Easing Into Catching Up
Yesterday on Twitter I posted a link to an old LJ post (the first time I ever mentioned Twilight, all the way back in 2006 - I disliked it before disliking it was cool!) and I realized how nice/amusing it is to reread old posts. It's like a diary and time capsule and I really want to get back into it! So here's my first post in months.
I've mostly stopped writing on here because I have no idea what to write about. The day-to-day boring minutiae end up on Twitter ( @barnswallowkate - let me know if you're on Twitter so I can follow you!), my photos go on Picasa, and my book reviews go on Goodreads (click that and come be my friend there!). All of those sites require a lot less writing so I guess I've been taking the easy way out.
Plus, not much has been going on in my life over the past year. Things with Carlos are pretty much the same as they were before we got married. I'm still working at the same company, although I did switch around to a few different programs this year. We hadn't even worked on the house until recently. Everything happening in the world depresses me so I don't want to write about that either. I’ll just try to recap a few slightly-non-boring things from the past year.
I finished my Master’s Degree in Systems Engineering at the end of December 2010, so yay for that! Plus in May Carlos ordered me a Nikon D7000 as a graduation present. I was intending to buy one used in a few years but he decided I needed it now and I was not about to protest!
I managed to do some birding in late winter/early spring, all at places nearby. I don’t remember much from mid-to-late spring except that we went to the Cottage a lot to paint and redecorate the back kids’ room (all the “kids” that use it are now over 25).
This summer was pretty hectic from about mid-July to the end of September, so I guess there is some post material there.
Gram and I at my weddingIn mid-July my paternal grandmother (92 years old, had congestive heart failure since November 2010) had a series of strokes. I got to see her twice in the few days between the strokes and her death. She was buried near the Cottage and we had a nice get-together there after the funeral. She and her passing have been on my mind pretty frequently since then. I think I want to do a whole post on her.
West Rutland MarshAt the beginning of August one of my cousins got married in Vermont. We drove up on a Friday, the wedding was on Saturday, and we drove home Monday, so we got a day or two to see the area. I got to bird a little up there and got two lifers (Marsh Wren and Black-capped Chickadee). Vermont pictures are here.
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Three days after returning from the Vermont wedding we flew to Kansas City for the wedding of a friend I met in middle school. We went to the Kansas City zoo which was about as cool as I remembered it being. We also took about 24 hours to visit and bird with my Internet Friend Ryan and his wife Diana out in Columbia, MO. I finally got to meet their cats and Ryan got me 10 lifers (Willow Flycatcher, Eastern Screech Owl [heard], Black Tern, Bell's Vireo, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Lark Sparrow, Dickcissel, Great Horned Owl, Pectoral Sandpiper, and Yellow-breasted Chat)! Missouri pictures are here.
I guess the rest of August and September were just busy with family things - I felt so busy at the time, but there's not all that much on my calendar.
Our sweet Loki celebrated his 5th birthday on September 5th.
The north end of the Shenandoah Valley from just inside the park.Carlos and I spent a weekend at Shenandoah NP for our anniversary. We rented a great little house with an amazing view. One downside was that the house was FULL of stink bugs, but since our wedding was as well it felt appropriate. We did some short & easy hikes since we're both pretty out of shape. It was foggy in the park all weekend so we didn't see too many good views, but we did see more bears than I'd ever seen in my
life (like 3)! I even got a lifer there (Black-throated Green Warbler) and saw a Barred Owl feeding on some small rodent. Shenandoah pictures are here.
Mather GorgeIn late October my friend Namita and I did the Difficult Run hike on the Virginia side of Great Falls Park. Despite the name it wasn’t all that hard and had some great views. There are some amazing hikes in our area so I’m trying to get out there at least once a month now. Difficult Run pictures are here.
The view from Hawk Mountain's North Lookout.
More recently we went to Hawk Mountainin Pennsylvania, but I think that should be its own post as well!
