Recap My Life 2010

I know I'm late in posting this, but so what...this is my blog. This is a list of my favorite/interesting/intriguing things I came across in 2010.

Books:
1. Trilogy: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson
2. Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

Music:
1. Moyenne
2. Sade, Soldier of Love
3. Erykah Badu
Honorable Mention: Kings of Leon - they continue to rock my uvula.


Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure:
1. Jersey Shore
2. Bridezillas
3. America's Next Top Model
Honorable Mention: Real World Road Rules: Gulag

Colors:
1. Orange...I can never get enough of you.
2. Olive...What can I say, you're loyal.
3. Blue...We used to be so close; glad you're making a come back.
Honorable Mention: White...sometimes good, sometimes meh.

Drink:
1. Chardonnay...you sexy bitch.
2. Water...we were doing much better together earlier in the year. What gives?

Foods:
1. Red onion...sauteed or raw, it's just not the same without you.
2. Dill...you scramble my eggs.
3. Leek...We need to get together more often.
Honorable mention: Fish...I just keep forgetting about you.

Movies:
1. See #1 in Books. All three! Swedish versions rock!
2. Harry Potter #6...Different, but tasty.
3. Avatar...AKA Pocahantas In Space.
Honorable mention: See #1 Movie.

TV Shows:
1. Sons of Anarchy
2. Luther...I hope Idris Elba stays away from any more stupid Hollywood/Perry movies.
3. True Blood
Honorable Mention: Community

Wish List:
1. iPad
2. Nook
3. Kindle Update: My daughter gave me this for my birthday. She's a keeper.
I don't care if they are all the same. I want them.


Triumphs:
1. Found a house closer to campus for a really good deal.
2. Craig's List

Losses:
1. This has been the year of me saying so long to people who considered me their friend, while they were never my friend. Over and out.
2. Akron Meditation Group. I miss you.

Falling back in love with going to work.

Footprint trails of my babies who have already left for school. The snow is deep and needs shoveling. These prints make me smile.Their shoe sizes make me scowl.

I like this picture of the black squirrel running down the tree. This is a view of my backyard. These squirrels (tree rats) are amazing gymnasts. I can imagine one hell of an Olympic gymnastics contest between squirrels and chimpanzees.

This is the view down my driveway. I’m afraid to know what those drops are about. I think it’s antifreeze from my daughter’s car.  Rather than shovel, I think I’m okay with smushing the snow down with my truck tires.  Hmm, just had to add smushing to my  dictionary. I think it should have already been there.

Here’s a nice view of my street. It’s a nice quiet side street. As far as I can tell, there is only one vacant house on the block; every other house is occupied primarily by older couples with no children, or younger couples with toddlers. There are two other black families on my street, but I’ve only met one person. He is twenty-something and drives the neighborhood ice cream truck in the summertime.

I don’t know anything about photography, but I do enjoy taking pictures, though mostly still life. I do remember some photo techniques from my grade school art teacher, Sr. Geraldine. It was something about thirds. Anyway, I just want to play at it for a while before I crack open a book about it. The siding on my house has faded horribly in the sun, resulting in a gross shade of brown, hence the sepia. There is much I hate about this house architecturally speaking. My deepest hatred  is for the oddly sized shutters and the scalloping hanging from the useless triangle. You can’t really tell here, but the icicles on either side of the house are massive.  They look very Ice Age-y. This is not a good thing. Nevertheless, I really like this photo.

So back to the walking. I like the pattern of tire tracks here. People going this way and that; evidence of the busyness of life.

Even though it says ‘St’, I use ‘Drive’. Why? Because I think Valleyview Drive has a nicer ring to it.

They don’t call my town ‘Tree City’ for nothing.

Tree City Residents use many of transportation. It would have been nice to have someone walking in this shot. As I was walking a biker rode across the street. I put up my camera, but he crossed before I could get the shot. Fortunately, a second biker happened along right on time!

Today probably wasn’t the best day to wear liquid eye liner. But I’m glad that was the only thing running down my face. I like the blurriness of the scarf in contrast to the un-blurriness of my head. I love the colors in that scarf! What's the photography term for un-blurriness? No, I don't mean focus!

Morning traffic. There isn’t much to this photo, except for the plume of smoke in the background.  I also wanted to get a shot of the snow falling to the ground. I love snow fall. I hate snow landing.

Ha ha! See how I cleverly edited the name of the institution? If I had time, I’d get rid of the stop signs.

One thing I rarely ever do when I’m on campus is sit outside. I don’t know why. There are a lot of attractive spaces to have lunch, read a book or have a friendly chat. With someone else, not by yourself. Or is that implied? I like the esiness of this photo.

I’m not a bird watcher. In fact, I sort of hate them. I hate them because they scare me. But I do like to look at them. I’m a bird looker. 

Almost there. The tall building is the library; twelve stories. I’m uphill and I think that’s why it looks short. I love the dis-proportionality here.

And we've reached the end of our scenic morning stroll to the office. Now it is time to make the donuts! Thanks for walking with me!

Living All Alone - Phyllis Hyman ( 1986 )