FRIDAY OPEN THREAD: What Scene Are You Viewing?

Hello melting snow people! Wait — are you melting? Maybe not. It’s still pretty cold out there, especially if you live on the East Coast.

ANYHOW. This is my very first time hosting a Friday Open Thread! This week, we’re gonna talk about Scenic Views. I am so excited to spend my night in here with y’all! And also, if I’m going to be completely honest, I’m a little nervous, too. Y’all have a whole little world in here! That’s so great! Thank you for having me! If you’re an FOT lurker, post something today and we can be newbies together!

I really wanted to show you all these pictures I took while driving around the US. I wrote a little bit about the weirdo things I saw on it and some feelings I had on it, but there are all these PHOTOS:

I-90, South Dakota

I-90, South Dakota

Lady LeWinDa MilkZalot, in summer shades, looks out towards the windfarm over Lowville, NY

Lady LeWinDa MilkZalot, in summer shades, looks out towards the windfarm over Lowville, NY

First view of the Pacific Ocean at Florence, OR

First view of the Pacific Ocean at Florence, OR

View from David's roof, Tucson, AZ

View from David’s roof, Tucson, AZ

El Paso, TX and Juarez, Chihuahua - Just below the horizon, a little to the right of the center of the photo, you can see a red sculpture, and to the left of that, you can see the US/Mexico Border, plowing its way between the cities.

El Paso, TX and Juarez, Chihuahua – Just below the horizon, a little to the right of the center of the photo, you can see a red sculpture, and to the left of that, you can see the US/Mexico Border, plowing its way between the cities.

This is a cat on a homonationalist flag. Very scenic.

This is a cat on a homonationalist flag. Very scenic.

Suggestive redwood. #vulvatrees Humbolt State Park, California

Suggestive redwood. #vulvatrees Humbolt State Park, California

And now I want to see YOUR scenic views. Post your photos in the comments! “Scene” and “view” is up for wide interpretation. Some ideas I had that might fall into the category of “scenic view” include, but are most certainly not limited to:

  • mountains
  • oceans
  • train tracks
  • trains
  • the view from your roof
  • the view from your car
  • the pizza you just ordered
  • the kale you just cooked
  • your genderfriend smiling all cute at you from across the bed
  • your baby sleeping on the dog
  • the pile of snow you just shoveled that is so large it reaches your second-story window

I am extra interested in people who live in warm places and near beaches to post pictures of views that connote “warm” and “sun” because I have been in a state of near-frozen for the past several weeks here in Philadelphia.

Also this is a PSA that it’s the last Friday of February! Tomorrow is the last day of February! Have you sent your rent check yet? Get it in the mail! Come Monday it’ll already be March! Just do it now. We’ll wait.

How To Post A Photo In The Comments:

1. Find a photo! This is the easy part. Find a photo on the web, right click (on a Mac, control+click), hit “Copy Image URL” and then…

2. Code it in to your comment! Use the following code, and use a DIRECT LINK to the image. Your image link should end in .JPG or .GIF or .PNG or .CallMeWhateverYouWant even. I don’t care, but it should be an image suffix! KINDA LIKE THIS:

If you need to upload the photo you love from your computer, try using imgur. To learn more about posting photos, check out Ali’s step-by-step guide.

How To Post A Video In The Comments, Too:

1. Find a video on YouTube or Vimeo or WHATEVER and click “embed.” Copy that code, but first make sure it’s for 640 px wide or less. If your player is too large, it will not display properly.

2. Copy the code and paste it directly into your comment.

3. Go forth and jam.

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Maddie

Autostraddle staff writer. Copy editor. Fledgling English muffin maker. Temporary turtle parent. Zine creator. Swings enthusiast. Political human who cares a lot about healthcare and queer anti-carceral feminisms. I asked my friend to help me write this bio and they said, "Good-natured. Friend. Earth tones." Another friend said, "Flannel babe. Vacuum lover. Kind." So. Find me on Twitter or my website.

Maddie has written 100 articles for us.

181 Comments

  1. I have no pictures yet, but perhaps I shall take one for you. For I am about to see miles and miles of surburbia sprawl, desert, and bright sunny skies. Because it is damned well an hour one way to drive to my barber and I need a haircut like three weeks ago. *le sigh*

    I really wish there were better AZ resources for queer friendly barbers (and ones that weren’t in Anthem or downtown). I love my queer friendly barbers but two hours for a haircut is killing me.

