piper in the snow

I thought you might enjoy a little watercolor I made last week.
It was based on this photograph, taken when I was photographing hyssop:

 See Piper? Just barely?

She's standing in the snow.
Keeping an eye on things.
Waiting for me to quit fooling around with hay and buckets and the camera.

Here's the watercolor: 

To be honest, it looked exactly like Piper for a while.

But only to my eye.

It was just a Piper-flavored blur, really.

Kind of like the photograph!

Then I worked it up just a bit more.

And now it looks less like Piper,

but is much more recognizable as A Dog.

I'm okay with that.

This art thing is a ride, isn't it?

~~~~~

this week

I've been making soup and apple crisp.

Over and over.

Apple crisp is simple to make. And delicious.
I don't even tinker with the recipe except to sometimes include cranberries.

But the soup is freeform, and never the same from one kettle to the next.

I don't think I could duplicate a batch if I tried.

Sometimes I wish I could. The last batch was so good I started rationing it to make it last a bit longer.
~~~

Recent days have been cold, dark, raw...and occasionally sunny.

Sunny enough to melt some of the snow suspended above the ground, not insulated by the collective coldness of accumulated snowfalls and the thick ice layer covering the frozen ground.

You can see the snow melting into icy gems on this hyssop:

Still dazzling, long after the flowers and bees and butterflies of Summer have gone.

~~~

After rainy, snowy, gloomy days, I love to see the herd out in the sunshine.

The lateral light makes each goat glow around the edges.

This is Tsuga's daughter, Fern:

Fern, I am sorry to say, is a stubborn little imp.
But look at that face.

Butter wouldn't melt.

~~~

Are you resettled in Time after the holidays?

This week I spent all day Sunday thinking it was Monday,

then all day Monday thinking it was Sunday.

On Tuesday, I just stopped thinking about it.
Onward!

Winter sunrise after a mid-night snow, view to the West

~~~~~

2016 pictorial

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

~~~
Edited to add:

Unlike previous end-of-year pictorials, this time I did not have software available to make a multiple-image collage for each month. I think choosing just one image for each month took nearly as long as building a dozen collages!

Each month name is a link to the post containing the image, in case of anyone feels like going back in time for just a little while.

Best wishes to everyone for a safe and happy New Year's Eve...
hope to see you in 2017. 
~~~~~

just before dawn

There isn't much light for photographs right now.

The first hint of dawn is just peeking through the trees:

That bright spot isn't the sun; it's the lightness well above the sun.

It snowed all day yesterday, and most of the night.

Heavy, wet snow. Some is already dropping in big wet clumps.

I'm hoping for a light wind, to bring more off the trees.

If it freezes or if we get a strong wind,

there will likely be a lot of breakage.

 This squirrel was quite perturbed by the snow on the feeder.

In a dozen photographs, that tail never stopped twitching!

More snow is predicted for Saturday.

This is the time of year when one does not "put off til tomorrow."

If something can be done now, then "now" is the time to do it.

As soon as the sun is up, I will be outside.

I hope wherever you are, the sun comes up on a peaceful world.

~~~~~

for you

I hope

everyone

had enough

of everything

 

 they need

today.

~~~~~