Winter Fun
This winter is turning out to be one of my all time favorites - tons of snow and no Chinooks (knock on wood). Although we have had major wind. As a result of the wind and snow, phenomena such as drifting and cornices, which normally occur only in backcountry, are literally in our backyard, and off our deck and our roof. Very interesting shapes.
Also, for some completely unexplained reason, I’ve been remarkably healthy this winter, which is not usually the case. My flavor of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) includes a woeful immune system. The measured function of my natural killer cells (can you believe that name?) is “12″. The normal range is 50-150. The only people who hang out in the “12′” range are cancer patients, people with AIDs and CFS folks like me. As a result of my “12″, I am vulnerable to just about every weird bug that comes along. Fortunately, gamma globulin shots (thick, painful, and in the butt) really work for me. I get a shot every ten days, and as a result, as long as I don’t do any major aerobic activity - like cross country skiing - I don’t get sick very often. But, if I ski, I invariably get really sick within 5 days. However, this year has been different. I haven’t been sick. I haven’t even been close to sick. People are dropping like flies all around me and I’m puttering right on through. And because I’ve been feeling so good, I decided to try skiing just for the heck of it. I have now been skiing for two weeks and I’ve been absolutely fine. Not even a sniffle. This is basically a miracle. Of course, Peter thinks that my good health is the result of our marriage. My psychiatrist thinks the past bazillion years of psychotherapy are finally paying off. Who knows? Whatever the reason, I’m gonna ride this horse for as long as I can.
Because I have been skiing so much, I’ve skied the wax off my skis. My waxing table hasn’t been set up for 6 years - I’ve just not been well enough to ski and if one is not skiing, one is certainly not waxing one’s skis. However, now I need to wax those boards. So, today the Ski Boy and I set up my waxing table and I waxed away. Amazingly, I still remember how! Oh boy!
Here are a few pictures of the snowy manse and grounds.
I like this picture. It’s all white except for the planter. The arrangement of the snow on and around the planter is interesting and the solid white background of snow shows that we’ve received a large volume of snow.
Here’s a good shot of Tyge (another one for Frankie).
Planter cornices.
I love this shot. If look at it, you’ll notice the very messed up geometry. The angles are all askew. There’s a reason for this - and I just happened to read about it a few weeks ago in the excellent book, The Camera by Ansel Adams - the first book in his instructional photography series. I was on the ground aiming up. As a result the plane of the camera back was not parallel to the plane of the subject matter - in this case, the vertical plane of the house. Distortion is the result. I don’t think the problem can be overcome with a handheld camera. The lens and back camera plane are fixed in relation to each other - where the lens points, the camera plane follows. This is where the nifty view cameras come into play - those are the box cameras on tripods. The lens and back camera planes are decoupled from each other and can be moved independently, thereby solving the distortion problem. But, I still think the picture below is fun in a Escher sort of way.
Our upstairs deck. Pretty impressive. Tyge was certainly stopped by the amount of snow.
As Mr. Miyagi would say, “Wax On. Wax Off”. I’m certainly not looking my best in this photo. But I love all the red accents.
Hello. I am 
If you didn’t make it last time you were in Vegas - there is a really nice little Ansel Adams exhibit at the Bellagio. I hiked down there to see it on my last trip to Vegas and it was beautiful, very spiritual, emotional and moving.
Great snow pics - somehow I didn’t catch on to just HOW deep it’s getting when I was there last week!
How does Tyge see past those unruly bangs? Or does he just constantly flip them out of his face like a grumpy teenager? And would he have a problem with me kissing his big nose for hours on end?! (did you get the “Tyge competition” pics I sent you, by the way?)
Ski Boy may be right about the influence of your happy marriage on your health; I really think relative happiness and stress levels can affect our health. I’m sure the years of psychotherapy have brought you to a place where you can better handle stress, achieve happiness, and all that jazz, so I bet it’s a combination of things.
Whatever it is, congrats to you!