The weather cleared, so we took a walk on the rail trail today.

These are at and around the new construction on Beechurst. (Here’s a shot from last April.)

Looking up an unfinished elevator shaft.(I thought these pictures would turn out much worse–I basically held my camera out in the dark and took several pictures blindly.

Unfinished stairwell

Someone had dirty paws after their stroll.

Perhaps, in the spirit of things, I’ll do this all over again tomorrow.

Shadow

Brown

Ground

(this one is kinda pushing it, but I really liked how it looked as I was walking towards the stadium)

Red

New (they’re laying or repairing or doing something with this flexible pipe)

This is all I got for celebration. And it totally isn’t. But it made me happy, so that’s what you get.

Happy Groundhog Day. Yeah, you’re right. Whatever.

shadow
ground
brown
red
new
celebration

I’d love to add “groundhog” to the list but 1) that’s totally unfair and 2) I really only see the flat road-kill ones.

The last three are for the Lunar New Year. Better late than never, right?

We also walked around campus Sunday afternoon. As I said, it was a gorgeous day.

I spent 12 years, from age 5 to 17 going to school.

Every school I attended has closed. Two of the buildings (St. Francis Elementary and St. Francis High School) were razed to the ground, one (Second Ward Elementary) was turned into an apartment complex (Disturbing: Having someone offer you alcohol while you’re standing in what was your first grade class room), one (Second Ward Annex) was being used for storage (last I checked, anyway, but that was several years ago), and this one–Central Elementary–was abandoned.

These pictures are for Paige and Justine, but I can’t see them truly thanking me for them.

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As I mentioned yesterday, it was a lovely day for a stroll. In fact, I saw a LOT of people out with DSLRs. It was kinda weird. But I guess we were all drawn to the gorgeous light.

These were taken around downtown. I have two other sets, both of which need processed: one of campus and… another set.

If it wasn’t obvious earlier, I love windows, and I love it even more when the light is such that they act as mirrors.

Police station on Spruce street.

Warehouse on University Avenue.

Alley off High Street

Building off High Street

High Street. (I know this picture is nothing special, but it’s always fun to stand in the middle of the street.)

Couple more pictures if you click through to Flickr.

Today was cold, but gorgeous, so I got some lovely pictures today, thanks to Michael dragging my butt out of the house.

green plant(s)
red
yellow
ice
resolution

These are some mighty delusional bulbs–they’re most likely in for a nasty surprise ANY DAY NOW.

Yup. Bricks are red. I also really like that door.

This is far less yellow than it used to be. This is the church where my brother’s boy scout troop met, so I spent a lot of time staring at this and other similar signs.

I was actually surprised to find any ice, but this is a place that gets almost no sun in the winter.

This was taken on my walk home Friday. Poor statue.

Yeah, I know I’ve been slacking. But the weather has made me want to do nothing more than curl up with a book (or–to be brutally honest–a mindless computer game).

So here’s hoping for nicer weather for the next couple days, so make me (and perhaps you) feel like actually playing a game that doesn’t involve one’s butt firmly planted in a chair.

This week’s items to find:

green plant(s)
red
yellow
ice
resolution

Of course it’s all gone now, but there was some very pretty snow along the river while we were at Pittsburgh.

OK. I know. Not snow. But still fascinating.

One of the other things we did in Pittsburgh was take the Duquesne Incline.

What, you may ask is the Incline?

Well, it’s the Incline. It’s goes up. And it goes down.

It was built in 1877.

And from the station at the top, is a gorgeous view.

(this view was taken going back down the incline–the skies were a little prettier.)

That’s right, we were in Pittsburgh, home of Mister Rogers.

I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. But it was an apt descriptor.

Yesterday, we awoke to an ice covered world, which meant we did not go visit see my niece. But I did get a couple interesting shots of the icy world in which we were ensconced.

Yeah, I’ve been really lousy about this, but in my defense, not only have I been busy, but the weather has been consistently grey and lousy. It’s worked to encourage me to curl up with books rather than take pictures.

I have lots of toys on my desk. Things that give my hands and fingers something to do while my brain processes whatever information I’m currently working on. But–like cats and toddlers–one of my favorite “toys” are these twist-ties.

They’re smooth, and wrap nicely around my fingers, so I frequently end up with one wrapped around each fingertip on my left hand.

They make a lovely tapping sound when I drum my fingers.

(Taken with Samsung Epic 4G phone)

Jules was visiting my parents this weekend, so I got to spend a couple hours with her.

I love being an auntie.

I love this picture of Jules and her Grandpop.

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My ankle has been bothering me for the past couple months, probably because of the amount of rain we’ve had.

So I did the obvious thing: bought myself two new pairs of boots!

Here’s the first–the second pair won’t arrive until next week.

This holiday also had a trip to VA, where my all of my cousins were in for Christmas. At the instigation of Ben, we made the Lithuanian cookie Krusties (pronounced, at least by my family, christies)

The recipe is fairly simple:

Krusties
1/2 tsp baking powder
6 whole eggs
6 egg yolks
2 sticks butter
6 cups flour
1 shot whiskey/rum
pinch cardamom

1 large can crisco, for frying

Mix together all the ingredients in a mixer. Wrap in waxed paper or place in a plastic bag, and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to make, heat solid fat (Crisco or lard) in large frying pan. You’ll need an inch or two of hot oil.

You’ll also want to line most of your work areas with newspaper, or used wrapping paper, or anything else that absorbs oil and sugar, and makes clean up easier.

Find aprons for everyone–this can get messy! We rolled out our batches of dough on floured waxed paper.

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I had a nice Christmas, especially since I was unexpectedly able to spend part of it with Jules.

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Yeah, that’s right, you just get things that stuck my fancy.

Skies. Tree. Snowman.

Trees. Light. Snow.

Icy snow.

Birds. Lots and lots of birds.

Since only Jeri and I posted pictures from last week’s hunt (and mine were the very last minute), this week’s hunt is the same as last week’s.

elephant
rainbow
paper
insect
angles

That’s right, our first decent snowfall.

Finally!

I bet you thought I’d forgotten, but I didn’t.

I was just busy. Yeah, that’s what I was.

This gets almost all of ‘em! Elephant, Rainbow, Paper, Angles

More elephants and rainbows!

A rainbow of mugs! And look! Some more elephants!

Rainbow whisk and colorful spatulas (and a hidden elephant).

Paper! Rainbow of book covers! Angles!

Insect and crayons (a Pirate rainbow of colors)

Because the alternate route from Cincinnati to Morgantown goes through Parkersburg, here are a couple pictures of Jules!

Lesson of the Day: You don’t eat clementines the way you eat apples.

And that birthday party?

Totally fun.

We had a stealth trip to Cincinnati this weekend, for a surprise 40th birthday party for my friend Andrew.

There are a couple things that are mandatory during Cincinnati trips. The first is Graeter’s ice cream:

The second is a trip to Jungle Jim’s, where we find many strange and wonderful things:

As a bonus, we found this tableau in our hotel drawer.

I also gave my point-and-shoot to Andrew’s daughter for awhile, so you can also browse what happens when you give your camera to a five year-old.