Last Sky of 2011

The evening sky is reflected in the tiny pond across the road from us. This little pond is usually hidden from sight by tall weeds. This evening I caught a glimpse of the sky reflected in the water, so fought my way through the weeds to take a few photos. Click over to Dandelion Haven's facebook page to see  more photos of the little pond and sky from this evening.

Wishing you many beautiful skies, and peace and happiness in the New Year!

The Truth of You

looking beyond
rigid standards and cliches
black and white dying
into shades of living color

letting go
rigid thoughts fading
gentle breeze blowing
learning, seeking
finding understanding

touching sharp jagged edges
dark rotting hurt
pain so deep it kills
seeking understanding

letting in
raw feelings pain
suffering, darkness
forgiveness,  mercy

standing by another
open heart, embracing
whole person,
pain and beauty
sometimes ugliness

open mind seeking
 the truth of you
beauty and brokenness
perfect in imperfection
a masterpiece

linked to Five Minute Friday and open mic at real Real Toads.

As the Night Falls

Today, at the end of a long hectic day, I stopped for a moment on the edge of a winding country road to breathe in quietness and beauty as the night fell and the colors faded from the sky and water.

Linked to Skywatch Friday.

Butterfly in April

Last summer I photographed many of the butterflies on our property in order to identify them. One butterfly kept eluding me through the summer, though. I would catch a glimpse of it with the distinctive red-orange bands across it's wings and a bit of bright red or orange on the under side of its wings, then it would be gone.

Yesterday when I was looking through photos from last year, I discovered to my surprise, I had taken a few photos of it on April 9th--on the freshly planted pansies.

Not the greatest photos in the world, but I am happy to have found them and am hoping one of my readers will be able to identify the butterfly for me.

Linked to Macro Monday.

Thank you to Sivinden for indentying the butterfly as a Red Admiral. You can click on this link to see some stunning photos of this butterfly on her blog.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas

...and sharing a photo of our tree...

It is a little blue spruce from the tree farm just up the road from us.

It didn't quite turn out the way I had envisioned, but I did get to use the pine cones, little baskets, and twig stars, I made earlier. Also added wild rose hips, foxtail grass seed heads, candy canes, and a popcorn garland. One of my patient's gave me the idea of putting our Christmas cards on the tree. I'm still trying to decide if I like the way that looks or not!



We are having a quiet Christmas this year. But it is one that is filled with gratitude and thankfulness for all that we have been blessed with. One of the things I'm thankful for is all of you, my blogging friends, and I wish you all happiness, peace, and joy this Christmas season and in the coming new year.

Christmas Bauble from Mother Nature

My husband bought me a "spare" camera to to keep on hand in case of the tragic event that the camera I use every day breaks. It is a very basic little camera with few features, but is 14 megapixals and does have a macro setting. It was just getting dark when I got home from work. Even so I ran outside and tried it out out on the crabapples that were wet with rain. I judge a camera by how well the macro setting works. And given that this photo was taken in very poor light and in the rain, I would say the macro setting works just fine.

Sculptured Ice Leaf

Found on the bank of a small stream on a frozen foggy morning.

Linked to Macro Monday.

(As always, I appreciate your comments! I will confess I am a little behind on returning them right now, but plan to catch up both with returning comments and reading my favorite blogs in the next few days.) 

December Moon

Deflating slowly

like a tired balloon

worn from night travels

across the frigid sky

the moon let out a little sigh,

and sank below the western horizon.

(photo taken 12/10/11)

Linked (a little late!) to Skywatch Friday.

Angel's Wings

Hidden deep

within each soul

 is radiant beauty

waiting quietly

for gentle light

for warm breeze

waiting silently

waiting to be set free--

free on angel's wings.

Linked to Imperfect Prose. and Scavenger hunt--angels.

Easy Frosted Pine Cones

Last month while I was sitting in a waiting room waiting for a job interview to start, I watched Martha Stewart make sparkly pine cone ornaments. It looked like a quick and simple process and only took a bit of white wax, some wire, and a sprinkling of salt. I stopped on my way home for groceries and  found a couple of boxes of white paraffin wax for sealing jam jars in the clearance bin for only 50 cents a pound. Of  course I snapped them up! Two Sundays ago I collected a bunch of cones from our pine trees and set them aside to dry.

Today I got around to making the ornaments. Like I said it is a quick and simple process.

You will need:

Pine cones

Florist wire

White wax

Salt

Cookie tray and parchment paper

1) Place wax in a small pan and carefully melt over low heat.

2) While the wax is melting, cut florist wire into 5-6 inch pieces and attach to the bottom of the pine cones.

3) Cover cookie tray with parchment paper.

4) When wax is melted, dip each pine cone in the wax, gently shake off excess wax then set, bottom side down on the parchment paper.

5) Let cool for a couple of minutes, then redip each pine cone, but this time, sprinkle each pine cone with a small amount of salt before the wax has a chance to cool.

