Bird Watching in the Snow

Another low key day here, I am enjoying some alone time. I wrote to a bunch of State delegates, senators and the governor this morning for my boss, that was fun. Later on I drove up to the 'Burg to meet an artist to touch base on a project we are working on, only she didn't show. Silly me, driving all that way to be stood up. I made it back in time for band practice at church. There were two guys on guitar, a guy on drums, and me playing the keys. The leader and I have voices that really work well together, so it's fun to harmonize with him.

I sent some freshly dyed skirts, cami's and scarves through the wash, I ironed them when I got home this evening and I'm pleased with how they turned out. I'm curled up watching some Olympic figure skaters. The costumes interest me sometimes as much as anything. It sure is a sequin and sparkle kind of sport. I am loving the feathers on the hands of the one contestant.

I have some more costumes to get finished up before the photo shoots later this week. I need to find a few more models also. I was delighted to hear that a local paper has expressed interest in a an article on my "The Art of a Woman" That should be fun. (Photos from earlier in this week when I was bird watching in the snow.)

Home Alone

Finally, and ready for some peace and quiet. So once I got home from work I curled up on the sofa to watch the snow fall and the birds eating birdseed from the planter I set out. It was a peaceful afternoon, and good for the soul.

Take some time to recharge your batteries, or eat some birdseed... whichever comes naturally.
Grace,
-Carmen Rose

Oops! Watch out for that... Snow!

They've got most of the trucks pulled out by now, but here were a few of the "oops's that we saw on the way up the interstate due to the snow. On the last storm we saw a truck that just leaned right over on the bank, it looked perfect except for the fact that it was resting on only half it's tires. I heard that there were parts of the interstate shut down while military vehicles came in to pull the trucks up the hill so that the snow plows could clear the road, so that traffic could move again. One truck got part way up the hill and jack-knifed. Oops!

The second whammy that we got this week didn't bring us much snow, but the wind has joined the party and now we are having significant drifting. DH is just home from driving snow plow, was out at least 16 hours today.
Well, this one isn't a stuck truck but kinda cool that I was able to catch a shot of that helichopper! Aren't the mountains pretty when they are dressed up with snow?!

Wishing you the beauty of a winter snow (without the hazards)
-Carmen Rose

More SNOW

Good morning sunshine! I love what snow and sunshine do when they get together!

Especially when there are cool shadows!

They brought out the heavy equipment to get some of the snow moved.

And we started looking for our autos under the snow.

Yeah, there's one!

As soon as I could break my car free I went for a little drive. I had a really bad case of cabin fever being home alone for far too long. So I took a little drive around the neighborhood and this end of town. It was good to get out.

We spent the evening with my parents. It was good to hug my Dad and remind him that I love him. The super bowl was on and I was working at designing the makeup for the various costumes I'm working on. It was fun.

I'm a little behind on blogging, but really... how many photos of snow can one really tolerate? It's a bit like having chocolate cake for every meal for days on end. I don't care how much you love chocolate cake, at some point it's just going to get old. I adore snow! And I'm sitting by the doors to the upper deck watching it snow now. But we've been hit with some pretty big storms this year and I'm getting ready for Spring.

How about you?
-Carmen Rose

It Came, It Dumped... And So We Dig

It started early Friday morning and snowed until late Saturday. I think it stopped at about twenty inches.

I've spent most of this blizzard stuck home alone and getting cabin fever really bad. My days have consisted of bundling up, going outside to shovel, grabbing some firewood, coming inside to feed the fire and unbundle and try to thaw a bit... and then repeat. My day was very redundant and I've pretty much had enough of this now.

Saturday morning my Mom was cutting my Dad's hair and he lost consciousness and landed face first on the kitchen floor. The neighborhood hadn't been plowed but the ambulance was able to get there and finally to the hospital, though it took some doin with the crazy weather. He came around and they ran lots of tests. His ticker is fine and all the rest of the big scary stuff came back clean. He has exceptionally low blood pressure, so when he doesn't get his coffee it's not a good thing. So he'd only had one cup by noon and he's usually had three by that point. Plus he was hungry, so maybe his blood sugar hit a slump or something. Combine that with an ultra stressful job and spending the morning digging out the heat pump so that it didn't ice over and die... and... well... we're really glad that he's home and ok.

