Wordless Wednesday - Ephemeral

Birds and Snow

It's snowing today, yippee! I like it, but I don't think the birds share my love of snow. The little male House Finch, above and below, doesn't look very happy.

Neither does his Missus, on the left.

The Chickadees don't seem to mind it as much, but it takes a lot to get a Chickadee down!

That's one reason why they're one of my favorite birds.

There are plenty of peanuts under the snow, but I don't think this little guy is as willing to push the snow aside with his beak as his siblings. The birds have kept me busy today keeping the bird baths free of ice and full of fresh water, plus keeping the feeders filled with their various favorite nuts and seeds. Our winter has been so dry, what little water there is in the creek is frozen solid. I took a tiny break to try and get some pictures of the birds, but I don't think this Chickadee appreciated having to wait for fresh peanuts so I could take his picture...

Gee...I wonder what he's trying to tell me? Is it, "Hey LADY! There aren't very many peanuts here!" Or is it, "Kiss my ..."

Hmmmmmmm........well, I chose to refill the feeder.

Words to Live By

Sunday Sunlight

Taken in May of 2010.

Ice Sculptures

I had never really noticed how intricate icicle interiors could be...

until I took this series of photos,

getting closer and closer with each shot.

Worlds within worlds, color upon color, sculpted by wind and water working together. How could I not have seen this in all the years I've been looking at, and admiring, icicles? Looking closely through the lens of a camera can really make one aware of things previously unseen.

Beautiful Winter

It snowed a bit more during the night, and some trees found the extra bit too heavy. But trees that bend will rise again once the snow is gone.

Little animals left their tracks as they passed by my studio steps on their way to somewhere known only to them. All night long, the wind was having a tantrum. The temperature dropped to 12 degrees Fahrenheit, and I prayed that all the little creatures would find safe, warm, dry shelter.

But it's 36 degrees Fahrenheit now and the snow is starting to melt, slowly freeing branches from their burden.

Fantastical icicles are forming everywhere. This one is on the empty Hummingbird feeder.

Beautiful Winter...I am so glad you're finally here. Please, don't be in a hurry to leave.

Finally!

We finally got a little snow, about 4 or 5 inches. It was wonderful to sit inside and watch the snowflakes falling thick and fast from the sky, sometimes falling straight down, sometimes blown sideways in shifting veils by the wind, sometimes falling in twirling spirals, each snowflake a blessing.
Now, if we can just get another 8 or 9 feet before the end of our 'official' snow and rain season in March, we'll be up to normal. And, if the Sierra mountains to the north of us can get 20 to 30 feet of snow in the same time period California will be in good shape, water-wise. But I really don't think that will happen...

February 14

Sunday Sunlight

Taken in April of 2009.

Wordless Wednesday - Wishing

Oh, How True...

"Cats were put into the world to disprove the dogma that all things were created to serve man." Paul Gray

Women and Granite

"Though the sex to which I belong is considered weak you will, nevertheless, find me a rock that bends to no wind." Queen Elizabeth I
(The depth of field is deceiving in the photo, as the smallest rock is about 20 feet in height).

Sunday Sunset

Taken July 2008 heading west on Hwy 18.

Wordless Wednesday - Color Reflections

NSAD

That would be NON-Seasonal Affective Disorder...because Winter is definitely a non-season this year! I'm actually depressed by the lack of rain and snow. And, if one more person says to me, in an oh-so-cheerful tone, "Oh, isn't this a wonderful winter? I just love it!" ... I just might slap them so hard their head spins around and falls off. Well, not really, but I think about it, oh yes...

I took the photo above from a friend's helicopter. (Now, that's really a friend with benefits!)

Wordless Wednesday - Lost Snowflake

Sunday Sunlight

I took this back in June, put it in 'to be filed' and promptly forgot about it. I'm so glad I found it, but now I have to sort through that file of thousands of pictures, groan. Or...maybe I could just forget about it again...

Faeries Friday - Violetina

This faerie is also a nightlight. She was given to me by my youngest niece right after my studio was finished being built. Violetina lives in the studio's bathroom, and I've always thought she looks like she is saying, "OMG! I've got such a headache!" My niece says she looks like that because of where she lives, ha ha.  My husband says she looks like that because of what she sees. Oh, what a wit. Ha. Ha. 

Wordless Wednesday - Transformations

Owning

"The moment when, after many years of hard work and a long voyage, you stand in the centre of your room, house, half-acre, square mile, island, country, knowing at last how you got there, and say, I own this,

is the same moment when the trees unloose their soft arms from around you, the birds take back their language, the cliffs fissure and collapse, the air moves back from you like a wave and you can't breathe.

No, they whisper. You own nothing. You were a visitor, time after time climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming. We never belonged to you. You never found us. It was always the other way round."

Margaret Atwood (from 'Morning in the Burned House')

Sunday Sunlight

Taken at Lake Gregory, CA, in late March of 2008.

Bird Soup

Ambrose says, "What...you've never seen a cat drinking from a birdbath before? I like birdbath water, it tastes like birds. I think of it as 'cruelty-free birdie soup!"

Tuesday Thoughts

I took this photo in early Spring of 2010 while I was out for a ramble. The quote below perfectly sums up the way I feel about the natural world.

"Nature has been for me, for as long as I remember, a source of solace, inspiration, adventure, and delight; a home, a teacher, a companion." Lorraine Anderson