    • v excited about desert sprawl.

      sorry about your lack of barber availability! is there any possibility of maybe finding a friend who lives closer who could trim your hair between more professional cuts? i finally have a friend who’s great at cutting hair who lives close and we get together every month or so and she trims my hair and i buzz her undercut and then we have lunch.

      • I’m ahead of you and alas, behind you all at the same time. The only friends I have who are good at it are the people I drive ridonkulous amounts to visit.

        But Rey’s made a suggestion that is much closer so maybe this will work out for my between times touch ups.

        Now, to see if I can figure out how to make pictures of sprawling desert vistas transfer from my phone to my computer and thus to your eyes…

      • Okay, so not my picture, because my SD card is currently full of hate. But this is exactly a place I drove by today and looks pretty much dead on for how it looked today.

        I drove by and tried to will you sunshine, warm breezes, and the need to have your AC on just a little bit like I did while driving

    • i have no idea if tempe / phx in AZ is at all convenient to you, but i highly recommend Carlyn’s on Mill Ave. It’s a one-chair old-school barber shop and she is great; reviews online.

      • Significantly closer than Anthem. :) Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll check her out next time I need a trim!

  2. I’m not much of a photo-taker, but my scenic views this weekend will be focused very specifically on the LEGO sets my grandmother is paying me to build. She buys them to decorate my cousin’s physical therapy room, but she doesn’t have the patience or the fingers to do them herself. Luckily for her, I quite enjoy it, so she pays me for gas and my time and I get to chill at her house and play video games and eat junk food and feel like I’m 12 again.

      • I promised I would have pictures and pictures I have!

        I built more sets than I could count this weekend, but these are the highlights:

        Metalbeard’s Sea Cow from the LEGO Movie.

        A Detective’s Office. It might not look it, but this baby was over 2000 pieces and man did my fingers hurt after.

        And here’s my cousin’s PT room! This was 2 years ago but it mostly looks the same.

        The weekend was kind of a wash, because my grandmother decided it was a great time to voice the following complaints:

        -There are too many gay people on TV.
        -Gays are indoctrinating our children in the schools.
        -Gays are shoving it down society’s throats.
        -They are allowing trans* people to use the bathrooms of their choice in school.
        -Gay activists don’t care about “the situation in the middle east”
        -Gays think everyone hates them but it’s not hate to disagree with their lifestyle.
        -Gay marriage will lead to legal bestiality.

        I am reconsidering ever going back to my grandma’s house by myself. I love my grandmother but I don’t want to subject myself to another rant like that. The worst thing is this came out of the blue; my grandmother has always been incredibly supportive of me and my sexuality. But I guess that doesn’t extend to the rest of “my people”. (“Your people only care about themselves, granddaughter, they don’t care about anyone else’s issues.”)

  3. The only scene I keep seeing is the HTGAWM finale. I can’t even handle it. I have so many feelings. Please tell me I’m not the only one DYING FROM THE FEELINGS AND QUESTIONS AND AGHHHHHHH.

    • Really sorry I can’t help you with your feelings on this one. I don’t know anything about HTGAWM because it is too scary. I DO appreciate that tweets about HTGAWM were the only thing that could even remotely compete with talk of The Dress last night.

  4. Snowing north of Dallas…. again! …..But the daffodils are blooming…. so it should be SPRING…. right? RIGHT?
    :(

    • I’m in North Dallas too .. and the snow is officially a couple of inches now .. which I unpleasantly had to walk the dogs thru. Make it go away.

      • Poor daffodils. My mother was saying that she had picked hers to put in vases inside before the bad weather hit– it just flattens them and does them in around here. They’re my official first sign of spring, though. (fingers crossed)

  5. I don’t know if this counts…but I was actually looking at pictures from my trip to Ireland. This one is of me once I made it to the gap when I hiked the Gap of Dunlop in Killarney. So beautiful – can I go back? Like tomorrow?

    • That’s once place I wish I visited when I backpacked across Ireland and U.K. Looks like a cool place to visit. Did you go to the castle there?

      • I did! The Ross Castle right? It was very cool, I had just been at the Rock of Cashel the day before so I didn’t go in. Come to think of it, I think I started to go in but the boat for the first leg of the trip was about to take off. Killarney and Dingle were my favorites in Ireland, where’d you visit?

        • I did many cities in Scotland and England, but in Northern Ireland I was staying at a suburb of Belfast(Clipper Town I think) then visited Giants Causeway. Then went down to Trim in County Meath in the Republic of Ireland. Very small town with a castle there(a part of Braveheart was filmed there). Then I was in another small town, before going to Dublin.

