A Voice of Hope

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know...

...for Channel 2's 7-day forecast tells me so!!

Look!!  70 degrees by next weekend! Woot!!

Oh, the weather outside is...

...delightful! I woke this morning to snow, just a light dusting and nothing close to what we had a couple of weeks ago. Its continued to fall all day, but the ground is too warm so it's not accumulating on anything but porches, cars and woodpiles. It's so beautiful! I was so fascinated and excited, I spent most of my day, not doing my research for my paper, as I planned (and should have been)... no, instead I was either staring out the windows watching it fall, or running around outside trying to take pictures of it, trying to capture it's beauty in digital format.

Do you know how hard it is to get a decent picture of falling snow?? To actually capture those little, or sometimes big flakes falling from the sky in a way that truly represents the way it looks with your eyes? Nearly impossible, I tell you. But I got a few.
:) See, look!

Here are some pictures I took from two weeks ago when I got "snowed in". Seriously. I got a call from my boss about 7am-ish that morning and he said I didn't have to go into work. He and our other boss still remember the nightmare of unexpected snow that Nashville got about four years ago, where six or seven inches fell in a very short time. They both spent between 5 and 8 hours trying to get home that day and aren't interested in doing that again any time soon. They'd rather stay at home and miss a day of work; which means those of us who work for them got to stay home too. Yippee!

Nashville just isn't made for snow. We aren't equipped to handle it, and we usually have a layer of ice hidden beneath the snow --which is treacherous on our windy, hilly, narrow roads. Its just not a place made for this white stuff. --- Anyway, I got a long weekend out of it, so I didn't complain.

The view from the front.

My landlord's back porch

View from my front porch

Little Sassy!

I always take a picture of this woodpile... I don't know why

Tuft of grass in the front yard.

I know, I know. It was just last week I was whining about the cold weather, and begging for 80 degree temperatures. But I can't help it. I'm such a kid when it comes to snow. I love it!!

Summer Dreamin'

Okay, I'm done. I'm over the fascination with cold weather and "seasons". I want my California weather back, please.

I am so stinkin' cold it ain't even funny. It hasn't gotten above about 40 degrees in weeks. Weeks, people! How do people in the north do it??? How do they take the cold??

I am so not made for this. My feet are freezing. My hands are freezing. My whole body's cold. And I'm inside, people! Inside!! Where the temperature is a balmy 68 degrees. While outside its freaking 31 29 degrees and dropping. But, oooo, we're supposed to get a "great warm up" tomorrow, say the weather people. All the way up to 40 degrees. Woohoo.

Look, I don't mean to sound like a whiner, but, well, I guess I got completely, perhaps even too acclimated when I lived in India. Because ever since, anything under 75 degrees is not comfortable to me. And anything under 68 is just plain cold. Anything below 55 is inhumane and unlivable.

Yeah, so India was six years ago... so what's your point? I can't help it if I never re-adjusted to American weather. And I did live in the Med for a year. That didn't help the weather re-adjustment, either.

Speaking of the Med, I want to be here, in this picture (perhaps even with this man...hmmm, yum!)!! Right here on this beach. I can't believe that I actually long for a Cyprus beach, but I guess that's what desperation does to me. Makes me long for places that I have very little happy memories of. Just so I can get out of the stinkin' cold and finally feel warm.

Here's another spot I'd love to be. Hawaii. Oh, please, God, send me to Hawaii!! I can't take the cold of Middle Tennessee anymore. I want to live on a warm sunny beach and play in the sand. All year long. I want 80 degree temperatures and the smell of summer rain. I want thunderstorms and warm breezes. I want summer, people! Summer!

But instead, I get to go out to the movies tonight in 20-something weather and cold, cold wind. I have to put on so many layers and wrap up so much just to be comfortable that I feel like Ralphie's little brother in A Christmas Story: "I can't put my arms down!"

I am so ready for summer.

In Rebellion

We've had 90+ degree weather for weeks on end now. -- Well, okay we've had a few one to two day breaks now and then, but then the temps soar back up into the mid-90s and the humidity soars with it.

I'm so sick of the hot weather I could puke.

