I'm longing for the green to return in my back yard...
...like the blue returned to the sky on those recent warm days of 65.
...well...a few days anyway...today it is raining
and a cool 35.
Winter ~I hope~ is on the way out....
pretty as it was on those snow covered days.
(all photos enlarge)
My last outing in the snow for this winter (I hope)...
began with filling the empty bird feeders.
Then I headed down our snow and ice encrusted drive.
Deeper snow of the winter had melted before this
lighter snow and ice storm brought down a few
large limbs...but many smaller branches.
The blackberry patch bows with it's light covering of ice.
What are the snow topped balls in this little stream?
Walnuts that fell late....from the tree.
To me the dark outline...presents a nice scene...
a Hawk in flight...with wide-open wings.
Here's a winter gift...a heart created by the snow.
Collages of:
~a Downy Woodpecker~
~a Northern Flicker~
~a Red-bellied Woodpecker~
~an Eastern Towhee~
~a male Northern Cardinal~
~a female Northern Cardinal~
Some of the above birds eating suet at the feeder...
my gift to them...in a way.
Here they are joined by a group of House Finches...
...some could be Common Redpoll...I'm not quite sure!
This is definitely...a European Starling!
'Definitely' a Squirrel...
...eating some food!
We've had food of our own to prepare.
Baked fish & rice, baked potato with veg.sausage&peppers,
sometimes...
just salad & cottage cheese, soup, pasta with soy bacon,
3 cheese tortellini with peppers, pumpkin/squash soup with a
Greek yogurt heart and black bean soup with salad.
The full moon this month brought the gift of
calmer weather...
...and a few friends out of hiding.
A few grandkids came over too...
Dylan worked on a 'short story' assignment for school.
Another day...Alivia created some 'mail art' for her mom...
All the snow has seeped into the earth...
maybe...preparing for an early Spring (I hope).
This day was dry enough to walk on the hillside...
on wetter days it's too easy to slide.
I sat my phone at the base of this Beech...
so You could visualize the tree's large size.
The Beech is impressively tall.
While in the field one day...a Hawk flew over...
he was extremely high.
There's great views one might miss...if one never looks up...
but sometimes...
it pays to keep your sights close to the ground.
~nature's gift of a heart~
~
Recently...
I met with my two sisters and our four daughters for lunch at Mimi's Restaurant. A niece -visiting from Colorado- informed us...while holding 3 large boxes...that just over 4 years ago...our mother had given her the beginnings of 3 quilts...with instructions to finish them.
Each of the three of us received...
~a gift of a quilt from the heart of our mother~
...who passed 4 years ago this June.
~a collage of photos of mine~
