Yep, still winter...drat that groundhog anyway...

This was the view yesterday...some of the snow has fallen off the branches now, and rain has fallen on top of that, so it's a big crusty...

Over the fence and the top of my canoe...the snow isn't really THAT deep!

She looks like she's saying "come ON, let's get IN there." But this is Belle the Biter, who cost me a doctor visit, tetanus shot, and some anxiety this fall, so...nope.

So far the electric heaters and wool rug are up to the challenge, once I get warmed up a bit...having that sound side floating like that may have to be dealt with.  Too much air under there!

And the shed got a prezzie, from my good friend the artist Molly Morgan-Roberts!  I've had the stained glass cardinal for years, but Molly made the wonderfully wacky vintage fork wrapped in spirals and beads...I threatened to make omelets with it. 

Really unique ones...

J. discouraged me, since he's the usual dishwasher...

Winter wasn't finished with us...

Yesterday, I was sitting on the deck, barefoot, reading.  Today?  Not so much.

Warmer days...

 

The snow melted and the warmer air made everything very foggy...it was silent and BEAUTIFUL.  

 

A day or two later, it was so warm I needed to prop a window open for a while!  I'd had a huge snow pile on the deck where the snow had melted off the roof.  By morning it was GONE, and over 70 in the shed even with the heater turned to 48.

Needless to say it got cold again, but those winter thaws are SO welcome...I'm already thinking of landscaping and what to plant where.  Red twig dogwood for color and food for the birds, I think...and something on the south side...

Guess what?? It's WINTER.

I put up "guess what" photos on my Flickr from time to time--it's become a game with us!  So far no one has actually nailed this one, though they're very, very close.

I've mentioned the problem with the insulation falling off under the floor of the shed...that means there's 3/4" of plywood between my feet and the North Pole!

So what IS this?

It's the paint water in my little enameled tin pot; I left it on the floor overnight.  We keep the heat in the shed at about 48 degrees when we're not there, but it can't overcome that icy floor!

I'm thawing my paintwater in front of the little heater!  Since we have to carry water over from the house, I'm sparing with it.  It'll work just fine once it melts...

And happily, I've since discovered that if I leave the little pot on the wool RUG instead of the floor, it doesn't freeze.  Nether does Pepi's water.  We WILL solve this before next winter!!!

Video setup

 

So far, this is the best setup for shooting how-to videos I've come up with at the shed (or anyplace else!)  Two lamps, one of them with both incandescent and fluorescent, one shop light, and the little lamp pointed at a sheet  of styrofoam for bounced, indirect light.  It's STILL darker than I'd like, but so far so good.

My ancient tripod helps, but of course getting it located so the camera is sort of over my shoulder so it can catch my hands drawing or whatever is a tad awkward.  Better than the desktop tripod I WAS using, of course!

So far the FlipVideo works best.  As you can see, space is tight--big shock in a 10 x 10 space full of other stuff, eh??

 

And this morning's lovely cold post-blizzard sunrise...we were out there shortly after that, drinking coffee and working!  Yes, the floor is still cold.  Oh well.  By NEXT winter, we'll have that solved, one way or another!

WINTER!

It's been cold, snowy, and icy for days now, but J. makes sure I can get to the shed.  This morning, since they're calling for Snowmageddon and ice, he's gone out with the Ice Melt!

He's been joining me more often since we got a comfortable chair for him, too, and it's lovely! 

I've been working on a series of new mini-classes out there, and it's the perfect place for it.  Not so many distractions, no Internet, no Facebook, no Flickr, no email (though J. did bring the netbook out to work on taxes one day, and said he got the 'net on it, SSHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  I'm pretending I did NOT hear that!)

I've got a pretty good setup for shooting mini-videos for the classes, but the photo I shot of it didn't work--will try again!

Nature continues to amuse and amaze me, there...who knew how much I was missing, in the house! 

I never realized till now that gray squirrels are such gourmands!  They only eat the germ and discard the rest of the kernel like picky kids at the dinner table.  No worries, though, the blue jays, raccoons, and fox squirrels don't mind cleaning up their plates!  I keep an assortment of magnifying devices at the shed to help me see these details better.

All in all, I've been working hard and playing hard, and it's great!