So tonight I'm in rebellion. My a/c is set on 69 and I'm wearing a sweatshirt. I just want to experience cooler weather! Just for tonight. Yes, if there is a major power outage in Tennessee tonight, you can blame it on me. I don't care. I'm just sick of the heat. Tomorrow morning I'll put the thermostat back up to the cost-saving temp where it usually is.

But for tonight it's Fall at Lu's house.

It's That Time of Year

NFL Monday Night Football is on again. MMMMMMmmm... is that the smell of Fall I detect in the air?

I have to confess. I don't watch football as much as a fall asleep to it. :) Something about the sound of the crowds cheering and the commentators... er, commentating.... it's just so soothing and comforting. Reminds me of Sunday afternoons when I was a kid.

The fact that Monday Night Football is playing tells me my favorite season is on its way. I absolutely love the summer-into-fall fall-into-winter season. September through December. My birthday. Fall and Halloween -- even though I don't celebrate it, I still love the feel and look and smells of Fall -- Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yeeeesss!!! Awesome time of year.

Bring on the birthday celebrations! Bring on the holidays! Bring on Autumn!  After this summer, I'm ready for it!

Go Panthers!!

More Pictures from Yesterday

Bongo Java West --- My roommate works at Bongo East -- is the sister coffeehouse to Fido (or is it the parent? I can't remember...)

Nashville has such an amazing diversity of people, not just ethnicities but personalities

There are tons of streams and creeks just like this one all throughout the city.

Through My Eyes

Here's a quick glimpse of Nashville in Spring through my eyes. Its not a complete picture, because I ran out of film before I ran out of city. But hopefully it will give you a taste of the beauty I'm surrounded by in this amazing city.

(PS - These were taken today with my film camera and scanned by Eckard onto a cd...)

These are the trees I see outside my kitchen window every day. Amazing!

Sevenmile Creek runs right in front of my apartment complex

Even the Bumble Bees couldn't resist the wonderful warm day and nearly clear blue skies

Isn't this city beautiful!

I met some kids having a bake sale to raise money for a mission trip to Mexico

I stopped in at my favorite coffee house, Fido, and ran into a friend there.

Inside Fido

But I that roll got stuck in the bottom of my bag and didn't get developed today. I'll have it for you tomorrow.  However, I couldn't resist posting this picture. It's a typical scene at Fido

-- coffee - check, Apple i/Power Book - check, headphones - check, wireless internet - check (Fido always provides)... you're good to go.

I took this photo of Nashville's skyline out the window of my car waiting at a red light. There are better views to be had of our beautiful and distinct skyline, but I ran out of film.... ::sigh:: See that funny looking spiky skyscraper on the far right? Everyone in town calls it "the Bat Tower" -- because, well, you can see for yourself. It's actually the Bell South Tower.

Here's a view of the Bat Tower from my sunroof

Welcome to Music City!

And it's here

Along with the beauty and color of spring comes something this little southern California girl is just not used to at all. Severe allergies.

I haven't been able to breathe for a week. I'm congested worse that the 405 at rush hour with a Sig alert. I sneeze for hours at a time, rest a little, then start the sneezing again. My eyes water, my throat itches and I'm exhausted from all the energy this allergy thing requires. Even with so much beauty outside, I was too tired and allergy-ridden to go out and enjoy it. And that's just wrong.

I wouldn't trade the beauty of a Nashville spring for all the gold in the world. But I'd sure be willing to trade my sinuses in for a much less sensitive, much hardier model. Know where I can find one?

It's Here!

The trees have finally woken from their winter naps and are starting to get dressed. 'Bout time. I was getting tired of seeing naked trees everywhere. For the last few weeks I've been yelling at them from my porch and out my car windows and sunroof, "Wake up and get dressed!! It's Spring!!"

Out my windows today I saw trees dressed in purples and reds and whites and greens... little bitty leaves springing up all over the place. Even the grass is waking up. It's getting green again and spouting up in places where only brown dormant plants lay just a few days ago. Beautiful. Abosutely beautiful.

I love Nashville.

It's Snowing! .... uh, well....

I can't help it. I'm a little California girl who hasn't seen a whole lotta snow in her adult life. So I turn into a giddy little kid every time we get flurries. It started snowing a few minutes ago and of course I just went bazerk! I grabbed my camera and tried to get some pictures, but it's too dark to get decent pics... this is the best I could do.

Shortly after I took this, it stopped snowing. Oh, well. At least we got a dusting.