Scenes of the Season

Winter is having a bit of an identity crisis around here this year, but we have snow and chill again this weekend...and this morning I slipped into the back yard in an effort to snap a few photos of a pair of cardinals. Unfortunately, it seems that photographing birds while being trailed by a two year-old and an enthusiastic pair of hounds is an exercise in futility. It was, however, an amazing morning for birds. After the cardinals flew off, I enjoyed watching some other little birds flitting about the yard, observed a raven hanging around nearby, spied a number of pigeons plump and round on their branches, and watched a woodpecker at work.

The woodpecker obliged for a moment before the human and canine activity prompted him to move on (but not long enough for me to sort out all the details with my rarely-used zoom lens, camera settings, and stability). Ah well.

Although we continue to keep our eyes open for a suitable acreage, my little back yard adventure this morning made me very thankful for our tree-filled small-town subdivision and yard.

A couple of weeks ago, my lovely Motet hung around for a little photo shoot on the kitchen counter (she usually comes right at me for some quality time as soon as I pull out a camera, and I can't often get a still picture of her). So hard to believe that this pretty girl is 16, turning 17 in March. We've been a pair since she was 6 weeks old.

Gladwyn also humoured me today, by staying still and actually looking in my direction for a few photos. Likely helped that she was in one of her favourite places (my bed) and therefore disinclined to move.

 

January has been busy, with a late family Christmas mid-month. And since I don't usually rush to take down Christmas decorations, they remained up through the end of the month. Now that we have entered February (and are actively showing the house), I figured we should likely pack things away, which meant snapping a few shots before dismantling it all.

I am enjoying driving up to my house more than ever this winter...with the new siding, door, and trim colours, and the shutters and new windows, it looks so crisp and quaint (the discoloured white siding really didn't do much for the place against a backdrop of bright white snow).

   
And so, a few scenes from Winter 2013.

As usual, I am already lamenting the slow start to my to-do list for the year, which will mostly remain undone come October and November, when I lament how little I completed in the previous 10 months. And, as I might have predicted, I am itching to sign up for another course of study (it has, after all, been nearly 4 years since I graduated with my Master's degree...this time 'round I am really drawn to the Neufeld Institute, which offers a course of study that looks like a fantastic fit with my professional background and current/future interests, and would be a huge boost to my personal and parenting skills as well). But we shall see. Life is certainly full enough with work, home, church, community, social, leisure, and family pursuits. As usual, I come up with about 10 great blog topics per day, all in my head, and by the time I get to a computer I invariably forget what I wanted to write about. I have some new thoughts about attachment progress in each of my kiddos (the youngest of which is about to turn THREE in just over a month). We have also made some (hopefully? likely?) temporary changes in our homeschooling adventure, having enroled the boys in JK and SK for the winter term. So far they are doing well, but I still envision the flexible, family-focused lifestyle and individualized learning homeschool would offer longer term.

For tonight, though, I will try to set aside a few of these constant questions about where we are headed, and perhaps enjoy a few chapters of the book I need to finish for book club next week, while outside, the snow brightens the night.