January 1, 2007

Happy New Year!





What a glorious day! It was sunny and fairly warm (37 with no wind). Perfect weather for my New Year's Day walk on the bike trail. Only a couple of people out with their dogs, so I had a nice time walking quietly, snapping pictures here and there. I didn't even take my iPod. I love the muffled sounds of snow dripping from the trees, birds calling out to one another, and the joyful shouts of children playing in the snow in their backyards. No need to have the distraction of music today.

New Year's Day provides a chance for a fresh start. I've decided to do away with my gardening blog and incorporate my love of nature within my book blog. Take a look at Emerson's quote in the header above. If Emerson can combine nature and books, who am I to argue?

23 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:18 PM

    What beautiful photos! I miss the snow this time of year.

    I hope you have a wonderful 2007!

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  2. Anonymous7:14 PM

    I can't wait to see more of your beautiful photography! Happy New Year to you too!
    - Stephanie
    www.thewrittenword.wordpress.com
    www.mesocrafty.wordpress.com

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  3. Oh my goodness...I am soooo envious! I'm in Michigan and we have had NO SNOW. I can't wait for snowflakes to descend upon us. Beautiful pictures! :)

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  4. I think it's an excellent idea to post your beautiful pictures in tandem with your book blog. As you, and Emerson, say they do go together quite nicely. Not only am I envious of snow, as joy wrote, I'm envious of walks! Take a few breaths of fresh air for me, and I will enjoy the sights from your blog. Happy New Year!

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  5. "If Emerson can combine nature and books, who am I to argue?" This made me smile, Les. I love the quote. I think it is a good idea to combine your blogs.

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  6. Beautiful pictures. I'm jealous of your snow! From unseasonably warm Virginia.

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  7. Great shots! I wish you the tranquility in 2007 that is portrayed so beautifully in the photographs.

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  8. Beautiful photos! Happy New Year!

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  9. Beautiful pics!! I can't wait to see more!

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  10. Stephanie - Thanks! I'm looking forward to sharing my pics on this blog. Happy New Year to you, too.

    Joy - Ah, you wouldn't be envious today. Lots of ice-pack on the roads. What a mess! It always looks so pretty until you have to get out with all the other drivers.

    Bellezza - Thanks! I'm glad you approve of my "blended" blog. :) As far as the walks go, yesterday's was lovely. Today's was awful. Too cold and windy! I went out for about 10 minutes and turned right back around and came home. Happy New Year to you, too!

    Nan - I had a feeling you'd like the quote.

    Camille - Thank you! As far as our snow, though, it was the first measurable snow since last March. We've had unseasonably warm temps here, too.

    Atavist - Aw, thanks. I'm glad to see you here. I'm behind in my blog-hopping and need to pay you a visit. Thanks for the good wishes for 2007. Greatly appreciated.

    Heather - Thanks. I had fun shooting all those pics. You should see how many wound up in the "trash" bin! Gotta love digital cameras. :)

    Andi - Merci. I'm having fun with my photography and am excited to have a place to share my pics. Now if I could only learn how to take great shots like Bookfool and Nat...

    Carl - You wouldn't be jealous if you could see the mess on the roads today. Ugh. I'm surprised you didn't get any snow from this last storm. Maybe this weekend?

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  11. Lesley - I suspect you don't get much snow where you're living now, although I guess I really don't know. We really don't get A LOT. This was a fairly heavy snowfall for us. Of course it all landed on top of very wet streets (it'd been raining for a couple of days before the temps finally dropped). Happy New Year to you, too.

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  12. Happy New Year Les! Lovely pics- I really envy you the snow. Not even a hint of a snowflake here.
    So you decided to combine the blogs- what an appropriate quote for it! :)

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  13. Beautiful pictures! No snow yet here in southwestern Ohio. In fact, it is to get into the mid-50's today. I think winter went on vacation.

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  14. Beautiful! I'm in Wisconsin and we don't have any snow right now AND it's 41 degrees! I'm not complaining, winter is so long.

