Trees in Snow

 Without the varied colours of summer, the winter landscape is about light, shapes, shadows and lines.
Click on photo for full size.

 Dog paths create cliffs that reflect the light.

Hollows form on the leeward side of the tree trunks.

Winter Welcome

 

All's quiet on the home front.  Our two little grandsons went home yesterday with their mom and dad and two dogs.  We managed to get through the holidays with no people needing emergency medical care for illnesses or injury, but our son's dog escaped yesterday and was bitten by the neighbour's dog so we had an emergency visit to the vet.  The dog is sore but ok - nothing that a bit of time and drugs won't fix.

We had snow before Christmas and then got about a foot on the 27th, so there was plenty of snow for the grandsons to play in with their grown -up(?) uncles. The little boys had wild rides on a plastic sled, built a snowman and dug out a snow fort in a snowbank. Of course, all that hard work meant that they needed hot chocolate and marshmallows when they came inside.

I did some major  purging of old posts so that I can put up photos again.  Really didn't like Wordpress. 

 

Fourth Sunday of Advent

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation.

Isaiah 52:7

I wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas, and a New Year full of  adventures,
friendly people,  and exciting things that inspire you to take pictures . I really appreciate the wonderful blogs that I can visit. I know it takes time and effort to keep posting.  
  Thank you so much everyone!
I'm hoping to have photos up again in the new year.

On The Bright Side

Tomorrow will be brighter than today - our days are getting longer.
There is plenty of nasty stuff in the news but let's not forget all the wonderful stuff that's around us:
Full moon shadows on a snowy winter night.
Cheerful chickadees feeding out of our hands.
Silly doggies being goofy.
Children who are curious and full of adventure.
Friends and family watching out for us.
Music to make our hearts sing.
Photos that fellow bloggers share to enrich our days.
The list goes on and on.
Light always dispels darkness.
Darkness can't put out light.

Tardigrade

Tardigrade? you ask.  So did I.  Tardigrade was the answer to a crossword clue, and as I didn't know what it meant, I went searching and found a fascinating little creature.  Picture a manatee about 1 mm long.  Fat body, smooth but folded skin, 8 short fat legs, stubby nose, small round eyes, and all 1 mm long. And we have all probably met the little guy at one time or another.  Tardigrade live in the water or in damp conditions.  So they could be crawling around moss or lichen, or swimming in the local pond.  They eat plants and bacteria. We don't hear about them because they don't bother us.  Wikipedia told me that these amazing creatures can go into suspended animation for years if they dry out.  They can also withstand much more radiation than we ever could, they can live in a vacumn, and as for living in the cold? Well, -200C is ok with them.  Marvelous. Google tardigrade and you will find some very neat pictures of them.  They are also called water bears or moss piglets (love that name).

Third Sunday of Advent

O Little Town of Bethlehem

 How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still
The dear Christ enters in.

Phillips Brooks 1868

Christmas Lights

At the end of a challenging, tiring week, I had my spirits lifted by a beautiful display of Christmas lights in the park of our nearby town.  Different businesses in town participate in putting together the decorations, and homeowners on the opposite side of the street got into the holiday spirit and also had lots of lights on their houses, trees and shrubs.  It all looked quite wonderful and fanciful. I'm hoping to go back on another evening to walk around and  get some pictures.

Triple Date

12-12-12

The last triple date of the century.
 What other triple things are special to me?
Let me think.
My two sisters and I.
Our three (to be) grandchildren
Our three dogs.
The three months of summer (June, July, August)
Three stages of gardening - planting, growing, harvesting
Three meals a day
Waltzes in the beat of 3/4
Cantering on a horse - a 3-beat gait
Sloping roofs that shed snow - triangles on our houses
Three cheers for friends
 The Trinity

Hope you all have a triply wonderful day!

Second Sunday of Advent

Of The Father's Love Begotten

O that birth forever blessed,
When the Virgin full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving,
Bare the Saviour of our race;
And the Babe, the world's Redeemer,
First revealed his sacred face,
Evermore and evermore.

Aurelius Prudentius  4th Century

Rehearsal

A play to be performed.
Hours to prepare, days to practice, years to perfect.
Actors' fumbling is transformed to confidence;
Players' uncertainties are replaced by assurance.
Dress rehearsals,
Final run throughs
Some nerves
But mostly anticipation.
Act I, I know how
Act II, I can handle this
I'm ready for Act III...

But the final scene
Has no preparation.
There is no script
Only an unrehearsed solo.

All Creatures Great and Small

I heard  an amusing recounting of a true tale on the radio today by a man who grew up in Texas.  When he was around 7 years old, he and his buddy decided they wanted to find "dangerous animals". They had some close encounters with a scorpion, a poisonous snake and some tarantulas which proved to be a little too hard on the nerves so they soon opted for more benign animals like turtles.
  It got me thinking about the creatures that shared my childhood.  Growing up in the country, there was no shortage of them.  I had a soft spot for moths and toads as well as butterflies, daddylonglegs and crane flies.  Beetles were interesting but I didn't like June bugs with their sticky feet. Inchworms were funny, and  wooly bear caterpillars  looked so friendly with their brown and black stripes.  I didn't like buzzy things that could sting (I had a bad run in with a yellow jacket nest when I wasn't very old), or biting things that took chunks out of you (deerflies and horseflies) but I developed a pretty high tolerance for mosquitoes and black flies.  You had to in the Laurentians or you would never go out in June or on a summer evening. We had insect repellent spray and nifty sticks of 6-12 repellent, that were the texture of deodorant, that we used around our ears and forehead, so we had some protection, but still the bugs could be pretty bad.
  Down at the local swimming pond, there were lots of frogs to watch or catch, tadpoles to marvel at as they gradually transformed, sleepy turtles to inspect and little minnow fish to nibble our toes.  You never knew what new and interesting bug  or reptile you might see.
Add to all this, the usual animals - horses, cows, sheep, pigs, dogs, cats, birds - that people kept, and the wild animals and birds. There was lots of LIFE to surprise us. 
Pictures of green frog at www.mayjennygarden.wordpress.com

First Sunday of Advent

O come, Desire of nations, bind
All peoples in one heart and mind;
Bid envy, strife and quarrels cease;
Fill all the world with heaven's peace.

13th C latin hymn