In a white out...

We have had us some snow this year.  At this point, we have about three feet on the ground and more on the way this weekend.  To add insult to injury, it has been downright frigid out.  We humans complain about it all the time.  Facebook is covered with snow images and statements of disbelief.  Well, it is winter after all.  I found a couple of creatures who seem to be taking it all in stride.  Heck, for the dark-eyed junco, this is a walk in the park.

The powers that be managed to clear enough snow out of the way to allow the Patriots' Super Bowl celebratory parade to occur yesterday in Boston.  Seems like it is more important to do that than to make sure the schools are open for the kids.  Oh, well...  But a good time was had by all and I'm just happy football season is over.  That means spring is sure to come again and with it the crack of the bat.  Go Red Sox!

This next photo isn't a very good one, but it will give you some idea of what we're dealing with around here AND it gives me the opportunity to link up to The Run*A*Round Ranch's Good Fences.

Aren't you glad you don't have that job in this snowy weather?!

  But while we were in Florida last month, we ran across another Liberty.  It was a first for me.  I've never seen the Statue of Liberty with a mustache.  On the other hand, this Liberty doesn't have to find his way through the snow banks.

Linking up to Theresa's Good Fences!

Bear Alert and other things…

1)  We got a phone call early this morning from a neighbor.  I didn’t get to it fast enough and his message went to voice mail.  Of course, my first thoughts are always of some impending disaster or another when we get early (or late) phone calls.  But fortunately, Vic just wanted to tell us that he spied two bear cubs making their way toward our house.  I’m glad he called.  But by the time I got my glasses on and my thoughts together and went downstairs to find my camera, they had skedaddled.  Actually, I think that they came into our yard and made a turn at the stone wall and went to the beach.   They have been spotted swimming out to Blueberry Island on occasion.  So once again I lost my opportunity to snap at them.  When Olive and I went out to get the paper a little later though, I was on alert and had the Nikon with me.  No bears, which I guess is a good thing really.  A pug wouldn’t be much protection for me and I'm not sure what I could do for the pug if we had a close encounter.

2)  I did manage to get a pretty decent shot of a male Cardinal who was hanging around the yard.  We have a nice Cardinal couple who have been hanging out in our crabapple tree.  They are hard to catch though because the minute I go out with my camera, they find they need to go to some other yard or way, way up in a tree.  I got this one through the window.  So there, Mr. Red!  You just try and hide.

3)  Olive, the pug, had her 8 year wellness visit at the vet today and I am happy to say she got a clean bill of health.  She even lost a couple of ounces.  While we were sitting in the waiting room, a woman came in with a Cornish Rex cat.  What a gorgeous creature that is!  And the polar opposite of a pug.  And when we were finished, there was a nice looking tabby waiting to go in.  Cat day at the vets, I guess, except for Olive.  Made me miss my old feline friends.  Olive will spend the rest of the day sleeping and trying to forget the injustice of a trip to the vets.  I’m just glad she’s doing well.

4)  For the last couple of years, Greg and I have made our way down to Griswold, Connecticut to Buttonwood Farm to view the sunflowers.  This year we missed it by a day.  Boo!  When I realized that, I had to bring some sunflowers home from the grocery.  It’s not the same as seeing them en masse in the fields, but it will have to do for this year.

5)  August already!  Are you kidding me???

A sign of the dog days to come??

I'm hooking up today with Tanya's Willy-Nilly Friday 5 

on Around Roanoke, VA...A Daily Photo Blog

Random Five Friday: Snow Days…

1)  We got around 10 to 12 inches of snow in this last round of wild winter weather.  But we were very glad that it was all snow and not the dreaded wintry mix.  Snow is much easier to deal with.

2)  The weather has caused us to have a couple of unusual visitors to our birdfeeders.  Yesterday and today, I saw what I think is a Carolina Wren.  I am not positive of the identification though so if you know, I would appreciate it if you could tell me.  We also had a crow who was slumming under our feeder but he wouldn’t turn around so I could get a good picture.

3)  Here’s what it looks like at the end of our driveway.  I feel sort of like I’m living in a shopping mall with that big pile, but my trip to the grocery today made me realize that there are much bigger piles of the white stuff around town.