  7. This is what it looks like here in North Carolina. We’re very confused here about this amount of snow. My dog is not confused, but deeply in love with the snow and he won’t accept that it will go away.

    But more importantly, this is what I am wearing today and I am excited about it. My girlfriend got me pocket squares for Valentine’s day and I love them!

    • I’m just telling everyone North Carolina is closed until either the snow goes away or we figure out what to do with ourselves. It better melt fast, because we all know that we’ll never actually figure out how to handle the snow.

      Also, I’m loving the pocket square!

    • I love your glasses and the blue frames!!!! and the matching pocket square! And your, sweet happy smile!!!!

    • People here also keep posting a meme announcing that the state is closed. I went to Publix the day before the snow, and it was out of milk, bread, and beer. As in none at all of those three items. (fortunately, coffee creamer was present and accounted for)

      I love the pocket square color with that scarf: great contrast.

      • I get all my glasses on Zenni Optical! They are like $30 a pair, you just have to know what your prescription is. I love it because I have three pairs and it’s much cheaper than a physical store. Plus it wasn’t a huge deal when my dog chewed on a pair. I have teal, blue, and black glasses. I would definitely recommend it!

  8. my current scenic view is snow for days.. but your photos just made me super excited because I’m currently planning my very own epic road trip across the country for this summer!! and I’m so excited! Also, tonight I’m going to my girlfriend’s grad school prom.. should be fun to get dressed up and dance! Happy Friday y’all!

      • too many exciting things to pick just one! I’m very excited to go to New Orleans.. and Nashville.. I’m from Connecticut so it will be a different world down therr.

  9. I was laid off two weeks ago and haven’t been able to find a job. Quite depressing. Since then, I’ve been pretty much living at my parents lake house so I can avoid the world, wallow in peace, apply for jobs in peace, take advantage of their cable, and drink my way through their booze.

    • damn.

      One of my major goals is to go to Glacier before the glaciers melt. I couldn’t get there on this trip because even though I was IN Montana for a few days, Glacier was just TOO FAR for the amount of time I had. Some day.

      • Yeah. this is slightly cheating as it is not my current “viewable scene.” But it is my desktop background!

      • It really is gorgeous. I also have some pictures taken as we went up the Going-to-the-Sun Road, but I think they are on a hard drive lurking in the very terrible depths of my desk at home :\

        Also, protip: don’t drive up the road with someone with severe problems with heights in the car. It will make them very upset and the memory of the event will breed resentment for all time (sorry Mom!)

  11. I’m currently in a beach in South America melting off and I’m pretty happy about it even though I usually hate both sand and people and beaches happen include both

  12. I just can’t anymore. Like this cold is too much. Currently: Frozen Tundra.

    Where I’d like to be: Somewhere that is actually experiencing spring. What is that? Will I ever feel warmth again?

    Fun Fact: I actually wear long johns (long underwear? Whatever you call the pants type things to keep warm) like every day. Why do I live here again?

    Dramatization: I don’t really live on the Planet Hoth. Just in case you were wondering.

    Thank you for giving me this outlet to express my feelings on the cold and why I live in a cold place.

  13. my views are about to get clearer! picking up my new glasses today. I haven’t had any in like a year and a half out of some misguided idea that if I didn’t get my previous, ancient pair fixed, I’d be forced into hurrying up and getting a new prescription. yeahhh.

    as far as actual views, Wednesday it snowed! I live in Mississippi so that’s actually an exciting thing. I can’t tell you how many snow and snowman pictures I saw on facebook. this was the view from my apartment’s balcony:

    did anyone else see yesterday’s llama escapades in Arizona? I watched probably a solid 10 minutes of the live stream. I laughed, I cried; it was amazing.

    • Lets see if I can get the picture thing right this time. I saw this picture on twitter, the caption was “the internet today summarized in one photo.” It made me giggle. The llamas were pretty fantastic.

    • Omg, llamas are FAST!! hehe And apparently unaware of the statistics about quadraped traffic deaths in Arizona!!
      The llama “wranglers” had a little “egg” on their face for a bit! :)

    • Between the dress and the llamas yesterday, I really thought Twitter was going to crash and burn. I was on there at about midnight EST (I think?), and it was slow as molasses in January (you said you’re from Mississippi, so that’s for you, me, and any other assorted Southern types).

      I did eventually have to use Google to figure out the dress thing, though. I saw #dressgate trending, and I really did think that something related to Clinton-Lewinsky had somehow come to light.

  14. My view is and will forever be the inside of my calculus textbook because I am dumb as hell and no matter how much I study for my big scary exam on Monday I still can’t remember a damn thing.

