Thursday, December 1, 2016

A Thoroughly Miserable Dec. 1st!

We're safely back from B.C., but with 800 pictures to sort and edit, and several adventures to organize a story about, I thought I'd give you one update on the 'seasons in the valley' here before we start reporting from our week in the west.

It really was a miserable day, with a cold drizzle on and off all day.  When it's just above freezing, rain isn't much fun; I'd rather have it just below freezing and snow!  As you can see, the meadow is brown except for my mowed trails, and all the leaves are gone, even the Tamarack needles - except for one stubborn maple sapling.

Along the fencerow you wouldn't even know it was a Hosta garden; there's no sign of them now at all, and no colours in the garden except for '50 shades of brown'.

But the old stone fencerow shows up really well, and the lichens on the big boulders seem to be at their best.  That flat rock in the first picture is a relief sculpture of a fern on a limestone slab.

A short walk in the woods was easy today, the leaves all wet, and the trees creeking ominously in the wind.

Farm fields are all inactive now, resting until next growing season, whether they're a hayfield like this, or a ploughed field that will be put to crops in the spring.

Farmers have been busy this fall, but I think they're finally getting a few days to work on the inside chores.

I refilled the bird feeders, and the Chickadees returned almost immediately.  I also heard a White-breasted Nuthatch, and saw a Downy Woodpecker briefly at the suet.  And after standing still outside for 15 minutes, shooting 40 photos, I did get one or two that were well focused!

But most of them were more like this, or with the bird gone entirely!

Tomorrow, western adventures!

16 comments:

  1. You would love it here seeing things that are so much different from the norm back home.
    Still great pictures. Looking forward to seeing your western trip.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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  2. Wonderful photos - and love the bird leaving - mine usually are not that well defined. Can't wait to see the places you visited in BC - we've probably been to a lot of the same places.

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  3. This time of year with temperature just above freezing and rain is absolutely miserable and the least pleasant time of year.

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  4. Ditto to William K's words," In Flight " with wings spread out is beautiful.

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  5. Hi Furry....
    You certainly have a beautiful "spread" there....
    Great photos...gonna get cold this weekend....gonna close the cottage tomorrow 😕
    Enjoy your weekend...
    Cheers!
    Linda :o)

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  6. I reach a point when I just can't fix all the things in the garden that need to be fixed anymore. The cold weather has attacked you garden harder than mine. But when you northern winds start to blow south we will be getting Canadian breeze that are too cold for comfort. I really like your chickadee photos. I don't see enough of them at my feeder.

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  7. I love how nature protects itself this time of year. Great pist.

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  8. 50 shades of brown and some pretty adirondack chairs - what is it about those chairs!! your tress are quite bare, it will make getting captures of those chickadees much easier!! that one is beautiful!!

    we had 2 days of rain and i actually enjoyed it, we have been running around too much and i quite enjoyed being home. plus we needed the rain water as we are in a serious drought situation!!!

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  9. Oh my what a dreary looking day, thanks for reminding us why we head south.

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  10. The day doesn't look so bad from my perspective. It was foggy but dry all day yesterday. It's that cold drizzle that makes it so unpleasant, I suspect. I usually don't spend much time out in weather like that! :-)

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  11. The yard is lovely. But I could not feel the temperature through the monitor.

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  12. I love watching the birds at our feeder this time of year. Yeah, there's nothing more miserable that near-freezing temps and rain.

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  13. I can feel how miserable that weather was! Looks not so bad in the pics though!

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  14. Nice shots in the dreary December weather.

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