#35: Morning Light

Shot with:Nikon D80, 18-135mm: ISO 40, F-14 (some touch up in Lightroom)

The morning light washes the walls so deliberately, its pure and intense as it reveals the new day, it unfolds ever so slightly from glare and reflection to clear and crisp, almost pacing the speed at which the body is moving towards wakefulness. It brings an opportunity to once again believe in the miracle of life, embark on a new journey, choose to leave yesterday behind and start afresh. In this moment, the quiet surrounds me, my mind is peaceful and clear. Its a moment that is both fleeting and surreal yet nostalgic.

#36: Dim Sum

Shot with: IPhone 3

Dim sum refers to a style of Chinese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. Dim sum is also well known for the unique way it is served in some restaurants, wherein fully cooked and ready-to-serve dim sum dishes are carted around the restaurant for customers to choose their orders while seated at their tables.

Eating dim sum at a restaurant is usually known in Cantonese as going to "drink tea" (yum cha, 飲茶), as tea is typically served with dim sum.

#37: Gourmet Ice Cream

If you have sweet tooth or have temporarily developed one like I have in the last few months then you certainly can taste the difference between "regular" ice cream and "gourmet" ice cream. Like a  sommelier knows a fine wine, I have been able to refine my palette for desserts in a short time and now have a great appreciation for those made with great ingredients and today we had some really nice ice cream. I had a lovely hand-made waffle cone with two scoops of flavor called Calf Trax: Vanilla ice cream with peanut butter swirl and mini peanut butter cups. Yummy. 

The ice cream shoppe is run by the owners of a pretty large dairy farm (benefits of living in the sticks), so the dairy is top quality. Just outside the shoppe there are a few benches and its funny but never fails,  that everyone gets their choice of ice cream, then walks out and takes a seat facing and staring out at this view over the valley. Theres something about the combination that people like myself seem to really enjoy.

#38: Rain

Rain is quite a controversial phenomenon, its often unappreciated and unwelcome by most;  when its scarce, we panic, when its plentiful, we panic, we when we have to walk or drive in it, we complain, when everything's wet and we have to stay inside, we complain but sometimes when we are indoors relaxing or reading a good book holding a warm ( or cool) drink, the sound of rain can be glorious especially when we awake the next day fresh blooms. 

This year has been funny with the early Spring season, so we haven't really had many flowers recently, plus the fact that I live across the street from a 20 member family of deer who get their sustenance from the plants Austin keep buying and planting out in front of the house.

Anyway, this week it has been raining everyday and suddenly today, I see a bright pink flower coming out from a Peony plant we put in last year, I had forgotten it was there and am quite excited that its actually flowering. So today, I appreciate the steady rainfall as a sign of new life.