Day 8, January 8th, 2021
Like Son
A couple of summers ago, I redecorated Dominic’s bedroom and changed out his twin captain’s bed and dresser for this ultra cool bunk bed with a couch and entertainment area underneath. At nearly 6′ tall, it’s a little cramped for him but he loves it. I installed a string of fairy lights under his bunk and it gives the space a nice warm glow without being too bright. He has a kick-ass gaming computer on which he spends most of his free time playing World of Warcraft or League of Legends. He plays with his headphones on chatting with his core group of friends on Discord while they shoot, plunder, and wreak havoc. It cracks me up to listening to him, his belly laugh is the best. Dominic encouraged me to create a profile for World of Warcraft and sometimes I’ll take my laptop in and sit next to him on his couch while we play side-by-side. I’ll miss this time with him when he’s grown up and gone.
Like Father
Just after leaving Dominic’s room, I came into the living room to find Curtis playing God of War on the PS4. I cracked up. Like son, like father! Dominic knew that I took a few shots of him when I was in his room but Curtis had no clue I started snapping away. Aren’t my boys the cutest? I’ve got to say that the graphics on God of War are uh-mazing.
Day 9, January 9th, 2021
Our Hero, Deondre
Back when the pandemic first started, I signed up for Instacart grocery delivery and have used them ever since. There was a small lull in early December when the Covid numbers were really low that I went to HEB and did my own grocery shopping but it didn’t last long… the Thanksgiving visits led to a new surge that hasn’t gone back down. I’m a SUPER picky shopper, especially about my produce, and early on nearly every Instacart delivery yielded a disappointment in something. That’s until we found Deondre in early June. I was lucky enough to get him twice within a three-week period and was so impressed with how efficient he was and how well he picked out produce for me that I asked him if there was a way to request him in the Instacart app. Nope. (Still wish they would add that feature!) But we exchanged phone numbers and he asked me to text him before I was going to place an order and he would try to grab it. You know what? It worked! We were able to have him do our shopping nearly every single time. We started chatting more and more over text; we learned he was attending college, we met his girlfriend, we met his puppy (which was a surprise for his girlfriend that I totally ruined and still feel terrible about!), and we became friends. We love Deondre and now consider him part of the family. He started a job in September which made his Instacart hours more limited and he lives in San Antonio but this sweet young man still shops for us when he has time. Deondre truly risks his life for us; no one call tell why Covid strikes some people so hard. I’m so glad he works in healthcare so he is already vaccinated. We are very grateful that he is part of our family and we will always always keep in touch with him and watch out for him (and Liz and Luna too!). I wish everyone had a Deondre in their lives!
Day 10, January 10th, 2021
It’s Snowing!
It’s been over three years since we’ve seen snow in Central Texas. Sunday brought us a very wet and very cold winter storm front. It started snowing while I was walking on the treadmill and every single person in the house was asleep! It looked magical. I was so excited for the kids to wake up and see it.
Palms, Pool, and Snow
As the afternoon wore on, the snowflakes got bigger and stuck more. I love seeing the blue pool, red umbrellas (which I really should’ve put in storage back in September, ugh), and the palm trees all covered in snow. It’s such an unusual occurrence here!
Accumulation on the Table
After about an hour and a half or so of steady snowing, we had some accumulation built up… enough to see it on our outdoor table. Anna was still in jammies (we were having a very lazy day in front of the tv and fireplace) and neither kiddo ended up going outside to play.
Lola’s Not Sure
Charlie will go outside no matter the weather. Lola will go if she has to pee. Stuart will not go at all if it’s wet or super cold. I had to coax Stuart to go out by walking out there myself but he finally went. Lola was so cute carefully stepping her way back across her tracks from earlier. She wasn’t too sure about this white stuff at all.
Front Porch View
You can see how big the snowflakes were getting as the storm front moved through. It was quiet and peaceful, the snow coming down softly and plopping to the ground. There was very little wind. I thought it was one of the prettiest snowfalls I’d ever seen.
Sago Palm Snow
On my bucket list of things to photograph is a single snowflake but I don’t have the gear for it. Even with my 105mm macro, I would need extension tubes or some way to increase magnification. But I still took my macro lens out and tried to get a few close-ups. It was too wet and too cold for me to get more than a few clicks before I was ready to go back in. Ha!
Day 11, January 11th, 2021
NBPS Zoom Meeting
Much like the rest of the country, our local photography club, the New Braunfels Photographic Society, had to go virtual starting in April 2020. Victor Watson, our then President (who owns the Schertz Photography School and Studio) got a Zoom pro account and graciously lets us use it for our monthly photography meetings. We had our January meeting Monday evening and since the camera doesn’t work on my iMac, I set up my laptop to login to Zoom then used my desktop to scroll through the photos for critique. We’ve had a big surge in membership thanks to Victor’s incredible community outreach and Dennis’s connection with PSA for judge’s critiques. We’ve begun recording the meetings and putting them on YouTube too.
Day 12, January 12th, 2021
Nippy Morning
All the snow had melted from Sunday’s beautiful and rare event, but Tuesday morning was cold enough to have a hard frost covering everything. Dominic and I left about 8:25 a.m. to get him to MECHS (and he’s been driving). Unfortunately Anna had to stay home this week because she was exposed to a COVID-19 positive person last Friday. Once I got back home, I dashed outside with my macro to get a shot of the wintery frost. My fingers about froze but it was worth it. I love how ice looks covering the clover in our yard.
Day 13, January 13th, 2021
Late Afternoon Nap
Anna was home all week again due to COVID exposure at Life Bridges. At the time of this publishing, it’s been a week and no one here has developed symptoms. Yay! Last Friday they had a field trip to Fischer Park and she was close to someone on the bus who tested positive on Sunday. Masks work! Anyway, that’s meant remote learning this week. That equates to popping online three times a day for live classes but also leads to lazier afternoons. Once her last class is finished, I’ve been inviting her to lay down with me. I think it’s so cute that the dogs are napping at the foot of the bed as well.
Day 14, January 14th, 2021
Happy Doing Chores
One of Anna’s daily chores is to unload the dishwasher. Since the pandemic started and we eat at home all three meals most days, sometimes that chore is twice a day instead of once. If I offer to pitch in and give her a hand, this is the result I usually get… a “Yes, ma’am” and all smiles.
Thanks for looking!
