a snow bunny

Why am I sitting in a snowdrift? Don't you know it's cold out here?

Seriously. You bring me out here with that giant basket and I'm going to do what? Fill it with cold?

Come here. Let me explain something to you.

I am not amused. Unless you want a special kind of easter egg this year I suggest you get my tail inside.

That's better. (the end)

The cold is getting to me too, bunny.

This was my first bunny, a practice for a class I hope to teach. There are some things I'll change about him in my next attempt (not the least of which is his attitude, sheesh) but for now he's amusing me.

Have a glorious Wednesday, all. Stay warm. And upbeat. (talkin' to you, bunny)

mailing mañana

A batch of "First Timer's" stones are packaged up and will be in the mail shortly.  See, I was going to go to town yesterday on my day off and pick up some more shipping supplies but then this happened...

and I decided that maybe I would stay inside by the wood stove instead.  Today though, I will be on the road and to those who ordered stones, rest assured they'll head off with Marv the mailman, mañana.

(I forgot to bring the pumpkin in from the outside table before it snowed, can you tell?)

Have a warm and wonderful Tuesday.

let's pretend

Late summer at dusk.  The mosquitos have gone to bed and the fireflies hang in the trees like christmas lights.

Our ice cubes clink in our glasses as we sip on the last of the homemade kahlua and listen to the owls call to each other from the tall pines in the back woods.

We sit and chat about how the garden is coming along nicely, about how nice the day out on the lake had been.  We hear the guineas settle into the branches of the poplar.  The last sparks of the campfire lift lazily into the sky.

Our sandals dangle from our feet.  We start to think maybe we'll go throw a sweatshirt on over our t-shirts.  We catch the faintest whiff of impending autumn in the air.  And we feel content.

I'm not the kind of person that wants to live her life only looking forward to the next thing.  I'd like to embrace the present.  But I gotta tell ya, this snow-up-to-my-thigh and "today's high will be -10" is gettin' old.  So if pretending that I'm holding a chilled kahlua instead of a hot coffee is going to get me though this day, that's what I'm going with.

I hope you're in a good place today, no matter where that is.  Come join me for a kahlua.

shelter

 

Yesterday my boys needed something to do that didn't involve the computer or video games.  My answer is usually "clean your room" or "go outside and play".  Not surprisingly, they took me up on the "go outside and play" part.

 

What did surprise me is that the two older boys went out to the woods and built this shelter all by themselves.  They even started a little cooking fire (with permission) and were building a spit to roast a rabbit on, that they planned to snare.

 

I talked them out of the rabbit idea and instead talked them into hot dogs, pointing out that the spit stick would work nicely as a hotdog stick.  Not quite as mountain man-esque, but it worked.  They sat out in the woods, quietly lost in their own imaginations, until their fire died down.

  

On the other side of the house a "snow cottage" had been built by my younger two (with some help from Dad).  Not to be outdone, they packed sandwiches and ate in their shelter too until the cold took over and forced them all inside for a warm bath.

\

Though the computer and Wii win more often than I like, I love that I have kids that can entertain themselves this way.

Have a fun start to the week, everyone.

 

snow folk

 

Snow folk have been cropping up under the poplar and pine.

Each is made of felted wool balls in three sizes that I sewed to a wooden button (gifted to me by Cheryl at handcrafted travellers).  Their little arms are tendrils from a Virginia Creeper vine and their hats are acorn caps.

 

I liked how they each had a different posture when I sewed them together so I didn't bother to needle them together.  Their noses and faces, yes, their posture, no.  Each one was so different that I felt they needed to have a little photo session.

 

Clearly I need to get out more.

 

These are headed off to some friends and I hope they get a giggle out of them too.  

 

Happy almost-weekend, everyone!

 

wordless Wednesday

A Break In The Weather

After a long cold winter, mother nature eased up a bit this weekend.  After too many -20 mornings today she decided to hit the 30s.  That might not sound like much to some of you but I can guarantee that Minnesotans state-wide were smiling today.  I know I was.  I even got to go for a short walk in the woods, something I've really been missing.

A few shots of the beautiful day.

The girls even gained the courage to walk on the cold white stuff just to see if I might have grain in my pockets. (I didn't)

I saw a tiny little birds nest made of grass and birch paper.  Birds are just so clever aren't they?

Looking at the snow on top of our log pile you would think that I'd have enough sense to stay on the trail.  But no.  More than once I stepped off the trail and ended up in snow up past my knees.

Without the leaves you can see our house from the woods. 

  

I really needed that.

Happy Sunday, all.

White and Blue

I headed outside to gather eggs and decided to bring my camera along.  Despite the cold (it hit 4 that day! woo hoo!), the sun was shining beautifully and luring me out to photograph the sparkly snow.  The sky was remarkably blue and seemed to bathe the entire landscape in the color.  Ice covers the twigs on the trees and everthing from my flowering plum to the tops of the tallest poplars were glinting in the sun.

Though the creatures themselves aren't seen often these days, we see plenty of signs of life.

Mushrooms hold their own against the icy cold, seemingly unaware of the chill.

Icicles are growing and my birdhouse sits idle, waiting for spring visitors.  When I stopped near the side of the barn I looked down to see the snow peppered with hoofprints.  We've seen a new herd of deer in the yard lately and apparently they've been walking right up to the barn like they own the joint.

I like to think they're leaving tiny hearts in the snow for me.  I followed the tracks down the driveway towards the mailbox, marveling at all of the fancy footwork along the way.  As I neared the road I looked up to see the herd bounding away in front of me.  Apparently I had followed them right down the driveway without noticing.  ( I have a tendency to look down rather than up)  They crossed right behind the mailbox and went off into the woods again.

The view from the mailbox today.

And lest you think there isn't any color in my woods right now besides white and blue, here is some pine green making a typical Minnesota winter color palette.

White, blue, and touches of green...it makes me wonder...

what color palette is out your window right now?