Winter Blues and Walnuts

I thought I would take a small break from editing photos (Christie, yours are comin') to share my distaste for January in Minnesota. Normally it doesn't bother me much, but the weather is seriously starting to make me cranky. The temperatures her have been sub-zero for weeks, with the exception of this weekend. It was a balmy 40 degrees, just enough to remind us of how real people have winter. Here's a photo of the sunset on Sunday. I didn't notice until now how the wind-swept snow looks like the ocean.

Here's another. I really love the old oaks in the winter. You really get to see how snarly they are without their leaves, branches twisting every which way.

Here is the same photograph with Matt's preset applied. I like the silhouette it makes.

This morning, due to the extreme cold, the kids had a late start, which meant Bodie didn't go at all. The temp was -11 when Tye went to catch the bus. I make sure to bundle him up really well. We always joke about how he end up looking like Ralphie's brother in "The Christmas Story". He can barely move with all the layers he must wear.
One more thing to add-
I was helping Tye proofread his homework tonight and noticed something in his creative writing. He wrote about his new magnet kit he bought, and the cool things you can do with it. It came with several magnets, paper clips, small washers and nuts, even a metal fish to catch with the magnetic fishing pole. "I can make a walnut man," he writes. Walnut man?
Me: "Tye, what do you mean by walnut man?"
Tye: "You know, like walnuts and washers and screws."
Me: "Oh, you mean nuts and bolts."
Tye: "Yeah, walnuts and bolts."
I laughed so hard,I cried. I think he just had his first blond moment.