    I recently found your blog, having just started a book blog myself. I'm combining books with crochet (although the blog will be way more about books than crochet) and I certainly think you can combine nature and books! :-)

    Have a good day!

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  15. Happy New Year, Les, great pictures, and like the rest, I am jealous of the snow you guys have had! Here we are supposed to be the Great White North and we still don't have any snow...not where I am atleast! :)

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  16. Anonymous7:29 AM

    Gorgeous photos, Lesley! I'm so glad to hear you'll be posting more nature photos here this year. Looking forward to it.

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  17. Anonymous3:09 PM

    {Posting this for Bookfool, as she's having difficulties with Blogger}

    Well, I got to your blog and I love the photo and quote - both lovely! But, I still couldn't leave a comment, darn it.

    So . . . just wanted to tell you that I enjoyed them (the photo took a whopping 10 minutes to load!!!!!). One of the reasons I don't listen to music when I walk is that I just love the sounds of nature! It was so enjoyable to read your description and imagine the children out playing in the snow, along with the dripping and the sound of birds. I was just thinking that Will has probably only seen snow 2 or 3 times, the other day.

    I enjoyed your review of 2006 reads, also. Funny that I made up some of my own little categories and they turned out to be the same as yours. Great minds and all that. :)

    I never did get a copy of The House Next Door. The person who agreed to send it (from PaperbackSwap) kept delaying and I had a bad feeling about that, so I finally gave up and cancelled the order. I'll have to put it back on my wish list when I have more credits. Too many wish list items have been sent at once and I'm credit-poor. Hmm, better write that down right now.

    Hope you enjoyed the holidays!! Okay, back to that chunkster. :)

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  18. Anonymous7:10 PM

    Lovely photos! You got more snow than we did in Omaha! Now it is nearly all gone. Happy New Year a few days late!

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  19. Nat - Thanks! The snow is quickly melting at this point. It was almost 50 degrees yesterday. Still a lot on the grassy areas, but the streets are FINALLY clear. Of course, now we're supposed to get more today.

    Ex Libris - I'm sure you'll get yours soon enough! Our snowiest month seems to be February or March.

    Eileen - Thanks for stopping by my blog! I'll have to come over and take a look at yours. I don't crochet or knit, but I love books.

    Lotus - I'm surprised you haven't had any snow yet this winter. I should dig out some of the pictures of me as a little girl all bundled up for the terrible cold and snow in northern Alberta. Talk about cold!!

    Bluestalking - I'm glad my decision to combine my two passions is so well-received. I better get crackin' on the new digital photography book my hubby gave me for Christmas. I still feel a bit inept when it comes to certain subjects (shooting the moon, manually setting the depth of field, etc.).

    Bookfool - Thanks for sending the email and letting me post your comment here for you. Sorry Blogger is giving you such grief. You know, I tried to post on your blog yesterday and the word verification was acting up. Never allowed me to see the words I needed to verify and I finally had to give up! Strange.

    Danielle - The weather patterns around here are so strange. I saw that Omaha didn't get nearly as much snow as we did (and neither of us got the ice they had in central Nebraska!). Wonder what we'll get today.

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  20. Chicago doesn't seem that far from Nebraska but we're having a heat wave and actually had torrential rains yesterday. It still feels like late Autumn here which is not normal for January in the Windy City.
    Enjoy the reading challenges.

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  21. I can see them! Gorgeous, gorgeous pictures of your snow, Les! I'm so envious! But, it's really lovely, here, sunny and in the mid-60's. :)

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  22. Sarala - The weather has been quite odd, that's for sure. Today it's in the low 50s! Unheard of for January, although a cold front is moving in and we might have snow this weekend. I'm ok with that. Just not too thrilled with the forecast for highs only in the teens. Ugh! Thanks for stopping by!

    Bookfool - I'm so behind with my responses! Sorry for the delay. Glad you were able to see the pictures. And believe it or not, even with the warm temps, there's still snow on the ground in certain areas (north side of buildings or under trees).

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