[Belated] DPP 22: Trees for All

We visited family this week, and were unable to get out of decorating at least one tree for the season. Here's the finished product (with thanks to my brother-in-law for asking me to take a photo of it, since I barely remembered to turn on any of my electronics on the 22nd). 

[Belated] DPP 21: Cardinal Directions

I. and I have long loved this road sign, which is on the path from Morristown to most northern places and marks the beginning of an important junction. Sometimes I don't even think that our travel has officially begun until we have passed this sign.

DPP 19: Christmas Mambo

After a hectic last week of school, I. and I escaped to the Christmas dance party held by our dance studio. We carefully avoided decorating our own tree this year, but were able to compensate by enjoying the trees at school, church, and studio (among others).

[Belated] DPP 12: Night Lights

Our school had its Christmas celebration this week (which went smoothly and was enjoyable). The calm after the flurried storm--a week of rehearsals (for I.) and half-full classes (for me)--was even more enjoyable. I. generously stopped the car on our drive home so that I could get this shot of our town centre in tungsten lighting.

[Belated] DPP 08: Light Show

One of my students decided that I was not festive enough, so he brought a string of Christmas lights to school and decorated for me! They are not your standard Christmas lights--they actually have nine or ten differing blinking patterns (most of which can be pretty distracting to the rest of my students).

DPP 06 & 07: Quiet Home Companions

The weekend was busy and filled with a lot of general laziness. I did manage to rearrange one of our work spaces by swapping I.'s desk with our spare table. I really love this table, but it is hugely impractical in our current home.

Sunday was a day of essays, and also trying (and failing) to clean out my very beloved pen. I'm coming up on my year anniversary with this very lovely pen (a birthday present from I.), which has barely left my waking side since I received it.

DPP 04 & 05: Work and Play

In addition to my very quiet, largely-unread personal blog (by this I mean this one), I've also begin contributing to my school's blog. I took this photograph for my next blog there, but thought it would count for the Photo Project also. It's supposed to represent my workload (a la the large pile of grading) and my very timid coffee cup.

The one below I snapped from the window of a moving car after a fruitless photography day. I was burnt out and it is terrible, but it is a pretty accurate representation of my day, in which I flew about madly from the wee hours of the morning until we finally left school at around 5.00 p.m. for our date night. This was snapped on the way home after our dancing date (I'd hoped to take a photo of actual dancing, but don't like taking photos of people without express permission).

DPP 03: Gold Suede Shoes

This summer, I. and I splurged on a taster ballroom lesson, and as the summer has given into fall, we have made it our unofficial date night (whenever school does not interfere). Although our classes sometimes seem extravagant, they have been a welcome relief from the stresses of jobs and house and everyday life.

DPP 02: Herbal Blessings

I thought last week that the hardest part of the December Photo Project this year would be finding things to photograph. Most of the scenic views that we see on a daily basis are ones I already photographed last year, and I hate the inside of our house.

Thanksgiving is over, but it is time for me to be grateful.

Something I love about our current house is that it has lots of space surrounding it, and that our landlord is willing to let us experiment with plants. Basil and mint flourished in the front of our house this year, and I. grew tomatoes and squash in the backyard, but now that the colder winter has come, the other plants have all fallen before the might of the rosemary (a good British roasting vegetable). As I snapped this photograph to me, it occurred to me for the very first time that rosemary actually looks quite a lot like the bristles of an evergreen tree.

DPP 01: Winter Flowers

I didn't think as hard as I should have about signing up for the December Photo Project this year. I sat on the sofa and thought about the fact that I haven't actually taken a photograph since I.'s birthday.

I am unhappy with this, and of my complete lack of blogging.

Since last year, when I became the de facto photographer for many of the events at school, I've had no desire to take photographs.

I still don't, really. I am wallowing in selfishness and grumpiness.

Nevertheless, here is something pretty:

Longsuffering readers--are any of you left--might remember that I. participated in a play last spring. This fall, the school attempted a rendition of Little Women, and very few young med auditioned, so he was invited back for a reprise (as Mr. March). We were surprised and amazed to receive a huge bouquet of flowers at the end of the third performance, and this is one of the lilies that have now survived nearly two weeks.