I was home alone and the 4x4 was gone. Normally, I would have jumped in the car to run up there (I live 40 minutes from them) but they'd closed 81 and the plow trucks were on loops just trying to keep up with the snow that was continually dumping on the main roads. I really would have liked to have been there for my Mom. My brother who lives close by them kept me updated and that was really helpful. Little I could do but watch and pray. Well... besides shovel snow, bring in firewood, feed the fire, etc. I am glad he is home and feeling better.

I've got a real sensitivity to caffeine, last time I had a glass of full test iced tea (which was entirely accidental, I assure you!) I had chest pains and little bouts of tachycardia for two days. If I had three cups of coffee by noon I'd be one crazy mess. When I can finally get out of my snow induced confinement, I suppose I'll go see my dad and take him some good coffee. I'm really grateful that it turned so well considering, and that he is ok. I love my Dad!

Surprise Suprise!

I was told we'd get an inch of snow overnight... no big deal. However, we're up to eight inches and it's really COLD! It's beautiful though, no doubt about that. Maybe we'll get to see some sunshine tomorrow to set it all off in blinding snowy sparkling splendor! I'd like that. I've had the itch to make a snow angel all winter and just never did. I wondered if I'd remember how and I wasn't crazy about the idea of getting all cold. But I threw some layers on and went out and planted myself and played in the powder fine stuff just long enough to make an angel and then get back inside by the fire. A photo and a change of clothing later and here she is with grass on her skirt. 

I'll sign off the way my friend Deb does:
Light and Laughter,
-Carmen Rose

Ice

Oh No! The deck is weeping!

We had a little ice storm, thankfully the roads didn't really seem to get bad but there was a coating of ice on everything else. It didn't last long.

And tomorrow - rain.
And I wish it was snow because snow is just SO beautiful! But winter isn't over yet, maybe we'll get some snow yet.

Happy Creating!
-Carmen Rose

Merry Christmas!

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!  

~Hamilton Wright Mabie

Merry Christmas 

With love from Studio B

Snowstorm 2009 at Studio B

I just LOVE watching it snow! Nothing quite like it!

“When Christmas bells are swinging above the fields of snow, we hear sweet voices ringing from lands of long ago, and etched on vacant places are half-forgotten faces of friends we used to cherish, and loves we used to know.” Ella Wheeler Wilcox

View from Studio B after the '09 Snowstorm

Snow at Studio B with Border Collies

You can always tell when I hold the camera with my left hand because of my tremor, but the rest of the time I didn't do too bad for a freezing cold work observer.

Snow and more Snow!

This morning we opened the doors to a snowy wonderland and let the girls out, and they plunged head first into surprisingly deep snow.  Here they are just before they get really confused border collie looks on their faces.  They did finally forge a pathway out into wonderland, wish I had video of that!

Then Misde discovered that the squirrels were out, so she went out to check on them, (She's the speck in the distance btwn hemlock and porch post) Hope watched from the lower porch.  Hubby got to uncover the firewood for the wood stove as well, there is no better heat this time of year!

There was a rather large drift on the upper deck, it was a little confusing for Hope...

But then hubby set about removing the snow so that we could all go out and have a look around...

 

Maybe even a trip down the snowy stairs to see what can be seen... except for a border collie the snow was rather daunting at that depth.

In different places we got different measurements... this was one of the deeper spots.

The street side of the house was a sea of beautiful whiteness!  I can say that because I didn't have to shovel any of that!

It took a while, but hubby found the sidewalk and the steps going up to the street!

He moved lots of snow to get to the van!  (The tile for my new kitchen floor is in that van, waiting to be transformed into a real visual treat for our home - just add hard labor and a bottle of advil and it will be beautiful!!)  It can just stay out there in the van a little longer!!

He's showing me that all that can be seen of my Honda Civic is the tip of the CB antenna and the mirror!  We didn't even uncover them, it's not done snowing!  (At least I hope not)  I don't remember a snow like this in Virginia, certainly not since we returned in 2000.

