Thinking back to warmer days

I finally managed to upload some pictures from my husband's digital camera (after several issues with incompatable cords, wrong software, etc.) And it's nice to recall warmer days this past summer in England. We went to Wimbledon one day (what a dream for me!), and although we had quite an experience waiting in the "The Queue," it was all worth it once we were inside and able to catch a few matches.

We managed to get seats right near the bottom of one of the "show courts" which was fantastic. One of the highlights was when a very high lob started coming down right in front of us, and we suddenly realized that it was going to hit a cameraman (who was carefully filming the court and therefore oblivious) right square on top of his head. Time slowed. And the ball bounced off his head dramatically. He pulled away from the camera in shock, pulling out various audio and visual cords with him. He had to explain to the control room what had happened, as they must have lost all their feeds. (That's his head there).

It's a whopping 8 degrees Fahrenheit where I am now, so definitely nice to remember that unseasonably warm day in July at Wimbledon.

I don't know what's behind the guarded door -- unfortunately our tickets didn't get us into there!

There is snow and then there is snow

It snows a lot up here in Maine. Just FYI. In fact, so far, it hasn't really snowed anything less than one foot at a time. Pretty much. There was that foot the day before Halloween. That melted (thank goodness). And then the foot the day before Thanksgiving (in the photo. That melted, too, remarkably). And then there were a few minor inches here or there (child's play).

And then there was yesterday. I naively wore my "short boots" to work -- boots that were perfectly adequate for two winters in Indiana -- because there was no snow on the ground when I left for work.

Mistake.

By the time I got home, there were about nine inches. And the assorted exotic snow removal machines that they have up here in Maine were here, there, and everywhere. Along with copious sirens due to accidents. The snow here is always so epic. And the response to it is always so epic (layers and layers of chunky salt piled up on the sidewalks, for example), that it is quite entertaining for me. At least until Sunday when the high temperature is something like twelve degrees Fahrenheit.

Things I Love and Things I Don't

Things I love:

1) Great food (including fresh seafood, like lobster)
2) The ocean
3) Travel

Having recently sort of relocated to Maine, I am so excited to have easy access to #1 and #2. And with Maine more populated with cool things to see, I am also enjoying #3. The pic is of some lobster traps we came across in Camden, Maine.


Things I don't love:
1) Cold weather and snow
2) Old houses

Of course, Maine has both of these in quantity. By Dec. 3, it had snowed over 2 feet here (the first foot coming before Halloween). But remarkably, we are without snow on the ground at the moment. Though the constant clack, clack of studded tires reminds me that it will be coming. And staying. I've been told that at graduation in June, there is STILL some snow on the ground.

And old houses are, for me, fun to look at from outside, but not the kind of place I generally like sleeping, let alone living in. And Maine has plenty of old houses. I'm living in one now. I've never lived in a place with radiators before (though I once lived in a mid-late 19th century log cabin that had a gas heater where someone, not me, had to light the pilot anytime we wanted to "turn it on").