Goodbye 2008

I thought a clock would be an appropriate photo to end 2008, this one stands outside the Pullman Library. Have a wonderful end to 2008!

I apologize to my blog readers for the lack of photos these past few days. I have had a very ill friend (ruptured appendix) and intermittent internet services. I will be adding the missing photos as I can and future posts should appear as scheduled. Thanks for your patience with me.

French Administration

The administration building at WSU was built in 1968 and named after it's 6th President, C. Clement French who served the University from 1952 until 1966. The building houses the Cashiers Office and the Board of Regents among other interests and is a very cool building. I will have a few more photos to share of this building in January.

Martin Stadium

Martin Stadium was built in 1892 and is home to the Pac-10 Washington State University Cougars and is currently undergoing a series of much needed renovations. Phase III was set to begin this coming month, but has been put on hold due to our nations flailing economy. Hopefully they will receive the necessary funding to complete the planned projects. You can view more information at the link above which includes the history of the stadium.

Cougar Pride

This bronze statue was dedicated this past November just before the Apple Cup and stands before the entrance to Martin Stadium, WSU's football field. The cougar has long been the mascot of Wazzu and in fact, 6 live cougars named Butch stood as mascots for the team from 1927 until 1978 when Butch the 6th passed away. It is nice to see 'Butch' once again standing proud for his team.

Mc fast food

I saw these signs in the window of McDonalds in Pullman, and thought the effect was interesting with the reflection. I don't really care much for McNuggets, but the iced coffee has become one of my favorites. In the new year, I will be limiting these to an occasional treat!

Werewolf moon

I am not too great with the night photos yet, but the effect on this one looks pretty cool. This was taken during our last full moon.

Snowy ridge

Merry Christmas! We had a good day and I hope yours was equally as nice. We got another 4 or so inches of snow yesterday and early this morning, but we went out anyway to deliver gifts and have a meal with friends. This photo was taken on the way home and is the 6th Street ridge of homes.

Steeple

This LDS church steeple looked pretty in the late afternoon light. The LDS church is on the corner of Mountain View and Joseph in the East part of town. We had some errands that took us right by and shortly after it began snowing again. Bye bye sunshine!

Home away from home

A photo of my two favorite stores, Joanns and Michaels. Today my boys wanted to do their Christmas shopping, so I braved the mall and helped them with their selections. The Palouse Empire Mall is a small, one level shopping area with several larger anchor stores. Today it was busy with holiday shoppers doing their last minute gift buying despite the snow falling and the mess that our roads were in.

Edna's Bench

A poem from Edna St Vincent Millay is carved into this bench at the University of Idaho Arboretum. This one sits near the entrance on Vandal Drive and is one of many benches throughout the park.

Holly and berries

Every year we add a few new ornaments to our collection...from handmade ones the kids do at school, craft projects here at home as a family, or special occasion ones that we have been given or collected over the years. This one is a new one this year and from the most unlikely of places, the Dollar Tree. I was surprised to find nicer hand painted glass ornaments there this year and bought several different ones...this one with the holly and berries is one of my favorites.

Winter tree

I love it when the trees are like white skeletons against the sky. Today the air was crisp and very cold, when the wind would blow, the snow in the air would sparkle in the sun like glitter. It was beautiful.

Feast for the birds

This morning, the birds were all over the crab apple tree across the street, eating the remaining fruit. The neighbors don't harvest this tree, so I will usually get what I can reach and along with the apples from my own yard, will make applesauce to can for the winter. As you can see, there is quite a bit that I cannot reach, but these birds sure had a feast! I don't know what kind they are, but today was a day for bird watching and I have a photo of different birds on my Favorite Photos blog today as well.

Watchful Santa

This Santa was part of the festivities at a recent party. Young and old alike waited in line for a chance to talk to the jolly old elf. Everyone received a gift and candy and promises of a Merry Christmas.

Cold transportation

Some adventurous child rode their bike to school today...probably not realizing that by the time school lets out, there is another 2-3 inches predicted to be on the ground...as evidenced by the forgotten helmet lying there. I hope he (or she) is dressed warmly for the ride home! Brrrrrrrr!

Frostbitten Trees

There has been very little cloud cover today, so it has been VERY cold here...colder than normal with temps going down below 0°. The trees are beginning to look a bit like ice sculptures! I see these trees nearly every day, and I can't say that I have ever seen that tree in the background ever look as brittle and fragile as it does now. Tomorrow we are expecting another snow storm to come through. I have a feeling that school will be canceled on Thursday...maybe a good day for the kids and I to bake those snowman cookies my youngest son has been reminding me about daily...for 3 weeks!

Ice stems

When the snow was finished with us, these branches from my Lilac trees looked beautiful. We didn't get nearly the amount of snow that was predicted...never trust the weatherman, they are just guessing! We did get about 3" though which was plenty for having a bit of fun in. The kids stayed out nearly 2 hours sledding yesterday and came in with bright red cheeks, ready for cocoa! Today it is a balmy 9°, but sunny which is nice.

