Snowing Too Much for You?

Here's some color to bring to the long, cold, dreary days of winter.

Paaarrrrrtay Boat!

My friend's twin daughters.

A Baltimore Oriole trying to hide from me.

A dew-kissed African daisy.

Snow, Snow, Beautiful Snow

Yes, I am a snow lover. It's pretty, it's bright, it lights up the greys and browns of winter. This is the pump house of the tree farm just down the road from us. I love this view ... and I see it every day on my way to work.

In any of the seasons this snippet of country scenery gives me a slight smile ... the view changes so often due to light or snow or leaves ... making it one small pleasure in each day.

During our real storm of the year, not quite winter yet, but just before the official start, we received 10" of snow in our area.

Slim Pickings This Week

... but not for this goldfinch. Typically the male goldfinch is beautiful yellow and black and the female is exactly this color ... all year long. I did read an article somewhere that stated the male goldfinch tends to look more like the female once the cold weather sets in. I've no idea if this article was full of fact or fiction and I've no idea if this bird is male or female.

The picture, however, is the only decent one of a couple of dozen and at that, it could use some work. :::sigh:::

Some weeks are just like that.

Goldfinch at the thistle feeder.

Bradley Palmer State Forest & The Ipswich River

View toward the Ipswich River from the parking area on Wheelock Street. The buildings barely discernible to the right are the home and offices of Foote's Canoe Rental.

A different angle out to the field.

The Ipswich River as it meanders under the wooden bridge on Wheelock Street. Now that I think of it, it might be Wheeler Street. Darn. If I don't right things down ....

Today was an unusual weather day. Here we've gone from bone chilling cold to warmer temps with rain and then into this afternoon -- 49 degrees, no sun, but lots of clouds and as you leave town and head into Ipswich following along the river and heading to the coast, the mist rises off the river and gives the drive an ethereal quality.

Not sunny and bright, but pretty just the same.