4)  I like snow and winter but I find it rather amazing that there is such a HUGE difference in comfort level between 15 degrees and 30 degrees.  Today felt rather balmy around here and seeing the sun is almost always good.  I guess that shouldn't really be a surprise.  After all, there's a HUGE difference in comfort level between 72 and 85, too.

5)  So today is Valentine’s Day.  Do you celebrate it?  Early on in our relationship, Greg made it clear that he wasn’t one to celebrate “Hallmark” holidays, so it’s just another day to us.  I minded a bit at first, but it also lets me off the hook, so these days I am okay with it.

Linking up to A Rural Journal's

Random 5 Friday!

Random thoughts on the New Year…

Yesterday's snow.  I like using the flash when it's snowing and getting those big white blobs.  Cool!

1)  Greg and I went out for Chinese food on New Year’s Eve.  it seems that we thought it was an original idea, but when we got to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Dynasty in Southbridge, we discovered we were most definitely not alone.  We did have to wait for a while for a table, but once seated the service was brisk and the food was good, as usual.  When I woke up the next morning, I couldn’t find my cell-phone.  Too many Mai Tais perhaps?  I was pretty sure I left it behind at the restaurant but thought I remembered looking at it on the way home.  Long story short, I put it in a pocket in my purse that I don’t ever use.  So all the searches through my purse didn’t yield my phone because I never thought to look in a pocket I never use.  It was my mind I left behind at Dynasty perhaps, not the cell-phone.

2)  New Year’s Day we spent with friends at David and Roxann’s open house.  We’ve known David and Roxann for a long time now, but I met David’s Aunt Peggy at Curves a few years back.  She and her friend Sandi seemed to show up there around the same time I did and eventually, we got to talking as you do when you just keep going around in the same circle together over and over again.  I soon learned that Peggy and I had David and Roxann in common.  And Sandi used to work with Greg and was godmother to one of our neighbors.  Curves is now closed in our town, but I occasionally run into Sandi here and there and am always glad to see her.  These days, I see Peggy once a year on New Year’s Day though I wouldn’t mind if it were more often.

3)  It began snowing in earnest here around midnight on January 2 but we only ended up with about 6 or 7 inches.  It is cold out there though…very cold.  On a positive note, the snow is light and fluffy and there is no ice around.  That’s what happens when it is very cold.

4)  Another positive thing about this kind of weather is that Olive the pug does her business in short order.  I’m good with that.

5)  We are going to be making an escape from the northern weather soon.  We are leaving for a tour of Texas next week.  While I won’t be riding any mechanical bulls, I do intend to enjoy a little bar-be-cue.

LINKING UP WITH A RURAL JOURNAL'S

RANDOM 5 FRIDAY!

Variety is the spice of life...

It’s cold here.  Not as cold as in the upper Midwest, but pretty darn cold.  It is also very bright and beautiful out.  It seems like the birds are extra active in weather like this.  They have been coming and going with great frequency to the feeder.  Now and then they have to rest though and when they do, I have been trying to grab my camera.  Here are the birds who have visited us lately.

The official state bird of Massachusetts:  the Black-capped Chickadee.  He looks official, doesn't he?

The cardinals are not as apt to hang around near the house.  If you look closely in this photo, you will see this dashing male's wife sitting on a branch behind him.

This little Junco looks curious, but the Juncos are very skittish so I don't think he knows I'm there.

Of course, the Wild Turkeys have to stop in the yard on their way through the neighborhood.  I got a kick out of watching them jump off the ground trying to grab the leftover crab apples off the tree.  Sort of the opposite of bobbing for apples.

This morning, there are American Robins in the yard.  We've noticed that they  have been sticking around during the winter the last few years.  So much for them being the heralds of spring.

Sharing the birds…

I had a busy weekend.  But it was blah and uneventful as far as my camera was concerned.  I took fewer than 100 photos, which may be an all time low for me.  But I manage to eke out two rather boring shots for my Flickr 365 so I was happy about that.

