My Favorite Santa

is a wooden man about twenty inches tall and of undetermined age.  

His joints are more far easier to move than mine.

Santa was a gift from my sister, Beverly, years ago

She doesn't know how old he is.  

Doesn't matter, I'm keeping him.

He stays out all year for my pleasure.

Merry Christmas!

Sam Elliott

could sell me a bag of ice in Antarctica or a bag of sand in the Sahara Desert.  I love his voice.  I can hear him talking in another room and run just to hear him better.  Hubby is not threatened at all by this.  It amuses him and sometimes will hunt for a Sam Elliott show just to see me run!

 Sam Elliot advertised for Dodge..."Ram Tough"...but I didn't buy the Dodge.  

Andrew did.

It's not new but it's new to Andrew.

He also doesn't know Sam Elliott!

Joining the working force full time Andrew faces the world bravely

with guitar in hand and Ram Tough.

The Grey Ladies

were just puppies yesterday.

Ki-Anne and Diamond Lil

showing their grey but still hard at work.

Snuggling With Good Men

The Polar Vortex has sucked the warmth right out of me!  I know I have it easy.  It hasn't dropped to subzero for us BUT it's all in the comparison. Our cold month is January and February. Many folks are neck deep in snow and we haven't had a flake but I'm still freezing!

There is something new in the air this year making things happen. I've observed insane politics of THE WORLD, the Chicago Cubs winning The World Series, Policemen with targets on them and war atrocities that make my heart ache. We have lost a veteran/astronaut hero, John Glen, and an infamous dictator. I have detected lies where I usually find truth and truth sprinkled in lies. We may now know why those participation trophies are not such a good idea since our college students (and many adults) have shown they have the inability to deal with reality.

I've reacted like any self respecting married woman...I crawled under the covers with another man, in fact, more than one....Clive Cussler, Harlen Coben and James Patterson. If the weather and social atmosphere holds I may add a few more men AND women to those I snuggle with for confidence, solace, security and to take my mind somewhere else. Talk about dealing with reality!

Hubby doesn't mind my strange bedfellows.  It gives him peace so he doesn't have to hear me rant about my perceived worldly circumstance.

My rose is freeze dried.

May our nation unite.

A Repost From Eight Years Ago~More Pictures...Fewer Words

It is...was a beautiful day. Warm, windy, and did I say wonderfully, comfortingly warm!
No snow, no rain, only mud left over from both.

Started at the barn with my four God-Given equine treasures.

(Refer to previous post, My Mistakes, My Glories.)
All not recently groomed with their winter coats.

As you can see the wind is blowing.

I took pictures of Arrow's whorls so I can get them read by some whorl experts (y'all!). 

In this picture you can see plainly why he is dubbed Broken Arrow.

Knot was too busy eating to smile for the camera.

Showing Magic's blue eye.

It was a day for muck boots, not these!
 It was warm enough that the mud felt quite wonderful pouring through all the holes
while I was trying to keep my balance.

Maggie and Lil anticipating the walk
Then we walked.

One of five ponds we have. This is the New pond, meaning it was built in the last twenty years. We also have the Top Pond, the Highline Pond, the Frog or Hog Pond and the Spring Pond.

Parts of the creek no one sees

Another hidden jewel

Help! I've lost my feet!
The sky darkens!
Watching Lil hunt a varmint.
Enjoyed the day and took many pictures.

and found my feet!

This post was written eight years ago, two months after I entered the blogosphere. Circumstances may have changed but I think I may be about the same.

Happy Holidays!

The Watchers

Do you think

they may be simply

watching the last rose of Autumn?

Fungi Neighborhoods

Once upon a time a tiny spore blew into the moss and lichen neighborhood.  Not one moss pulled up roots and moved.  Not one lichen opened their mouth in protest. They grew and prospered together. 

 Like kind grew closer

but in the end the organisms made up their collective minds to favor cohabitation in peace and harmony.

May humans take a lesson from Nature.

She's been at it far longer and know it's a workable solution.

The Thanksgiving Spider

The spider wove its house carefully and prepared for company.

Waiting for the guests' arrival

it ran out to greet me for dinner.

I was extremely grateful I was too large.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In All Fairness To Cats

I shall honor their cuteness today.

I am thankful they don't poop in my yard.

Autumn Is Called FALL For A Reason

Killing frost has reached our valley.

The leafs rained down.

There are many more to fall.

We have mowed, mulched, raked, carried and blown leafs.  My water gardens look like compost piles! Hubby was kind enough to buy me a leaf blower, a new tool for me.  It makes clearing around the water gardens easier.  

The compost/worm pit is full.  Plants are mulched.  The dogs are enjoying the large piles of leafs I haven't placed yet.

The work continues. I'm grateful I have so many beautiful trees to make oxygen for the sweet country air I enjoy every day.

We're extremely dry here. I'd enjoy a wet rain from the skies but this is part of the seasons. I embrace it.

Just Junior

There Are Kingdoms and Reaches

far more than we know.  There is a world within our world where magic lives by many names and coexists with the ordinary. A few glimpse it and sense it around them in Nature's Realm.

Every tree has its Dryad and each Dryad has its dragon/tree.  It is a special relationship. One cannot exist without the other.  If one should die, the other will too.

Sometimes an ordinary moment with extraordinary power can bring back the Dryad's music and lift the dragon's wings so they may live again.  Few are fortunate to witness this re-birthing.

Many may remember the discovery, the imagining and the journey.  Who knew it would take me so long!

Presenting the rebirth of a tree dragon and her Hamadryad living again in my heart and my yard.

She may change as she tells me

but for my birthday she is poised for flight.

May we celebrate the magic and beauty around us
and always feed our imagination.