Catching Up

Pardon the blog break.  I've been busy job hunting (no news to report yet despite many interviews and positive feedback, unfortunately); putting together a combined journal/photo album for my trip to Great Britain this past summer; and trying to change over from iPhoto to Lightroom, as I outgrew the capacity of iPhoto.  In the process, we discovered that my main computer had been hacked.  It still isn't fixed and I've lost access for the time being to my main photo library.  Thankfully, it is backed up and once we figure out how to rid it of the "bot" that worked it's way in, I'll be able to recover all of it, but until then, I'm sticking with the old "clean" laptop, which has none of my newer photos on it.

From my study, I have a lovely view of the Aspen trees over one of the birdfeeders and it is a prime spot to photograph some of the visiting birds from!  The Chickadees (in the top photo) are my favorites.  So dainty the way they grab a seed, take it up to the branch to sit and eat.  Their feathers are so soft and furry looking!  The Red Breasted Nuthatches are busy little birds, coming in, grabbing a seed fast as they can and usually flying off with it.  I was lucky to catch this fellow sitting on the branch with his seed!  With that black band across the eyes, they look like little bandits!

I've had a little time to do some watercolors and sketches.

This is my front walk, early one morning just after the sun came up.  Now the snow is mostly gone.  How glad I am to see the days getting longer!  It won't be long and spring will be upon us, but for now, I suspect we'll have to be patient and wait for winter to have it's full run, even though Puxatawny Phil has predicted an early spring!