Sledding

Sledding is one of my kids favorite winter pastimes, and we are lucky enough to have a nice little sledding hill in our own backyard. This past weekend we were predicted to get 8" or more of snow, but in fact got just over 3 inches. It snowed and then it got so cold and windy that it just dried up and blew around the snow that was already on the ground. We did have a great drive on Saturday night through 2 ft snow drifts and a near total whiteout off of Robinson Park Road. I much prefer sledding!

Ladies Tea

We had our annual Ladies Tea today and it was so nice to sit down with no whining children or other demands and just enjoy the company of friends, new and old. Lois was responsible for setting our table and she did a beautiful job. It looked very festive...complete with candles, chocolate, and a keepsake for each of us to take home to remember the occasion. :)

And so it begins...

The snow started falling about an hour ago and I have heard reports of 1-2" per hour tomorrow. In total they are predicting that we will get about a foot and a half before it's over. Yay!! Time to break out the sleds!

Goodbye to color

We are supposed to get hit with our first snowstorm of the season, so I thought I would post one last look at something with a bit of color, my poppy field earlier this summer. We have let it get a little overgrown and even with the best of intentions, we cannot keep up with the landscaping demands of our yard, so the poppies tend to go wherever they want to. They started out just on that tier, and then migrated to the pathway below...and then to the tier below that as well. In a few days the whole thing will be covered in snow until March...I hope!

Speeding by

Yesterday evening we made our way down to Lewiston for a company Christmas party. Lewiston puts on a Christmas lighting display in the park each year...Moscow offers nothing like this, so it is fun to go down and see the lights. We were kinda in a hurry to get home after the party, so we didn't stop to walk through the park, but I love snapping photos of lights while the camera is moving...it produces cool effects!

Moscow Mountain view

Right after Resurrection Sunday a few years ago, we drove up to a scenic vista atop Moscow Mountain. From here you can see to the town of Troy...it's ok if you can't spot it, the population is only about 1,000 and most of that is spread out into the surrounding countryside! The drive up to this point is best accomplished with a 4-wheel drive vehicle because there is no pavement and after a long winter, the ruts can swallow smaller cars.

This morning when I was taking the kids to school I was happy to see that the Mountain had a nice dusting of snow...later in the afternoon we had our first snowfall here in Moscow. For about 10 minutes it came down hard and fast and the accumulation was gone by the time I found my camera. hahaha Soon, soon.

Beulah Pond

When we first moved to Idaho, we lived in Troy and had this pond on the property behind our house. The kids enjoyed taking walks back here and each December we would cut a Christmas tree from the forest. In the summer we would fell the dead wood and chop it into firewood for the coming winter. As we put up our Christmas tree a few days ago, I couldn't help but miss the special times we had in the Troy house.

Rolling Fields

My post yesterday showed the sky about 40 minutes after this shot was taken. Such a difference a few minutes can make! These are dormant wheat fields off of Snow Road just south of Moscow.

Fire in the sky

We had another absolutely stunning sunset this evening and even though I have posted a few sky photos recently, I had to post this one tonight. I met with a friend who lives out of town on a wheat farm and as we were standing outside talking, this scene unfolded in front of our eyes. We just had to stop and watch in awe as the colors changed and moved across the sky. It was incredibly beautiful for only a few brief minutes and then gone as fast as it had come.

Country road

Most of the roads in our part of northern Idaho look somewhat like this one which is Highway 3 just a few miles south of St Maries. My hubby and I both ride Kawasaki Ninja motorcycles and often go for short day trips when he has time off from work. This particular ride was started a bit late in the afternoon, and it had turned overcast and was a bit drizzly, but not too bad.

Heading North?

We have many geese that overwinter here...don't ask me why, I think they are crazy not to head for a warmer climate! In any case, on Tuesday this flock decided to land at sunset in a pond across from Everett Paul's shop on Robinson Park Road. You would never know there was a pond nearby unless you happened upon a scene like this. There were hundreds of them and they were loudly making their presence known.

Silver and gold

Just a brief glimpse of the sunrise on a recent drive towards Coeur d'Alene.

Wood Stack

During the summer, people were busily preparing for winter. We have friends who rely totally on wood to heat their homes and will spend months chopping, splitting, and stacking. A few years ago, when we lived in an old farmhouse and had access to plenty of free wood, we did the same. This home on F street has a very modest stack compared to some I have seen.

Theme Day: Spheres

I was thinking I would have a photo of a Christmas ornament for this months City Daily Photo theme, but then I saw these berries during a walk with my son this morning. He loves all kinds of berries and went to the park with his older brother a few weeks ago then came home and told us he had been eating berries! Of course we panicked immediately went to discover just what berries he had been eating. Fortunately they were nothing to be concerned about, but it sure gave us a scare! Now he knows that we look at berries, or in my case, take photos of them...but we don't touch them or eat them unless mom says it's ok!

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