chochiyo_sama

This is my back yard.  The neighbors and the city pile their snow in my back yard.  No idea why.

 



You can see how deep the snow is here....and believe it or not, it snowed MORE since I took these pictures.

    

There is so much snow on the ground that the poor pheasants can't find food.  These crab apple trees are right outside of my classroom window.  One day, one of the kids spotted them and we all rushed to the window to have a look.  I sent one to get Blair and another to get Jay and we took some pictures.  There were three of them up there at one point, but the other one took off into the brush.  They were gobbling up those crab apples like there was no tomorrow.

poor things.
 

Winter has finally arrived. This last week has been godawful cold. But there have been some really pretty days with snow and frosty trees.

The first picture here was the first snow fall of the season.  It was about 7:30 pm, and I had just returned home from seeing the movie Dreamer in Kasson.  The movie was quite sweet, as you would expect from a Disney flick.

The next two pictutes are from a very frosty Sunday.  My nephew Erik wanted me to come pick him up so we could go to see Aeon Flux.   I didn't really want to go to the movie on Sunday, as I had a lot of housework and other stuff to do--but Erik is a ninth grader now.  The days of him wanting to go to the movies with his scraggly old Aunty are most likely limited, so I have to seize every opportunity I can to spend time with him.

These are both pictures at my sister Joni's house.  The first is a picture of her front yard--you can't really tell, but this is a pond with lots of statuary and a really cool path leading out to a little gazebo type place.  In the summer it is gorgeous with tons of flowers.  I promise I will get some pictures of that when the time comes.  The other is a picture of the trees lining their driveway on the way up to the house.  I love the look of snow on pines.

I took these pictures on Saturday while waiting for DeAnn to come and get me.  The first one is my house and my car and the second is the gorgeous Baptist church which is on the corner across the street from my house.  It was FREAKING cold, but very pretty.  We were on our way to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in Kasson for the second time.

The first is the view from the end of my driveway looking East.  The second, looking west.

The theater in Kasson is really quite picturesque.  It is an old theater that has been restored--I love the ticket counter and how it is lit up.  I took these pictures AFTER the movie--it was dark, there was a light snow falling, and the Christmas lights looked lovely.  I was pleased with the way the lights showed up in these pictures.

I have no idea who this little boy is.  He was at the theater dressed up in Kwidditch robes, so I asked him if I could take his picture.  His mom thought that was funny and didn't mind.  Isn't he cute?  In the second picture, he is acting as if he is about to cast a spell. 

This will be it for this post.  The first picture here are Asa and Katie Denton--Asa was in my homeroom before a (excuse the profanity) fucking recruiter convinced him that a GED would be good enough, screwed him out of his last two years of high school, and made him the promise, which I am SURE is a lie, that he will NOT be sent to Iraq.  Katie is his wife--and Molly Renee is their adorable daughter.  They came directly to R.O.C. after they were released from the hospital.  That's the kind of place I work at.  It is not a job.  It is a family.

I feel like little Molly is my grandchild, almost, since Asa is my "son."

He is a darling boy, and Katie is a sweet and delightful girl.  I know the odds are stacked against them, being so young, but, dang it, I HOPE they can beat the odds and be happy.  And I hope that the fucking military doesn't kill off my Asa.  Bastards.