Beginning to look a lot like...NEW ENGLAND!!

Happy last day of February! Snow fell softly through the night and we awoke to 8" of snow! The huge old cottonwood trees look magical out our kitchen window; their craggy grey bark decorated with fluffy white snow! I couldn't help but gaze at them awhile as I prepared morning coffee. Fred wanted to be outside for only a few perfunctory minutes and then dashed to the door. Burr! Snow still falls gently, just a little bit. So we will just sit back and relish it from inside for awhile, and venture out again shortly. An enchanted day!!

Beautiful Snow Day!

This snow will make everything so happy; Spring thaw in the high country to slow down the fire season, and green-green-green here in the valley! This is such a treat! Of course, there are plenty of locales where people are very tired of this stuff...and I can understand that. Poor things. But we, here, find it rare and exciting! (Even though I know it will mean MUD by this afternoon....ugh.) ENJOY!

I'm happy to announce....

...we have our very 1st Hellebore blossom ever! We purchased this little guy at Plant Delights Nursery while visiting Josh & Paige, not too long after they moved to North Carolina. Pre-Piper, even, if I'm not mistaken. And look how our darling Piper has bloomed in that 5 years!! But our poor little hellebore plant has struggled along in our alkaline soil...being moved from spot to spot, as we fed it, watered it, shaded it, sunned it and hoped. At last, it is in a location it seems to like! It has a hellebore neighbor, also from that North Carolina excursion, which does not seem to plan on blooming this year; it doesn't help that a bunny recently munched on it, provoking me to place a chicken wire cage around both of our hellebore plants! (We have four small ones started in another spot - maybe next year they will bloom????) Warm weather was here for a week or so - and now we have awakened to cold and a light dusting of snow. Most of our snow experience here this winter has been via the television news reports about other places! WOW! The winter in New England, Michigan, the midwest, and even the south! People will long remember the Winter of 2015!

Happiness is...waking up to this!

I am remembering that when I was a kid, our best snows always came in January. Each year we would hope for a white Christmas, but honestly, it was even better in January; this meant "No School!" We had to hurry out into the fluffy, white world because we knew it would not last past noon. The sun would break through and the snow would be...gone! I just love it, the snow! Fred loves it too - slipping and sliding around, sticking his nose into the snowy little piles, sniffing the snow smells. We will bundle up and go for a walk! We better hurry. Soon it will be gone!

Sweet Christmas Time....and now 2015!!! Happy New Year!

There was tamale making, luminaria folding, filling and lighting, gingerbread house decorating, LOTS of story reading (Corgieville Christmas....best Christmas book everrr!), carol singing, and....Santa! Wow! What a marvelous Christmas we have had! We were delighted to have Nate's crew here, and missed having Josh's crew (a lot); loved that Gran and Papa could be with us for most of Christmas, but so sorry they couldn't be in on the Christmas Day doings (Papa had bronchitis and a bad cold). There was also the Urgent Care visit on Dec 23rd when Abby had a horrible ear infection...but that resolved quickly. And now......it is New Year's Day! 2015! We have a glorious dusting of snow and will head out shortly for a New Year's Day walk. Then, off to Gran and Papa's for some good luck posole. Happy New Year everyone!! From Little Bird Farm! May it be a GREAT year for you!