Patience.

After another week of sub-zero temperatures, we haven't had a lot of hiking adventures. It's just too dangerous to be outside for any amount of time when the wind chills are -30 degrees. Humph. We've been "making do" with short bursts of play in the backyard, running around in tiny circles and throwing the ball. Charlie is definitely losing patience with this. Even though the temps won't warm up much tomorrow (high of 10 degrees), we're going to have to make an attempt at some sort of hike. We've both been cooped up for too long.

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day... which hopefully means only 6 more weeks of winter. On the plus-side, that means we'll be able to venture out more often and for longer periods of time. On the down-side, winter photography is going to taper off. I just don't feel like I've had enough opportunities to capture the beauty of this winter as I had planned. On January 1st, I finally bought myself a *nice* camera; something I should have done a long time ago. I've always had a love of photography but never put much importance on pursuing it. When I got the new camera, I imagined picking it up and taking perfect pictures right away. Turns out these things are harder to use than I thought. This is going to take some time ~ practicing how to use it and learning all the settings. So unfortunately I have not been able to capture any awesome outdoor pictures yet. I'll continue using my little Nikon Coolpix that fits nicely in my pocket during hikes, but stay tuned for some totally impressive photos in the future <insert sarcasm here>.

Patience.