Sunset

Days are short. Winter is approaching. The sun sets on another year.

And after a short break I'll be back with more Hoosier Safaris on January 2nd. Have a great holiday!

Miniature Rainbows of Light

Some misty winter mornings are magical, a twinkling of thousands of points of lights with each step that is made.

Imagine those crystals that formed over night on this one piece of grass being multiplied a million times over. But get up early; just one hour later you would have missed the show.

Snow-Fall

...Up spoke our own little Mabel,

Saying, “Father, who makes it snow?”

And I told of the good All-father

Who cares for us here below.

Again I looked at the snow-fall,

And thought of the leaden sky

That arched o’er our first great sorrow,

When that mound was heaped so high.

I remembered the gradual patience

That fell from that cloud like snow,

Flake by flake, healing and hiding

The scar that renewed our woe.

And again to the child I whispered,

“The snow that husheth all,

Darling, the merciful Father

Alone can make it fall!”

Then, with eyes that saw not, I kissed her;

And she, kissing back, could not know

That my kiss was given to her sister,

Folded close under deepening snow.

The First Snow-Fall by James Russell Lowell

Baby it's Cold Outside

The birds are up early trying to find enough to eat in the wintry weather. This White Breasted Nuthatch was taking a break, fluffing feathers against the cold.

Nuthatches eat a wide variety of things; seeds and insects. They love to eat at feeders where they enjoy peanut butter if left out.

First Snow

We've had a few flakes before last night's snow but this was the first real snow of the season. And only the second snow of the year---an unusual condition in the part of Indiana.

The first snow is always so magical and pretty. It won't be so pretty come March, when we're winter weary.  

Opossum

Counting on being camouflaged this young opossum hung on  and watched as I passed with the dogs underneath.

 I see more opossums in the day light hours of winter than other seasons. But, unlike most animals, they never stay in one spot for very long.  

Sick Trees

I'm still researching what's happening to this tree that has black spots in the bark all over its trunk.

But the research has put a fright in me---apparently there are just as many things, if not more, that threaten our trees as threaten humans. And we humans help spread the pests and disease at an alarming rate; albeit unwittingly. Firewood for fireplaces and campfires should not be moved except under the utmost caution.

It would be nice to have a national alert system where people could go to see what kind of pests and disease are attacking in their area and what they can do to help.

Out like a Lamb

November went out like a lamb---leaving a lake of glass reflecting trees and sky; hardly even a breeze just air scented with a hint of snow.

Reflections

Gnarly, naked branches reflected in the Lake. Do you see the tiny fish?

November Remnants

Vengeful across the cold November moors,

Loud with ancestral shame there came the bleak

Sad wind that shrieked, and answered with a shriek,

Reverberant through lonely corridors.

The old man heard it; and he heard, perforce,

Words out of lips that were no more to speak

Words of the past that shook the old man’s cheek

Like dead, remembered footsteps on old floors.

And then there were the leaves that plagued him so!

The brown, thin leaves that on the stones outside

Skipped with a freezing whisper. Now and then

They stopped, and stayed there—just to let him know 

How dead they were; but if the old man cried,

They fluttered off like withered souls of men.

The Pity of the Leaves  II

by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Forest Way

The sun filtering down through the bare trees of November. The view is spectacular; don't you think?

Winter Beauty

A delicate seed looking more like a flower than its flower had. Such art!

Love? Not today....

See him over to the left of center? This little guy was interested in two things---eating and the little lady that soon was to join him at the right.

She, however was not interested in this gentleman for reasons unknown. The couple were soon in a tiny paw fight and each swam off in opposite directions chattering at each other.

After a short while, it was only the gentleman, back, quietly eating the weeds at the side of the pond.