A Texas Tradition ...

Jim Goode is a Houston tradition. So is his Barbeque, his Seafood, and his Mexican food. I'm not sure who coined this phrase but it's a great one and we throw it around whenever the opportunity presents itself. Jim and Tirey just happened to have one of the Pecan Pie boxes on hand for my post this morning.

We are about to have breakfast then I'm heading to the studio for the day to work on the year end accounting with Mark. Ron is spending the day with Brad and Ann, my Step Son and his wife, and our two Grandkids, Ian and Lilliya. I'll be with them all for the evening. It's a beautiful day ... 55 and sunny.

It's great to stay with friends who want you to feel at home with them ... that and last night's Alaskan Crab dinner are traditions here too.

Road Trippin' Sky Watch ...

This is Kansas ... and we are on our way from South Dakota to Texas. For me, it's still Sky Watch Friday and that doesn't change.

The World has Peeps that want you to see their skies at http://www.skyley.blogspot.com

Reaching Up and Shining Down and Energy That's All Around ...

Somewhere underneath all this snow is the life line to these amazing hearty plants and flowers around here that are sleeping right now. They need to sleep. They are supposed to sleep. They want to sleep. I'm with you. I can relate.

When the ground is warm enough, mid June plus or minus, this patch of thistles is going to grow two tiny green leaves per blossom and start sending up long green shoots that are going to have the fresh new version of this thing brewing inside. Eventually it's going to open up into an amazing purple blossom that will knock your socks off. I think it's an Allium ... but that's not the point.

I'm getting ahead of myself ... it's way too soon to be focusing on spring. But I am still Zone adjusting from South to North. And while I was walking by this flower bed, that belongs to someone else, I thought I sensed live energy stirring way down there.

That plant felt that hot sun beating down on it, and I swear, it was considering it's return. But that plant has been around here much longer than I have been back, and I think it knows the difference between being teased, and the real thing. Scusi.

Third File Third Photo ...

I've been tagged by Karen to post the 3rd Photo from my 3rd File. Interesting ... it's the Houston Skyline from the deck of MGP2's Studio.

A week from this morning I will be waking up in that big bad City. And then I'll be here most of the day and the following work week, planning my year end accounting and catching up. It will also be a week, too, of family and friends ... and not enough time to see everyone I would like to.

It's sunny, beautiful, and cold in my world today with a high today of zip zero degrees. In my other world, Houston, it's probably 65. Go figure ... I'm planning to ditch the wool when I pack.

Spirit In The Sky Watch ...

On any given day the sky here is very entertaining and I take my camera with me everywhere. Most days I end up with photos that speak to me. When I look up I usually see one form of God or another. Another would be Mother Nature. They are one and the same for me ... I think.

This cloud was the only cloud in the sky earlier this week ... most unusual. Works for God. Works for Mother Nature. Works for me. You can go around the world today with other people's skies at http://www.skyley.blogspot.com.

Fog Fascination ...

Fog during a winter night means icy trees in the morning. Technically, the dew point has been reached, and the moisture on the trees has formed the ice crystals. Visually, it's just another beautiful thing to stop, look at, and appreciate.

Whoa Pancake ...

I grabbed this book off of my Mom's bookshelf about 8 months ago. It was part of my Aunt Lauretta Fox's collection. She didn't get out at all and the woman who runs the B. Dalton book store at the mall kept her in all the latest reads. This is the second time I have randomly chosen a title from her collection and been knocked out by it.

This book blew me away. I didn't see it coming. And I missed some things. Quite often, Mom reads what I read as soon as she has an opening on her list. I can't wait for her to get involved with this cast of characters. We will continue to discuss it along her way, after having only discussed what is fair, along my way. We do have our boundaries about spoilers, but sometimes we over step them if it's necessary to fuel the fire. I think.

It's pretty cool being in a Book Club with just my Mom ... it happens with no deadlines and no pressure. But we each have a need for accuracy because we are following each other so closely between the pages. It's a way we connect.

I've obviously been on the fence about this book or it would not have been downstairs for so long. Now that I think about it I am certain that it called out to me, more than once, from between it's smoldering covers. Don't take as long to read it as I did. Then give it to someone you want to talk to about it. That's what I'm going to do.

Negative Degrees Sky Watch ...

It's been ten years since Watertown has had this much snow. And I'm not sure how long it's been since it was 39 degrees below zero ... probably last winter. This type of cold takes your breath away. You don't particularly want to go out but if you have to you can.

