A Brand New Year: Part 2 – Fair warning, a change is coming

January 2, 2011 – For me, this is the last holiday day. Tomorrow is “Get to work” for 2011. I’m happy to do that. I anticipated doing more during the 2 week holiday period, work-wise, but I “hit the wall” right before Christmas and for the most part did not much :)!

I thought a lot, though!

One of the things I’ve been rolling around is what to do about this blog.

I thought about stopping. I thought about starting over with a new name and idea. I thought about just doing photos…but I enjoy writing sometimes… I’ve been back and forth and up and down.

A recurring theme in my thinking is if I continue, how to continue and just “live my life”. This may not make sense unless you blog also but for me, living alone and choosing to be mostly alone, there is often a blog post running through my head about everything/anything I’m doing. I want to get rid of that. I want to live my life and share bits of it, share things I see via photos, share Bob and Karl…Oh…I’m doing that, but how to change how it feels to me???

The current blog format and the past history of the format steer me into a “what do I share today” mentality. New Year’s Day, it came to me that I’d like to be able to share bits and pieces of my day as well as essays or photos. And I’d like to be able to sort through all of that in a different way. And, although I don’t want to turn into a cooking blog by any means, cooking is something I enjoy very much AND it is a fun challenge to photograph food. I have been thinking about a “What’s cooking” side blog….what to do, what to do???

I had a picture in my head of how a new “From the Front Porch” might look. I doodled on a legal pad and quickly put together a layout of what I thought I wanted. I thought I’d have to code it myself but decided to look at themes…lo and behold my thoughts of layout are not that original…what I want to do is apparently called a magazine layout and there are customizable themes.

So…finally getting to the point if you’ve stuck with me this far…I bought several magazine themes and will be trying them out – LIVE!!!

I have a test domain and I was going to fiddle around there, but now we come back to “TIME” – that thing that none of us can make more of. And, it is not like I make a living with this blog – it is a hobby :)!

Sometime this week, I am going to throw caution to the wind and change the theme and the WordPress version all in one fell swoop. And things may look wonky and confused. Links may not work. One day this blog may look one way and the next, YIKES!!! As I have time, I’ll post and tinker and one day it may be what I envision.

Fair warning, a change is coming :)!

New Year Alpenglow

I was winding down last evening at all of 4:30 p.m. New Year’s Eve fireworks kept Bob, Karl and I on edge until after 1 a.m. and the short night was catching up on all of us.

But as I was puttering in the kitchen I noticed the glow to the east.

The alpenglow light through the woods is other-worldly when it appears. A band of blazing pink-orange light typically causes me to do a short dance of stutter steps as I waver between getting the camera or just running out to see. The color can be so fleeting. Running to see the alpenglow has been part of my winter afternoon walks long before I was so regularly taking photographs. And while I love capturing what color I can, there are times when I just want to stand and watch.

But last night was clear, the light was strong and my camera was near.

First night of the new year…

New Year Alpenglow!

A Brand New Year

The first day of 2011.

I don’t typically make New Year’s resolutions. At any time through the year, if something in my life is causing me to fret or robbing me of serenity or time! – I try to look at it and determine if it is something that I can do differently. And I might even make a list of things to change or write something that triggers awareness in a post or in my quote journal or on the spreadsheet I use daily to track my work time. Writing it, helps me focus and be aware of when I’m doing the thing I’d like to not do or do differently.

Recently I came on a translation of a Vietnamese saying which I paraphrased slightly and added a 2nd line to suit me:

Exhale the negativity within you which hinders the Spirit.

Put on the armor of Light.

This is as close to making a New Year’s resolution(s) as I get. It is more mantra. When I find myself sinking into anger, fear or worry – I think EXHALE – and imagine all of whatever leaving me to be replaced by the Love and Light of God. Works for me every time :)!

It is a brand new year – 2011. I’m starting it in Light and Love.

Photo from blog post: October 23: Bros in the Sunshine

Winter walk by the Ice House

There WAS snow from the blizzard – just 7 miles to the west in Somers, on the trail by the ice house. It was hard to tell how much had fallen as a good bit of the snow was blown here and there.

It was late afternoon and the sun was making a valiant effort now and again.

Along with the new signage on the trail, there is a kind fellow with a 4 wheeler keeping the trail plowed.

At 17F, with a brisk breeze, and the sun dropping behind the mountains to the west, it started feeling decidedly cold as we turned back toward Somers.

To the east, the mountain tops were in the clear against a cold wintry sky as Karl and I took a Winter walk by the Ice House.

No Snow Zone

So, Yesterday we were to have a blizzard. All signs pointed to storm as the pressure dropped for the forecast low. Heavy snow, wind, blowing and drifting snow was forecast followed by cold temperatures…arctic cold wind chill.

The wind did come up and the temperature dropped, but not so much as to discourage Bob.

Bob made his normal morning rounds.

You’ll notice there is no new snow and it is not snowing.

It did not snow all day long.

I kept looking at the NOAA forecast expecting them to write of some delay in the storm or that it went south of here. Finally, late afternoon as it kept referring to blowing and drifting snow, I decided to drive down the hill and see what was up.

My house, a bit to the north and just south of Bigfork were in some “eye of the storm” anomaly. It was obviously snowing heavily everywhere else. I went to Bigfork to speak to people and found out that conditions were indeed bad everywhere but in our little “eye”.

It never did snow at my house. Last evening, it got cold, the wind was high in the pines, but no snow. And now it is over. No snow for anywhere here in the current forecast. Huh.

Big fun

Karl and I took yet another trip to Whitefish yesterday. I picked up a glucometer to monitor Bob’s blood sugar at home. No one had to endure any idignities unless you count me, shelling out yet more cash to the veterinary hospital.

A Winter Storm warning has been given for tonight through tomorrow night with 6-12 inches of snow and a bit of wind forecast. Yesterday was THE day to get out and about so we did.

This open space – a completely different walk from our home loop and woods or the lake walk or even the walk by Whitefish. There are a couple of miles in 2 large loops on this land adjacent to a sports complex just north of Kalispell.

The walk path is obscured by blowing and drifting snow but there were remnants and no one else around. The sun was shining, the temperature was 30F and the wind, while brisk, felt good. Several times Karl broke into his “chase me, chase you” game with me and as we circled back to the car his tongue was hanging out and I had shed hat, gloves and unzipped my coat.

Then, pay dirt – literally! Under some lumpy snow, Karl found grass clippings. Karl LOVES grass clippings – the more decomposed, the better.

He dug them up, tossed mouthfulls in the air…

and rolled in them…Big fun!

I know that first photo makes it look like we are away from all things city, but the truth is, we are behind Costco and across the road from a Wal-Mart :)!

And, oh…took these photos with my phone…my almost 2 year old Blackberry Pearl Flip phone…