I was really anxious about winter coming. I walk to and from the studio everyday. Sometimes more than 5 times and I usually walk everywhere else. My car moves just a handful of times during the week. The thoughts of ice and wind scared the heck out of me. I got these crazy ice clingy things for my boots, leggings to wear under jeans, even Leo got gear. For my first official winter living in Portland, I must say it was a piece of cake. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of digging my car out after a storm, driving, getting to the studio, walking on ice, walking Leo 4 or 5 times a day in crazy weather. Maybe because I thought about it so much that we barely had a winter. Although, the storm we had last week was insane with 70 mph winds, not to jinx it but we only had two big snow falls that I can think of and there were days were it was frigid but it really wasn’t that bad at all. I still walked back and forth to the studio, managed to travel and found it to be completely beautiful. I actually wouldn’t mind one more big snow fall . . . {don’t be mad at me if it happens}.
I headed up north for a few days during my time off in February and spent time at the lodge {my parents house}. We’ve started to call it that because it’s a major slice of heaven and it’s our code word for relaxation at the Mullen home. I took my Dad over to the lake in Jackman for a little photo lesson. The lake is usually 10 degrees colder than at their house and when we got out of the car, the wind hit us. The wind chill had to have been -20 ‘ish. I had tears ejecting from my eyes as I explained to my Dad what ISO to use. It turned out to be the fastest photo lesson ever. But I was able to grab two photos of the lake. I’m fascinated by ice shacks and even more fascinated by people who drive actual large vehicles on frozen bodies of water. No sir will you find me in one. At least not this year.