And while he was shoveling all that snow, I was digging out my textile studio near the wood stove.  (Ask me which one of us had the better deal?!)  All the fabric is sorted, folded and stowed away where it goes!!  It's beautifully organized, it is SO FUN when order reigns supreme in my studio.  I've even done inventory (NO PURPLE - O NO!) to see what colors I need to dye up next.  I've even got the dye mixed on the kitchen counter and the fabric is soaking.  Maybe tomorrow I'll don the gloves and get dying.  Everything is canceled, even church - and they say they don't close in "inclement" weather.  I guess this was a little beyond "inclement."

I cleaned up the last of the glaze and packed up my glass studio for the season.  That's the last of that art media for the year and it seems unlikely that I'll even get back into it before spring comes.  It's time for winter weather arts - fabric, quilts and home renovation projects! 

We hooked a projector up to the laptop and hung a queen size sheet over the fireplace and watched a couple movies today.  Everything is now QUEEN size!  LOL!  I have a two week Netflix free trial and so I'm giving it a go again and enjoying it so far.  A perfect activity for a snow day!  A loaf of bread to make the house smell wonderful and a fire in the wood stove.  Tell me... does it get much better than this?  Actually - yes because there are yards and yards of fresh fabrics and fresh dyes just waiting for me.  So clearly it really does get better than this!

Happy creating, stay in out of the cold and say a prayer for those who don't have it as good as we do in our snug homes with internet connections.

Grace,
-Carmen Rose

Blue Winter Wonder

 Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.
 

~Bill Morgan, Jr. 

Dressed up Landscape

Years ago I lived in a house on a mountain ridge with windows the length of the bed facing east.  We had rented a home on a 300 acre horse ranch and I loved that place.  The view stretched on for mile after mile of mountain ridges.  I loved that place more than any place I've ever lived, it was remote and very beautiful.  Each morning I woke to the same scene in a different mood and I fell deeply in love with the moods of the mountains, the vivid clear days and the days when the fog had settled into the valley.  Thunder storms were vivid and intense and there were times I felt completely enveloped in the overwhelming experience of a real storm in all it's severe beauty.  I LOVED that!  Every atmospheric change brought a new look to the landscape and I was repeatedly awed by the experience of living in that amazing place.

I started the habit of photographing the scene from the front porch to document some of that experience.  I do the same thing these days from my back deck.

I LOVE living in a place where looking out the windows is a pleasure.  There isn't anything I can create as an artist that is anywhere as cool as snow, a sunrise, a rainbow or a thunder storm.  Creator God is the best artist of all.  

I also love snow.  In case you hadn't noticed.  Thanks for dropping by, happy creating!
-Carmen Rose

It takes a village

"Winter is an etching, Spring is a watercolor,
Summer an oil painting

& Autumn a mosaic of them all."
-Stanley Horowitz

My hubby commented on how much I like photographing my work on the back deck banister. 

 

Tis true, my deck is one of my favorite parts of Studio B

So when I woke up this morning and looked out the window and saw SNOW!

And had just been talking with a friend about snow people...

well... I HAD to make a snow person!

 And I couldn't stop at just one...

These two like each other.

And it's STILL SNOWING!!!

Squeeeeee............

I LOVE SNOW!

Thanks for dropping by, may your day be filled with wonder!
-Carmen Rose

The View from Studio B

When we bought this house we had no real idea of how beautiful the views from the back deck would become once all the trees lost their leaves. The leaves drifted off in the wind and I started to see slivers of blue distant mountains. And there isn’t anything I love more than the mountains of Virginia. We’ve lived other places, nothing compares. And even though we are in the city limits, this house is tucked away in a spot that makes us feel like we’re almost the only ones around. (Watch out for those golf balls though!) And I love it!
Here’s a little sliver of winter from not so long ago

And yesterday morning I looked out to find a dusting of snow on the ground, that’s Virginia in April for ya.

I realized that I often photograph the sunrises but there are other times of the day that are really beautiful here as well. Yesterday evening for example.

There is a tree in there with blooms on it, not sure what it is. So here is a close up, can you identify it?

I love this place.