If you’ve been checking back here to see if I’ve written anything this week you would have noticed that I didn’t. That’s because there is not much going on at the moment. It seems that all our energy for the past few months has gone into the Academy Awards trip, and now that it’s over with we are spent.

Winter passed us by this year although we did wake up to about an inch of wet slushy snow yesterday morning. Today there is a bitter wicked wind blowing outside so we are inside for the day. There is nothing I hate quite as much as the wind. If it’s not going to give me snow and true winter then it can just turn spring as quickly as it can. I’m done this year!

Since winter passed up by without nary a thought and spring has yet to arrive (although the witch hazel bush in my neighbor’s yard has popped, and another neighbor had one crocus up the other day, and my daffodils have broken ground) there is nothing to take photos of. Boring.

I saved another bird yesterday. Sam was sitting and staring out at the deck rather fixedly and when I looked out there was a poor little junco huddled in the coating of snow on the deck, shivering. I put on my gloves and went out and picked it up. Its poor little beak was opening and closing at an alarming rate and I could feel its little heart beating away. I held it for awhile and was not confident it was going to make it. Its little beady eyes were closed and its feathers were heaving up and down. It was raining at the time, so I really could not stand out there and hold it any longer. I went back inside and brought out a towel, wrapped the little junco in the towel and put it on top of the BBQ. I left the towel lightly draped on it so it would not weigh it down. I did other chores (splitting wood) for about fifteen minutes, then went to check on my little bird. When I opened the door I could still see the bird inside the towel. Damn, I thought. But the next second the bird was out of the towel and flying away! Off into the trees it went. Another soul saved. Makes me feel good inside.

Are you still reading? Bless you if you are. Pretty boring stuff.

In other news, the two amaryllis that I mentioned here that I thought were not going to bloom have fooled me again. They both have buds coming! Amazing! While the new one has yet another bud about to pop. I think amaryllis might just be the most wonderful flower bulb yet.

I hope to be as inspiring as my amaryllis in the week to come. At least I would like to think so. Here’s hoping.

I’ve now had an amaryllis in the house for about three years. The first one was given to me by my neighbor Aileen and it bloomed its heart out for three years in a row. She gave me another one and it bloomed for two years in a row. Both of them now I think have bloomed themselves out since there are no signs of any buds coming.

So, this year I bought one for myself and potted it back in December. Take a look now! Here it is as taken early Sunday morning. Some people don’t care for lens flare, but I kind of liked it on this photo. I think it adds interest.

This shot was taken later in the day. Look how much the second bud has come out in just a few hours.

Beautiful, isn’t it?

It’s so nice to have something beautiful to look at and enjoy in this rather dull winter we are having.

The day before yesterday when passing Green Turtle Pond I noticed that my favorite ice formations were back. When I returned from my errands I grabbed the camera and walked down in the 17 degree weather to try and capture them.

Ice globes as I call them, are simply ice that has formed around the bottom of cattails, but I always find them fascinating. The could be little glass vases too, or paperweights. Each one it’s own work of art.

I liked the reflections in these two photos.

There has to be a little wind involved as well for them to form, so the conditions have to be just right. And we’ve had both wind and below-freezing temperatures for the past few days. Perfect!

However in the process of getting these photos I had to walk over a slippery ice-coated rock. My foot slipped and my boot (I was wearing my leather UGGS at the time .. ugh!) went through the ice and my bottom hit pretty hard. I was trying to hold the camera up at the same time, so it wasn’t a pretty fall.

My noisy fall startled a flock of turkeys and they took flight across the lake.

I’m still not sure if the photos were worth the bruise on my bottom, but there you have them!

As Bella predicted, I am now going to bore you with the flip side of the photos that I took on our walk this weekend: not dogs!

The sun is so low in the sky this time of year. It helped to enhance the already somewhat creepy mood that hangs over Jungle Habitat where exotic animals used to roam.

With all our rain and moderate temperatures fungi still flourish. These were still soft and pliable, so they were new.

The moss likes the moisture too.

We have many kinds of parasitic vines here. They wrap around trees and take them prisoner. I find them eerie.

We might not have snow but at least for the past few days we’ve had colder temps that allow some frost.

And some ice to form in leaf-filled shallow puddles.

My sister pointed out to me that she was still waiting to see the blog post where Alex picked our tree.

Last Saturday we drove to Wintergreen Christmas Tree Farm near Lafayette, New Jersey to cut our tree. I’m glad I had printed out the directions since it was like following a trail of bread crumbs to get there. It was a beautiful drive through countryside we had never been to before.

We parked and walked up to the barn to get a saw and a tree cart. How nice of them to provide nice, sharp hand saws and a cart to collect your tree with! They sold about four different kinds of trees, but we had driven by the kind we wanted: Fraser firs. Of course they were the furtherest ones away from the parking area!

Row upon row of nearly perfect trees! Which one to choose? I wanted to just close my eyes, spin around and point to one but I am sort of a perfectionist when it comes to trees. We were looking for one that wasn’t too big around at the bottom since we don’t have much space for it to fit into between the fireplace and the entertainment center.

Here I am, saw in hand taking a look around.

And then Alex said, “Dad, let’s take this one!”

Although I joked with the man at the barn about bringing my dog along to find the right tree and “mark” it, he kept his leg on the ground! Lots of other people who were coming in after us had also brought their dogs with them.

Trees were being tied to tops of cars at a fast pace.

By the time we left it was getting very crowded and people were having to wait for other people to bring back tree carts. We got there just at the right time I think.

The tree fits perfectly into its spot in the corner and it’s a very pretty tree. All in all, a nice way to spend the better part of a day.