So there is a not-actually-all-that-short summary of what I've been up to. I warmed up my blogging muscles and I will try really hard to keep up with this! I've found a lot of you on Twitter and have tried to catch up on most of your LJs as well, but let me know if I missed anything big in the past few months.
I've mostly stopped writing on here because I have no idea what to write about. The day-to-day boring minutiae end up on Twitter ( @barnswallowkate - let me know if you're on Twitter so I can follow you!), my photos go on Picasa, and my book reviews go on Goodreads (click that and come be my friend there!). All of those sites require a lot less writing so I guess I've been taking the easy way out.
Plus, not much has been going on in my life over the past year. Things with Carlos are pretty much the same as they were before we got married. I'm still working at the same company, although I did switch around to a few different programs this year. We hadn't even worked on the house until recently. Everything happening in the world depresses me so I don't want to write about that either. I’ll just try to recap a few slightly-non-boring things from the past year.
I finished my Master’s Degree in Systems Engineering at the end of December 2010, so yay for that! Plus in May Carlos ordered me a Nikon D7000 as a graduation present. I was intending to buy one used in a few years but he decided I needed it now and I was not about to protest!
I managed to do some birding in late winter/early spring, all at places nearby. I don’t remember much from mid-to-late spring except that we went to the Cottage a lot to paint and redecorate the back kids’ room (all the “kids” that use it are now over 25).
This summer was pretty hectic from about mid-July to the end of September, so I guess there is some post material there.
Gram and I at my weddingIn mid-July my paternal grandmother (92 years old, had congestive heart failure since November 2010) had a series of strokes. I got to see her twice in the few days between the strokes and her death. She was buried near the Cottage and we had a nice get-together there after the funeral. She and her passing have been on my mind pretty frequently since then. I think I want to do a whole post on her.
West Rutland MarshAt the beginning of August one of my cousins got married in Vermont. We drove up on a Friday, the wedding was on Saturday, and we drove home Monday, so we got a day or two to see the area. I got to bird a little up there and got two lifers (Marsh Wren and Black-capped Chickadee). Vermont pictures are here.
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Three days after returning from the Vermont wedding we flew to Kansas City for the wedding of a friend I met in middle school. We went to the Kansas City zoo which was about as cool as I remembered it being. We also took about 24 hours to visit and bird with my Internet Friend Ryan and his wife Diana out in Columbia, MO. I finally got to meet their cats and Ryan got me 10 lifers (Willow Flycatcher, Eastern Screech Owl [heard], Black Tern, Bell's Vireo, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Lark Sparrow, Dickcissel, Great Horned Owl, Pectoral Sandpiper, and Yellow-breasted Chat)! Missouri pictures are here.
I guess the rest of August and September were just busy with family things - I felt so busy at the time, but there's not all that much on my calendar.
Our sweet Loki celebrated his 5th birthday on September 5th.
The north end of the Shenandoah Valley from just inside the park.Carlos and I spent a weekend at Shenandoah NP for our anniversary. We rented a great little house with an amazing view. One downside was that the house was FULL of stink bugs, but since our wedding was as well it felt appropriate. We did some short & easy hikes since we're both pretty out of shape. It was foggy in the park all weekend so we didn't see too many good views, but we did see more bears than I'd ever seen in my
life (like 3)! I even got a lifer there (Black-throated Green Warbler) and saw a Barred Owl feeding on some small rodent. Shenandoah pictures are here.
Mather GorgeIn late October my friend Namita and I did the Difficult Run hike on the Virginia side of Great Falls Park. Despite the name it wasn’t all that hard and had some great views. There are some amazing hikes in our area so I’m trying to get out there at least once a month now. Difficult Run pictures are here.
The view from Hawk Mountain's North Lookout.
More recently we went to Hawk Mountainin Pennsylvania, but I think that should be its own post as well!
So there is a not-actually-all-that-short summary of what I've been up to. I warmed up my blogging muscles and I will try really hard to keep up with this! I've found a lot of you on Twitter and have tried to catch up on most of your LJs as well, but let me know if I missed anything big in the past few months.