Happy new year

I decided to take a photo a day and post it here as a way to write regularly in the blog. Here it is, Jan 4th, and while I have taken at least one photo a day, I haven't started posting until now. Ha! Could have predicted it, I guess. Anyway, my first photo of the year is the bucket in our bathroom. GA has been in a drought for quite awhile - started before we got here and it's still going on. We thought about ways we could save water and in addition to things we already were doing - particularly, not letting the water run while brushing teeth or doing the dishes - we decided to catch the water that runs in the shower prior to the water getting hot enough. And we catch it in this bucket. In our master bathroom, we have a shower stall and what is called a garden tub. I don't know whose idea this tub was, but I can't imagine anyone larger than a second grader taking a comfortable bath in it. So, we pretty much use the tub as a place for our water bucket to rest! We use the collected water to flush the toilet, by the way.

You might also be interested to know that we save water in the showering process by turning off the water between rinses. Water on, get wet. Water off, soap up. Water on, rinse off. Water off, lather hair. Etc.

Photo # 2, for 1/2/09, is of Jim from a perspective I rarely have - the back seat of the car. While he would tell you I am quite the back seat driver, I'm usually doing it from the front passenger seat. At this time, we were on our way to Guitar Center for Jim to spend a couple of gift certificates, and Ehren was riding with us. I suggested they sit in the front seat together to make it easier to talk. I was in the back seat knitting, listening to the radio on my MP3 player. :-)

For Jan 3, I caught this oil slick in the parking lot at the Borders bookstore in Snellville. I got a couple of Borders gift cards for Christmas (yay!) so I went to spend them. Never hard for me to do. I had just left my writers' group meeting with some suggestions for novels with characters who were not easy to like. Hmmmm. Anyway, I like this oil on the pavement.

I took two photos for 1/4. My friend Norita gave us these two lawn ornaments and they are right next to the front steps up to the porch. They glow softly in the dark.

This second photo is a view of our neighborhood from our front walk. We're on a bit of a hill and this cul de sac is a little downhill from us. The subdivision is about 3 or 4 years old; the maples in our front yard are still pretty small. The sky has been sort of bleak for the last few weeks - fairly unusual for this area. The temps have been mild, and while it's certainly better than being in the 20s with wind chill, it doesn't seem right to have 50s and 60s in January. Shhhhh. Don't tell anyone I said that.