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.

And On It Goes

 The trees at sunset

 And in the morning

On Christmas day... 

cancel all planned activities

and the next...

 the trees stand tall, the weather ever changing.

Old Man Winter is the boss, in this part of the world and he's not likely to let you forget it.

Bright Lights and Bonfire

At this time of year...

...the shortest days ...

the sun rises almost directly out in front of us...

far across, on the horizon of the coastline of Nova Scotia..

we have to wait for it... when we get up early...

I love waiting for it

 Especially this day...

with the fishing boat heading out...

into that almost purple haze of seasmoke

on our always offering Bay of Fundy... 

Later in the day

we offer back...

our light...

with fir and spruce thinnings...

warming crisp air...

  glowing stones in a circle...

calm evening, calm sea, 

silent...

but for snapping, hissing, crackling... 

Fireworks were hiding inside those trees...

Then once again...

the setting sun offered back its light...

like a game of catch

later...

 inside by the glow...

dogs know...

....Lights of the season powered by Nature...

My Very Best Wishes to Each and Everyone

***photos taken in December at St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada

Peace

May PEACE... LIGHT... and LOVE envelope each and everyone of you

...MERRY CHRISTMAS...

and the Best in the year to come.....

Sunrise and Seasmoke

...click pictures to enlarge to feel the effect and imagine looking out from high on a bluff...



The extreme cold of the night has given way to a most delicate sunrise... a little later in appearing today.... due to the mass of seasmoke rising, mounding and billowing above the surface of the Bay of Fundy...

...blocking the view of our neighboring province... Nova Scotia... 30 miles away... altogether...





To watch this happen is like receiving a gift.... from the world... such anticipation...




Light and colors changing... as... and when Nature decides...




Across the snow covered yard...




Past the village below... out into the Bay of Fundy...



The Seasmoke rises... illuminating the tidal marsh ... in various shades of beauty...




It is Glorious!............................ It is Magnificent!..........


...actually words can hardly describe the emotional response this draws forth....





It can't be packaged.... bought or sold...

It gives itself... free of charge.... to anyone who waits for it...


...or if that soul happens upon it by chance.... they will never forget it....
and they too... will become one of those who wait....





This is Mother Natures offering............ her way of saving grace when she causes us mere mortals to endure these -20C temperatures...

A Balance, I would say.....

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Gratefulness

"As you wander through life,
whatever be your goal,
Keep your eye upon the donut,
And not upon the hole!"

I do not know who wrote this little rhyme but I like it... it makes me smile...

These are old pictures from a poster, my son, Max made when he was much younger.... it was a little project of things that meant something special to him...

When Max was 4, we saw a butterfly sitting on a flower in the garden in late September... it just stayed there on that flower for several days... when we examined closer to see why it never left, we discovered it had a problem with its wings and could not fly...

As it was getting cold and rainy we felt sorry for the little thing, just sitting there, so we brought the butterfly and a bouquet of flowers into the house to our kitchen table... we fed him sugar syrup and watched his little tongue unfurl to sip it... it was very long! we let him live there and brought him fresh flowers everyday... sipping syrup for a month and a bit... till his life was over...

We were all sad when the little butterfly died... but we will always be grateful for the closeness, we had the opportunity to share.




Little dog Ziggy, who Max slept with every night since he was 2..... Ziggy was one year older than Max, and his favourite little play friend... Max had spelled out a birthday wish to him, in dog years, with dog kibble on the kitchen floor, that Ziggy promptly ate as soon as I took the picture...




Max also had this newspaper clipping on his poster.... from the Telegraph Journal, Saint John, NB. ... taken December 25, 1993... he was the Christmas baby that year...

He thought it was cool to be a Christmas present........... So did we!

...We even put him under the tree!
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