Yesterday afternoon I was involved in photography in a different way.  I helped my daughter Carrie frame her photos for an upcoming exhibit in Northampton, Massachusetts.  She and her fellow photographers from the Northampton Camera Club will have photos displayed at Historic Northampton in an exhibit called “Northampton as We See It” from December 12, 2013 to January 25, 2014.  Carrie’s photos are very good and I’m not saying that just because I’m her mother.  I think I will ask her to email me a couple to share with you all and you will see for yourselves what a talented daughter I have.

Meanwhile, the birds were super busy at the feeders today.  I think they were trying to keep themselves warm.  But I managed to shoot a few and will share them today.

It’s always nice when the Juncos come back for the winter and one sat in the bush and cooperated so nicely.

Personally, I think the beauty and understated elegance of the female cardinal is second to none.

And the chickadee is always fun to watch even if he is everywhere.

Color in winter…

I think I know why a lot of people don’t like winter.  I think it has to do with the landscape being so dull and brown and colorless in comparison to landscapes in spring, summer and fall.  It can be pretty depressing.  But winter does have its color.  You just have to search around for it.  Granted, on a day like today here in Central Massachusetts, it would be hard to find.  It’s very dull, grey and foggy out.  But yesterday!  Yesterday was glorious!  The sky was blue, the air was clear and it was downright beautiful out.  I convinced Greg that we needed to go for a short ride after lunch and here are some of the things we saw.

And even at home, the air hummed with color.

  The white background just makes everything look bright.

I'd say that Nemo dropped about half a barn door of snow on us.

  But it was beautiful on that sunny day!

My year in pictures continued...

I had a very quiet and uneventful summer once we got into July.  The big highlight of my month was driving down to Griswold, Connecticut with Greg to see the sunflowers at Buttonwood Farm.  I am a sunflower lover and this was one heck of a spectacular display.  Note to self:  make sure you go back in 2013.

August also continued to be quiet and pretty...well, commonplace.  In order to bring a little excitement into my life, I brought a bouquet of hydrangea into the house and took pictures of it.  I do lead a pretty dull life…

September was a time with an almost daily parade of turkeys through our yard.  Turkeys may not be the most beautiful birds in the world, but they are entertaining and fun to watch.  I think I agree with Benjamin Franklin on this one.

In October, things got a little more exciting.  Greg and I went with friends to Italy and stayed a week on the Amalfi Coast.  It was a wonderful trip and I enjoyed it thoroughly even though I knew that I was missing the peak of autumn here in New England…my favorite time of year.  Some day, I wish they could figure out a way that we could actually be in two places at once.  And while they are at it, I wouldn’t mind if they could perfect beaming a la Star Trek.  After our return from Italy, I had ten days to prepare for total knee replacement surgery.  I went under the knife on October 24 not really prepared.  But that was the day I picked so I had to stick with it.

So in November, I spent the month recovering…and I have been spending December recovering as well.  There is nothing fun about recovering from knee surgery, believe me.  I often feel like I take one step forward and two steps back.  But I am done with physical therapy and they tell me I am doing well.  I suppose I will get there eventually and I will have no regrets about it.  But I wish someone were with me in the middle of the night to remind me that I did the right thing when I can’t get comfortable and back to sleep.  Oh, well…such is life and in spite of it all, I know that I am just about the luckiest person around.

I wish you all a New Year filled with wonder and curiosity.  I hope you see beauty in your everyday life and it gives wings to brilliant creativity.  Mostly, I wish you health and happiness.  And a very Happy New Year!

Outsquirrelling the squirrel…

I am so pleased to report that the squirrels have still not figured out a way to get to the birdfeeder I hung up earlier this year.  For a while there, I thought that having a squirrel free birdfeeder was an impossible dream but I am here to tell you that it can be done. 

So without the squirrels eating us out of house and home, we have gotten a nice array of birds back to the feeder and in our yard.  But I have to admit that I bang on the window whenever I see a blue jay on the feeder.  They can wipe the food out almost as quickly as a squirrel can and the other birds don’t seem to want to be in the same neighborhood as they are.

 

Yesterday I put the long lens on my camera and took a few shots of our visitors.  Here they are:

Black-capped Chickadee 

Grackle.  He is the king of all he surveys.  And yes, we still haven't taken down those blasted Christmas lights that don't work.

The American Robin.

The lovely female Cardinal.

Mr. Goldfinch almost has all his summer clothing on.

The Juncos are still here.