    Also Lady LeWinDa MilkZalot is the best name and she is also a fashion icon, like damn, those glasses are on point.

  15. Well this one is from my walk to the bank this week at work. It’s DTLA.

    Pretty sure I shared this, but I took this last month outside my work.

    Right now I am home as I am waiting for the AT&T to finishing upgrading our phone line. Lucky for me House of Cards season 3 just started, so I am going to take the rest of the day off to binge watch as much as I can. :-D

    In other news when my father asked me if I am a man I said I am me, I hope he took that as a hint I don’t identify as male and that I am agender/genderqueer, but he just got mad I didn’t give me a straight answer(what do you expect I am queer as fuck). lol

    Thank you for viewing and reading you adorable humans!

  16. I do not live anywhere remotely warm (maine is a chilly world of snow and darkness). But! I do get to look out onto the ocean every single day

  17. I’m checking the people and
    planes of Charlotte-Douglas Airport, waiting for my connecting flight to Roanoke. I can see the (presumably) Charlotte skyline from the waiting area. I’m on the last leg of a whirlwind tour of grad schools along the East Coast. All of the positivity pleaseeee. I’m super nervous about interviewing for GA positions. Pics to come once I have Wi-Fi/upload to my laptop.

  18. Autostraddle, this week I found out for SURE that I am pregnant and I am having ALL THE FEELINGS at everyone. I have cried in Target and laughed hysterically at a Planned Parenthood nurse and I, FOR ONE, am super glad the week is a mere three hours away because I need a nap.

  19. Good evening folks. Allegedly its nearly spring here, or so the confused weather suggests. We have crocuses popping up across the parks which is delightful. Last Saturday Missus, pooch and I went for a walk in the local pine wood, here are some views of the woods and the dales and the dog in the woods.

    It was a delightful bright crisp day. This Sunday we’re off to a car show to look at Volkswagens…a whole different type of picturesque.
    Today I looked at pictures of baby animals and made layers do my bidding in Photoshop. (Semi pretending my MA work will do itself due to vast quantities of Dayjob work)
    Hope everyone had a great week and has an even greater weekend.

  20. I’m at work right now for a Friday matinee (what?), and I have a night show, too. My current view is a black curtain. Perhaps during my 2.5 hour break this evening, I’ll take a picture of Greenwich Village (NYC). Happy eventually-it-might-get-warm-in-the-next-millennium!

    • I….I was so confused at first, because I genuinely saw “manitee” instead of matinee.

      It is too cold for manitees.

  21. View from where I’m sitting/working in the galley:

    View out the galley window:

    Nothing too exciting, just docked at Petersburg. But hopefully by this time next week I’ll have photos of the fairy forest that is Port Alexander.

    • I wish I took plane pics but I’m always petrified of using any gadgets in the plane in case we all DIE! I need to get over this because these are so beautiful.

    • whenever i look at plane photos my brain doesn’t know if it should panic because PLANES or be calmed because of how beautiful it all is.

  23. Here is a view of all the snowy yards down our road. The snow is pretty and it means we’ve been out of school for the past two days. I didn’t even have to go in for a workday.

    And, this has nothing to do with scenic views, but this morning I got two tickets to see Sam Smith in July! Annnnd, my best friend is going to be able to go with me. I’m so excited!

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqqOZbMWesI&w=560&h=315%5D

  24. OK, if this picture works I can give you sea and beach and mountains all at once! Not my photo, but this is where I currently live – the Basque bit of Spain.

    (Note: yes it is stunningly beautiful, but it has rained almost non-stop for months and is currently much wetter and greyer and more like British weather than anything else. Except it’s also windier, so the rain goes sideways.)

    • Is that San Sebastian?

      I have very fond memories of delicious pintxos from the bars there, less fond memories of getting drenched in the rain, and no memories at all of what happened for hours after I drank the local cider.

      • Oh my goodness the pinxos in San Sebastián! I ate so many delicious things without having any idea what they were because it got ridiculous asking over and over what each individual pinxo was, and it all tasted amazing anyway. Such good memories of the food and swimming in the sea there, must go back one day!

    • I was always curious about Basque country because it’s a part of my heritage. It’s absolutely gorgeous- great photo!


  25. That’s last July. During pride is the only time a year that Munich’s neogothic city hall opens its doors to the public.
    And it does so for the official party! There are several dance floors and lounges hidden away in staircases, or conference rooms, and the inner courtyard, for that matter, but no matter how many pictures I try to take, I never do the event justice.
    This picture (hopefully) shows the Ballroom Dance Floor, a converted conference room with wood paneling, hardwood floors and a gigantic Renaissance (?) painting, dedicated to Salsa,Tango, Foxtrott and their friends. Watching so many same sex couples ballroom dancing makes me want to take a Tango class harder than watching Dirty Dancing makes me want to take a Mambo class.That’s saying something.

