2010 Photo-A-Day

Jan 31, originally uploaded by rmom352.

The small snowfall we received yesterday has left a beautiful covering over this stream.

Jan 30, originally uploaded by rmom352.

We were not supposed to get snow today, but here it is! This little barn is on the main road in Strasburg, PA. It is a nice little historical town just East of Lancaster, PA.

Jan 30, originally uploaded by rmom352.

Went to Lancaster to the outlets for an exchange of a few items. On the way back it started to snow flurry. Stopped for lunch with my friend Theresa in the little village of Strasburg. This is the Old Iron Horse Inn. An old style inn that is said to be haunted by a Civil War officer who stomps around upstairs in the late evening. An old friend owns it and has heard his footsteps. Her daughter Katie used to babysit my children when they were toddlers.

Jan 26, originally uploaded by rmom352.

This is a grafted apple tree. There are 3 different types of apples that grow here. The deer come and eat, the squirrels even eat them. I don't spray for insects because I don't want to give the pesticide to the animals. When I look at the trunk I see a lot of black on the bark. Does that seem normal?

Jan 25, originally uploaded by rmom352.

Today is the last teaching day for our friend and colleague, Sara. (Seated in the green sweater). Over her 34 years she has directed numerous vocal ensembles, chorus programs, bell choir and created two student performances each year. In many of the past years she has created special 'songs' for people who have retired, so today we honored her with a song, to the tune of So Long Farewell from the Sound of Music. She will be missed, as the music program will loose a great professional. We performed at our staff development day luncheon for teachers.

Jan 24, originally uploaded by rmom352.

This is a drenching rain has been falling all day. There are puddles on the side of the roads and the highways. Around here if the floods get too bad, we will dismiss our students a bit early. The Brandywine River goes right through the district and can become unpassable for the district busses. In that case, there is only one way across the river, the North end of the district.

Jan23, originally uploaded by rmom352.

Year round this tree has moss. It is sunny and bright, but this moss and some mildew is on the tree stump. Normally I would see this bright green in March when the spring weather is warmer.

Jan 22, originally uploaded by rmom352.

How do you decorate your classroom door? Many of our teachers create a little shrine to their homeroom students. We call homeroom "Prime Time" in our school because it is the prime time of the day were students connect with their peers and teacher. It is supposed to be like an advisory period so students can depend upon their prime time teacher to be their advocate for anything in the school they might need help with.

Jan 21, originally uploaded by rmom352.

These are tomitillos. They are a Mexican tomato with a light dry skin on the outside. Because of the influx of Mexicans in our area, the local grocery stores sell many of their vegetables. When cut, they do not have that juice or jell like Beefsteak or red tomotoes. These green vegetables are the secret ingredient in salsa or gazpatcho. If you see them, grab a few and make some salsa!

Jan 20, originally uploaded by rmom352.

This is from a local Mexican restaurant. We have many Mexican citizens and they have brought their wonderful cuisine to Chester County. This is a combination of chicken, sausage cheese and a jalapeno in a red sauce. It is NOT hot spicy, but very hot in temperature. This restaurant has no liquor license which is a shame because a cold XX would have been great with this meal. Dinner with my friend Lynn. Her son and my son have been friends since first grade and now they are in college.

Jan 19, originally uploaded by rmom352.

Drove to Philadelphia for jury duty. After an hour of instructions, some school work accomplished and rubrics written, were were released!! I left my regular camera at home, but took this with my iPhone. It is the National Constitution Center on the Mall across from Independence Hall. This cracked me up, because the Channel 6 Action News van was parked there alone. We have a commercial: "There's that news van again!"

Jan 19, originally uploaded by rmom352.

My daughter wanted to redo her bathroom and here is the final look. She chose a really nice green and complimented it with white trim and a great linoleum floor that looks like a green-brown slate. She painted most of it, but decorated all of it! She is so proud an so am I.

Jan 17, originally uploaded by rmom352.

