Winter 2014 January 1 Wednesday

25 degrees this morning.  

Read another story about the importance of "design", although it was in physical items such as headphones etc. rather than "design"in the concept of "design" being the interaction of the consumer and item/experience. I tried to research the concept of "design" in providing municipal services, but I haven't found anything yet.  I'm sure information is available  on this.  

It is somewhat like "big data", it just really rose to my conscious mind at a conference where there was a session (or several sessions), now I see the term "big data" all the time.  From the information I read, the "big data" concept has obviously been around for awhile.  I was aware of the general concept, but not the term.

That is strange how something (a slogan, idea, person etc.) can suddenly rise to your conscious mind (such as "drink the kool aid, throw under the bus etc.) and you hear it all the time.

The 2013 "holiday season" is now officially over (or at least by Monday), so I am looking forward to important decisions to be made in the next several months.  

Wonderful day again weather wise today again after the cold start this morning.  

Looking out over the woods at the back of the house, I am struck by how full the woods appear in the  spring and summer (when the trees are all leafed out) and how desolate and empty it appears in winter.  (See pictures).  The green leaves etc. make such a huge difference in our   experiencing the forrest  I'm not sure what that all means, but it is interesting to think about how the leaves change our interaction with the forest.  In Winter we can see through basically to the other side, in the Summer we can't see through them at all.

Summer 2013 August 3

79 degrees this morning, very pleasant day, cloudy 

I especially enjoy Saturday and Sunday morning for the opportunity to sit out on the patio a little longer.  Even then, the time goes too fast!  Soon the time will come when it is too cool to sit out on the patio, although I usually can until early November.  

The woods sit in back of my house, quiet and presenting a smooth surface to what I expect is a seething caldron of birds, insects, animals etc. playing out their daily life.  It is much more open in winter without all the leaves etc.

Soon we will have lived in our house (with this wonderful view!) for almost 8 years (I believe-it is amazing how time gets lost in the mass of time gone by).  We actually bought the house in August and moved in in December.  It is a wonderful house, and we have really enjoyed it, especially the view.

I finally had to take down the bird feeders, and haven't put them back up, since raccoons or some other animal kept getting into them.  (I was also concerned about the pests that came to feed on the seed the birds dropped.) The birds always throughly enjoyed the feeders, although I expect there are many others available.