    And if the second one works as well, it shows a bridge where people are sitting on pipes and chatting, drinking beer and watching the sun set over the train tracks.
    There’s usually someone playing the cello or violin in the summer as well.
    I went there to watch the sun set today, because sun! Berlin doesn’t usually get as cold or snowed in, but we don’t see the sun for weeks and months at a time, because it’s just slate grey and wet/cold with very little daylight in the winter.

    That’s taken from a car window on the autobahn while traveling home with friends from a friend’s summer wedding last year. Let’s just say, Germans are super happy whenever the sun shines:-)
    I hope the pictures made it, and that you’re having a wonderful next week.
    xo

  26. I’m in Seattle and I hike a lot with my buddies when the weather permits. We try to take the dog as often as we can too. Since she is the most photogenic being out of our lil group, here are a few pictures of her at Olallie Lake in Washington. Her name is Boo and she is a lovable mutt. (German Shepherd, Pitbull, Border Collie, and some kind of spaniel. No heeler – common question.)

    Also this is a link to the first and only successful panorama picture I’ve ever taken. It is from a fall trip to Cape Disappointment. Click here to avoid stretching the screen!

    • Absolutely beautiful! I’m heading out to Seattle this summer; planned on doing some hiking or venturing outside of the city, I’m definitely going to look into these two spots!

    • Oh! Cutie Boo, she looks like she might have some Australian Blue Cattle dog in her genes. Also known as Blue Heelers. Just thought I’d say .

  27. Currently sitting inside of my apartment. One side of my apartment is sunny and the other half is dark due to the incoming rain clouds. I can’t wait for summertime. There will be lots of Popsicle eating, river swimming, cut off jeans and the rubbing my wife down in suntan lotion..

  29. In the last fortnight I found out that I have cancer, started chemo and moved back in with my folks for while I have treatment.

    But the upshot is that they live a 4 minute walk from this beach…

    I’m winning at views, losing at life. Could be worse : )

    • Merqueen, please don’t think you are losing at life. All of us here are going to now feel connected to you as you take on this disease. To all of us, you are a brave woman , and we all know you are not a loser at anything!

    • Wow, that’s a lot. We’re here as you push to get through this. For what it’s worth, I’m sending positive vibes your way!

    • Just imagine this space says whatever you need to hear, because I really don’t know what to say. Just honestly wishing you the best.

  30. I wish I had some good current snow scenery pics, but my love of ridiculous mounds of Pennsylvania snow is cancelled out by my hatred of everything else about Pennsylvania, so I don’t really take photos of it. So, here’s some scenery from last May when I was in Iceland. I want to believe they’re properly dreary and wet this time of year.


    The village of Vik, which is adorable.


    The beach at Vik, which I do not have nearly a good enough camera to justice to.


    Reykjavik (or possibly the suburbs? We were walking and got lost and possibly ended up in a neighboring town.) street art.

    • that mural is incredible. i feel like i know a lot of people who have fled PA in winter to go to iceland. what’s that about?

      • Haha, if anything, it’s probably because the cost of everything tourism-related on that island triples between May and September! That, and apparently they don’t get such extreme seasonal temperature changes like we do? I think? I was looking at weather forecasts and even their northern cities are warmer than central PA is right now.

  31. The only views open to me currently are a room reminding me it’s in dire need of a good cleaning and dirty-half melted snow outside my window. But there’s a beautiful blue sky out and I can see the city skyline perfectly from where I’m sitting, although I am unable to take a proper picture of it. Instead I’ve been taking some nice photos of myself this week, to ground myself and remind me to stay confident and true to myself. Here’s one of my favorites, if it loads:

    In other news, I have a paper I’ve barely started due in four days, a monologue to prepare for juries in three weeks (juries are basically where the arts faculty at my school watch me perform and review me and determine and whether or not I’ll be in the intensive acting program next year), and my director has asked me to compose a seductive dance for a portion of our show. I’ve never intentionally seduced anyone before, so if anyone has any tips I’d be much obliged.

