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My new laptop, thanks to Noam, is a wonder of small form and weight for little $. I just got the webcam working by finally figuring out that I had to press a keyboard toggle. Fun with photobooth.

Cheerio- kind of

Rose managed to get a piece of cereal (an organic version of Cheerios) into her mouth. This video, however, features the many attempts made between successes.

Aren't we sick of this ice?

Leaving school, I saw the sun illuminating some icicles.

Full Day

It snowed again today.


Rose showed off her poses while trying to navigate her first chimney.

Rachel (mom) and Allie(baby only a few days different in age from Rose) visited today. Yay for play and talking.

I went to class and, though the clock said time was blazing by, it did not do so.


We made rice paste paper that we will be turning into books.

High Dynamic Range

My images are not uploading right now. I spent the evening taking pictures with varying shutter speeds and then feeding the resulting images into the HDR creator in Photoshop. I got some neat pictures and a much better understanding of what I might do to improve. Hopefully I'll add more photos later when Blogger doesn't spit them back out at me.

Edit: Two of the house images used to create the picture above.

Go Cautiously

On the way home from watching the Superbowl at Noam's, the lights at Mass Ave and Rindge were telling folks to go, but slowly. At first I thought they would change to just flashing yellow, but they were stuck in green with flashing yellow. Drivers were a bit perplexed--especially the ones who were faced with a stuck red.

Leaf buds

As promised, here are some blurry leaf bud photos. Spring really will come at some point. I took these images as the morning sun was just making it around the corner of the house and lighting up a few branches with that early morning glow.

Hitting the Links

I have a picture for today, but I am just too tired to upload it right now. Tomorrow.

In the mean time, here is a link to one of the more funny Sesame Street episodes I have seen. I forgot where I saw this originally, but I rarely see the show. I think I was at a hotel flipping through the channels, but when I saw Ben Stiller, I had to watch.

Rose has a new favorite toy--a wooden rhinoceros. It is made by a pretty cool toy company called Hape as part of their Animalz collection.

Weights, colors, and more ice!

Today, I went on a walk to do some errands. Rose in the stroller, we navigated our way around the local businesses. Ice is still everywhere, and especially with all the melt run-off and night time freezing, it is quite slick out there. I do love the patterns and forms that ice makes. Endless varieties.
This is our driveway. Snow melts and runs into the sidewalk and any shoveled area we have created. We now have a two inch thick pad of ice slowly moving its way down our property. It is the Freedman-Riles glacier!
I know many of my recent posts have been about ice and snow. Winter here is quite intense. However, today I noticed the leaf buds swelling on some trees. Well, I didn't see the swelling happen, but they are bigger than they were before. Spring will happen. I can't wait to see the first shoots of crocuses poke through soil and any remaining snow to paint the dull landscape with fresh bursts of color.
I visited a local Goodwill today to check out baby clothes. I love how they organized the woman's section by color. It is a palette in fabric.
Today, Rose hung out with me in her bathroom as I filled the humidifier tanks. We have a weight to keep the door open when the windows are open (not for a while has that happened!). Rose decided to pump some iron.

I'm Melting!

The cap of snow and ice that has formed on the roof of my car has been subjected to the same freezing and thawing of that on the ground. Delicate fingers of ice reach out from the massive mounds of snow. Along roadsides, the directional spray of passing cars carve seemingly sharp claws of ice, all pointed the same direction and colored a dirty gray.

Where in the World?

I have been playing with google maps. Here is a link to the one I was building. So far, I just have locations I have lived. Anyone with more precise info, please let me know. This is the street view of the house I bought in St. Louis. The address in the bar is incorrect, though. The furniture on the porch means that this was taken after I moved out. When I bought the house, the bushes in front were wild. I got them back into shape after much work. I miss the beautiful tree on the lawn. It was some kind of maple that turned the most gorgeous colors in fall.

Duck, Duck, Goose??

In front of the library across the street from our house, I found this goose happily pecking up the berries that had fallen from the trees that line the front of the elementary school. Proof that feathers are good insulators!

Patterns

This is a game I got for Reena early on. Her office has lots of toys for students and adults to fiddle with. Love ebay!

Mobility bring new experiences

The mobility provided by crawling and standing up when holding on to furniture has provided Rose with many new opportunities to experience the world. Today, while visiting JD and Julianne, Rose experienced Titus, and Titus experience Rose. While he remained just out of reach, he seemed to seek the attention as he never just vanished from the room. Rose pursued him with chortles of glee.

Expansion Joint

Time for Walkies

Today I walked with Rose to Harvard Square. It has been a while since I have done this. Travel to Australia, illness, and massive snowfalls have all contributed to less walking time. Cambridge finally opened the Walden Street bridge that they have been working on for years. It is great for driving over the train tracks. The girders you see behind the bridge are for the pedestrian walkway that stayed open during construction.
Million Year Picnic. Love the place. I have been reading comics since college where I helped run the Haverford College Comic book collection. Today I get my books from MYP in Harvard Square. Great store, great atmosphere.


On the way out, I was enchanted by the little lights in the trees in Harvard Square (Brattle Square, actually) This shot was taken with a long exposure with the camera resting on the baby carriage.
At the bottom of the street where we live, there were some massive snowballs that had been rolled on the tennis courts. Two kids were tying to add to them, but the weight was a little too much. You'd need a forklift to get these stacked for a larger-than-life snowman.

Masks and Time

Today we varnished the plaster casts we made from the plaster molds of our faces. Next week, we will start building paper mache masks on top of these casts. The students are excited to get to the part of the project that actually involves making a mask that will go on their face.
I stayed after school to work with my new student teacher, Craig. He is a career changer and so has seen a bit of life--more than me--and it feels good to work with someone who has his act together. I am really enjoying having him in the class and am excited to see how he uses this time. In staying late, I saw a beautiful sunset as I left the building.

Ice Ice Baby!

Inauguration

We watched the inauguration.


Rose played beat a rhythm while Aretha sang.
The sun came out after days of gray and snow. The branches of the trees seemed to glow.

work work work

Lots of snow, some warmth, dripping water, fluid stalactites.

Lots of work to do. Been doing it all weekend. Writing student reports on the heels of writing secondary applications. Carpal tunnel is experiencing rush hour traffic.