Season & Life Changes

These are the earliest Spring blooming wild flowers found in the woods and around the yard.

White Trout Lily- Harbinger of Spring- Wild Violets-

Spring Beauties- Wood Poppy- Cut-leaved Toothwort

So many changes were seen with the coming of Spring....

Blooming peach trees, daffodils, magnolia, forsythia and crocus!

The biggest change however since my last post is....

The marriage of a third grandchild!

Katie and Mitchell's lovely wedding was March 16th!

The beautiful cake with delicate blue tinted flowers was baked by her mother's friend, Lisa Pottorf.

 

The color theme was black and white with creamy white roses.

 

Mitch and Katie stayed with us for four days before heading to their new home in New Mexico.  On their slow drive there, they zip-lined over a river somewhere in Missouri and....

Katie e-mailed me photos of a cavern they explored!

Once they are settled...

I will be e-mailing Katie and Mitch recipes of meals like these...

The morning after their wedding a 'ring' of clouds appeared in the sky.

A few other pre-spring days had different looks.

This morning was bright and warm....spring is greening the yard...

bringing changes....

Spring is also bringing...

..... a soon to be visit from Amanda, who lives in Washington State with her husband Bronson!

Guess who is a 'very happy' girl.... Amanda's little sister ALIVIA!

~ ♥ Wanda ♥ ~

Along with very cold temperatures....

a few inches of snow came to our area this past weekend.

The birds always cluster around the back porch when it snows....

expecting seed to be placed there as well....as at the feeders!

The deer came to the bird feeders as soon as it started to snow...

to just eat the fallen seeds on the ground or stretch for even more.

They come often and stare at me as I take photos from the window....

....snow or no snow!

This was our first real snowfall of the winter....woke the next day to two inches or so and a heart shape on the patio!

So I took my first 'snow covered field walk' of the winter.

Weather changes the scene....this was the view two weeks ago.

The snow presented a few special images on these two stumps....

A small heart was on top of the tallest and a little pig on the smallest!

An old camper top in the field had it's windows dressed in crystals!

The first shows a reflection of one window in the other....

and what looks like a pale moon in the sky.

But that pale moon was actually the sun....paled by very thick clouds.

By the time I returned home....the sun grew brighter!

The birds were waiting for their seeds, suet, peanuts, and dried mealworms.

They feasted.... 

....while I went inside to make biscuits!

....I made some crisp & thin and others crisp but big! We like them both ways.

Also made scalloped potatoes with spinach, gr. onions and celery. 

German Chocolate Cake was on the menu too!

Last week I baked whole wheat bread using molasses which turned out good. A delicious broccoli cheese bread recipe I got from Lois @ From Lois' Hands makes wonderful sandwiches...plain and grilled.

Here's some other meals eaten during these last days of winter!

~
Today is Valentine's Day...I will be eating chocolate of some kind....

...and thinking of Spring!

 

 

~ ♥ Wanda ♥ ~

It Is Winter....

....and the male Cardinal often perches in this pine tree by the back porch.

This female Cardinal successfully regrouped from a dazed condition... 

brought on by a 'loud' collision with one of my computer room windows.

 

 It's only in the winter that the deer lunch on my Yucca plants. This is one of the  twin fawns nibbling a bit, before turning to join the other....they always look back while walking away.

The two of them pass through the back yard often....

...sometimes joining up with their mother in the field.

 

I usually feed the birds on the back porch only during times of heavy snow...

  you can see our snow has been light....but have been feeding them there anyway...along with 4 other feeders in the yard.

The Carolina Wrens usually prefer to dine away from the crowd...

always on the move and chirping!

 

The Red-bellied Woodpeckers could care less...

they always make a dramatic swoop in to get their fair share.  

Others that feed are...

 chickadees, titmice, mourning doves, juncos, sparrows and downy woodpeckers.

 

It has snowed a couple of times...

 

....but disappears quickly with our unusually mild winter. 

 

It is winter though and we do have a winter look most of the time...

...on one of our milder days with sunshine I took a short walk in the woods....

went down to the creek, saw a long draped grapevine on the way, passed my son's deck on the hillside, made a shadow wave and found a heart-shaped rock. 

 

Not much in the woods this winter to take photos of...

just patterns on decaying logs, dried deflated mushrooms, bright green moss,

spooky faces in ice crystals, maybe a heart shape in the making...

and up by the house....daffodils peaking through the snow!

 

The 'blonde' squirrel made another appearance in the side yard...

he has never been to the feeders...like the gray squirrel and chipmunk! 

Photos of a few meals cooked these past 2 weeks were taken....

 

...a collage photo of recent mail art I've made...

 

...and photos of Alivia and her friend Sierra on a mild sunny day...

 coming to take orders for Girl Scout Cookies!

...so until the Girl Sout Cookies arrive...

I'll enjoy homemade ones...

 

...and hope for more wonderful sunrises like these to start my day...

 Today it's raining and 53F... Is it winter?

~ Enjoy The Little Things ~