random weekend snaps

We've been having more strong winds.

These are not small branches.

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I thought you might like to see what an

8-foot-wide hay bale looks like.
I probably should have put something on it for scale.
Piper, maybe.

~~~

A peaceful moment for Iris and Rocket.

Today Iris was combed for the first time.

Not so peaceful, but we took our time, got through it,

and were still friends at the end.

By the way, you can see why I've started calling her "Tiny Iris."

Literally from the moment of their births, she's been on the petite side,

and her brother has been on the solid side.

When you see them together like this,

the difference in the two extremes is really emphasized.

~~~

Daily markmaking continues!

This was Friday, #439: a dried zinnia head from last year's gardens.

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This photograph of a hairy woodpecker could be clearer, but it was taken from 12 feet away and through two layers of glass. I'm glad I put this suet feeder close to the porch, because I've discovered the sound these birds make - a sort of whistly cheep, repeated, with a silent beat in between.

Every morning a woodpecker politely approaches the feeder,

and sounds so delighted and surprised to find the suet:

cheep?! pause cheep?! pause cheep?! pause cheep?!

It makes me smile.

I hope you had a lovely weekend!

Isn't it amazing how much daylight we're seeing now?

It's 7 PM and I can almost see the barn.

Even with the clocks moved ahead one hour, that's a nice change.

~~~~~

snowy snaps

There have been several dustings and a couple of real snowstorms in the past two weeks, and it was snowing heavily at bedtime last night. I was awoken in the wee hours by the town snowplow: backing up (beep!-beep!-beep!-beep! shrieks the safety back-up warning), then scraping forward thirty feet, and then backing up again (beep!-beep!-beep!-beep!-beep!) on the road right across the bottom of my driveway. Several times. This is a new technique. What could it mean? I'm hopeful that the driver was creating a long spot for the school bus to pull over, and that a side benefit will be easy access to my letterbox.

Piper is very sad when she cannot collect her mail.

At the moment it's still dark outside, so I thought I'd share a few snowy images taken recently. I like to get outside when the sky is light but overcast, to enjoy the softer shades of Winter.

My eyes are extremely light-sensitive (when we did studies of white objects in art class, I had to wear sunglasses in the basement studio), so I really enjoy the feeling of being able to "dive into" colors without squinting.

The clarity of strong lateral light is also irresistible at this time of year:

And the fleeting dazzle!

The day is beginning, and it's time for me to do something about breakfast and opening doors, say Moxie and Della. The sky is a uniform dark grey; we may be in for more snow today. Piper and I will have to investigate the letterbox situation soon.

Here's hoping we all have a "special delivery" today :)

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wordless wednesday

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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.

~~~~~

move over, teddybears

because everyone loves a picnic!

I dragged some freshcut branches to the upper paddock this morning.

Black birch: always a crowd favorite!

Each branch puts out many lateral side-branches, 

so if a big branch is hung on a fence,

goats on both sides have equal access to lots of leaves.

Betula

Wildlife note:

moose also love black birch (Betula lenta).

 I recall a natural resources debate about the reason for this,

and I stand firmly by my theory:

moose want minty-fresh breath.

Vinca

Goats are very particular about which leaf they wish to eat.

Acer

Very, very particular.

LeShodu

Even the babies:

Azalea and her mama, Lily of the Valley

Dara and his mama, LeShodu

Of course, in the snap below,

Betula is reaching for a leaf on Lily's side of the fence,

and vice versa.

Naturally.

My fault.

I don't know what I was thinking,

distributing All The Best Leaves

on the Other Side.

 I apologize for the quality of these pictures.

They are like not-really-very-good family holiday snaps

where a fuzzy subject is also half out of the frame.

I was mostly holding the camera over my head

and optimistically shooting down through the foliage.

9 out of 10 images looked like this:

But just in case you've never been to a goats' picnic before,

I wanted to invite you to this one.

Go on, nibble a twig.

Minty-fresh breath isn't just for moose!

~~~~~

fresh greens

Fresh greens, and lots of them!

I've been going out in the early morning, after chores, to photograph the greens.

Don't you love watching the new growth on trees?
The buds and flowers and foliage?

The initial fragility of the leaves and needles that will be relied upon to support the tree never fails to amaze me.

Every year, it amazes me.

Here in New England, there are shapes, colors and textures that appear for only a very short time each year - weeks, or even days.

Would you like to see some?

I winnowed down from about 80 images, because you may have other things to do besides looking at pictures of leaves.
And needles.

But do you have time for just seven?

White Birch (Betula papyrifera)

Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea)

North American Beech (Fagus grandifolia)

White Ash (Fraxinus americana)

 Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)

Black birch (Betula nigra)

 Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)

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Ahhhhhh.  Isn't that a breath of cool morning air, after chores?
~~~

Coming soon: 
goat updates (and names to be chosen!)
a handy (yet unlikely) kitchen tip
and a special yarny giveaway!

~~~~~

Wordless Wednesday