A Stroll in the Garden

We experienced our first winter snowstorm of the season.

*Clicking on a photo will give you a closer look!

It knocked out our power for about 45 hours.

It wasn’t a hardship for Hubby and me. We did fine with the woodstove, the barbecue, and the gravity spring.

The transparent apple tree and well behind the house.

So I had a little fun and went outside with my camera and took a few photos of the snow as it was coming down.

And I went out early on the morning after and photographed the sunrise.

The view from the side yard of the house.

As the sun rose higher, and the clouds burned off, I took a few photographs of a beautiful day!

Two photos from the same viewpoint…one at sunrise, and one in full daylight. I love them both!

Clearly, there is no power flowing through this line!

The view from the front of the house.

Hubby drove off to town to charge our devices.

Life is good.

Stay healthy.

Stay safe.

Keep smiling.

See the world around you!

A Stroll in the Garden

The Hubby grabbed his camera, and went out to the garden for a few photos to share.

Mama and baby quail are out and about (only one baby in this photo, but there are nine in her family).

*Clicking on a photo will give you a closer look!

Papa is ever vigilant!

This is a red breasted nuthatch. Nuthatches are tree climbers, and we have lots of them.

This nuthatch is climbing on the oak tree. He is coming down to drink from the water fountain on the deck.

I have spent some time canning peaches. I get a lot of satisfaction from this!

Meanwhile, back out in the garden, there are still some lovely blooms happening!

Stay healthy.

Stay safe.

Keep smiling.

See the world around you!

A Stroll in the Garden

Normally, when I take you on a stroll in my garden, I show you a variety of blooms.

I decided to focus on a few critters in the garden for this post.

I shared a photo of where I live in a previous post. I want to point out that I live on 6 acres in the woods. My home is bordered by state land.

In other words, I have lots of critters, from mice to bears (for bear photos, click here and here).

I tell you this because I want to preface this post by pointing out that I do not feed the critters. There is plenty for them to eat.

I do, however, have one bird feeder. It is suspended from an oak tree several feet from the ground. The feeder used to be on a metal shepherd’s hook, but a bear bent that in half to get to the bird seed.

Live and learn.

Feeding wildlife is a controversial issue, and not what I want to get into here. This is how it is at my house.

*Clicking on a photo will give you a closer look!

There are two families of quail that live here. These are photos of the younger family. This family has nine babies.

The turkeys are daily year round residents. I have no idea how many teenagers are currently here.

They are diggers, so I spend considerable time shooing them out of the garden.

They don’t care what I think.

The positive thing here, is that they kill snakes, including rattlers. So having turkeys around can be a good thing.

The chipmunks are curious little hyper bunches of joy!

Did you know that they can release their tail as a defense mechanism? It will grow back!

I found that out the hard way.

Oh yes, I grabbed one by the tail because it had gotten into the house, and I was trying to catch it to put it outside. I was devastated! But then I did the research.

That little stinker was returned alive and well to the great outdoors!

Stay healthy.

Stay safe.

Keep smiling.

See the world around you!

A Stroll in the Garden

“Some of the most beautiful things worth having in your life come wrapped in a crown of thorns.” ― Shannon L. Alder

“But he who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose.” ― Anne Bronte

*Clicking on a photo will give you a closer look!

“Most women suffer thorns for the sake of the flowers, but we who wield power adorn ourselves with flowers to hide the sting of our thorns” ― Leigh Bardugo, King of Scars

“Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.” ― Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

“He picked up one of Lorna’s roses and set it in my lap. “Here.” I picked it up and smelled it. He poked me in the shoulder. “See what I mean? Thorns don’t stop you from sniffing. Or putting them in a vase on the kitchen table. You work around them…. Cause the rose is worth it… Think what you’d miss.”
― Charles Martin, Chasing Fireflies

“Flowery tongues have thorny throats.” ― Kirush Muser

“We all have thorns in our flesh. All of us. Love is when we stay and help someone pluck out their thorns one-by-one and they do the same for us. Love is also when we pluck the thorns out of our own flesh, one-by-one. But today, the world teaches us that we shouldn’t even see those thorns, that we should only see the petals. As a result, we don’t know how to love ourselves and we don’t know how to love others. Stay with the darkness, and bring that darkness into the light. It’s there, look at it.” ― C. JoyBell C.

“The more the thorns on the way are sharply pointed, the more intensely the fires burn for quenching the sweet cool destination.”
― Spriha Kant

“If you don’t feel the pointed things in life, you’ll soon take the soft ones for granted.”
― John Everson, Cage of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions

“Poetry without truth, is like a rose without thorns. Still pretty, But sometime the real beauty comes from the things that can make us bleed.” ― Cody Edward Lee Miller

“Some thorns have roses.” ― Hope Bolinger

“Holding grudges is like growing a garden of thorns in your heart .” ― Thandazo Perfect Khumalo

Stay healthy.

Stay safe.

Keep smiling.

See the world around you!

A Stroll in the Garden

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about.”
― Rumi

*Clicking on a photo will give you a closer look!

“We sit silently and watch the world around us. This has taken a lifetime to learn. It seems only the old are able to sit next to one another and not say anything and still feel content. The young, brash and impatient, must always break the silence. It is a waste, for silence is pure. Silence is holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking. This is the great paradox.” ― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

“Never miss a good chance to shut up.” ― Will Rogers

“Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.”
― George Eliot, Impressions of Theophrastus Such

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” ― Ansel Adams

“He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.”
― Elbert Hubbard

“Silence is a source of Great Strength.” ― Lao Tzu

“You have a grand gift for silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Complete Sherlock Holmes

“Be silent or let thy words be worth more than silence.” ― Pythagoras

“In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.”
― Mother Teresa, In the Heart of the World: Thoughts, Stories and Prayers

Stay healthy.

Stay safe.

Keep smiling.

See the world around you!