Layers at My Back: Hair & Snow

I love layers!  In today’s post, I want to give a big shout out to both my hairstylist and Mother Nature for the layers of beauty they have created in my life this weekend.

Yay Tara!

First, thanks Tara Tobin, who is now working out of The Head Room on LeMarchant Rd.  This is the 3rd salon I follow her to since I first found her 3-4 years ago.  She’s an artistically inclined humming pixy who loves playing in my hair.  How great is that!? Although I never really see the back of my head, I love all the layers she’s created back there.  As you can see, I’ve kept the long wisps at the front that give me the impression that I still have my long hair when I look at myself, without all the trouble of managing it.  Here’s the latest evolution of the hairstyle I adopted when I first put scissors into it myself back in Saskatoon (before going to a hairdresser a few weeks later to have it cleaned up  a bit… OK, a lot!) – artistic yet feminine, wash & go.

no, that’s not a beard!

Yay Mother Nature!

Although many of you have been cloaked in a word of white for a while now, this weekend’s snow in St. John’s is the first that has lasted more than a day. It’s soooo beautiful, and I don’t need to look further than my backyard to appreciate it!  Surprisingly, it’s still here the day after.  You see, Newfoundland is famous for its wind that sometimes has me leaning at a 45 degree angle on my walks to the bus stop.  Amazingly, there hasn’t been any wind at all these past two days, and so Nature’s shawl is still resting gently on its limbs.

On Saturday morning, as I stepped out of my room and looked into our backyard, I was in absolute awe.  I had my iPhone in my hand as I was heading to the basement for my morning yoga/rebounding routine.  It’s also my music player and my point-and-shoot camera.

I hadn’t gotten through my full routine when I noticed the light changing outside, so I jumped into my snow gear and headed to the back yard with my real camera gear.  I had to put that aside for a few minutes as the ducks were already there waiting for their morning feeding, and I just couldn’t keep them waiting any longer. My housemate Orinda buys big bags of duck feed for them in the winter, and the first pair come right up to the back steps the day of the first snow every year to let her know that it’s that time.  During the warmer seasons, they stay in Bowring Park where loads of people feed them, but they come down the river in the winter and sleep near here as both Orinda and the neighbour across the river lay out their daily buffet.

I then took a few pictures and just enjoyed being amongst the many birds who come to the hanging feeder.

After a while though, my stomach called me in for breakfast, so I continued my birdwatching (and photographing) from the sofa in the living room.  Yup, the lazy way.  We get so many birds here everyday, and even more since Orinda discovered David Suzuki’s recipe for a peanut butter based Fat Block Bird Feeder that’s been quite the hit around here.  She spreads it on a board and covers it with a net so that the crows don’t just take the whole thing away all at once.

This morning, sitting on the sofa in the warm sun with my camera by my side and a book on my lap (Deepak Chopra’s “Buddha” that Orinda had on her shelf), I continued to revel in the layers of winter’s wonderland -so much to be grateful for!