Sunday Stroll - Through the Windows

I have a confession to make... I took my stroll from the inside looking out today. Another winter storm is pelting us with snow, and there was no lull in the storm during which to take photos. So, here are the views from my windows today. The distinct lack of clarity in this photos is due to flying snow (the photographer refuses to take the blame!)

From the dining room window on the east side of the house, here are the wood pile, snow fort and the white pines on the hill just east of our property.

From the dining room and living room windows on the south side of the house, here are the vegetable garden and the playhouse, with the lake in the background.

Here is a tiny glimpse of the front garden, from the living room windows on the west (front) face of the house.

Here is the butterfly garden, north and east of the house, taken through the window with a sigh for warmer days...

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all photos by Aisling, Sunday December 21, 2008

Sunday Stroll Invitation

According to Dictonary.com, the word winter "comes from an old Germanic word that means "time of water" and refers to the rain and snow..." It has been a time of water, mostly snow and a little icy rain, for several weeks now, but winter officially begins today. Not surprisingly, snow is falling heavily... in large soft flakes that are moving sideways through the air as the cold wind drives them from the north.

If you have time to stroll today, please post about about it on your blog and then come back here with a comment and a link to your post. You may use the Sunday Stroll button at the top of this post on your post or side bar if you would like. I will add participant names to this post so other strollers can walk through your garden too.

Look who's strolling:

Margaret at Periodic Pearls

Linda at The Crafty Gardener

Abbie at Farmer's Daughter

Me, here at The Quiet Country House

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Sunday Stroll - December in the Village

Haiku and I went into the village for a little window shopping this afternoon. A light misty rain fell as we walked along a main street dressed for the holidays.

The warming pots and ice sculptures from last night's winter street festival remain on the sidewalks. The street is quiet today without the shoppers, carollers, and pink-cheeked children.

Despite the light rain this afternoon, winter has settled into the village for the season.

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photos by Aisling and Haiku, December 14, 2008

Sunday Stroll Invitation

"I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes."

~ e.e. cummings

I will wander today searching for that blue dream of sky. What I will see instead is the soft blanket of grey cloud that has draped our skies for days on end. Last night our snow turned to rain as the air warmed just a few degrees above freezing. I will be strolling through slush today I believe!

If you have time to stroll today, please post about about it on your blog and then come back here with a comment and a link to your post. You may use the Sunday Stroll button at the top of this post on your post or side bar if you would like. I will add participant names to this post so other strollers can walk through your garden too.

Look who's strolling:

Me here at the Quiet Country House
Ruth at Musings of an Everyday Woman
The Crafty Gardener

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Feelin' Groovy...

Does anyone besides me remember that old Simon and Garfunkle tune, 59th Street Bridge Song? "Slow down, you move too fast," the lyrics remind us, "You've got to make the morning last, just kickin' down the cobblestones. Lookin' for fun and feelin' groovy."

My classes are done for the semester... essays submitted, exams taken. After a pause for a deep breath, I still have plenty to do. I have already enjoyed picking up a non-text book, the memoir A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas, for the first time in months. I had to substitute at the school yesterday, my first day after exams, so today feels like my first day of the holiday break. I am volunteering at the school for an hour, later this morning, but after that I have a little time for the library, a little cleaning and laundry at home, and maybe another chapter or two in that book.

Tuesday morning at the bus stop, five-year old Tanka asked me, "How many days until the future?" Really... what could I tell him? I keep wondering that myself! *grin*

Despite the snow, I'm feelin' groovy. Where-ever you are, whatever the weather, I hope you're feelin' groovy too.

photos by Aisling, December 11, 2008 1) Come on in, if you can find the door (our pole barn) 2) our "groovy" driveway.

Sunday Stroll - December Landscape

The old pickup truck, no longer very road worthy, has kept our driveway plowed through many winters. Last week it came to a sudden stop in a drift of snow.

The western skies:

The road north:

The garden and hills, and the only bit of blue sky, to the east:

The little lake to the southwest:

The wind has written wavy script in the wide expanses of snow. There are ripples...

and ridges...

and waves.

The log pile becomes more inaccessible, and more picturesque, with each new snowfall.

Many of the garden plants are buried in snow, but the wind has blown the snow away from a few. Here is yarrow capped in ice and a Pyracantha, also known as Firerthorn, looking like a living wreath. The last photo is a close-up of the orange Firethorn berries which, like the blue sky in the east, are a welcome bit of color in the nearly monochromatic December landscape.

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all photos by Aisling, December 7, 2008

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Sunday Stroll Invitation

"Just as a dancer, turning and turning, may fill the dusty light with the soft swirl of her flying skirts, our weeping willow ---now old and broken , creaking in the breeze ---turns slowly, slowly in the winter sun, sweeping the rusty roof of the barn with the pale blue lacework of her shadow."- Ted Kooser, Winter Morning Walks

I would like to tell you that I was out early this morning looking at the "pale blue lacework" of the winter's shadow. Instead, I am sitting indoors contemplating how I can get through this day without going outside at all. We had another winter storm yesterday, and today the air is bitter cold. If I stroll, I will share it here. In the meantime, I am looking forward to enjoying other strolls vicariously!

If you have time to stroll today, please post about about it on your blog and then come back here with a comment and a link to your post. You may use the Sunday Stroll button at the top of this post on your post or side bar if you would like. I will add participant names to this post so other strollers can walk through your garden too. I have guests coming this afternoon for a few hours, but will try to get outdoors either before they arrive or after they leave and will update here when I can.

Look who's strolling:

Ruth at Everyday Woman

Margaret at Periodic Pearls

Abbie at Farmer's Daughter

Joyce at Tall Grass Worship

Me, here at The Quiet Country House

Jena at Becker Farms