Lots of Birds

 Every tree in our yard is alive with birds flitting about;  chirping;  enjoying the day--just like in May!  Even though  the fall colors are a bit smudgy this year, it still counts as another beautiful morning.  

Of course the birds know how to make the most of every minute of good weather.  

Driveway: After

It took all day Monday and a little bit of Tuesday for Harvey's Excavating  to transform our driveway into this.  I wanted good definition between driveway and lawn and enough material so that grass and weeds are not growing in the drive.  And that is what I got!  Yay

Driveway: Before

 

It's Sunday October 15, 2023.  We have marked the line with neon orange paint where we want the sides of the driveway. Tomorrow is the big day.  

First of April

 

Friday 1 April 2022

After an early breakfast, Rich went outside on the porch while I knit a row or two on a “Feelin’ Groovy” tuque.  He came back in and said I should come outside to see something unusual—a rainbow!  I gingerly stepped on the porch because it was wet from the rain last night  and I was in sock feet —- looked at the sky but saw nothing.  “April Fool” he said and when I stopped laughing , he gave me a big hug and a kiss.  

Big Snow

November 27, 2018  

Snowed so hard!

There is a Christmas Card

In our back yard.  

First Flower

The first flowers of spring -- Colt's Foot--  pop up beside the road before any others.  They will not live up to their name until later in the summer when their leaves resemble the shape of a horse's hoof. 

Smoky Joe's II

You may wonder, and sometimes we do, why would anyone need a place to get away from it all when you live in a place that is "away from it all." Pictured above is just such a place. No phone, no electricity, no kitchen, no office, no worries. And no, it is not on airbnb.

February Sunshine

When a house welcomes the sun

Little else needs to be done.

The Bluest Sky

I always say that there is no place on earth where the sky is bluer than  here on Music Mountain.  It is a wonderful thing to live in a place with clean air, pure water, blue sky and wonderful neighbors!

Sound of Snow

My morning walk began after the crossover from rain to snow.  I am always amazed by the sound of snow.  There was no traffic and little wind this morning and the snow emitted a slight hiss as it slipped through the trees.  Also audible were big drops of rain that accumulated in the snow on the branches until they could bear it no longer and fell to the ground with a plop.  Later in winter when the temperature drops to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, snow squeaks when stepped on but this morning, it was a squishy sound as my boots padded along the gravel road. 

My Amaryllis

Living on Music Mountain is about appreciating the little things in life--like the bleak day in January when the Amaryllis that I planted last November finally blooms.  

Wedding Ring Quilt

I bought this quilt top many years ago.  The small pieces forming the "rings" are small pieces of feed sack fabric.  I first learned about the uses for this material  from my belle mere, Louise.  She told me that she used to make clothes  etc. from the sacks that  held the grain for the cows and chickens.   It was an incentive for  farmers to buy their grain in something that their wives and daughters could reuse.   

Interested in reading more about feed sack fabric?  Here is a link:  

http://www.quilthistory.com/feedsacks.htm

Happiness

This year,  instead of my usual Poinsettia, I bought a Cyclamen before Christmas and I am so glad that I did.  It is among the loveliest of flowering house plants and keeps on spreading its cheer after the holidays--maybe even until midspring.    I am so fond of this plant that I have given it a name--Happiness.  

New Year's Day

I think over again my small adventures and fears,

Those small ones that seemed so big.

And all the vital things

I had to get and to reach.

And yet there is only one great thing,

the only thing.

To live to see the great day that dawns

And the light that fills the world. 

                                                                                      --Old Inuit Song      

High Summer

A beaver dam is a site that is constantly changing.  Beavers come and go.  Water levels rise and fall as they do.  This year the beavers are back at the original site that we remember and have enlarged their house.  Joe-Pye-Weed is in full bloom and blends with the plumes of Goldenrod.  It is a beautiful place to be on this high summer afternoon.  

Winter Walk MLK Day 1/19/2015

A mixed bag of weather

blew in last night

This morning we woke

to this silvery gray world  

Get close

and you can see

Every twig on every tree

is coated with snowy filigree

Across the valley

There is no wind

All is still

The humpy back of Whitcomb Hill

A cashmere coat of gray twill

A small party

of Lady Apple Trees

Wait to waltz around 

the snowy field

Mike's gathering tank

reflects the scene 

It's  a new point of view

 These leaves of oak
Hangers on

Remnants of summer past

Last to leave the party

Proof 

that these pictures 

are not black and white

A rock and a paper birch

Mingle

A patchwork of bark

lichen

and

cotton balls of snow

Here is where 

I turn around 

and head for home.

 And take another look

at what I have seen this morning

                                                                                          


The end : ) 

Lunna Christmas 2014

The holidays began with a traipse up the hill to cut one of our own Christmas trees.  Unfortunately, when we cut the bottom off this tree,  I decided it was unsuitable.   The  selfie was perfect for our annual Christmas card.  

We found the perfect tree for us at Bunny Acres, a Christmas Tree Farm in Bethel.     It was a treat for me to be able to hide all the wires for the lights among the thick branches.  It  may be the most beautiful tree that we have ever had.  

I decorated the  little tree with 500  blue lights and it  made a nice addition sitting on a table in the dining room.  

While Rich reads in the background, Becca enthusiastically begins her jigsaw puzzle.  

Doug joined us for Christmas dinner.  Jeff did a superb job cooking the prime rib. 

One of Harper's gifts was this gigantic pink ball called a Blub.  It was a lot of fun.  

So much fun it was but you guessed it.  

It didn't last long.  

Another Cardinal

Cardinals are not frequent visitors to our feeders here on Music Mountain.  One appeared today and the last one was at least five years ago and prompted a piece on my bird blog.  Just click link below:

http://vermontbirdwatching.blogspot.com/2011/03/northern-cardinal.html

Oppossum

We were expecting a porcupine but what appeared in the Have-a-Heart trap this morning was an opossum.   Opossums are marsupials which means that they have a pouch where they carry their newborn for a while (like kangaroos do).  As you can see, they are cute with their little pink nose, white face and endearing almond eyes.  Of course we released it which brings me to another point....is it oxymoronic to call it "have-a-heart?"

Morning Moon

The moon touches an arm of Mount Olympus just before it sets in the west on the morning after Valentines's Day.