Nature and the Old Crabapple Tree

The old Crabapple tree laden with fruit in late summer... I would like to say Fall but Fall forgot to come this year... 

 snow came early and softened all that wonderful fruit... 

 yesterday and today the Cedar Waxwings came... a huge flock, chittering and tweeteling, having a feast of the little apples... they were very hard to see without a closer look, but then I saw them everywhere in amongst the branches...

as they ate being very sociable and sharing with each other, I saw and heard bits and parts of the apples falling to the ground, landing on the snow... it was littered with mushy red apple pieces.... 

 wasn't long before the deer knew about it and joined in... different size groups came and went ... sometimes 5... sometimes 7... sometimes just a mother and a baby...

 Snow began falling again this afternoon and looked so pretty... each apple with a little snow cap...

Nature...

 it was beautiful to see this ecosystem happening before me and I am thankful for it.

Celebrating the Green for St. Paddy's Day

This time of year we are all waiting for the GREEN .... from the glittering moss on the bluff rockface  to the entire wondrous awakening landscape...   

My blog followers may have seen some of these photographs before but this post is about GREEN and St. Paddy's Day seems as good a day as any to remember what it looks like.

 

 Yes, I know, mung beans aren't landscape but at least they're Green.

Last but certainly not least... can't forget this lovely Green lady that means a lot to me.. a vintage green 1968 Kenmore sewing machine.. and does she purr... Heavy as lead.. works like a charm... have to keep her busy till the other Green shows up. (update: this old girl now has a new home at my daughter Rebecca's)

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Photos by Gwen Buchanan in St. Martins, New Brunswick Canada

Ready or Not

TIME... has brought a New Year...

... once a White Tailed Deer walked..

seconds... minutes... hours... days... weeks... months...

... once the Oak grew green...

...stretching... reaching...

... once an Acorn fell ...

Father Time neglects no one...

Once a sugar cane root delved deep...

...cycles... infinitesimal...

...... once a Maple stood tall....



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Francis Bacon (Lord Verulam), 1561-1626, English Essayist, Philosopher... wrote:

"....Philosophers should diligently inquire into the powers and energy of custom, imitation, emulation, company, friendships, praise, reproof, exhortation, laws, books, studies, etc.;
for these are the things that reign in men's morals; by these agents the mind is formed and subdued.
Out of monuments, names, words, proverbs, traditions, private records and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of books, and the like, we do save and recover somewhat from the deluge of TIME...."



....Onward we march.......

Gwen Buchanan at Desideratum Art and Jewelry Studio, New Brunswick, Canada

The Visitors

The window seat is a favourite spot for the dogs. They can see the driveway & love to sound the alert when a visitor approaches. The last few days we've had visitors of the 4 hoof kind coming out in the field. This picture was taken 3 days ago, when a couple deer came into view. The dogs studied them intensely.



Spring is slowly coming.... the snow is slowly going.

Yesterday in the same field with grass showing now, eight Eastern Whitetail Deer came out to graze. They were so frisky. They seemed happy to be out of the deep woods and the deep snow. It looked as if they were playing a game of tag chasing each other all over the field.



They were beautiful.... nature is pretty special...





The circular area is the sunken fire pit full of snow.... waiting for a good bonfire.

**** Luckily with the amount of forests around the area, the deer are never a problem when it comes to gardens... they have never touched them..... they have lots of browse in the woodlands..

The Deer Skull

Skulls are so very beautiful.... maybe because they are mostly all one color, it eliminates distractions... and shows their delicacy.... their defined lines... the light and shadow creates intricacies for your examination... contemplation ... pleasure..... that directs you to see what you are not used to seeing so you see the object in a fresher way...

which makes them one of the loveliest natural objects to draw.



I have collected skulls for a long time........ crow, sheep, bobcat, deer, sheep, etc ....
porcupines are particularly special, with long curving teeth that slide way back into the skull.... worth investigating...



This skull is from a female Eastern Whitetail Deer.

a watercolor of this skull is on my posting Ready or Not...