It Feels Like This Outside

“Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.” – John Boyle O’Reilly

This year, January, February, and March seem to be competing. They are trying to see who can deliver the craziest weather patterns. So far to me they are in a tie. January brought the ice storm. February brought the record breaking snowfall. March brought the tornadoes. 2026 is shaping up to be a wacky weather year. Another part about this school year that has been crazy is the temperature swings. Just last weekend it was 80 degrees. Today, the high is going to be 50. Just last week I was complaining about it being hot in my classroom. I am sure today that I might need to run my little heater for a moment when I get there. Hopefully the weather will settle down some for the month of March. However, there is one more extreme pattern we experiencing right now, drought. North Carolina has been in a drought for most of the year so far. For the rest of the month, let’s just have some rainy days. We could use the rain without all of the winds and tornadoes.

Today I thought I post some photos of back when Charlotte had it’s last crazy weather event. When we woke up the morning of January 31, it had already started to snow. Most of the ground was already covered at that point. After lunch, we headed out as a family to enjoy the snow. We have had a sled in our shed for 10 years waiting for the moment. We took a few rides on the sled down the hill, and I walked around and took a few photos. The next day, I walked through our neighborhood. I checked how it appeared with snow covering the ground during the daylight. I brought my camera with me again, but this time I used my lens from Retropia. I love this lens because it is lightweight. This makes it perfect to bring with me while on a walk. I also love that it is made from recycled disposable camera lenses. When I capture photos with it, it looks like the shot was captured with a film camera. It has various imperfections in the shot that give it a retro look. I also like how the lens doesn’t need to be focused. Just like an old-school disposable camera, all you have to do is point and shoot.