Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Year in Review

I'm borrowing this idea from a couple of different sources. My friends Nan, at Letters from a Hillfarm and Abbie, at Farmer's Daughter have recently posted the first lines of each month's first post from the past year. I really enjoyed reading their review of the year, and have done a similar post. So without further ado, here is my year in review.

January


I’m never sure whether to make a New Year’s Resolution or not.

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February


The world outside our windows is full of motion and light today. Fat drops of water are falling steadily from the icicles on the eaves. Wind is pushing walls of snow across the landscape. Birds are stretching their wings in the almost-forgotten joy of brilliant sunshine that pours like water through the bare branches and down across the hillsides. I couldn't put my boots on fast enough this morning. I had to get out into the glory of the morning!



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March


In the summer, one imagines that the wind is singing through the leaves in the trees. Yet in the barren, leafless days of winter, I still hear the wind in the trees. As I stepped out the front door of the house, I was immediately aware of three things: the sun was so bright I could hardly keep my eyes open, the cold air found every bit of skin I hadn't covered with snow gear, and the birch trees on the back hill were singing as the winter wind gave them a voice.
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April


Each time I look outside my windows I see birds in these days of early spring. I watch blue jays swoop around boldly as I wash dishes. Turkeys in the front yard distract me as I sit down to the computer to do school work. Normally cheery robins look a bit worried as they hop about on the cold ground, looking as if they weren't counting on there still being snow when they returned to the north
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May
There is so much light and color in the garden in these early days of May. I will let the flowers speak for themselves, through these photos. They sing their own prasies quite sweetly!

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June


Rain drips from glistening blossoms beneath a cloudy sky which promises more rain.

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July


Just a few photos from the garden after a week of rain... Too breezy for good clear shots, but here is what's growing in my garden on this windy hill. Orange Butterfly Weed, asclepius, above is opening in the butterfly garden, as is a tiny patch of purple asters.



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August


Last year, I wrote about a “Quiet Country” moment that I experienced while chaperoning a high school music department trip to NYC. (You can read that old post here.) This morning, I experienced the opposite. It is our town’s annual summer festival and this morning was the parade. Unfortunately, a huge rain shower was also on the agenda for the morning. I saw the clouds and grabbed an umbrella as we headed out to the parade. Limerick was at an estate sale, Senryu was working at the coffee house in the village, and the three younger kids and I were fortunate to be invited under a tent where a fund raiser was being run to watch the parade.
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September


What I notice most in these waning days of summer is not the flowers, though they are still blooming sweetly, nor the colors, though they are especially intense and vivid. What I notice most is the quality of the light. The way the sun slants through the sky to pour, nurturing and warm, across the earth takes my breath away.

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October


The photo above shows some yellow mums that bloomed in October 2008, and below you see the billowing clouds in an October 2007 sky. The last photo from October 2006, my first October as a blogger, shows the effects of an early cold snap. I am still without a camera, and did not have one to borrow today. Even if I had one to borrow, the wind and rains might have slowed me down! I was in and out a few times today, but spent time indoors in my own kitchen and at a lovely baby shower for a young woman who used to babysit my daughters "back in the day." She is expecting her own first child, another little girl. Now, my mulled cider is warming in the crock pot and the house is smelling good!
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November



Most people use the terms Autumn and Fall synonymously. For me, they are two different seasons. Autumn days intertwine with the days of late summer, with warm days and crisp nights and generous color in the trees. Fall begins unexpectedly one night as a cold wind rips the leaves from many trees at once, and in the morning the streets and sidewalks are paved with slippery, gold and brown leaf litter. This year, that windy night was Friday, leaving the trees in skeleton form just in time for Halloween.
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December


crystal petals fall,

a gift from heaven to earth,

flowers made of ice

– a haiku, by Aisling





9 comments:

Farmer's Daughter said...

I love looking at the garden throughout the year!

Pom Pom said...

What a lovely idea and THANK YOU because I enjoyed it so much. You are such a poet. Yahoo for poets. I love them so! I'm so glad that I have had the honor of walking through many months with you, seeing things through the lens of Aisling!

Brenda Pruitt said...

You get a lot more cold weather for longer than we do, obviously. I am so ready for warm weather and pretty blooms!
Brenda

Galaxy6139 said...

beautiful pictures in your review ^^

Happy new Year ^-^ Wish you would have a great year with happiness and success ^^

Cloudhands said...

What a clever way to review the year. I enjoyed looking back with you. Your gift with words delight my imagination and your pictures illustrate your life. Just delightful.

Marcie said...

Abbie, Thanks for coming by to look! And, for the great idea! :)

Pom Pom, I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was fun for me to reminisce!

Brenda, I can't even begin to long for warm weather for several months; it would be pointless! It is my long-term goal to learn to love the winter months as much as the warmer months. It is a work in progress, but taking photographs of what is beautiful in the cold, gray days of winter helps me in that goal. Thanks for visiting!

Marcie said...

Galaxy, Thank you for your nice comment! I wish you a very good year ahead!

Mom, Thank you! I hear from some of my blog readers that I must get my "way with words" from you. So, thank you for that as well! :)

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

Aisling - beautiful and the warm weather pictures - warmed me this chilly and rainy day.
Blessings sent to you and yours.
Happy New Year.

Marcie said...

Ernestine, Thank you for those kind thoughts. I'm glad to have brought a bit of sunshine to your day through my summer photos. They brought some to my gray and dreary day as well! A very Happy New Year to you!