Look Away

Thaw

(Edited to add: Well, that didn't last long. As I type this it is 10 degrees and snowing outside. It was fun while it lasted.)

N-ice

We got a bit of an ice storm last night/early this morning. About a half an inch. I don't mind it because it's kind of pretty and it means I don't feel guilty about just bumming around at home. John and I lounged on the couch drinking coffee and talking for a good hour this morning. Very nice.

But I did venture out for a minute to capture some of it.

Plucked

"Look What I Found!"

What 3 year old can resist a slimey worm?

Red

Hopper

Yello

Visitors!

Our friends Mitch and Kathleen came to visit us this past weekend from Chicago. They were the first in a string of 3 visitors we will have in a row. We were so excited to see them because we were starting to feel a little disconnected. It was a gray, rainy weekend but we didn't care.

We went downtown to the Old Market on Saturday and walked around. There was a little farmer's market that was very cute and, as Kathleen put it, "wholesome".

How cute is this guy organizing his tomatoes? Dressed up like a conductor.

My brother told me that it looked like nobody ever hung out in the Old Market. The last time I took pictures down there it was like 6:00 on a weeknight and I avoided getting people in my shots. So this time I tried show that the Old Market is not a ghost town. It's actually very lively and there are always street musicians and people eating outside.

I had to have them

Our Neigh-bors

HA! I crack myself up! Unfortunately it looks like I am not the first person to think of this hilarious pun.

Whoooaaaaa those are some pretty horses. Ha!
They mane-ly graze in the evening. Ha Ha!

I give you all permission to never speak to me again.

Shrine

Yesterday John and I went to a state park near Omaha to do some hiking and just be outside. On the way there we stopped by a beautiful structure called the Holy Family Shrine. It's a church that was recently built on a hill amongst natural prairie grasses and wildflowers. It's open to visitors and we had been wanting to stop by and see it.

Normally there is a stream of water running through this crack in the walkway but they were working on it while we were there.

Water runs underneath the alter

Water runs in these holes under the pews

When we were back outside I bent down to take a picture of the church and realized my head was about 4 inches from this! That thing was at least 2 inches across. Guh-ross.

Later in the day, on the other side of town we saw this praying mantis

I think he was looking for the Holy Family Shrine.