More and more snow

Being as I am not a big fan of cold and snow, I don't usually go outside when and if I'm around the white stuff. However, I couldn't resist going out during the storm Tuesday, and I walked around the block a number of times during the morning and afternoon. I took this shot at the corner of Fourth and Union in London.

Edited around 9 am Saturday: I do like this photo next to the one of us in Antigua. . . .such parallel worlds! ;-)

Snowbound

I apologize, everyone, for not having posted for a week. One of my cousins passed away last week, and we went to Cleveland, Ohio for his memorial service.

We stayed in London, Ohio for a couple of days and enjoyed 10-12 inches of snow that fell between Tuesday and Wednesday. I took this photo of the the back of our house in London on Wednesday after the snow finally stopped. For about 15 minutes, we actually saw a little sun and blue skies. It didn't last. When the clouds moved back in, the snow started again, finally stopping around 5 PM.

We stay in the apartment that is on the right side of the house when we're there.

Ball Jars

Does anyone can anymore? Seriously. . . .

Hay, Baby!

While many of the cows are eating the bales of hay, others are dropping calves and then resting with them on the "leftovers" in order to keep warm. The little black lump in front of the mom is a newly-born calf.

The afternoon I took this photo, two of the cows had calves. There are a bunch of babies out in the back right now.

Hay, Girls!

The farmer who owns the pasture behind our house has put a bunch of bales of hay in the field lately, and the "girls" are quick to chomp down on the goods. When I went out to take a few photos today, a lot were chewing intently on the goods, although a few others were using the hay for something completely different. Tomorrow, I'll show you another use for the hay bales.

FREEDOM!!

It took a lot of blood, sweat
& tears to get where we are
today, but we have just begun.
Today we begin in earnest the
work of making sure the world
we leave our children is just a
little bit better than the one
we inhabit today.
~ Barack Obama

You may have noticed the Countdown to Freedom that has adorned my blog for about a year. It has been counting down to today, Inauguration Day. In the spirit of the day, I will hold my tongue and not write anything disparaging about the past eight years. I am so overwhelmed with the enormity of Obama's inauguration that I am basically speechless with excitement, pride and happiness.

We have a long road to travel to get this country on the right track, again. I think we are heading in the right direction, and I think Mr. Obama and the men and women he has chosen to work with him are the right people to guide us down that path. Let us hope that the men and women in the House and Senate can forget their partisan differences and work together and with the administration. And, mostly, let's all work together so that we can leave our children a better world.

Skyward Silo

This is a large grain silo on a dairy/soy bean farm.

ONE DAY and counting. . . . . . . .

Crape Myrtle in Winter

These lovely, dry blossoms adorn crape myrtles in the winter.

TWO DAYS and counting. . . . . .

Readings

Each evening during our 10-day residency, we attend readings by visiting writers and faculty members. Karen McElmurray, who is a nonfiction mentor at Murray State, read from her newest novel, Motel of the Stars. Karen is on the faculty of Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Georgia.

McElmurray's second novel, Motel of the Stars is the story of Jason Sanderson and Lori Llewellyn, the father and lover of Sam Sanderson, who was killed 10 years earlier during a military training exercise, and their coming to terms with Sam's death. Set in Kentucky and North Carolina, Motel of the Stars takes place in 1997 around the 10th anniversary of the Harmonic Convergence, a world-wide, mystic event marked by the aligning of the planets.

I loved the book. As I said in my review (which you can read by clicking here), there are so many layers in this book, and they all combine to make one fabulous read.

In the spirit of fair disclosure, I do want to point out that Karen in my mentor in the nonfiction program. That being said, it had no influence on whether I liked the book or not.

THREE DAYS . . . . . . . .

Two Guys

Steve Vest (L) and Roger Stanley (R) are the two guys in the nonfiction section of our MFA program. Roger, who teaches at Union University in Jackson, is in his final semester while Steve, publisher/editor of Kentucky Monthly magazine, is in his first. (Note that Roger has a wonderful Fidalgo Bay coffee in hand.) When we are in "workshop," we sit in a semi-circle so that we can see each other.

FOUR DAYS and counting. . . . .