ice rosette, no spring yet!

 We've gone from this...

freak snow right after a 70 degree day, 3 inches!  The snow was completely gone by late afternoon.

...to this!

bulbs popping up everywhere!

actual insects!  This is a female Pale Brindled Beauty moth.

a bee!  Struggling between two boards on our porch.

Nice to get a few more animals-in-snow shots.  As his thick coat suggests, this coyote probably isn't bothered by the snow at all!

A little territory-marking by this bobcat.

Now that the snow's gone, I can see that we have a ton of Chinese praying mantis oothecas.

I think I've found 13 so far.  Normally I like to take a pretty hands-off approach to interference with nature, but these invasive mantises will kill our native ones.  They also kill bees, butterflies, and even humming birds!  I don't want them in my garden, so they'll all be collected and burned.  Each ootheca can hold up to 400 eggs!  My garden would be completely overrun.

Now that the snow is gone, we're at that strange place between winter and the first real green of spring, and it can be hard to see as much natural beauty.

Thank goodness for fungus!  ;)

It's not always easy to identify, but I love seeing the different shapes and colors.  

More color in the sky...

Something else that's kind of interesting...I've noticed these "stars" in our front pond.

Even Thoreau wrote about these strange things ("ice rosettes"), but there isn't a consensus on what causes them.  Some people think that it's a warm current of groundwater that causes this fracture, while others suggest that a flaw in the ice allows for water to move, spread, and separate out.  I don't think I've noticed it before this winter!  

A chilly start to March!  Not putting the quilts away yet.  We'll see what the next weeks bring!

red has fled

 The leaves are definitely in "late fall" mode.  Just a few reds...

...we're mostly in the yellows/rust phase.

I picked a massive sycamore leaf, much bigger than my hand!

Until our recent cold spell, I was still getting plenty of flowers from the garden.  So strange to see in November.

Several weeks ago, Duke Energy came and cut down several trees along our fence line that were a little too close to the power lines.

(They chipped them for us so we could add the mulch to the garden.)

Because of this, we have a much better view of our neighbors up on the hill.  They regularly put out food for the turkey vultures and I love to watch them congregate!

Not much else stirring since it got colder, though...especially inside.

Pepita is sleeping more (thankfully), but she still loves to get out on the trail.

We've spotted some interesting mushrooms there lately...

berkeley polypore, edible!

gloeophyllum

cauliflower mushroom - edible!

...and even interesting fungus that was showing up on leaves just before they changed, in beautiful rosettes.

cristulariella

I'll be looking for more this winter.  Meanwhile...staying inside and feeling cozy.  

Have a great week!  

No Elf, No Shelf

 Why are winter sunrises so much prettier than other times of year?

Even after the flamboyance of early sunrise has flamed out, the beautiful pastels that remain are views that I look forward to every morning.

We've had our first snow!  It wasn't much...a brief spitting, then sun...but it was enough to muck up the roads for several hours.  Claudia makes an appearance at the end to remind me that any type of snow = a wet food treat!

We're still hiking most days.

It's peaceful.

Winter is a great time to turn an eye to things that get overshadowed by their more appealing summer cousins.  Fungus, for one.  Not only is it nice to see a bit of color, but amazing to see things thriving in the cold.

ganoderma resinaceum, taken earlier this fall but still around

chicken of the wood, so named for their "meaty" taste

mycena inclinata, maybe?

Pretty patterns in wood...

...and interesting land formations are other things that just get overlooked in other seasons.

Even a nice blue sky, so common in summer, is appreciated more now during the grey days of winter.

The kittens really appreciate it when the sun peeks through!

photo taken in late October

It's almost Christmas!!  I will admit...I dropped the ball this year.  I missed my early November Christmas planning when we were in Missouri, and I never quite got back to it.  I meant to put the Christmas decorations up on December 1st, but we got sidetracked...then it was my birthday, and now a really busy time for work.  Since we'll be gone on Christmas day, I decided not to do my usual whole-hog routine. So we didn't...

Obtain a Christmas tree...

...and decorate it.

No advent gifts, no daily Christmas cookie...

No Elf on the Shelf.

No Christmas choirs, no decorations, no Christmas movies, no nothing.  Zip!  It suits me, though.  I like to absolutely burn myself out on something, take a break, and then go crazy again.  I'm such an all-or-nothing personality type that I truly prefer it this way.  I do the same thing with music, books, and movies/T.V. shows.  I'm taking a break this year, and next year it will be a Christmas bonanza again.  Hooray!!  

The kittens are feeling pretty festive, though.

Happy holidays!!