it's not just an owl.....

it's a great grey owl

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and based on everything i've heard and everything i've read this past week, this will be the only great grey owl i'll ever see in my lifetime. well, unless i decide to take up bird watching in canada and i don't see that happening anytime soon.

the news thursday night alerted everyone in the surrounding area that this beautiful creature was "staying" in a tree right down the road from us. so friday morning, i grabbed my camera, my hubby a latte from starbucks and off we went. we weren't really sure exactly where we were going, since umm, birds fly, but quickly we saw "the crowd" and knew he was still downtown. he was in a different tree from the day before, but with a full tummy, he had a new spot to spend the day sleeping. well, i'm not sure exactly how much sleep he got considering all the noise from the crazy people with cameras, kids and dogs and the post office trucks that were right below him, but he was content.

we had a nice chat with ryan {hands in his pockets} and he's got some great photos on his blog along with the story behind why this owl was in "my backyard." i love meeting other photographers. there's just something about us...our cameras, our lens questions, our understanding of how crazy we are sometimes doing what we we're doing...that just makes having a passion for photography feel good.

i'm so blessed to have a hubby who didn't bulk when i said {with a little laughter in my voice} "let's go back and see if he's still there" a few hours after we'd gotten home from downtown. well, he might of cleared his throat, adjusted the waist band on his jeans, cracked his neck side to side and pushed his shoulders back before he said, "okay, let's go." 

then he smiled while kissing me gently, as i reached for my camera bag and out the door we flew. the owl was still there, in the exact same place, without even the tiniest movement on the branch. unfortunately the wind had moved and was now just cold enough to send us quickly back to the car and off to do some shopping.

hey-now, hey-now my boyfriend's back.....

no he's not, silly....but the cedar waxwings are

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at least i think they're cedar waxwings, but please correct me if i'm wrong. all i know is that i came home from running errands yesterday to find fifty of these little masked faces staring at me. well, i didn't count them, but if i had, there would have been fifty. anyhow, i pulled into the garage, quietly shut my car door and tiptoed into the house. then i ran around room to room, like a ninja warrior, quickly removing my macro lens and getting my 70-300 lens  set for "our" first bird photos of the season.

as soon as i walked out onto our driveway, a few of them flew away, but i was ready and caught one of the little burglars in action. don't you think they look like burglars? do you picture them painting each others faces with waterproof black eyeliner right before they take off for the day to entertain us or is that just me? 

and then for the icing on my "bird sighting" cake...this cardinal. he flew into the tree next to where i was standing as if to say "enough already, they're freaking bandits."  {and if you look closely, you can see him scowling at me} okay fine, mr. cardinal, you're gorgeously handsome, too. birds, they're so special.

calm in the colors.....

i continue to love the challenge of shooting at seventy miles per hour. yesterday we drove south with the kids and baby millie to visit our parents {their grandparents} which gave me two hours of playing "what can i shoot from a moving car?"

it was snowing off and on during our trip, which actually gave a softness to my "car" photos. do i love that? sure...but would i rather have green grass, blue skies and an out of control sun to deal with....you have no idea.

it's probably hard to tell in these photos, the rolling hills that surround us, but believe me they're there and they are beautiful. sometimes i forget just how wonderful they are...winter can do that to a person's brain.

the weatherman here i'm guessing is walking on eggshells. he mentioned "the high forties, maybe fifty" on the news last night, for what's to come the end of this week. i have a feeling people will be lining up to kick him the shins if he's wrong. i know what you're thinking...sheesh beth, that's not very nice. actually i'm thinking, i'll be first in line. snort.

yes, our cows here wear their hearts on their foreheads

bed head and life.....

the little's came over to play last week, while still in their jammies and fresh out of bed. i only wish i could look this adorable after playing tag with my bed pillow all night long.

in my home office, i have a huge wall that has always proven a bit difficult to fill since my furniture isn't placed in a very traditional way. so earlier this winter we decided to kick the wall's butt and this is what it looks like now. i still need one more "something" for a spot that's a bit to bare for my liking, but for now, this makes me so happy.

more proof of my green thumb

just a corner of my studio, since it's too cold to shoot outside

and 

another view of my favorite creature

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happy weekend everyone. may life treat you like the queens and kings you are.

bootie call.....

as in i wore my uggs today

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it's the first day of spring and here in madison, our high today was forecasted to reach nineteen degrees and our low tonight is to come in around six pathetic and ridiculous degrees. well, that's only if you exclude the windchill factor. factor it in, and it will feel like ten below. 

last year at this time, mother nature and i were really wonderful friends, but this year, well i'm utterly disgusted with her. she's been really cruel to so many of us these past six months and i'm starting to wonder how she sleeps at night.

last week i couldn't handle the cold and yet another snowstorm, so i ran to our fantastic nursery for some relief. unfortunately, while shopping for what i knew would make me smile, i knocked over a beautiful iris, the only one in a clay pot, which of course broke into tiny pieces when it hit the concrete floor and was actually smiled at by the "floor guy" who said "i've got it, no problem." 

i have a feeling he's been taught how to handle cooped up, sick of winter, hormonal woman because he did it beautifully and if he hadn't, i might have fallen to the concrete with the clay pot and then he would have really had his hands full.

did you know i have a green thumb? well, i do. it's one of many gifts. snort. i was just watering our huge palm, that lived out on our screened in porch last summer, and smiling at the fact that it has survived beautifully all winter inside with me. she'll be moved back outside next month {if mother nature gets her act together} and then i think i might have to get another one, as there will be such a lonely and empty corner in our family room without her.

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thank you everyone for all your love and support and suggestions regarding my migraines and medications. you have no idea how wonderful you all are.