Shades of White

Another New Year

Last night's blue moon rising

Anger, Grief, Sadness...

I just got in from what should have been a nice walk. I had planned to go out just beyond the shed where there was a small tree and some brush--a corner in a field where a little bit of wildlife had a chance to pass the winter.

It was gone.

No tree, no shrub, no brush. Just a bare corner with fence posts and corn stubble.

Why was it taken out? The corn planter could not have gained enough to be worth the effort--it just curves around when it gets to a corner in the field without using up those few yards of land. Why must every square foot of land be cleared off and made inhospitable to the little critters with whom we share our land? Must farming be a war whoop against nature?

I always wondered who lived there and watched for little foot prints in the snow. So far only mice. But I kept thinking a fox or some other small creature was certainly hunkered down in the snow-mounded brush--in the spring, perhaps, a fawn lay hidden; in the fall, a buck hiding from the hunter.

But it is gone; I am heartsick.

Blue Moon

The older almanacs defined a blue moon as the third full moon in a season that has four full moons.

Today, however, many consider the second full moon in one calendar month to be a blue moon--which is tonight.

Perhaps there is something you'd like to do tonight that is only done "once in a blue moon."

Merry Seventh Day of Christmas!

White-Breasted Nuthatch

He was watching me

The saucy little fellow

Don't blink or he will be gone

He checks out the suet

But chooses a seed to take back to eat in his tree

Usually I see him creeping up and down the trees

looking for food under the bark

He is not afraid of me

The White-Breasted Nuthatch

Wintering Orchids

Yesterday I posted

a photo of Barb

and Jim's Christmas

tree. These are

Barb's orchids hung

inside for winter.

The Fourth Day of Christmas

Barb and Jim, a delightfully artistic couple, invited our church family for brunch yesterday. She is a metalworker--and this is their Christmas tree. It was hanging from the chandelier hook in the middle of their vaulted ceiling high above the living/dining area. Beautiful!

My family will be coming today to celebrate Christmas. Merry Christmas!