Tuesday 31 December 2013

A Wintry End of the Year


It has snowed


and snowed


and snowed.

And now it is the last day of 2013
It has been a good year.

Sunday 29 December 2013

Fourteen Days of Christmas


It's been a quiet Christmas
Just the two of us


Brett couldn't get time off work
So
all the kids decided to come in January
and have a family Christmas then


Good thing
the ice storm and snow 
have wrecked lots of travel plans


A star for Christmas Day


For the last few days of the year
I think I will finish up thready odds and ends.
I do like that higgledy-piggledy darning in the middle.
I should explore that further.


Wednesday 18 December 2013

Stitching Row upon Row


Snuggling up in front of the fire
stitching
stitching
stitching


A pebbly shore
of row upon row of loosey goosey stitches.


and a flowing ocean
of layers of stitch.


Tuesday 17 December 2013

The Colours Before a Winter Storm


Driving up the valley


past clusters of homesteads
protected from the Bay of Fundy
by the North Mountain


The highway takes a sweeping bend
where we pass my favourite sight
of trees leaning in towards the road.


I always look forward to seeing them no matter what the season.


Then there are beautiful copses of trees....


and row upon row of neat little apple trees.


Another thing I love is the sight of stubble breaking through white snow.


The colours are so gentle at this time of year
yet the weather can be so harsh.


Pale blues. soft greys, beige and white and
perhaps an occasional bright red front door to catch the eye.

Monday 16 December 2013

Let's Scratch Winter!


A snow week


Our song birds disappeared in the Spring
with the arrival of the falcons.
This week the cardinals finally came back to the feeders.
I'm a happy camper.


We travelled up the valley past fields of snowbound stubble.


Snow devils flew snow up into the air
and it snowed
and snowed
and snowed!
Old Man Winter must think it is January or February.
It's freezing.

Friday 13 December 2013

Rooted


Aged roots
Reaching out
Hugging ground


and sometimes kissing a rock.

Thursday 12 December 2013

What that Palliated Did


Do you remember my tale of the Palliated Woodpecker and the squirrel?


I walked that part of the garden to see what damage
he had done with all that tap tap tapping on wood.


I was shocked!
that is at least 2" square.
Poor tree is doomed I fear.


This fall we had to cut down another tree in that area...


....and another....


....and their crispy crunchy branches.

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Icy Inspiration


We found a dead tree captured mid-stream
by rings of ice.


and another imprisoned for the winter months.


Frozen reflections


The winters are harsh up here in the North....


....but beautiful


The frozen lines in every corner of the woods
each had their own personality


Nature's lines full of stitch potential.

Monday 9 December 2013

Clementines are in the Shops


Hard to believe Christmas is nearly here again.


Handy Hubby flew back from London


Just scratching stitches


South Africa mourns the passing of Nelson Mandela
and celebrates his life.


Not pumpkins but  clementines!
Christmas is fast approaching
and I'm just not ready.

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Disturbing the Peace


Monsieur Palliated Woodpecker
spent a long time tapping the base of this tree
I began wondering if this would be the next tree to fall
and
obviously one of our local squirrels thought it was a bit too much
all this tap tap tapping on his tree
so he came to find out what was going on.

Monday 2 December 2013

Dailies Doubled


Scratching a week of arrivals and departures
of scraggly dead spruce trees
and snowy days


My second week
this time all alone


The Rusty pups and I have walked in snow nearly every day


Visiting a friend who looks across the Basin 


at Annapolis Royal


Looking very grey 


as tiny snowflakes hung in the air.