wordless wednesday

 

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thankful thursday

It was cold enough to keep the black flies at bay for a couple of hours this afternoon.

It was also sunny enough to be very pleasant indeed.

A perfect opportunity to do Daily Markmaking outdoors!

I had help.

I had an audience.

I had a critic.

I had a deep blue sky and bright clouds and buds on thousands of branches.

 Buds become leaves in the blink of an eye,

and soon I'll be looking up into a closed canopy of many greens.

What better time to sketch branches of the massive red oak I admire every day?

I focused on a small section of the tree,

and used one watercolor pencil and one waterbrush.

The result: Daily Markmaking 858

An hour like this is such a gift.

~~~~~

a note from saturday morning

Yesterday was refreshingly sunny.

Bright blue skies!

Fluffy wisps of clouds sailing by!

They were sailing, of course, because it was windy. It was also very cold.

Piper insisted on coming out for the first session of morning chores, but expressed a wish (immediately granted) to return to her cozy bed long before those chores were finished.

 "Okay, I see you have an adequate handle on the chores.

You can take it from here. I'll be in my office."

Meanwhile, at the sliding glass door on the porch, Moxie and Della have front-row seats for Squirrel Theatre. Performances scheduled daily, under the birdfeeders.

Della: "Athletic but incoherent performance."

Moxie: "I liked him much better as Hamlet."

More snow is predicted this weekend. And Monday.

Also: Wednesday and Thursday.

This morning, the sky is dense and grey again.

So...

let's have another look at yesterday's sky, shall we?

Red oak, white pine, American beech.

Quercus rubra, Pinus strobus, Fagus grandifolia.

A dear and familiar skyscape.

Sugar maple and white birch.

Acer saccharum and Betula papyrifera.

When I want a lesson in survival,

I look to trees.

I hope your Saturday is beautiful.

~~~~~

saturday snaps

Yesterday we got our first serious snow of the season.

About 8" of light but sticky snow.

Small plants seem to get a disproportionate load of snow.

Maybe it's character-building?

~~~

The youngest goats have seen a lifetimes-worth of ice already,

but this was their first "real" snow...

and it did not slow them down one bit.

While all the goats were tied for their breakfast buckets,

I took a few minutes to enjoy the west view from the barn.

The tree in the center of the image

is a magnificent red oak, Quercus rubra.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend wherever you are!

~~~~~