First Winter Snowfall

We finally received our first snowfall of the season....in the third week of January. By the time it stopped coming down we had about 6 inches on the ground, and everything looked beautiful!

A pair of old Adirondack chairs, which somehow missed getting put away last fall.

My lastest birdhouse, a yard sale find. Dear Husband mounted it for me on a section of lodge-pole pine.....for the natural look.



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For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11

Happy New Year! 2012

Wow....it has been over a year since I have posted to this blog! I have taken a break to focus on other things....important things! I have wondered many times, throughout the year, if I would ever post here again, but today just feels like a good day to start anew! :-) I recently spent some time cleaning up my photo folders.....with the realization that I have many photos that are share-worthy. So the plan is to keep it simple, a short post now and then, as I find time.

We have experienced a unusual Winter this year.... mild temps, lots of sunshine, and virtually NO snow! So I pulled up some photos from 2006, to show how beautiful and fresh our part of the country looks.... covered with a soft white blanket!

These photos were taken on a drive in December of 2006 , when my husband and I were scouting for Elk.

Close up of the misty fog.... hovering among the trees.

A local farm. I loved the contrast between the red barn and the white snow!

A line up of of fence-posts marks the curve in the road.

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A good verse for the coming year...

The unfailing love of the LORD never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!"

Lamentations 3:22-24 NASB

New Year Wishes

I can hardly believe another month has gone by...and with nary a post to this blog! It has been a busy month, with preparations for the holidays..... including several handmade projects I made as gifts. (more on that in a later post?)

The above photo was taken on December 6th. I was fascinated to see the cloud formation, which was quite unusual for a Winter sky. Anyone have a name for these type of clouds?


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I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a
Happy and Prosperous New Year!!


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It is officially time to get out the seed catalogs that have been stacking up, and do some serious shopping! :-)

First Snowfall

Our first snowfall arrived on November 22nd this year. As always, it prompts me to pull on my boots and venture out for a few photos. After all, it is an event! We have had several snows since then, adding up to about 6 inches, and it is softly falling even as I write.

Heritage Rose, with the mountain as a backdrop.

A snow-laden rose bud.

Black-eyed Susan seed head....food for the birds!

Autumn Joy Sedum.... still looking good!

Orange Calendula....bravely blooming beyond the frost.

A pair of Black-Eyed Susans......yellow petals still intact.

There is much to appreciate about the flowers that hold on, to give us a spot of color...... long after the Petunias and Zinnias have disappeared!

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"He giveth snow like wool....." Psalm 147:16

It is compared to wool for its whiteness, and its softness; it falls silently, and makes no more noise than the fall of a lock of wool; it covers the earth, and keeps it warm like a fleece of wool, and so promotes its fruitfulness. See how God can work by contraries and.... can warm the earth with cold snow. ~ Matthew Henry

New Year Greetings

From Our House to Yours......Happy New Year!!

This photo was taken on a snowy evening, a couple weeks before Christmas, when we received a foot of snow in 24 hours! Much of it melted before the holidays, but enough was left on the ground to give us a white Christmas. It is snowing again now, as I write, with more snow in the forecast for the next several days. Tonight we are attending a New Year's Eve gathering with friends, but tomorrow I look forward to settling in next to the wood stove, and browsing the huge stack of gardening catalogs just waiting for me. It will be a day well spent.


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My best wishes to everyone for a great Year in 2010....and your best garden ever!

Form vs. Color

I recently gave myself an assignment. It was to take some outdoor photos in black and white only. It was a good lesson, because it forced me to view things differently. Color is usually the first thing to grab the attention, so its absence causes one to look more deeply at scenes and objects....to see and realize the beauty of form, in the absence of color. Below are some images from my self challenge....

A Locust tree in our neighborhood.

The swollen buds of Forsythia.

The skeletal remains of Queen Anne's Lace.

Sun setting behind the mountain.

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"There's something strange and powerful about black-and-white imagery."

Stefan Kanfer

Welcome February

I enjoy changing the pages of my calendar, and especially so when I can welcome February and say good-bye to our longest, coldest month. :-) On my daily walk a few days ago, I captured a few scenes from the neighborhood to commemorate this new month, in which we begin to see and sense the beginnings of Spring!

