The entire month of February has slipped by without a post so I am slightly back dating this one. Lots of busyness going on!
At the beginning of the month, I started a new job. The job will be part-time but the month long training period has been full-time and I must say, full-time is not nearly as much fun as not working! Every weeknight in February, I have come home exhausted. John and I fell into a comfortable nightly pattern, I watch while he cooks. He has a remarkable talent for making a meal from leftovers that I have written off. Later each evening, after a small measure of energy returns, I do kitchen cleanup. This pattern seems to suit us well and may spill into……next month, the rest of our lives??!
With the full-time hours, running has really taken a hit. Weekend 13 mile runs in early January have fizzled to 6-7 mile efforts. Weekday runs are almost non-existent. I plan to renew my efforts with the upcoming part-time schedule. That includes finding the discipline to get myself out of bed around 5:15 ish to run before work. You can see from the above paragraph what happens to my evenings.
Here are a bunch of pictures from the month:
Valentines Day was pretty special at our house. While many women profess happiness that their guy did not send flowers for the big day, I profess happiness that my guy did…12 long stem yellow and red roses (my favorite). Beautiful huh!
Valentine’s Day also means dessert at our house. I brought home an ice cream cake from Marble Slab,
while John brought home an assortment of chocolate covered cherries and strawberries from South’s Finest Chocolates. These are special occasion staples in our 10 year history. We brought home our first box shortly after our first date.
Sometime during the month I baked a bunch of pumpkin cranberry walnut bread. Fresh cranberries are hard to find around here this time of year so a few weeks ago, when I found them at our local Earth Fare, I grabbed a bag. The only problem was, I didn’t know what to do with them. As I watched the berries start to go mushy, it occurred to me that I had a can of pumpkin in the cabinet. The result…pumpkin meets cranberries and walnuts.
We have several backpacks lined up this year and I confess to not hiking since September 2009. For the past two weekends I have jogged and walked the trails at Ijams Nature Center. The bank of Lenten Roses is in bloom and the winter quiet is nice. My mother has fond memories of birdwatching and volunteering at Ijams Nature Center. I took the photos for her.
Bank filled with Lenten Roses. This can only mean that spring is around the corner!
Finally, about this time each year, we remember that the house lies in a migratory bird flight pattern. In particular, our oak tree at the bottom of the driveway and and two river birch trees on either side of our sidewalk. The other day, I walked outside to discover this:
Which resulted in a trip to the drive through car wash and this interesting piece of sudsy art:
