Oh, How I Wish...

...That my front walkway looked like this right now!  The candy canes, whose tops are just visible above the snow, are four feet high.  There was two and a half to three feet of snow on the ground when I took this in December of 2008.  Right now there's no snow, and it doesn't look like we'll get any snow (or rain) by Christmas.  Oh, well...

Wordy Birdies

"Hey, lady.  Yeah, you...you with the camera.  Put it down and fill the feeders.  What do you think you're here for, anyway?  To take photos?  NO.  You're here to feed us.  So, fill the feeders."

 
"Well, don't just stand there, get going!  Don't make us go all Hitchcock Birds on you."

I reply, "If you do that there will be no more seeds, no more nuts, no more suet cakes....EVER."

"Not ever? Hmmmm...."

"How's this?  This is my best side, don't you think?  Don't hurry, I'll hold the pose, no problem.  Hey, you guys up there, cooperate!" 

Done!

In the studio, anyway.  Of course, it's always decorated for Christmas/Winter in the studio, so it's always done.  Notice I'm not showing you my work area.  That's because it's a mess...like it usually is.  I think the last time it was absolutely pristine like this:

was in 2012, which is when this photo was taken.  I had to clean it really well because that was the year I participated in "Where Bloggers Create" blog party.  (You can see the whole post by scrolling to the bottom of the page.  The buttons for the blog parties that I participated in are all there).

A Quote For Monday

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.  You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?"  J. B. Priestly

We got a dusting of snow day/night before yesterday.  It's gone now, but the weather people are predicting a little more for this Wednesday.  I wonder if we'll ever have a real snowstorm (three or four feet over a couple of days) again.  We used to get those kind of storms three or four times a winter, in between snowfalls of just a couple of inches.  I miss them.

Sunday Sunsets

Taken in early January of 2011 from somewhere in the San Bernardino Valley.  I think palm trees are some of the oddest looking trees...

Keeping Promises

This storm really kept its promises!  We got over six inches of rain, which made the creek very happy.  If the storms will keep coming like this, soon those rocks will be under water and the lakes will fill back up.  This was a typical Southern California storm: Howling gale force winds and rain coming down in buckets in a very short period of time.

Sadly, in some areas where there were fires in the previous five years, there were mudslides and some homes were damaged.  Thankfully, no one was hurt.

It's snowing here now. :) :) :)  It's supposed to snow lightly all night, but I don't know if it will last through tomorrow since it's supposed to be partly sunny with a high of 40 F.  If I get up early enough, I'll try to get some photos. 

Five hundred feet up the mountain in Big Bear, six inches of fresh powder fell, which is great for the ski resort and the merchants of Big Bear.  We mountain folk depend on tourists and skiers to keep our economy healthy.  These past three years of drought have made our economy pretty unhealthy and, more importantly to me, the forest is really suffering from the dry conditions.  So, here's hoping that we get lots more rain and snow this winter!

(Added at11:05 p.m. - I was just watching the news.  There was a tornado in
South Los Angeles!!!  Not a big one, thank goodness, but it did some damage.  Too weird...)

Wednesday's Winding Road

I took this in the spring of 2013.  Last spring, things looked just as dry.  The storm that's in Northern California right now is supposed to travel down here by early Friday morning.  The weather people are predicting snow levels down to the 6,000 foot level in Southern California but I'm betting it will be a lot higher, like around 9,000 feet and up, because this storm is coming from Hawaii.  The weather people call it "The Pineapple Express" when the storms come from this direction, and I can't ever remember low snow levels with these storms.  But...I sure hope they're right on the amount of rain that's supposed to fall.  They're saying up to eight inches.  The lakes, which are shrinking incredibly fast, could really use it.

Wasting Time

The more I stared at this photo, the more things I saw in it.  Faces, birds, pearls, eyes, lace, faeries...

When the water in the bird bath gets frozen on top, sometimes I can lift it out like a giant plate, sometimes it comes out in pieces.  Either way, I drop them on the ground on top of the layer of pine needles and leaves and wait for the sunlight to be at the angle I want, then I take the photo.  And then I stare and stare at the photos after I've uploaded them to my computer.  Uber-lame, I know...I just can't help myself!

A Quote for Monday

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air."  W.T. Ellis

A Little Further Along...

On the road to Christmas.  I've got the garland and the mantle done...

A closer look at the mantle decorations.  The little houses in the wreath belonged to my grandmother and are over 100 years old, while the ornament at the bottom of the wreath belonged to my mother.  I don't put them on the tree anymore because the young cats are just too good at climbing the tree and getting to the ornaments.  I'll have to use the same unbreakable plastic ornaments that I bought last year again this year on the tree, but I sure miss all my glass ornaments that I've collected since I was a child.  Maybe next year...

The Christmas Faery is zipping around, teasing the cats.  The cats keep begging her to sprinkle them with some Faery Dust so they can fly, but all she does is bop them lightly on their heads with her candy cane...thank goodness!  Can you imagine?  Flying cats...nothing would be safe!

And Again...

