<p>Good morning.</p>

<p>When I woke up this morning I took a double-take, “Is that snow?” Indeed it had <a href="/2008/12/21/snow-ski-lake/">snowed</a> <a href="/2008/12/19/farms-walk-snow/">again</a> – our flowers and budding bushes and trees endured another bout of Mother Nature’s confusing spring.</p>

<p>On of BI’s annual events occurred this weekend: the <a href="http://www.bichineseconnection.org/">Bainbridge Island Chinese New Year Parade</a>. Parades aren’t really our thing, as a kid I didn’t care for them and my daughter seems to be following right along. We had some friends coming to visit however and the parade seemed like a great place to meet and catch up.</p>

<p>So many old friends came out today, the sun, blue skies, Mt Rainier and an animal!</p>

<p>Since the <a href="/2009/01/19/mochi-mallets-yum/">mochi festival</a> I’ve been honing my <a href="http://animoto.com/">animoto</a> production skills. I like the service quite a bit though there are some improvements I’d love see – an API and a better image browser top the list.</p>

<p>When the storms hit after Christmas the <a href="http://www.bijac.org/index.php?p=EVENTSMochiTsuki">Mochi Tsuki Festival</a> at <a href="http://islandwood.org/">Islandwood</a>, courtesy the <a href="http://www.bijac.org/">Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community</a>, was one of the casualties – fortunately it was just postponed.</p>

<p>Thanks to all the <a href="/2009/01/02/snowdown-saws-show/">well-wishing</a> I walked away pretty thrilled with the outcome of the Mountaineers’ photography show. Three of my photos took awards, including the <strong>Best in Show</strong>:</p>

<p>I haven’t been at the computer or behind the camera recently because I’ve spent the last two weekends clearing the mess left behind from the <a href="/2008/12/21/snow-ski-lake/">storm</a> of the <a href="/2008/12/25/melt-limbs-bombs-away/">century</a> – we had some serious snowdown.</p>

<p>And the snow melts and the winter rains return. Compare the angle of the limbs of the big trees in this photo with the first photo in the previous <a href="/2008/12/21/snow-ski-lake/">post</a> (or mouse-over this photo) – these trees can shoulder a heavy load, until of course they fail and try breaking one of my benches.</p>

<p>As a kid, I fancied myself an Olympic caliber cross-country skier – I wasn’t, but I fancied it anyway. I would sneak out of the house during snow storms to ski at the nearby golf course while pretending I was <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE2D6133EF932A25751C0A96E948260">Josh Thompson</a>, America’s biathlon hero.</p>