6 years

Today is my 6th bloggy birthday.
I celebrated by stopping at the fifth lamp on my way home from school, and what a view was there to greet me!

The leaves are just about at peak color, and the grumpy weather is breaking up.
What fun I have here in my little corner of the internet.
Thanks for hanging out with me for these 6 eventful years.

A Fifth Lamp Kind of Morning

Yesterday I woke before dawn to nurse the Youngest, and since I have been having a tough time falling back asleep I went for a walk.
The walk turned out to be about 4 miles; I crossed one bridge into mainland Saint Paul, and came back across the other one.
I did a cursory search for the camera, but since it was 5:45, and I hadn't put it away, we didn't connect.
I was a little sad about that, because the moon was huge and pink and beautiful.
Flash forward to this morning, waking before dawn with the Youngest again, who was having tummy troubles and I decided to take another walk, this time with a tiny, sleepy pal.
We didn't make the loop this morning, just a quick jaunt over to the fifth lamp to see what we could see.

I could make this a habit.

3 years!

I missed my blog birthday!
It was yesterday, and I totally forgot.
Here is my annual fifth lamp photoalso, fifth lamp eastalso, fifth lamp southThis is a new one, it's from the fifth lamp down the road from the high bridge on my way home along the bluff.


I know everyone says it, but it's true-
I have met so many wonderful people through doing this blog, virtual and in the flesh, and it has really been great.
So, thanks for hanging out with me!
These three years have been lots of fun!

From the Fifth Lamp Down

Newer readers, and not so new ones too, might not know that this blog began as a place to share crafty stuff, but also as a year-long photography project.
My aim was to take a photo a day, wait no, a week, alright a month from the same place on the High Bridge in Saint Paul.
I chose the fifth lamp from the top of the bridge for my landmark.
I had hoped to share a fifth lamp photo for my 2nd blog birthday last week, but I just didn't get out there, so this morning I took a walk and here is what I saw.(that's the lamp)

One Year

A it is

Thanks for the comments about the new Fifth Lamp Down photo series.

I look forward to watching the seasons changing over the next year from the East side of the bridge.

dilemma

Well, I have been here in blogland for almost a year now.

I took my first pictures from the Fifth Lamp in October of last year.

Here it is September and I have taken 12 months-worth of Fifth Lamp Photos and I am faced with a dilemma - Do I continue taking photos from my current Fifth Lamp on the West side of the bridge or cross over to the East side?

As you may or may not know, the other side of the Smith Ave Bridge faces glorious downtown Saint Paul, MN.

So then I am presented with a further dilemma - Wide or tight focus?

I can have the full vista as above, or just the Cathedral and Capitol buildings as shown below, a little church and state action,

or the Big Buildings of Downtown and the lovely park across the river on Harriet Island.
I am now asking you all to help me decide.
Please weigh in with your vote.
Let's call the first picture with the full vista picture A, and then B and C as we travel down the page.

I sure do appreciate your help.
See you all soon,
Jess

August from the fifth lamp

Looking a little foreboding as the thunderstorms approach...


See you soon,
Jess

July from the Fifth Lamp

June from the Fifth Lamp and other things.

Hello,

This here is my 100th post!

In honor of that occasion I have devised a give-away.

More on that later.

First things first, here is the Fifth Lamp photo for June-

I was hoping that the Fifth Lamp photo for my 100th post would be of a lovely sunny day with big puffy clouds, but with the husband out of town last week and a stroller with no brakes I was unable to take a picture off of a very slanted bridge on a very busy road last week when we had that kind of weather.

This has been the vista for a few days anyway, and I should allow some honesty about the weather for when I look back on these pics in the future.

One thing about the rain, though I don't know if you can see it here, the forest along the river is a jungle of greeny goodness.

Now, on to the give-away.

I have figured out a way to satisfy my insatiable need to make toys without clogging up the kids' room with anything more.

I would like to give away a rocket.

I designed these last year and I had planned to make them for the craft show that I didn't get in.

The two choices are these: On the right we have a vintage flour sack (I bought it 15-20 years ago, and it was an antique then) and on the left we have the makings of a camouflaged rocket, unable to be detected against the night sky.

My kids really love these rockets and I would love to share them with you all out there.

Please leave a comment saying which color scheme you like better and I will pick a winner at random.

I will close the comments on Friday at 9:00 PM

Thanks for reading and commenting for these past 100 posts, and I hope that we can continue our conversations for many, many more.

Jess

May from the Fifth Lamp part 2

Look at the difference a couple of days makes! Everything is greener and more Spring-y!

While I am talking about green things, can I just give some props to the weeds out there?

The wild violets are blooming and they are a sweet surprise in the middle of the lawn.

Little purple drops of loveliness.

I am also in favor of Creeping Charlie, though I don't think that my neighbors appreciate it.

I love that it fills up the spaces where grass can't or won't grow.

I also love their little blue flowers.

There, I said it.

I am pro weeds!

For this portion of the post I would like my parents and husband to look away.

Are they gone?

O.K.

I am not what you might call a clean freak.

I am not what you might call overly sanitary if it comes right down to it.

I didn't get a lot done today, but I did clean my downstairs windows for the first time this Spring.

It was really satisfying to see the light coming through the windows without the filter of months of grime.

I actually enjoyed it.

It must be Spring Fever,

talk to you soon,

Jess.

May from the Fifth Lamp

I'm gonna have to take more Fifth Lamp Photos this month than I did last month.

Spring is creeping in little by little and I am going to miss the trasformation if I'm not especially vigilant.

This is my favorite time of the year, when the trees look a little blurry with their tiny buds and leaflets.

See you again,

Jess.

April From the Fifth Lamp

Optimism

Maybe that 6 inches of snow we're expecting tonight won't stick...

March from the fifth lamp

The Pity Party ends today.

Hello.

I have been wallowing.

Sorry.





The weather is turning around here in Saint Paul.


I really like February. This is Winter's last stand and the battle with Spring is raging.


Monday morning we had lovely dense fog and the temp was in the higher 20s.

















The hug-a-bugs and myself went out for a lovely walk.


The fog was thick enough that we couldn't see across the Mississippi.















This is the storied Fifth Lamp. As you can see, visibility is at about 20 feet.


What greater harbinger of Spring can we have than fog? Maybe birdsong.

It doesn't register with me that we haven't heard birdsong for a while until I hear it again. Beautiful.
This morning it is pretty cold, but I can see an afternoon walk in our future! I think I'll look for the binoculars and we can have a Bird search.

On another note, I have finished the second installment of the Love From Wooly project-
A hat for Bobby the Bat.















Wishing a glimpse of Spring to you all,
Jess

Je vais a Paris aujourd'hui

There is a parisian-themed doll-clothes swap going on over at Sugar City Journal, and I received my first package today!

Thanks Lynne!

The Elder Hug-a-Bug couldn't wait to fill the purse with Duplos.

We had a lovely day today. The Hug-a-Bugs and myself went to the Como Park Conservatory.

It is always soul-nourishing to go to such a beautiful place.

For those of you who haven't been there before, it is a glass house full of gardens. There is a room full of ferns and a room with a terrific fish pond.

My favorite room is The Sunken Garden, seen here in a photo by the Elder Hug-a-Bug. They have different flower displays every 2 months.

Right now there are hundreds of giant Stargazer Lilies and azaleas and other pink and purple delights.

One other excitement lately is the shift in the weather.

There has been a little more warmth and a lot more sunshine!

Have a terrific Thursday!

Jess