Cute Critters

This is our friend's cat on Easter Sunday.  She is not accustom to a house full of people or a little one running around.  She kept looking for a way out, but also didn't want to miss anything.  She kept coming back over to see what was going on.

Here she came over to me, under the table, as if to say "is that fast little baby still out there looking for me?"  Here's the cute toddler she was looking for:

This is my baby Niece who has very recently mastered toddling quickly.  She does not have any animals at her house, but gets along well with others' pets quite well.  Even my cat, who is kind of antisocial, really likes this little rugrat!

M.E.

Hard work and wonderful color

These are the thousands of tulips planted in the roadway median in front of my building at work.  Our grounds people really deserve a hand for the groupings like this all over the property.  Just fabulous.

The red ones tend to bloom a week before the white ones, so it is difficult to get them all at once.  You can tell we're close to the end of the red ones in the second photo.  I'm happy they have ridden out the storms rather well.  It was a tad windy this morning, which I didn't compensate for quite as much as I should have in these photos.

This is a great way to start and end the day.  Very cheerful!

M.E.

Watery Wednesday

These are straight out of the camera shots I took on the one sunny day we had last week.  This first one is to give you perspective on where the next two come from.  The river is not large, but runs quite fast.

I was standing on a pedestrian bridge across some of the strongest waves in the river.  It was beautiful to see all the colors and reflection of the light.  Also, the design continuously changed.  I tried to catch a couple different moments.

I could have been easily entertained by this magnificent view all afternoon.  More water:

I am tempted to try and use a few of these as a texture or something.  I haven't had time to play around with them at all, but if I have any interesting success, I'll be sure to share them.

M.E.

Barn Charm

I headed north to visit friends and family for Easter on Sunday.  And, like all holiday drives home, I hit a wall of traffic about 7pm.  You see, there is a highway running through the middle of the state that is 3 lanes wide in each direction - except for the small section they haven't finished.  It's only 2 lanes each direction for that stretch.  So, you see where I'm going with this I'm sure.  If you try to fit 3 solid lanes of traffic into 2 itty bitty lanes, you get back up of brake lights for miles.  A parking lot.

So I decided if I was going to be burning that $4 a gallon gas anyway, I should take the scenic route home.  It was a good distance longer, but still a better option, even in the rain. The up side to this unplanned road trip?  Extra barns to photograph...well, when I had a place to pull over and before I lost all the light.

I did add a little texture on this, to mask the rainy day look.  You'll note that is a little bit of theme right now.  I happen to live along that storm front line that seems to keep coming across the US over the last few weeks.  Having read several other blogs today, I know I'm in good company!

I like that you can still see the name and year in the roof shingles - although it has certainly faded over time.  I've actually driven by this place several times before, but somehow missed getting a shot.  I'm happy I had a minute to catch it this time.

M.E.

 More Barn fun:

Happy Easter

I hope you are celebrating life with the ones you love.

M.E.

Outdoor Hearts

Today the rain stopped and the sun was out ALL day!  

So, as soon as I could respectfully flee from the work today, I grabbed my camera and headed for the park.  I wanted to get my "spring" photo for my 4 season project.  Along the way I found some fun natural hearts.

A heart in the bark.

An upside down heart in the fungus.

And a little green one on the trunk...ok, this might be a stretch, but it still counts!

Clytie and friends have more hearts at Random Hearts.

I do have more park photos and water photos for over the next week.  One thing about rain for weeks on end, great rushing rivers!  Also, when I get finished editing the 4 seasons photos I will post them all together.

M.E.

Go Tribe Go!

The Cleveland Indians are 12-4 to start the season.  Wahoo!

I was born and raised an Indians fan. Back in the day when people understood the sport namesake was intended to be a sign of heritage for the area, not slight to a group of people.  Back when the municipal stadium on the edge of the lake held 80,000 people - and there was always a good seat left for a last minute drive down for the game. 

That stadium has since been replaced with a new home for the football team and a separate one for the baseball team.  First it was Jacob's Field.  A shiny new park, with beautiful views, great seats, easy access and parking, and during the 90's some really good winning seasons.

 

Here's a day when the sun was bursting all over and the wind downtown wasn't the main factor of the day.  I love the rainbow streaks on the left of the sign in this photo.  I have no idea how I caught them, I imagine it was lack of skill with the (then new) digital camera. I was shooting far too much into the light and it was glare on the lens.

Personally, I like to think of it as a direct line to heaven.

(Now the field has been renamed Progressive Field.)

Funny Story:  In college a few friends and I went to Savannah, Georgia for spring break.  It was sunny and warm, and heavenly after the long Ohio winter.  One day while in a mall sports shop, we noticed a large display of baseball apparel.  Always on the lookout for good Tribe wear (because real fans wear it no matter how the season has been going), we tried on some winter coats.  The native of Savannah asked why on earth they would put baseball emblems on winter clothing.  We just laughed and said "so you've never been to Cleveland on opening day, have you?"  Yes, it snows on opening day some years and if we are blessed enough to make it deeper into post season, you're going to need those woolens under your pants/shirts to ride out the 9 innings after dark.  Cleveland gets a bad rap sometimes, but Indians fans are as true as you'll ever find.

Happy Baseball season!

Book Review - 2011 Book Challenge

Hello again!  I am behind on posting my book challenge reviews, so I thought I would get to one tonight.  This time I chose the book through Zeitgeist LibraryThing (Number 9 on the challenge list).  This is a site where top books or most reviewed books are listed.  Also, keep in mind that I chose it from a list about 6 weeks ago, so it may be elsewhere on the list now.

I chose The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger.  This also came out a a movie.  I usually choose to read the book or watch the movie, but not both.  I have found in the past that I am disappointed in some way if I see both versions.  Since I never made it to the theater in time to check it out, I was happy to see it on the reviewed list.

This book is 536 pages long and occasionally felt that way.  The story begins with a man (Henry) who travels back and forth through time, against his will, and seemingly without direction or purpose.  The second main character of the book begins the story as a young girl (Clare), and follows her through her adolescence and into adult years.  The two characters meet at the girl's childhood home and interact there on and off through her teens.  She progresses through time sequentially, sometimes having a unique teenage experience.  However, he comes back into her life at various ages and stages.

One of the strengths of this book is that the author breaks down the sections by date and age of Henry and Clare.  The entire book would fail without this clarification.  In fact, it becomes a component of the story itself.  I thought it would be confusing, with Henry constantly changing age or location, but she really makes it work.  The author also tries, maybe a bit too hard, to involve Henry in many of Clare's formative years' events.  I understand she is trying to lay a foundation for things to come, but it does go on a bit.  Once you are into the meat of the book, other characters are introduced, some which are important to the story and some which I felt were tangents that got in the way.

All in all, the concept of time travel was incorporated in a creative way.  Especially when you consider only one of the main characters travels.  I felt the story has a dark undertone, but that could be just my interpretation.  I read this book in stages, mostly due to time constraints in my life.  I think that it helped me absorb each portion, but not lose the flow of the story.  I did not love the ending of the book, but the author does give the reader a little hope of another story with some of the characters continuing on the time travel lifestyle.

(Image courtesy of Amazon)

To find other reviews of books by LibraryThing, head to the #9 Challenge link up here.

Happy Reading, 

M.E.