I'm Dreaming of a White Thanksgiving

One of the best things about living in Maine (and believe me, there are a LOT of great things about living here!) is the weather!

I know a lot of folks would disagree with me on this (even a certain member of my family - gasp!), but I stand by my love of this beautiful, snowy place.

If you're thinking to yourself that Maine is too cold, you should meet my sister Faith, who moved to Alaska, because she feels that Maine summers are too hot.  (true story!)

We got our *FIRST* snow this week!  I know that folks way down south have gotten a lot of snow already, but here in Maine, we got our first this week.

I watched flurries through the day from my office window, and when I went out to get in my car, there were a few fluffy flakes hanging out on the roof.

Lovely little flurries!

From work, I had to go to Walmart to buy some dinner food, and pick up some socks (when it started snowing, I knew it was time to stop wearing the damn flip flops).  When I walked out of Walmart, it had started snowing in earnest.  Weird snowball type things pelting you in the face.

Weird Snow Balls

Of course, none of that was still around by 10:00 the following morning, but we've been hearing about this big Nor'Easter that was headed our way.  This morning I awoke to a wintry wonderland!!! Sadly, it's rained some since then, and I didn't think to catch a picture first thing in the morning (I was too busy being sad about not having a snow day).  

Here it is - the first real snow of the season - hopefully there's lots more to come!!!

In front of my office

Foliage = Fun

I had to take a quick jaunt across campus, and noticed some absolutely gorgeous trees.  I thought that I ought to share them here!  It's a surprisingly warm day, high sixties, so I was cooking in my long sleeve shirt.  But the fiery leaves made up for any temporary discomfort!

I call this one the calico tree - it's just not quite there yet...

I wasn't the only one taking pictures of this tree!

I like the little yellow tree in front of the BIG peachy tree

Brrrrr

It's nearly the end of September, and I am CHILLY!!!  I definitely prefer a bit chilly over hot and muggy, but, I'm typing this from my day bed, with a down comforter on my lap, and my fleece lined sweatshirt over my PJ top (yes, I am still wearing my PJs at 1:30 pm on a Saturday - it's a SATURDAY).

The thermostat reads 59 degrees in the house, and I have been trying for several hours to motivate my darling daughter to help me take the AC unit out of the window (I don't want to turn the heat on until that's out, as the nice, warm air would just go outside).  While I never would have been able to do it myself because it's monstrously heavy, especially since I had back surgery 2 1/2 months ago, I REALLY don't want to risk it.

I need to take a nice, long bath - I've got a big sisters' night out (Fifi is in town from Alaska and the four of us sister - and others - are hitting the town tonight).  The cold air in the house is making me avoid a nice, hot bath because of the brrrrrrr factor of the air in the house.

My current avoidance is being aided by my viewing pleasure - I finally broke down and rented The Cabin In The Woods on Amazon (I really can't remember what life was like before I had the ability to watch pretty much any movie I wanted via the Roku - I'm a happy lady).  I saw a bit of it a while ago, but hadn't had a chance to finish it. I love pretty much anything Joss Whedon does (who doesn't???).  I guess it's a Joss Whedon week, as we watched The Avengers (in 3D!!!) last night at my sister Sarah's house.  I must say, I'm quite jealous of the whole 3D TV experience.  While I do love a good superhero flick - this tongue-in-cheek horror/comedy is more my style.

Because I was already on Amazon, I ordered the new lip rings for the aforementioned darling daughter (I'm such a nice Mama), from her reports, the ones she has now are a pain to put back in after gym class.

There's one thing I've really been wanting from Amazon for a while now (I saw reviews of it on several blogs, and that's made me want it even more).  It's a tray that goes right across your bathtub, so you can read, or, I don't know - do needlework? For me, it's definitely reading :) - the best looking one I've found so far is the Umbra Aquala Bamboo and Chrome Bathtub Caddy.  The reviews are great, and I think my Kindle would be safe on it.  It's also pretty darn cute.  I'm thinking that I might buy it for myself for Christmas, and then make Azi wrap it up for me under the tree.  I've also got the new Kindle Fire HD 8.9", Dolby Audio, Dual-Band Wi-Fi, 16 GB on my wishlist for Christmas, but I might have to make up a reason to get that for myself a bit early :)

Dang! Zombies just came out of the lake - I'm out for now!  

The Prettiest Season!

While I am more than willing to admit that every season has its merits, I just love Autumn!  A big part of that is due to the fact that I live in Maine, one of the most gorgeous places in the world.  I was driving home from work the other day, and suddenly, the beautiful colors of fall were all around me!  Luckily, it wasn't a busy road, so I was able to pull over and take a picture!  It's still early yet, so there's a lot more color to come, but for now, I'm quite happy with what I have!

Bangor, ME - September 24, 2012

I was looking for pictures I took last fall, but the weather was pretty gnarly, and we never had a real burst of gorgeous foliage color.  The one exception would be the blueberry barrens (blueberry fields for the layperson) - which are the most AMAZING shades of pink, red, and orange!

Blueberry Barrens - Northfield, ME - November, 2011