    • Well, maybe this helps:
      The go to for a seductive dance, would probably be a striptease.
      The classical version of a strip tease would probably be “the dance of the seven veils”, a very old oriental dance.
      Another option, or even additional option is to feature an object, like a chair, or yes, a pole, walls, beams,cars,other dancers whatever you got.Just maybe not a gymnastics ball,or something like that.
      Music, whatever you choose to do ought to feature a strong rhythm, which is not too fast and not too smooth! Sade, while otherwise sexy might not be the best choice, for example.
      There is the iconic “You can leave your hat on” scene by Kim Basinger, I once saw a performance with Garbage’s Number One Crush,that was just amazing, and check out the “Ma Fini Fakker” scene in “I Can’t Think Straight”, which makes me wonder how anyone can listen to that song in the car without blushing.
      I guess the most important thing is that you, or whoever performs, feels sexy with the music.
      My first association to your topic was Xena,by the way.
      There’s a clip that’s a lot less racy with just dancing in it, but my ipad is impersonating a ten year old laptop lately, so this will have to do.The ep the girls are giving their (partially funny) class on seductive dancing in is called “Who’s Gurkan?”, btw.
      So here’s a motivating impression and good luck!

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PRs8X-HglvI

  33. I went through my old-school Livejournal, and while that was mostly a visit to the angst dungeon, I have some lovely photos from when I studied abroad in Italy:

  34. This is what it looks like here in the winter.

    I’m over it and so ready for the summer.

    We’re pretty much gonna live on the banks of the lake!

  35. Tonight’s view is, well, less than exciting. Already in pajamas doing work on the laptop. So how about this view from my neighborhood earlier this week? Welcome to Queens!

  37. My scenic view tonight is my tv and ceiling because I had to have an emergency surgery this week. On the upside, I’m happy because I got admitted to one of my dream PHD programs. So on the balance, good week despite surgery

  38. A pic I took of my brother visiting family in NYC a few years ago. If I ever put my cruise photos on my computer, I will have beautiful scenic photos!

  41. This is probably one of the only times I’m happy I live in Australia where it’s currently summer and HOT AS HELL. Here’s a pic by the water taken a couple of weeks ago

  42. I’m just working on hw and house chores type stuff today but last weekend I took (more like planned and navigated, she drove) my gf on a sf/marin headlands hiking adventure for our anniversary and caught this pic of her in front of the golden gate bridge :)

    I hope everyone is keeping warm/cool/the appropriate temperature to maintain a healthy core temp! Drink water if you can!

  43. I’m a true wimp when it comes to cold, and it’s been unusually cold for these parts this past week or so. We’ve had two separate fairly heavy snow episodes aka blizzards (no), which has throw everything into closing/delay chaos. I’m mostly wearing an alarming assortment of clothing items, hiding under blankets, and drinking absurd amounts of coffee.

    I don’t have many stunning images, because I haven’t really been out and about. This is the second snow, night of, but unfortunately I didn’t catch it before it got walked on.

    They’re all pretty sameish, really, but this one’s up close:

    I also managed to crash (and total) my car Wednesday. Because of city police/highway patrol jurisdiction stuff, we were all on the scene for a long time. The conditions were perfectly clear when it happened, but the snow started while we were standing around. A news van eventually came super-slowly down the interstate, clearly looking for “Southerners can’t drive in snow!” footage, and there we were, Exhibit A– but there was no snow involved in the actual incident. Neither I nor the other guy wanted to be on the 6 o’clock news, so we started jumping and waving at the van, grinning like crazy– they moved along. (yes, that was insane behavior, but we were stressed, tired, cold, and very much wanted to just go home)

    My commitment to mature behavior has persisted into today.

  44. I live in Montana, which has recently gone back to frozen tundra status after a few weeks of warmer weather. Even though I can only feel my toes ~30% of the time, I live in possibly the most gorgeous place in the country, so here a few pictures from around my town the past few weeks.

    • I have some friends that just moved to Montana in December and they’ve been pushing me to visit, and I’ve been “ehhhhh maybe to visit you guys, provided adequate funds this fall”, but after seeing your photos my feelings have been upgraded to “also for visiting purposes because it looks so pretty”, so thanks for those gorgeous photos.

  45. You wouldn’t want to see what I’ve been looking at all week (a computer screen and a working infographic file explaining the difference between RGB vs CMYK vs Pantone.)

    However, to keep on topic:
    I had the fantastic idea of eating my lunch at the beach a few weeks ago:

    Damn these So Cal winters!

    But yeah, those birds started to sneakily get closer and closer. What you don’t see is a huge gang of pigeons behind me that were just waiting for me to drop a fry. Suffice it to say, I ate pretty quickly.

