Yesterday we saw the hair ice, today it’s needle ice. I had never seen that before either, and Mr still didn’t because he stomped past it without noticing. But I made sure he saw it the next day.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Alas, we did not find the beaver, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Jack and I found this beaver chewed tree at the end of the trail today. We looked around a bit, but couldn’t find any other signs of beaver activity. This tree tells me that they’re here, though, and once the ground is frozen and less boggy we’re going to walk closer to the river to see what we can see. I’ve never seen a beaver in the wild so this is all very exciting. What could go wrong?
In Memory of Caine (front of card),
Over the holidays I received a very special package from Giliell. It’s one of Caine’s painted horses, in miniature on a background of silver and set in clear resin. It came with a beautiful handmade card reading In Memory of Caine. The note inside was even more beautiful. Giliell has made many resin horses and, together with the card, has sent them out to as many members of our Affinity community as she could gather addresses for.
Giliell’s gift to the Affinity community
The resin pendant is beautiful and Giliell’s artistry is obvious. The silver shimmers and catches the light and Caine’s horse is spirited and full of running energy The pendant is also meaningful and I cherish it already. I love the thought that these wee horses now reside in places all over the world and that my horse is one link in a chain that stretches far and wide. I love the reminder of Caine’s energy and talent. I love the way such a small work of art makes me feel connected and how it reminds me of my good fortune to be a part of this community.
Resin pendant with one of Caine’s horses, made by Giliell
In memory of Caine (back of card)
I don’t want to catch Giliell unawares, but if you are part of our family and are feeling left out please drop a note to our in-box at [email protected].
Giliell, I’m a bit verklempt and can’t quite find the right words, but thank you for such a thoughtful and meaningful gift. (I did get a few other goodies from Giliell which I’ll share in another post, but this gift needed a post of its own.)
Today’s image is from Lofty, and I think it creates a nice counterpoint to my winter weather.
©Lofty, all rights reserved
I love both the design of the “paper boat” and the birds sitting on it like they need a boat.
Also shout out to the blurry bird in the background, I hope you caught whatever you were hunting.
©voyager, all rights reserved
Our day started with sunshine peeking through the drapes, but by the time we were up and about the sky was thick with heavy and listless gray clouds. The whole world looks gray and listless in this light and it was tough to get ourselves out the door today. As motivation, we decided to make the short journey to our favourite wee forest hoping we might find a bit of an adventure. Alas, we did not, but we might have heard a few pixies giggling and I’m almost certain I saw a fairy dart into this hollow stump and just disappear. Poof, and he was gone. Not even a whiff of breath left behind. Jack tried to follow, but wisely decided he couldn’t fit and gave up the chase. We made our way around the rest of the trail slowly, and heard nothing more than the creak of the grandmother trees in the wind and the lonely caw of a single crow.
This is going to be picture heavy and more than one post, but they’re all so magical.
We didn’t get snow, but some serious hoarfrost which created the most wonderful things.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
First shot is what happens when you forget to switch your camera from “artificial indoor light” to “natural light”, though I do like the blue tint it produced.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Erica blooming in pink and white
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
I occasionally put a triangle scarf on Jack to accentuate his rugged good looks. Sometimes I even put him in a coat if the weather is seriously cold or heavily raining. What I don’t do, however, is dress him up in outfits or costumes. Jack thinks such things are unnecessary and undignified. His sister, Lucy, used to love being dressed up. She’d pout when it was time to take off her coat or her scarf after an outing and on Hallowe’en she’d prance around in her costume and pose for pictures. Lucy was a comedian and she loved anything that made people oooh, aaah or laugh. Not my Jack, though. Jack is a straight man and he does not like to look silly so when I recently attempted to take a few photos of him in a Santa hat he made his displeasure known. I gave it my best try, but Jack was having none of it. Click-through if you’d like to see a few shots of Jack’s increasing frustration. (Sorry, Bubba. I won’t do it again.)
I am not a HappyJack, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Jack refused to wear the Santa hat. ©voyager, all rights reserved
Happy, Merry, Joyous Whatever from Jack and I. We both thank you for all the times this year that you stopped by to say hello.
Today, we have something even better than a Christmas tree. Avalus has sent us an absolutely enchanting forest photo for this Christmas Day Tree Tuesday. Thanks so much, Avalus.
Zauberwald means magic forest.
Hiking an a misty morning last fall on a path in the Odenwald suddenly the sun appeared between the trees. I think the slight misfocus adds to the “magic forest” feel I had that moment.
Zauberwald, ©Avalus, all rights reserved
Nightjar sent in some wonderful photos of flowers from her December garden, including this rose that I saved for today. Thanks Nightjar, it’s a lovely gift for everyone.
Pink Rose, ©Nightjar, all rights reserved
Cedar Creek, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Hooray, it’s snowing! It’s a light snow, but it seems to be sticking so we may get a white Christmas after all. I don’t know why that matters to me, but it does. I love waking up on Christmas morning and seeing a blanket of white outside my window. Perhaps because it brings back so many happy memories of my childhood like slogging through the snow with my dad looking for the perfect tree to chop down and bring home. We’d struggle to tie the tree to the top of the car and when we got home mom would have hot chocolate waiting with homemade cookies of all sorts that we’d been forbidden to eat until now. We’d decorate the tree and sing Christmas songs and mom would tell the story of each ornament as is went on the tree. Christmas snow meant getting all bundled up to go tobogganing or build a snowman or falling backwards again and again to make angels on the lawn. Snow meant the long drive to my grandparents house in a wee Volkswagon Beetle packed to the rafters with gifts was fraught with adventure and a few German curses along the way that always made me laugh. Snow was an essential part of this Canadian girl’s Christmas season and when I was young a green Christmas was almost unheard of. That’s changed now thanks to climate change, so much so that having snow on Christmas is exceptional. That’s why I’m hoping the snow will stick. Please.
Nightjar has sent in some exceptional photos of the flowers that have persisted until December in her garden. We saw a few of those flowers last week, but I saved some for today because everyone should have flowers on a busy Monday.
Strawflower, ©Nightjar, all rights reserved
Yesterday on his blog Stderr, Marcus wrote about the creation of a very special heart in a post titled Un-Achable, Un-breakable. This is the rest of the story, told by kestrel who used her artistry to create a unique and meaningful braiding for the heart.
Marcus sent me this amazing Damascus steel heart that he had made as a gift for Someone Special, and he asked me to put some leather braiding on it. I was happy to comply and decided a key fob would be good to braid on there.
©kestrel, all rights reserved