Jim and Anna had a great time making snow angels outside, and built this Frosty to stand guard in the back yard for a while. His carrot nose was missing first thing in the morning, and he was sort of on a tilt, so we thought maybe a deer raided him overnight, but we found he had just slightly melted, and his nose was on the ground at his feet.
The woodstove waits with warmth when they come inside, and provides a cozy place to soak up the heat and enjoy hot chocolate after a brisk time in the cold.
The birds are really active on the feeders. We have at least 4 pairs of cardinals, and juncos, titmice, Carolina Chickadees, Gold Finches, Purple Finches, and one small downy woodpecker. They sure do love the black oil sunflower and thistle seeds we put out for them.In the background, just to the right of the stump, you can see the beehive, where our tiny honeymakers are cozy and warm inside, insulated by their blanket of snow.
What an unlikely color on a drab day! Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal stand out like neon lights among the soft colors of a snowey day. Just gorgeous. Life is very good to us these days.
Jim and I wish all our friends a Merry and Peaceful Holiday Season. Love to you all.
There's a stark quality to some already harvested fields these days, sort of a clearing away of the clutter to leave the bare fields ready for spring.
In contrast to that, there's the jubilant variety of colors in the woods that form a backdrop to it all.
This morning, our Anna is with us, and it's cold and sleeting outside. We always want to get her outside when we can, so decided this was the time to try out the fireplace in the teepee. She loved it, and we all had fun, sitting on the ground inside the teepee, watching the small fire and hearing the sleet patter on the walls of the teepee surrounding us. It was amazingly warm and cozy inside with that little fire going. Next Jim's going to set up a spit and cook a cornish hen. 
I've formed the habit lately of taking a daily walk to gather sticks for the stove. It serves several purposes: gets me away from the computer for a breath of fresh air, exercise, cleans up the woods a little, and provides bunches of free firewood for those short time evening fires that really don't need big heavy chunks of wood to burn a long time.
Being out there daily lets me notice all the changes too, as our place turns toward winter. This path struck me yesterday as being particularly gorgeous. It's the space behind the blueberry bushes, and always looks like an entrance to a secret space to me. Today, with the yellow leaves on the ground, it looked like a scene after the party, with the party favors and confetti left laying about. Do you suppose the deer and raccoons were dancing late into the night here last night?
Today was one of those blessed days, when we were especially grateful to be retired. We needed a good brisk walk, so headed up to Warren Woods for a long walk under the giant beech trees there. We were amazed to see the giant trees that had fallen during the recent winds. Trees that measured up to 4' across the base had grown hollow in the center, as beeches do, until there wasn't enough strength to hold up their 70' height anymore. They came crashing down, taking other trees with them, and look like elephants laying there, but still dignified in their stillness. Beautiful trees, and they'll slowly melt back down into the soil to enrich another hundred years of trees to come.
Now this one's just silly, the result of two goofy people, with time to spare and a camera to play with!
In the morning, we were off again to see more amazing sights. Our goal this day was to find a trail that Jim could take off and hike by himself to work out his kinks from sitting so much. On the way there, we saw more small streams and camping places, and swampy spots where there should have been at least one moose, but never was. 
While Jim was hiking, John, Lora and I found a gorgeous long overview with several mountain ranges marching away into the blue distance, and talked with a nice couple visiting there from Ohio. 
Then we came across a mysterious, beautiful place with several paths that explored different faiths. While walking there, we found a labyrinth! I'd always been intrigued by these very special walking paths, so plunged right in to walk the curving trails to the center of it. Once we got there, we found this nice little basket, where others had left little tokens of their walk. We needed to leave something, and finally found that perfect yellow leaf to drop in. Notice the little golden Buddha, and all the other little trinkets there. What a neat place.
We ended that amazing day back at the riverside property with a big fire and a picnic of hotdogs and goodies. The picture I'm placing for that shows John, proud landowner of this beautiful place, Lora, relaxing, with her eye on her beloved river, and Jim, poking at the fire. What a great, quiet night to just sit and listen to the river chuckle in its bed as it rushed by us. As you listened to it, you could hear so many levels of sound: the base note of the big rocks slowly moving against each other, mid tones of large waves flowing over the rocks, and the high, almost giggling sounds of the smaller splashes. Constant variety and always fascinating.