  46. Ooh, I like this thread because it means lots of photos! So here’s my view from a few days ago (before the rain came) of Mt. Rainier towering over my city. It’s from Ruston Way, a scenic street along Commencement Bay, a short drive from my apartment. It’s got a mountain AND the beach! Best of both worlds. I can’t say it’s exactly “warm” here, but it’s certainly not as cold as Philadelphia and the rest of the eastern half of the country.

    Also! I discovered the coolest thing last week! Audiobooks from the library! I mean, I knew it existed, but I never really bothered to try it out. I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. Now, I can “read” while driving or hiking or working in the lab or doing chores… This is so cool! My brain feels so productive! Seriously, why didn’t I try this sooner?

    I’m not a big fiction person, but I love learning new things, so I’ve been listening to a lot of science or psychology-related stuff. I’m really enjoying “Musicophilia” by Oliver Sacks (about music and the brain) and “Hidden Realities” by Brian Greene (about string theory and parallel universes, but at enough of a non-technical level that non-physicists can read it).

    Other than that, this week has been good. I think my Women in STEM panel at my alma mater went well, and it was nice reconnecting to alumni and professors that I knew from undergrad. (Photo of the school below, a chapel in a central square).

  47. Nothing to exciting to show you lovely people besides the damn snow lol.

    my morning drive for the last couple of days

    • O-O

      Kill it with fire is not a logical response to seeing pictures of snow on the ground or a road, but it’s still my response.

  48. It’s tundra for dayyyysssss here, and it’s not even the pretty tundra right after a snow because the snow’s gone all compressing and it might get above freezing this week! For the first time in over a month! But this means more slush and ice and blech. (However, above freezing could mean thawing of rivers so I might actually get to paddle over spring break in 2 weeks so yeah, thaw baby thaw).

    My other vista has been the lab and the interior of the library because everything is awful and I have so much to do.

  49. I’m living in Wenatchee, Washington. It’s the type of town that when you tell people you live there, they apologize. My caption for this was “Stupid snow. I see you up there. Best stay where you are.” until a friend pointed out that I wouldn’t be able to get across the pass to Seattle if it snowed to much. I took it back. I will suffer snow for months if I can visit Seattle only a week.

  51. I feel a bit of an ingrate now, I was thinking this morning that today is the last day of official summer, whoopee! Two weeks to offical Autumn Equinox. It’s been so hot sticky and nasty here, (Sydney, Australia), I’ve been desperate for cooler weather.
    I’m sorry if all anyone else wants is the sun, you can have mine.

  53. hey all! How is everyone? I’ve been doing great, dealing with the jet lag of being away for a month with my wife is kicking my butt. But seriously guys, this just might be our last year apart! FINGERS CROSSED forever and ever amen

    Most of the photos I want to share with you guys are inaccessible at the moment. they’re all on my hard drive but the comp is on the fritz. I think I gotta go back to a tower already. But how are you doing!!!

    I’m excited Camp is coming up. It’s SLIGHTLY raining in Socal right now. I miss our cats also.

  54. I haven’t contributed to one of these threads before, but I think it’s about time – if only due to the fact that the majority of people who come to my University come to it for the scenery. It’s not exactly warm, due to it being in Scotland, but this is the warmest picture of it I could find that was also clear.

    There’s also this place, which is relevant due to visiting it yesterday. It’s not the most happy of places to visit due to memories attached to it, but it’s seriously beautiful. The town around it is made up of just a row of cottages and a hotel – which was unfortunate, as there’s nothing around for miles, and we broke down on the way back home, in minus four temperatures. Still. Pretty.


  55. I WISH I had sunny/warm/beach pictures to post. I had a dream last night where I went to the beach and all my family and friends were there (along with a lot of jellyfish). Too bad I can’t post pictures of my dreams on Autostraddle. Someday…

    My real life has been the opposite of scenic this week. Think hours of mindless TV-watching because it’s too cold to go anywhere, and walks to work where I can barely see anything because my hat is pulled down almost over my eyes and my scarf is wrapped around my face. Can you tell I’m tired of winter :)

  56. Does it count as a scene if it’s my face in the mirror because I got a new haircut and can’t stop staring at myself? Does that make me vain?

    Outside there’s just snow and sadness…and I’m too cold to go take a picture of that :P

  57. Bah I need to get a photobucket, a flickr or something.
    I have stupid pictures of dogs that should be shared like a hearty stew.
    My dog is ridiculous made of feets and LEGS, does a pose I call upside down Counter Chocola. Foster pup is a part chiweenie baby creature who walks like a happy child skipping to recess. Where my dog is all leggs she’s all chest. Like someone tried to make an armada ship into a bireme by adding 4 paddles.

