Hoarfrost: Part TWO!

As mentioned in my other blogpost,

I took so many photos of our recent hoarfrost on the trees and plants...

that I had many more to share with you.

So we will continue again today....

Weeds take on a whole new look when they get covered in shiny frost!:

And, just LOOK how neat the frost crystals are up

close and personal:

And the hillsides?

MAGICAL!:

When the sun shines down on the bushes, they absolutely

GLOW!:

See?

SEE why I get so excited

when I look out my window

and notice that we had hoarfrost arrive overnight?:

I will be doing one more blogpost

with the pictures of this glorious day, so stay tuned!

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Did you know that this is the LAST DAY
to enter the FREE PHOTO CONTEST
for Janaury???

You only have until midnight tonight to send me your
photo...with the theme of:

BRIDGES!!

So, get up, get dressed, grab your camera....drive out to your favorite bridge,
snap a photo
and send it!!!

Just follow these rules!!

Blue Sky and branches of Hoarfrost!

Overnight one night, we had a slight hoarfrost.

I love it when that happens.

It covers all the bare vegetation

with frost that looks like it has been sprinkled by powdered sugar.

Here, if it is a sunny morning you have to hurry to get out to capture

it before the sun melts it all off the trees and bushes.

So, one day when I woke up a little later than usual, I saw it...

and rushed to get out there to capture some of it for you...

This particular time, it was like a mix of hoarfrost and ice on the branches, making them shimmer and sparkle:

I was Ooooo-ing and Awwww-ing the whole time out there:

It positively illuminated the day!:

I loved it against the clouds and blue, blue, sky:

Nature shining at its best:

Closeup and personal:

I have more pictures for you on a future blogpost...

I was out there

enjoying the scenes so much

that my fingers began looking like the branches above!

Goldinches!

One of the cutest little birds

to visit our feeders in the winter

are the

little

Goldfinches.

Read more about them HERE.
(When you go to the site, look at the non-breeding pictures of them which most resembles these).

So today's post is for you to enjoy some shots of them

that I have taken of them over the last few weeks.

They love the small seeds of our birdfeed and also the sunflower seeds:

They remind me of little fluffy chicks:

Sometimes about twenty all fly in at once and hop and kick about the seeds on

the dish, making a mess and making little chirps:

She is saying:

"Stick your head under all that snow and let me know

what there is to eat, will ya'?":

"Ah, Dang...leftovers AGAIN!":

"If that dang Chickadee lands hard ONE more time, I'm gonna be bounced right off this thing!":

Just LOOK at the stinkeye

the bird in the back

is giving the one that

is eating:

The early goldfinch

gets the sunflower seeds!:

"Watch, Gertrude!!...I can balance snow on my beak!":

A chipping Sparrow stopped by,

and the Goldfinch left...

"Yummm...Sunflower and Seed Icee's...my favorite!":

When you are bored some winter day,

just listen for bird sounds

and watch.

The season is amazingly full of life, even in the cold of winter.

Winter Cemetery

I really like cemeteries.

To me,

they are like parks.

And, let's face it,

no one gets out of here alive,

you know what I mean?

Sure, it can be a sad place,

and

even a heart-wrenching,  depressing place.

But if you try, you can prefer to instead think of  it as a place to reflect

on people's lives

and how they touched one another when they lived.

A place to celebrate LIFE rather than death.

*******

Since retiring, we live in a tiny, rural community on a lake.

It has a quaint, perfect cemetery.

Every Memorial Day, the Historical Society goes to a couple gravesites

and gives a small talk on the life of one or two of it's community members that have passed...

right beside their gravesites.

I thought that was a really neat thing to do.

So, every spring, summer and fall, I usually take a ride and just walk about the cemetery, looking at names of all of the community founders.  I imagine them in the times they lived. 

Some, so very, very different than now.

So, after a recent snowfall, I just had to drive by and get some snapshots of it.

It was perfectly quiet there, not even any birds chirping...no wind blowing...

just solitude and peace.

You already know my fascination with gates,

especially in the winter.

So, of course, the cemetery's gate is one of my favorites:

I love the old granite markers...

and looking at the names and dates.

But on this day, all lay under a blanket of snow, with no entrance to my curiosity:

I look forward to my spring visit,

when the snow will melt away, and and flowers will make their way up through the soil...

and bring some new life and green back to the scene...

The cycle of life.

It is amazing.

And nowhere points this out more than a visit there at this time of year.
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By the time this publishes, I am on vacation in Florida for just a few weeks....
but
I still want to BUG you about
entering the FREE PHOTO CONTEST!!

Hurry!
You only have until midnight, Jan. 31st to enter January's theme photo of:

BRIDGES!!!

Just follow THESE RULES!!!

You don't have to be a Blogger to enter,
but you do need to become a Follower of this blog, which is easy!
Just click at the top of the blog where you see all the other pictures of
the beautiful faces of the other Followers!
Now...
get out there and snap a photo of your favorite bridge and send it in!!

Purple Finch (or Rose-breasted Grosbeak?) and Hairy Woodpeckers!

In the dead of winter,

it is delightful

to birdwatch.

It is especially delightful to see birds

of color

this time of year....

I am always envious of those Blogger friends of mine

that have Cardinals visit them.

Alas!

We have only had a few of them visit us, and only ONE time did one visit us in the winter...

for a total of less than 60 seconds.

So, early this winter,

I was thrilled to look outside of my window

only to see a flash of red up in the apple trees.

There is was!

It was red.

But it wasn't a rose-breasted Grosbeak (or was it?).

And it didn't look like a purple finch...

or

WAS IT???

(click here to decide?)

It only stayed for 30 seconds...

long enough for me to get 4 semi-blurry shots!:

But it was a thrill...nevertheless!:

Do you think it was a Purple Finch

or

WAS it a rose breasted grosbeak?

I also have about two pairs

of  Hairy woodpeckers here that visit my suet regularly.

I am also envious of all of you that get the Pileated Woodpeckers to come and land so close...

here, they are very shy and do NOT come to my feeders or even close to my yard.

But these guys amuse me and I like seeing them too:

Read more about Hairy Woodpeckers HERE.

I love it when they visit during

a snow storm!

Sometimes we wonder how they survive out there during blizzards!

I hope you are surprised and amused by something

as you look out your window

this winter's day!