I've often photographed this barn in our neighborhood, but today my eye was drawn to the barn door and the darkness of the opening beside it, as seen from behind the horizontal lines of the corral fence. There's still some snow on the ground, as well as a little clinging to the wooden shingles of the roof. I love how the yellowish green moss on the bottom rail of the fence gives a little color to the otherwise neutral tones of this scene.

This horse,who is being pastured on our neighbor's property, was friendly enough to come up to the fence and greet me. Her name is Kiola, and she is a beautiful animal... from the pretty white star on her forehead and dark mane, to the subtle coloring of her face, which grows progressively paler towards the area of her nose and mouth.

Grazing in the pasture...where the snow is nearly melted, and patches of green are becoming visible amidst the brown.

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"February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March."

- Dr. J. R. Stockton

View from an Upstairs Window

David Perry of A Photographers Garden Blog recently issued a fun assignment....to take a photo from the window of one of the rooms of your house. The view below shows a portion of my garden, as seen from the window of an upstairs bedroom.

I like the slant of the winter sun filtering through the Pines, and the way it lights the greenhouse. Upon closer inspection of the photo, it made me wish I had put away the pots from my container plants last fall. Come to think of it, the greenhouse could use a good cleaning, too....as it won't be long now, before it will be in use again. Now that is something to smile about. :-)

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"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. "

Albert Camus

Coneflower Birdfeeder

I always leave the dried seed-heads in my front flower garden as Winter food for the birds. A favorite of the birds is Echinacea (Purple Coneflower) seeds.

Here a Junco sits on the Coneflower head, searching for seed.

Mission accomplished. If you look carefully you can see the seed in the bird's mouth. (Click photo to enlarge) Even with the birds eating the seeds, plenty seem to fall to the ground to start new plants.

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God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.

~J.G. Holland

Feeding the Finches

With all the snow on the ground, the birds have had slim pickin's lately, so we purchased a big bag of wild bird seed to supplement their lean diet. We've had lots of Juncos, Chickadees, Quail, and even some Wild turkeys that stop by each day. But the day we put out the seed was the first day the House Finches appeared. How did they know?



This male House Finch sits near the top of our Blue Spruce Christmas tree, which we left in the stand and placed outdoors, near our front door. I threw bird seed on and around it, and was soon rewarded with many birds to watch. I love the House Finches, both their temperament and that little touch of red that makes them so pretty.

This one is sampling a dish of birdseed....while completely ignoring the yummy Cherry suet treat just behind him, in the feeder.

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"Behold the birds of the air; for they sow not, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them....." Matthew 6:26




Poor indeed is the garden in which birds find no homes.

~Abram L. Urban

Happy New Year

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a
Happy New Year!

This is my neighbor's shrub. I'm not sure what it is, but it is covered with beautiful red berries, and looks quite festive against the weathered building, while the freshly fallen snow accentuates the cement block wall.

We watched with interest, as this icicle on our house grew longer each day during the Christmas holidays. It almost touched the ground...before the rains came and melted it away.

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"Another fresh New Year is here...
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright New Year is given me
to live each day with zest...
To daily grow and try and be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant some tree,
And sing more joyful songs!

~William Arthur Ward

A Black and White World

Our second round of snowfall has brought the level to about a foot deep. It went over the top of my boots when I took my veggie scraps out to the compost pile this morning. :-) I think this may be a record snowfall for us, especially this early in the season. Something I really appreciate about living here in our valley is the lack of wind, which allows the snow to pile up neatly on everything.

I like the way my birdbath resembles a layer cake...complete with fluffy white frosting.

Our patio dining set. Care to come over for a (very) cool drink?

Flat heads of Yarrow in the flower garden sporting their fancy conehead caps.


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"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show."

~Andrew Wyeth

Snow Moon Rising

I couldn't resist the title for this post, though I'm aware that the moon in these photos isn't actually rising, but setting. Maybe a more fitting title would be.....Goodnight, Moon.

These were taken in the morning, the day after our first snow. The sky was a gorgeous shade of blue, making the moon quite visible.

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A close up of the moon above the mountain. It is in the waning stage, a few days after the full moon. (If you click on the photo, you can see it much larger.) Here is a little Moon trivia I found with a quick internet search:

The Moon is visible in the evening (PM side of the Earth) starting a few days past new moon, during first quarter until a few days before full moon. It will be visible in the morning (AM side of the Earth) starting at full moon, during third quarter until a few days before new moon. The Moon will not be visible for a few days around new moon because the sunlit side of the Moon is facing away from Earth, towards the Sun.