When we remodeled our house we added windows and glass doors in all the right places. We can see all the way around our property from most locations inside. We opened up the kitchen, dining and living room areas to each other, as well as to the sun porch. And while the master bedroom has an open design too, there is privacy when it's necessary. This idea opened up the entire inside of the house to the expanse of the outside, as well as it's all out natural beauty.

I'm not sure I realized at the time we were planning, just how much these ideas would compensate for, and make bearable, the long winters spent inside. We can make it through these three months without feeling hemmed in, anxious, or stir crazy. And for this I am grateful ... because if I couldn't see all of this gorgeousness going on around me, I'd be wigging out right about now.

It's Sky Watch Friday all around the world at http://www.skyley.blogspot.com

Mustache Scroll ...

His mustache is actually part of the scroll workings of this architectural touch on the Commercial Building at 10, 12 and 14 East Kemp. If you don't enlarge the image with a click, you won't get it.

The face reminds me of the God, Triton, who helped Jason and the Argonauts through the slim passage back to the sea. If you have seen the movie, how about those skeletons ???

In the late 1800's the Commercial Building housed the first Watertown Saloon, then the Palace of Sweets, for 55 years. Other storefronts here consisted of Hestad's Shoe Store and the Sugar Bowl Confectionery ...

Booze, Shoes and Sugar ... what else can I say ?

Blue On Blue Joy Ride ...

The Watertown Medical Arts Building is not on our Historic Building Register. So now it's on mine ... Thank You.

Last summer there were a couple of small, stray trees that took root and grew up, just a bit, above the Romanesque urns. I know that because it is impossible for me not to look up at this building when I am driving down Kemp Avenue. Was that a fluke of Nature ? Or did someone plant them exactly at the spot on the ledge, which would give the impression that they were growing out of the Urns ?

It trips me out to see this type of architecture and design here. It's a level of sophistication that doesn't blend, but then again, it sure does. Which is exactly why I love it here, today, and now.

Who developed the intriguing design of the Medical Arts Building ? I am going to suggest that it was the invisible partner on the project ... the wife of the degreed Architect from Watertown, NY. I think she looks down at me when I drive by, in spite of what George Carlin says, and jumps into my Subaru ... but just for two blocks.

Six Degrees of Separation Sky Watch ...

When I ran outside to capture these clouds I felt very strange. I had to get the trees in not only for perspective but also to ground myself. It was as if I was being pulled upward. I think I may have been for a moment or so. Or it could have been the temperature, 6 degrees, doing a number on my head.

Other Sky Watchers at http://www.skyley.blogspot.com

Birthday Wishes For The Bug ...

What a pretty girl you are, inside and out. I love you. I can see your Mom in your eyes. Happy Birthday. xoxo.

Mooing Mantra ...

Now that our north shelter belt has lost all of it's leaves I am really starting to like this view of our house. We added on the big porch with big windows all the way around. That's where we watch the sun set. That's where I pray the most.

I am starting to think of summer, a bit too early I'm afraid, and being able to spend time there at night with the windows all wide open and the breeze coming through. Wind chimes, crickets, and those calves with the soft moos in the distance ... it sounds like heaven to me ... and it sounds too, like I have blended in.

The weather here, as well as the "vibe", are all the entertainment you really need. But I will say, tons of movie channels and flat screen high def don't hurt matters any. Still, I am missing the rain now, of all things, whose storms have a way of bringing you to your knees at times. That's not a bad place to be.

Beware of Snow Booger ...

There is an Abominable Snow Booger lurking in the shadows around here. She has a ham bone hidden somewhere and I think she forgot the exact location.

I'm No Jackson Pollock ... But ...

Last night we went to my Niece's house for dinner, just a mile away. It was 8 degrees, snowing and blowing. We were sure we could get there but we weren't sure we could get back. We checked the weather before we headed out and it looked good. Good in that it was going to stop snowing. But was it going to stop blowing ? That was the big question. We decided it was cool to head out.

On the way down the driveway I snapped a few pics. The snow was big and fluffy. When it's like that, as opposed to the short, sharp needle type, the flakes act as a crystal prism. That means they can disperse the light from the flash into component colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. If you click and enlarge the photo you can see that I have too much time on my hands.

Once A Day, Every Day, All Day Long Sky Watch ...

I always make it a point to look out, look up and look around, no matter what I happen to be doing when the sun is coming up and the sun is going down. There is something in the air around here ... or maybe it's the lack of ... that always makes for an interesting sky.

So I am forever looking ... out, up and around ... This must be what I am supposed to be doing, when I am not doing the other things I do. The pay sucks, but I love my job.

Other people who get it @ http://www.skyley.blogspot.com