Cross-country hijinks

I haven't posted for a while. Been busy with other things.

These pictures are from about a week ago. My husband and I dusted off the cross-country skis. I'm a little rusty - especially if there's a hill. But at least nobody can tell if I fell or not, right?:

I figure with a few more practices, I'll be ready for the Nordic Combined:

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you snow, go play!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! My husband left this for me to find on a hike through a snowy park:

The name of the park is Gorge Metro Park in Akron, OH. It's in a river gorge, so there are plenty of interesting rock formations. The snow adds to the interest:

And there are some frozen little streams here and there:

Here's a snowy scroll (or a wig):

And as a parting shot, I'll throw in this picture, can you find the heart? Mother Nature left this one for hikers to find:

The Secret of Roan Inish

If you have never encountered this movie before, I would highly recommend it. It tells a beautiful tale about family and the pull of love - and there are many kinds of love, not just romance, although you'll find that there, too.

If you're the kind to sit by a fire telling an listening to tales, then this movie is a must. Roger Ebert writes about it here, and really gets to the crux of the film's meaning. Here are two quotes from his piece:

"The secret of John Sayles' "The Secret of Roan Inish" is that it tells of this young girl with perfect seriousness. This is not a children's movie, not a fantasy, not cute, not fanciful. It is the exhilarating account of the way Fiona rediscovers her family's history and reclaims their island. If by any chance you do not believe in Selkies, please at least keep an open mind, because in this film Selkies exist in the real world, just like you and me."


"One can easily guess how this legend could have been simplified and jollied up in other hands - how it could have been about cute little Selkies. But legends are, after all, told by adults, not children, and usually they record something essential to the culture that produces them. What this legend says, I think, is that the people who tell it live on the land but live from the sea, so that their loyalties are forever divided."

Don't know what a selkie is? Watch this movie and wonder no more.

We own a VHS version of the movie. I'll have to upgrade to a DVD version. It's available from my library, and lord knows that I make use of my library so much that my library card is smoking, but this is one of those things that I want to have for my very own.

The soundtrack is also very nice, sometimes while listening to it I want to get up and dance a jig.

So find this gem at your library, or rental store, or purchase it. If you have a fanciful mind, you won't be disappointed.

What we woke up to this morning

We got about a foot of snow overnight. The wind piled up some drifts that were deeper:

Snowy walks are the best:

When the snow stopped early this morning the clouds started to disappear, and now we have a rare blue sky and sun:

Ceiling Cat - the muse

To ensure that I have a muse to inspire my writing, my daughter has put ceiling cat above my workplace:

She found the ceiling cat papercraft here.

This is the original ceiling cat, from lolcats, not to be confused with basement cat, his nemesis:

There are lots of things to distract me from my writing:

Hopefully ceiling cat will keep me on track.