I have been trying to figure out what my next theme will be for painting - I love having themes related to stories and literature so that I can be inspired by imagery from quotes and passages. For now though, I'm going to stick with crows, barns, and skeleton trees, since that's what is all around me out here in Minn.

Last night Matt and I went to the last candle light event of the winter, at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, just north of Duluth, MN. It was a full moon, and candles lit the path along the shoreline, through the woods, and up to a beautiful overlook of the bay.

This morning I woke up to see that all the trees were covered in ice, so I immediately grabbed the camera and went out for a long walk before it melted.

I can see the tips of icicles when I look out any of our windows. And it seems like the crows are even louder these days. The other day they were so loud that I felt I'd be missing out if I didn't go watch them for a while at the park down the street from us. I'm always hoping they'll be spookily perched on the playground equipment...but so far I've only seen them in the trees.

The Luminary Loppet in Minneapolis was by far my favorite winter ski event. I loved the lantern lined trails, the warming stations with hot chocolate & cookies, and just being outside with tons of people on a winter night.

Yesterday we drove to Menomonie WI for their annual candle light ski event, which was just as much fun as I hoped it'd be. Sadly all my ski photos are too dark. The only ones I have from the trip are the ones I took from the car window on the drive there. Now I have to research the best way to take good night shots so I can document the next candle light event.

I was feeling a little sad that I didn't have any fun trips to look forward to, so I was researching things to do in the area and discovered the Candle Light Events hosted by the Minnesota and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. You can ski, snowshoe, or hike along a candle lit trail, and there's usually a fire and hot chocolate to warm you up. Matt and I are going to our first candle light event in Menomonie WI tomorrow, where I'll be taking my own pictures, but here's a few pics of other candle light events I found on flickr, by these flickr photographers: y entonces, Bl@ck Coffee , rkupbens.