Not even close.  I couldn't get a photo of tonight's full moon because it's still cloudy here (no more rain though, rats).  This is a photo I took in August of 2013, and the moon isn't full in this photo.  But, I did like juxtaposition of the moon (eternal) and the jet (modern, transitory).  Also, the sun is setting behind me, but you can only tell that by looking at the photo below.

Left click on it...the moon really is there!

Not Even Close

Decorating is proceeding very slowly.  I wanted to be done by Thanksgiving - ha ha ha ha ha!  That didn't happen.  Sigh...I'm going to have to be stern with myself and get busy.  I've got the garland up around the living room and it's decorated, but that's about the only thing that's done.  The tree has the lights on it, but not one ornament yet, unless you count the cats zipping up and down and around in it.  Not a card addressed, not a cookie baked, not a present wrapped.  But...I am done with the Christmas shopping!

Liquid Blessings

It's been raining since 6:30 this morning!  A gentle, steady, soaking, life-giving real rain, not just a misting or a few minutes of hard rain that never soaks into the ground.  It's still raining as I write this at nearly 11:00 p.m.  In addition to the sound of the rain (oh, is there any sound more beautiful?) I can hear the joyous laughter of water in the creek as it flows down to the lake!  That's a sound I haven't heard in nearly two very long years.  Amazingly, for a California mountain rainstorm, there is no wind, so the feral kitties who won't get into their houses with the others, but insist in sleeping on the blanket-padded chairs on the porches, are staying warm and dry.  I'm going to fall asleep to the sound of the rain and the creek, and I think I will sleep well tonight, something else that I haven't done in a long time. 

Bliss...

A Quote for Monday

"Rosa Parks was a woman of strength, conviction and morality.  Her action on December 1, 1955, to defy the law made her a leading figure in our nation's civil rights history."  John Shimkus

(Photo from Pinterest)

Sunday Sunsets

It's raining lightly right now - oh, such a beautiful sound - and the weather people predict that we're to get three to four inches of rain on Wednesday!  No snow, which isn't good news for the ski resorts, but this is enough rain (I hope) to put an end to fire weather...at least for a little while, anyway...

Have a...

Wishing everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving a happy one...

A Short Break

The cats were conspiring with the ladder to try and kill me, so I decided to take a short break from decorating and go for a walk outside in the forest...where there are bears, mountain lions, coyotes, slippery patches of ice, and giant pine cones that could, and do, fall at any time.  Even so, the forest is safer for me than my cottage when the cats are conspiring!  Thankfully, it usually doesn't take them long to remember who feeds them and the conspiracies come to an end.

I took the above photo on December 22, 2009.  There had been a snow much like the one we just had a few days ago and, while I was out walking, the late afternoon sunlight on the holly leaf caught my eye first, then I noticed the patch of ice crystals on the leaf slowly turning back into fluid water.  When I talk about magic being all around us, this is the kind of magic I'm referring to...nature's magic, so full of wonder and always there, if we pay attention.

A Quote for Monday

"November comes and November goes,
With the last red berries and the first white snows. 
With night coming early and dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket and frost by the gate.
The fires burn and the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest until next Spring."  Clyde Watson, from "Father Fox's Penny Rhymes"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few days ago we had our first snow.  It was just a dusting, melting quickly and then turning to rain.  We got one and a quarter inches of rain!  But today?  Today it's back to climate change insanity.  It's cold, but very dry, with high winds and extremely low humidity.  That puts us at high risk for wildfires, so all of Southern California is under a Red Flag Warning. 

During the rain/snow storm I checked the humidity levels: Even though it was pouring down rain in buckets, the humidity was only 82 percent!  Apparently, when it's been so dry for so long, it takes an extended period of wet weather to bring the humidity up to 100 percent.

I'm still putting up Christmas decorations, trying like mad to get it all done before Thanksgiving.  Well, except for the dining room; I leave the autumn things up in there until after Thanksgiving dinner is over.  It just feels strange to me to eat Thanksgiving food from Christmas plates in a room that's decorated for Christmas.  I'll try and post some pictures of how the decorating is coming along tomorrow...if I haven't fallen off the ladder!  It seems like the older I get, the higher and more wobbly the ladder is, even though the ladder hasn't changed...

12:44 Today

The Christmas season began in my cottage.  My husband and I started putting out the first of too many decorations.  Every year we say we'll start getting rid of some things...and every year we never do, unless they're actually worn beyond recognition or broken.  Even then, we have a hard time because Christmas things hold so many memories, especially of loved ones who are no longer with us. 

Most things aren't in the places they'll "live" in for the Christmas season yet, including the things in the photo.  We set stuff out, then sort it out while the cats run around saying hello to everything.  What fun!

A Quote For Monday

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."  John Wooden

Sunday Sunsets

Wednesday's Winding Road

Taken in November of 2009.  I drove this road yesterday and, while the trees are a bit taller, the color of gold in their leaves is the same.

A Quote For Monday

"The grand show is eternal.  It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising.  Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls."  John Muir, from "John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir"