Friday, March 16, 2018

Snow Shoes, Seeds and Snow!

 

At first glance, the view from our kitchen window looks like Spring. The snow is sliding off the roof, the temps are warming up....but yesterday we did NOT have snow covered trees, the snow along the road was a lovely muddy brown, and the drives, patio and walks were all shoveled clear. 

It started snowing yesterday morning and continued all day and evening. This is our deck railing. It piled up deeper in the front and sides of the yard. 

Our valiant weather station! 

Yesterday morning there were more bare patches and I was wondering just how wet it will be here when the snow comes down the mountain....today, it's dressed in Winter finery again. 
Even the power lines are pretty dressed in snow

 It is so incredibly beautiful, peaceful, relaxing and serene. I came out on the deck and sent a Marco Polo to my Cousin and to Krista. Then I took some more views and decided to put together a video. Later, I realized I was in my pjs (sweat-shirt over the top), no make-up, hadn't combed my hair - ah well - it's real!

Imagine the boys shoveling, Michael answering questions, snow sliding off the roof - and eventually I'll figure out how to make it all come together in one of the video editing programs. Link to come?  I am going to have to remember to get still shots as well.

Stacia and I worked in the house, finished school and then decided we needed to go out and explore. I have been dying to get the snow shoes on and spring is coming - believe it or not.  (Video to follow of this as well). We thought it would be great fun to take our hot drinks out to Stacia's imagination station in the woods.

There is obviously something I am missing in the technique. I did not glide across the top of the snow. At one point I sunk up to my waist.  Snow pants may be a good plan in the future. When one is DOWN, it is HARD to get back up with those things on your feet. Here, Stacia snaps photos (and video) until I tell her to turn it off and help me up! ::snort::

It is a beautiful walk! 

The walk was much easier when I ditched the snow shoes! 

Tea break - but - um - really - there is nowhere warm to SIT in the woods in winter. We may need to put a bench out here and keep it covered. 

We brushed off the snow and enjoyed some Mommy Daughter time...the warmth in our throats and tummies, battled the numbness of our bums. 


Note the snow falling from the tree on the left of the photo. 

Right onto us...

Standing in the woods, with snow falling off the trees, reminded us of picnics in the park during Cherry Blossom season in Northern Japan. Japan was a tad bit warmer than the snow.  Our home from the back....with Lazy Mountain behind it.

We warmed up and went on with our next project....Yuuki loves to look out these windows! 
Early Moose Warning System
 Stacia and I planted seeds. We need more things to plant in. We also need more space to keep them warm and light....but we are already seeing sprouts.



We ended the night with Life Group. Our Life Group has been rather intimate. Us, Barney and Judie, Stacia, Bre and Josh when he makes it. We had met Barney and Judie at church and gotten to know them in the first Life Group we were in (meets at the church on Wed. Nights). Thursday works well for them and we have LOVED the opportunity to get to know this dear couple. They will be gone a month visiting kids outside....we will miss them.

Videos about the day:
Spring Snow Storm 
Snow Shoe Adventure 
Planting Seeds (still to come)

Immigrants in the Land of Technology

Michael and I are not natives to the Land of Technology. We are fairly adept immigrants. Each time we need to learn something new, it takes TIME.....We've spent numerous hours figuring out our new Photoshop/Lightroom programs.  It would help immigrants like us if there were a PRINTED manual, with an index. We've googled, watched YouTube, randomly clicked....and it takes time....

I just discovered presets today. ::snort::  Editing wasn't MY main reason for looking forward to new software, though it was Michael's. I was hoping to watermark and get better video editing capabilities. 

What's with the watermark? Well, now...I probably shouldn't mention it in polite company, but we've begun to find our photos where we have not placed them. This doesn't OVERLY bother me except for two things...1. My kids/grands - if you want photos of a family on your site; take photos of your own family; 2. Michael may one day set up a shop, he's getting some great photos. Those are showing up on lots of sites as well. Finally, we have been contacted by a couple of bigger name opportunities...a television network and a few websites (which I've declined as I'm busy enough)....but,  I'm thinking there are more seeing our photos and my silly stories than I imagined.  It seems it would be good to have the photos watermarked. This way - it will be harder to pass off our photos as someone else's. 

Ideally we'd put an email address on the photo....but the email addresses from the domain are not connecting with our gmail and so we get none of the mail, thus the life of an immigrant in the Land of Technology.  I'm just putting the blog URL on it for now.  I'm also trying to figure out how small to go so it doesn't distract from the photo, while being big enough that those who KNOW WHO THEY ARE, don't want the photo.

Oh, I know nothing online is ever private or safe. One can easily crop off a watermark - unless I plaster it across the middle -  which isn't ascetically pleasing to me at all. 

Here's the thing - I'm spending every free moment on the blog - but nothing is getting published.  Eventually, I imagine it being as fast as it previously was for me to snap a photo, edit it and blog it. 

I've also been taking more videos and would like to learn to make them nicer. I think LR can do this....the motivation for this is that Movie Maker is freezing on me...even when it works it will no longer link to our YouTube channel and so the MP4 files are way to large and you tube takes hours to upload and squawks at me and tells me to go shorten them.....and frankly.....

I've been asking women's groups "WHEN is the last time you learned something new and WHAT was it?" My answer had to do with chicks....but THIS is what I'm stretching my brain on currently......

This, and seedlings, and chicks, and fence building, and wondering about a tiny house..... now on to finish a blog post OR a video for the day. I dream of being back to my normal blogging routine....I put in an hour tops and publish something nightly....instead of a week of messing with the program and never figuring it out.