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 : )