    That is a scenic sorta thing I get to see and if I could find I’d put up a picture that lets you feel like you’re under a southern magnolia. Just a picture of one doesn’t it cut it scenically. A picture under the awnings of a magnolia would help but I can’t find one.

    There’s a magic to trees that can never be outgrown. In summer the trees of City Park feel especially magical because under their canopy 90 degrees feels like 80. The way the light dapples is an all year thing but no less magic.

    I grew up around magnolias and one cypress tree. When I was child I believed it was good luck to find an unbloomed flower pod on the ground and you should peel it open to spread it’s stamens in thanks.
    After a storm, not a hurricane, I discovered something special about cypress seeds. When you step on them in a puddle and oil seeps out. It looks like a tie dye rainbow on glass.
    In me the little flower child who could find beauty in so many things is definitely still there. She can’t be killed.

    Now that I’ve waxed poetic I’m trying to fit in something I know people will find gruesome, but a beautiful thought.
    Sky burial in the trees.

    It’s something I think it was the Tunica use to do and it’s another thing used sometimes to make Myrtles Plantation seem even spookier. Plantations are already spooky if you haven’t had the history scrubbed out or in the unrecognised dusty back of your mind.

    The fact people make money off of haunted plantations disgusts me but it’s better than downing playing human suffering to make a B&B look friendly. Servant’s cabins my ass.

    In personal news my the bottom side of my big toe has decided to grow out an eyelash. No it couldn’t be a normal weird hair, like a mole hair, it had to be an eyelash hair.

  58. I am sickachu

    I have a cold and have found out iron tablets do NOT agree with me. Currently watching Thomas the Tank with my 18 month old. I tried to tire him out yesterday by taking him to the park, beach and grocery shopping but this kid has superman type energy and I was the one who got tired. Phew.

  59. Well, I have a crowdsourcing proposal haha. I have an interview as a camp counselor for a nature camp (FINALLY SOMETHING I WANT) and they want me to bring in a 5 min no supplies activity and a 20-30 min possible supplies activity, both about nature!!! For kids aged 5-11 yrs. I HAVE NO EXPERIENCE IN THIS AND SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED.

    And as a reward, have another picture of my cat ignoring me!

    • Not ignoring, just . . . um, okay, yeah.

      Based on the content of my Pinterest whatever-it’s-called (ex-librarian), lots of my friends post kid-tween-tween library craft idea boards. Of course, the stuff isn’t 100% nature, but there’s a lot that is (since “theme” crafts come up– summer, fall, snow, flowers, etc.). That’s about the right time frame, too. I know from talking to them that they’re getting a lot of that stuff from teachers for that age category, so that might be something else to try. Surely there are web sources for this (?– I’m maybe thinking this sounds like something that would make a for lots of blogs?), and I know we had lots of resource books for these (ref and non-ref) on the shelves (for teachers but also for parents– making this up, but like “101 Easy Nature Crafts for Families). Not sure any of that is any help . . .

      Or I can tell you endless stories of what I did at summer camp every single summer ; )

      • Haha thanks Maggie. Yeah I’ve heard that Pinterest is a good place to look, so I’ll probably check that out for nature-themed stuff. It’s hard when you don’t really know much science-y stuff about nature yourself!

        • I agree– and I’m *really* not at all clear on what science for 5-11 kids is at the moment. That must be tough.

          Just now, to see what happened, I went to Pinterest and typed “nature” in the search bar. One of the first auto-suggestions was “nature/crafts/kids.” Under that, it brings up little boxes (I assume these have names, but I don’t know what– I’m not really up on this) that are labeled “fall” (other seasons), “homemade,” and a bunch of other stuff so you can sort further. I switched the view over from pins (the just individual, random stuff) to boards (the organized collections), and there are tons. Again, that may be no help at all, but I just thought I’d see if anything really did come up there.

          These are the links for what I just found, if they work (crossed fingers):

          https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=nature+crafts+kids

          https://www.pinterest.com/search/boards/?q=nature+crafts+kids

    • i used to work at a science museum, incl summer camp counselor. feel free to pm me if u like for some of the activities we used. the websites for your local schools, museums and libraries might have some good resources for kid’s science activities too, with a little digging or the right person on the phone. good luck with your interview; sounds like a fun job!

  60. Friday night, I went on a Critical Mass bike ride. It was about 26 miles round trip. I snapped this on the way home, going across Tempe Town Lake Bridge (AZ), around 1:00am. Sorry it’s blurry. So was I.

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