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"The moon, like a flower
In heaven's high bower
With silent delight
Sits and smiles on the night."

"...and sometimes the morning." My addendum ;-)

~William Blake, English poet

New Fallen Snow

We finally received our first snowfall of the season. As always, it is beautiful and magical..... adding a clean layer of white to everything it touches.

A ranch in our neighborhood.....always photogenic, but especially so in the low winter light and a cover of snow.

Snow adds a new dimension to this simple, rustic fence post.

The brown remains of Queen Anne's Lace becomes a receptacle for a fluff of white snow.





Wild turkey tracks. :-)



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"The future lies before you, like paths of pure white snow. Be careful how you tread it, for every step will show."

Welcome December

It's the second day of December, and we are still enjoying such unseasonably mild temperatures that the Lilacs, Service berries, and other shrubs think it is Spring....and are budding! I took advantage of the mild weather today to take a walk in the neighborhood.....camera in hand.

This country road is where I take my (sometimes) daily walk. I tend to not walk as often as I should this time of year, because of rainy days and early darkness. Today the mountains were wearing their white shawl of low hanging clouds. I love the mood and effect it casts on the surrounding scenery.

A view towards town.....with lots of gray clouds in the sky. The river runs just below here, though not visible in the photo. Today I received my first seed and gardening catalogs which, for me, officially marks the beginning of the "Plan and Dream" season. :-)

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"From December to March,
there are for many of us three gardens ~
the garden outdoors,
the garden of pots and bowls in the house,
and the garden of the mind's eye."

~Katherine S. White

Thoughts of Spring

We have had several snows and thaws already this winter. Recently, we received another fresh blanket of snow, with a couple more storms in the forecast for the coming week. We've had more snow and cold weather this winter than I recall for many years. Though it is all quite beautiful, I am beginning to look forward to spring...and warmer weather!

The trees are heavy with snow, but it was the morning sky that drew me outdoors to capture some photos....it was the most glorious shade of blue!

My greenhouse waits in silence for planting time....and I wait, too. In the meantime, I am browsing the seed and garden catalogs, planning, making seed orders, and starting some winter sown containers of perennials and hardy annuals.

The quacking aspen tree we planted in our front yard around 17 years ago has died, so it will have to be cut down and replaced this spring. But for the moment it is still beautiful, dressed in it's pretty white frock!

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Longing for Spring

Once a day and sometimes more
I look out my day dream door
To see if spring is out there yet
I'm really anxious, but mustn't fret.

I see the snow a melting down
and lots of mud and slush around
I know the grass will surely sprout
and birds and flowers will come about.

But why oh why does it take so long?
I'm sure the calendar can't be wrong.
Sunshine fills my heart with cheer
I wish that spring were really here.

Soon mother nature will sound the alarm
Wake up! get dressed, turn on your charm
Winter's gloom has gone its way
It's Spring! It's Spring! Oh Happy Day!

Edna T. Helberg

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Postcards from Idaho

In honor of the upcoming New Year, I thought I would send a couple of 'virtual postcards' from our beautiful state! The photos below were taken on Harris Ridge, about 20 minutes from our home, where my husband and I spent an afternoon Elk hunting this week. The land is owned by a cattle rancher friend of ours and it is a beautiful place....seemingly on top of the world!

There were 30+ plus Elk in this herd, including cows, calves, spikes and one big bull. (The two small dark spots on the left are 2 deer....who were watching with interest.) We hiked about half a mile in nearly a foot of fresh snow, and the scenery was spectacular....providing some great photo opportunities. The hunt was successful and we are grateful to God for the provision of meat to fill the freezer for yet another year. Just as our vegetable garden makes an important contribution to our diet in the summer, this wonderful low-fat grass-fed meat rounds out our healthy diet all through the year!




This tiny log cabin sat just off the road, not far from where we parked our vehicle. I tried to imagine myself living here, in years gone by. I venture to say there are no modern conveniences in this humble abode. ;-)


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Wishing you all a Happy New Year..... and your very best garden in 2008!

Winter Wonderland

Not much time for blogging lately, as I am cleaning/organizing and getting ready for Christmas company, but I wanted to share this photo of the mountains, dressed in yesterday's snowfall.....it makes them look so fresh and clean!

"Kindness is like snow - it beautifies everything it covers."