An unusual alarm clock

This morning, I was awakened by the sound of something flapping, scratching and knocking at my bedroom window. When I peeked out the window blind, I saw a Robin perched outside on my windowsill. It looked at me briefly and it cocked its head to the side. I gently tapped on the window, and it flew away.

Happy Spring!!!

Today is the first official day of spring. Hooray! Let not the snow on the ground this morning be an indication of the spring weather to come! :)

Happy Saint Patty's Day!!

An Old Irish Blessing
May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!

(Found at http://islandireland.com/Pages/folk/sets/bless.html, the second one at the bottom of the page)

Last year, I spent Saint Patrick's Day in Dublin, Ireland with three friends watching the parade, listening to live Irish music, and then spending several hours drinking Magner's and Guinness and singing old Irish tunes with an Irish family in a local Irish pub before heading to The Temple Bar area where we celebrated a wee bit more o' the Irish holiday. 'Twas a jolly good time, to say the least.

This year, I reminisced about the wee bit'o'fun I had last year on Saint Patty's Day in Ireland, thought about how when I was a kid I used to get so excited for the Leprechaun to come and hide little candies all around the house and enjoy some green pistachio pudding that was prepared by my very sweet mother who shared her Irish heritage with me and my two younger siblings, engaged with two of my preschool students in a game of checkers on a board covered in green clovers, and enjoyed some green ice cream with my half-Irish roommate. Twas' not the same as it was a year ago, but good just the same.

Snow

It's been a while.

Today it snowed several inches. School was let out early (where I now work, as an Assistant Teacher with preschoolers of all developmental levels and needs). I drove home (now in Saint Paul). I ate dinner (rather delicious, if I do say so, myself). I talked to my roommate (pleasant conversations). I read a book (The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS/1000D Companion). I sat and looked at photography websites for more than an hour (Flickr, Snapfish, Picasa, Shutterfly, Shutterspace). I wrote in this blog which I have not touched since nearly a year ago.

I feel frustrated that I cannot remember my Flickr login information and that I have tried to obtain it, several times, without any success. I very much like closure and completion of things; therefore, I would either like to close the account or have access to it, once again. I put a lot of work into uploading and labeling my photos on the site and would much rather have access to my account than to close it.

I bought a new camera a week and a half ago. It is a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS, DSLR. I am excited to have such a nice tool in creating photographs. It also scares me a bit, as I want to be very good at photography and now I have no excuses. I took a class on Digital SLR photography last weekend. I learned a lot, but also that I have a lot to learn. I plan to take more classes in the future.

Today is Thursday. It was a good day. Tomorrow is Friday.