Thank you, puddleshark! Switching to a different browser did the trick. Here, have a lovely morning glory.



Also, I had to change my Yahoo password, because I can never remember it when I have to sign in someplace new. This time, I wrote it down. Which I'll probably lose before I have to use it again.

I spent the weekend out in the Berkshires with several friends at a lovely place in Cheshire. I took over 200 photos, only some of which Flickr is letting me see at the moment, and none of which it is letting me post. Why did they have to go and futz with it? Grr!

Anyhoo, my friend Jay, who some of you know, is on break from touring with Wicked, and he wanted to see a bunch of us, so he rented the place in Cheshire. I've never been to that part of Massachusetts, believe it or not. It's about 15 minutes north of Pittsfield, tucked in the hills which are bursting with fall color right now. Holy cow, is it gorgeous! The weather was lovely, with warm sunny days and cool nights perfect for sitting around the fire, which we did. It was wonderful to catch up with folks I hadn't seen in a while, and hang out someplace special with some I see often. We stayed in a converted barn, with nooks all around for sleeping, a central room with a couch and some chairs, a big table with benches, and a kitchen. It was cozy and welcoming. There are a couple of cabins down the hill, and a fire pit where we hung out at night, and down below that a lively stream with a small waterfall. It's a really great place. Next door there is a large cemetery with rolling hills and a terrific view of the surrounding countryside (the pic above was taken there).

Yesterday, we decided to take a field trip to Mount Greylock, which is the tallest point in Massachusetts and only about 20 minutes away. Six of us piled in the minivan and drove up there, where it turned out to be cloudy at the top! Not much of a view, but it was cool to go there, and we got some nice pictures at one of the scenic overlooks on the way back down.



We had a nice communal meal last night, and then a concert from Esmerée, who is 14 and scarily mature (and who we've known since she was little). Watch for her, she's amazingly talented and I'm sure will make it big.

It was so nice to get away for a couple of days, and hang out with folks who are like family. Except we don't fight. *g*

The other day on the Flickr blog, they highlighted a new group called Your Best Shot 2009, which got me thinking: what *was* my best shot this year? I uploaded 4,864 photos (so far) this year. How can I choose just one as the best? Most of them are, admittedly, ordinary, but there are a few that I really like. I thought about it and thought about it, waffling between several shots, and came up with ( this one )

In other news, what the heck is up with the weather? Yesterday, I was scraping thick frost off my car windows. This morning, it was 60 degrees when I got up. Before sunrise. WTF? About ten seconds after I got into my car, it started to rain. About halfway to work, the sun came out, and I saw a gorgeous rainbow. When I got to work, it was sprinkling, so I decided to just go for it. Halfway to the door, the heavens opened up and I got drenched. That was fun. NOT. I had the windows open for most of the day, too. Kind of nice, but really strange for December. Maybe there's something to that global warming stuff, after all. O_o

It's still hard for my brain to accept that December is the slow season, after all those years in retail. Which makes me want to hibernate even more.

At least today was decent out, if not especially warm. I wandered down to the park at lunch, and watched the gulls sitting on the thin ice of the pond and occasionally breaking through. Check out the pix at my photo blog, or over at Flickr.

On the way in to work this morning, I was delighted by the silvery frost that was lit by the rising sun. I could have stopped every couple of minutes to take pictures, but I resisted, as being late for work would not be a good thing, especially since I'm the one who usually opens up the office. Must maintain my reputation for punctuality. *g*

I'm thinking it's a good night for chili.

Apparently there are a few people on Flickr who have a Reebok fetish. I know this because a few of my stepping pix (like this one) were taken when I was wearing my ratty, ugly old Reeboks, and suddenly there are these people with names like 'Reebklvr' favoriting them. One of them even sent me a Flickrmail, saying I was 'a beautiful woman' and 'I can't believe you're single' and 'I'm not a perv' and other things that just made me shudder. Um, first of all, how do you know I'm single just by my photos? And second, yeah, you are a perv. Reeboks are just plain ugly, and having a fetish about them is just bizarre.

Oh crap, it just occured to me that my profile says I'm single. *changing that now*

Why do I always attract the weirdos?