Christmas Ornaments

 


It seems there is an unlimited variety of Christmas ornaments.  It is fun to try to uniquely capture some of them and then do a little creative work in Photoshop.
 

The Big Hill

I hate to divulge my age, but I have to say that I haven't been sledding in over 40 some years.  I remember a park near our house where I grew up that we would go sledding as kids.  I also remember going to my Grandma's house in Portage, WI for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  There was a very steep hill from the hospital that all of us cousins would tote the toboggan up and take a ride down.  That was some trip!  And a bit dangerous as it was a city street we went down crossing several streets as we went.

Where we live now there is a park across the ravine with a nice hill.  The kids like to go sledding there especially when we have a bit of snow like this year.  The ravine is a nice place to take Sebastian for a walk.  In winter, not too many people take the trail through the woods and so I can let him loose.  He loves to run through the snow.  Last week, I took him down the hill to the ravine and we walked west to the end of the trail and out the ravine. We then headed around the block and walked on the other side of the ravine going east until we reached the park and the snow hill.  It was empty this day, no kids in sight.  On the top of the hill to the right was an orange plastic sled in pieces.  On the left side of the hill was a black sled.  Hmmm....I wondered what was wrong with it that it was left here.  It looked fine.  I looked down the hill and around and could not see anyone who  the sled could belong to.  An urge came over me and I got on the sled and with Sebastian in tow we went down the hill.  It was quite fun.  I decided it needed a second try and so I toted the sled up the hill and this time I let Sebastian loose and went down the hill with him running behind me.  I decided it was worth one more ride and so I went up again for a third ride down the hill.  Then it was time to finish our walk through this end of the ravine and head for home.  Another adventurous and memory jogging day.

The Last Peaches



Ever since I was a toddler I loved peaches.  It started when at the end of each summer my parents would purchase a bushel of Michigan peaches and can them.  They were so good!  I would ask my mom for "peachies."  The problem came when the home supply ran out in the middle of winter.  My parents went to the store and bought some canned peaches for me.  I refused to eat them.  They didn't taste like the good home canned ones.

As time went on, my dad started a garden and had success with many things.  I remember fresh strawberry shortcake and fresh raspberries and blackberries.  We even had a peach tree.  As a teenager I learned to can and to make homemade raspberry and blackraspberry jam.  Yum!

When I was in college, my parents built a house farther out of town on a few acres of land.  My dad had plenty of space for fruit trees.  He experimented with different kinds of apple and pear trees.  Some were good and some not so good.  And there were a couple of peach trees! 

When my dad became sick a few years ago, he couldn't care for the trees any longer.  The trees don't get sprayed in the spring and so the apples and pears are a bit wormy.  There is just one peach tree left.  This year it was loaded with peaches.  They are small, but they are still good.  I took them home and canned some of them and also made peach jam.  As I was doing so, it came back to me how my dad told me how to skin the peaches, how to make the syrup and the correct way to put them in the jars.  And I remembered how I asked my mom for "peachies." 

My parents are now both gone and we will soon be selling their house, so this will be the last of the peaches with many fond memories.