These area called horned fruit and I can see why! I wish I could take all of you to this crazy farmer's market with the Asian-Mexican influence. Too bad they didn't have samples of this to taste. The photo is fuzzy taken with my iPhone. I'll have to look for a focus app.

Jan 15, originally uploaded by rmom352.

Student portfolios are grouped and ready for inserting papers, tests and information for their conference in the spring. Our students run the conference with their parents showing them evidence of their success and achievement. Projects are around the school for parents to see on the night of the conference.

Jan 14, originally uploaded by rmom352.

As we turned the corner at the shopping center, this beautiful sky was before us when my daughter stopped me dead in the tracks by her yelp "LOOK!" So I handed her the camera and once again she found the right shot.

Jan 12, originally uploaded by rmom352.

Our school is trying very hard to be better at recycling different items, paper, plastic and cans. I found this in our cafeteria. For some reason the Ronald McDonald House collects the pop tops from cans, so our student council put these in both cafeteria locations for students to recycle their pop tops. I checked this on snopes.com and there is no connection to kidney dialysis and the pop tops. Our school takes the poptops to the Ronald McDonald house in Wilmington, DE and they gladly accept them. Maybe it is a case by case basis.

Jan 12, originally uploaded by rmom352.

We allow students to decorate their friend's lockers in our school. Daily I can see 10-20 decorated lockers down my hallway. It is nice and cheery and it makes the kids feel great to be surprised this way. Disclaimer: only the girls decorate, the boys, well they are just middle school boys and not in to it!

Jan11, originally uploaded by rmom352.

This hawk is just sitting by the bird feeder so he can get some dinner. It was so large sitting in the tree that it startled me as I pulled out of my garage. We often see the smaller kestrel or sparrow hawk, but to see this one so close to a house or the ground was surprising. I would have missed it if not for my daughter who noticed it right away.

Jan 10, originally uploaded by rmom352.

One of the most common sites in Western Chester county or Lancaster county is the Amish buggy. Along the side roads you can see their farms and buggies. This is a business that has become quite popular to the Amish, building yard sheds. They come in all sizes and shapes from rabbit hutches to two story barns. You can depend upon the quality of the product!

Jan 09, originally uploaded by rmom352.

The snow really makes some ordinary images extraordinary. This pine tree branch would just simply blend in to the brown of the ground. Love the snow, not the wind.

Jan 08, originally uploaded by rmom352.

Lucy loves to eat the snow and after 2 quick inches overnight she had a feast! Thank goodness it was a nice light snow to push aside.

Jan 07, originally uploaded by rmom352.

There are some things you just can't see in the summer with all of the leaves on the trees! I guess I need to do some pruning in the spring or a warmer day.

Jan 06, originally uploaded by rmom352.

This was the view last night at Lincoln Center NYC. We were on our way to a DiscoveryEducation/TLC movie premiere at the Walter Reed Theater to see "Brace for Impact".

Jan 05, originally uploaded by rmom352.

Seven DEN STARS take advantage of a quick photo op with Captain C. Sullenberger. He was the pilot who landed flight 1549 in the Hudson Bay in January of 2009. This evening we attended the premiere of the documentary made by TLC "Brace for Impact". It was a long day and I didn't get home until 1:30am, but it was really worth it.

Jan 04, originally uploaded by rmom352.

After all of the snow we had over the past week, my poor little snow decoration in the background looks sad. This foreground container garden has seen better days in 2009. I will replant it again this year.

Jan 03, originally uploaded by rmom352.

I decided to make a good healthy soup for this cold windy day. While this vegetable soup was cooking, I noticed that there were some left over mashed potatoes from last night's dinner. My grandmother and mother make potato scones with left over potatoes, so I tried it. Delicious combination!

Jan 02, originally uploaded by rmom352.

It is so windy today that my three snowmen on the front porch blew down. I guess I may as well just pack them up and put them back in to hibernation until next Christmas season.

Jan 01, originally uploaded by rmom352.

This ice flow is the remainder of the melting snow of last week. Unfortunately it flows downhill in my driveway. The large round seed to the left is a pod from a sweet gum tree. It is embedded into the ice in this tundra.