Photo Recap

I won't say much...we've been passing along various sicknesses through the family since Christmas Eve eve. My poor husband has had the worst of it; we're finally getting him in to the doctor today (note: getting appointments during flu season is not easy). Then yesterday I started feeling it come on. I'm going to the prime care unit later this afternoon...

Anyway, I did in fact get a new digital camera for Christmas, so I thought I'd share some photos with you. We got a white Christmas here in Georgia--first one in the metro-Atlanta area since 1883.

Oh, and the kittens? Yeah, none of that "punishment" I was hoping for happened. They took over the house immediately, cowing both the adult cats with one spare glance.

First off--this is the painting I did, which I mentioned in my post last week. Everyone was very amused and pleased, which is exactly what I intended. (For the record, I'm the one hugging the cat in the bottom left)

Mack is mourning the loss of the great mountain of presents. 

This is Herbie the Munchkin cat. I rescued him from the shelter where I used to work about a year and a half ago. He's the sweetest boy ever, but our kittens were terrified of him. 

This is Roo, the other adult cat. This is pretty much her typical expression. 

Starting to snow!

Nathan (bro-in-law) and Kozue getting some video of the snow.

Morning after Christmas. We got about an inch and a half? 

 Being the awesome kitty-mom that I am, I harnessed up Mack for a winter wonderland adventure. He loved it and didn't want to come inside, even when he was shivering from the cold. 

And finally I'll leave you with this utterly goofy recording of me narrating the snowfall...

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday time. I heard that only 4 states in the continental US didn't have snow, which is pretty amazing. 

Also hoping that this sickness doesn't come your way... 

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve, and I'll be seeing you on Saturday, my one-year-blogiversary. 

DeSoto Falls Hiking Adventure!

J and I ended up going to DeSoto Falls instead of Panther Creek.
But first we stopped for lunch:

Yup, that's grass on the roof. 

After we lollygagged and ate too much, we headed up the mountain...

"Look, Ma! Water!"

We tried for a together photo, but it ended up blurry. Sadness.

PS: I am standing on a hill. He's actually like 8 inches taller than me. 

Upper falls. 

Oh, brother. Wearing my sunglasses and being cool...

Lower falls. More strenuous hike, but better reward, methinks.

And like the good adventurers we are, the Siblings Bishop dared defy the Forest Rangers...

Oh yes, that's Bishop the Elder leaping back over the ledge from the DANGER AREA.

Here we are, defying the forest rangers and being DANGEROUS:

And some of the views from my dangerous vantage point:

Well worth the danger, I'd say.

And then on the walk back, I spotted this little plant, which was being shy for the focus on my camera:

Trillium

All in all a great day, in which we had sibling bonding time, discussed my WIP, discussed the nature of Southern Gothic literature, listened to Old Crow Medicine Show, and had a rollicking good time. 

Thanks for watching!

And don't forget the Bad Girls Blogfest tomorrow!

(I am a badgirl--I trespassed on a National Forest!) ;-)

Picture This:

Contest Alert! I'm sure you already know about it, but Southern Princess is hosting a mother of a 100+ followers contest. You should definitely go support her. Because it's awesome.

Also, Frankie is having a 400 followers giveaway!  The prize is an awesome fun-pack of Kimberly Derting's The Body Finder paraphenalia! If you enter because of this post, please say so so I can get extra points. :-D

~

Today's post is going to be mostly pictures BECAUSE...something is wrong with my wrist. I'm 3 months out from my TFCC repair surgery, and suddenly two nights ago I started getting excruciating pains at ground zero. Pretty much everything is painful, and I'm talking like 8 on a 1-10 scale. I called my surgeon this morning and the earliest I can get in is next Wednesday, so...these next few days are gonna be rough!

Anyway, because today is a beautiful 73-degree spring awakening, thought I'd share some pretty pictures from my life!

This is my new apartment. That flower bed is going to get all torn up and prettified once my mother in law goes on spring break first week of April. I'm having a kitchen garden + flowers, so it will be made of win.

This is the view from my front porch. Those buildings in the distance are Piedmont College, where my husband works (and his alma mater). That weird pit of nasty brown is dead kudzu.

That, my friends, is the town square. Yes, I walked to take this picture, for all of 50 seconds.

This is my neighborhood.

This is what keeps me company while I do dishes: a heather plant, a schefflera, and a daffodil I just picked. 

Since my kitchen window is at ground level, this is what's right on the other side of the glass. I know they're weeds, but I think they're pretty, so there. 

This is my car. Earlier this morning, I took it through the car wash to get rid of the Florida road-trip grime. It didn't really get the tires very well, so while I was getting gas, I took some paper towels and used that windshield fluid stuff to clean the tires. As I was cleaning the last one, a grizzled, rangy country dude walked by me and either said, "You're looking good, ma'am" or "They're looking good, ma'am." I'm hoping he meant the tires. 

This is my 2nd bookshelf. This shelf is dedicated solely to my pleasure novels. As you can see, each shelf is either double or triple-stacked. I won't show the other shelf, since it's full of my geekiness. ;-) 

Oh yeah! That's is SO me, giving you a big thumbs-up with my poor, hurt hand for looking at all my pictures. Such a beautiful day!