6) When the wax has cooled, gently shake off the excess salt and your frosted pine cone is ready to use in a garland or on your tree!

I don't know if I will have time to make them this year, but here are a few ideas I'm tucking in the back of my head for future use:

These rustic wooden ornaments from Heidi at White Wolf Summit Farmgirl  would be perfect for a nature themed Christmas tree.

Teresa at Eden Hills Farm shows us how to make adorable little boxes using old (or new!) Christmas cards.

Trina at All that is Good shows us how to make vanilla extract--what a great idea for Christmas gifts, plus it would be easy and cost effective to make enough for your own baking for the rest of the year.

And last but not least, I love this post from Pieces of Contentment showing how nature decorates for Christmas in Australia.  Quite a contrast to the snow covered trees on my side of the globe!



Linked to Virtual Christmas Ornament Swap and Homestead Revival's Barn Hop. as well as Christmas Ornament Scavenger Hunt.

Magic in a Corn Field

Dried silk on an ear of corn is turned into a shimmering tangle of stars by the frost and rising sun.

Photos taken on my walk this morning. I think we can say winter has arrived. Temperatures were in the low teens this morning and I nearly froze my fingers and nose trying to take these photos!

Linked to Macro Monday.

Garden Photos from December 2nd

So I'm spending one more night holed up in a hotel room. I get to go home tomorrow, then start seeing patients in the area I live in on Monday. Can't wait to get home and stretch my legs and go for a walk again in the country. It has been getting dark as soon as we are out of class. I am reluctant to go for a walk outside in the dark in a city I am not familiar with. There is a mall close by and I thought about going for a walk there, but I think that might defeat the purpose of walking--at least for me. When I walk it is to renew my energy by being alone and outside. Walking in a mall this time of year would be a big energy drainer for an introvert like me. So hopefully I'll get outside tomorrow evening when I get home and will have some fresh nature photos to share this weekend.

In the meantime, let me share some photos of my garden that I took last Sunday. Once all that snow melted, there were still some green plants. And  while I was taking photos I harvested some vegetables to cook and take with me to eat during this week while I am away from home.

The broccoli raab is still going strong. I picked all the mature buds on Sunday and there are plenty of small buds still forming. If only we get a few more warm days, I might be able to get one more harvest in. I've noticed that the flower buds are getting more and more mild in taste as the weather has gotten colder. This year was my first time growing this vegetable. The spring and summer plantings were complete failures (the plants went to seed while they were still small), but the fall crop has been both tasty and prolific. I will be growing this again next year.

The caraflex cabbage plants are still pumping out miniature cabbage heads.  I've lost count of how many little heads I've harvested off these plants, but they have kept us well supplied with tender, sweet cabbage through the fall, and if the weather holds up until I get home, there are still a few more to pick. Caraflex is definitely on my list of vegetables to grow next year. I have been impressed in every way by this sturdy and productive summer cabbage.

Red Russian Kale has long been a standby in my garden. It is easy to grow and the red tint to the leaves and veins is very pretty. In my opinion, it is one of the tenderest and tastiest of all the kales. It is very hardy and I usually harvest it through December, then the plants bounce back in the early spring for fresh greens as soon as the weather warms up.  

And then there are Brussels sprouts. I try growing Brussels sprouts each year, because they are one of my husbands favorite vegetables, but I can never quite get them to mature. The plants grow strong and beautiful and healthy, but the sprouts never get any bigger than a marble. They hold up well in freezing temps, though and I will harvest some when I get home, but  I am always disappointed that they never get plump and large like the ones you see in the grocery store.

I can't remember the name of the Brussels sprouts I planted this spring. ( I will have to look that up when I get home). I always buy seeds for the ones with the shortest days to maturity, though. If any one has any ideas on what I can do in the future to encourage my Brussels sprouts to mature, I would love to hear from you.

Be sure to check out this giveaway hosted by Millie, the matriarch nanny goat at Eden Hills Farm. You have until Saturday December 10th at noon to enter to win your choice of handmade goats milk soap or other skin care products from the newly opened Eden Hills Market. (Go to the tabs directly under the title to see handmade products and the popcorn grown on Eden Hills Farm.) To enter the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment. It couldn't be easier, so go on over and enter!

Linked to Farmgirl Friday. and Garden Life.

A New Nursing Job

Chickens in the barnyard. Photo taken 12/4/11.

(This week I've been calling my husband morning and evening to remind him to let the chickens out of the coop in the morning and then lock them up for the night. And to tell him I love him, of course. :)

I started a new nursing job on Monday. This wasn't a planned change. At the end of October the home health care company I was working for made the unexpected announcement they were closing most of their Michigan offices, including the one I worked out of. That left all their employees scrambling to look for new employment. Thankfully for most of us, this turned out to be less difficult than we had initially expected.

The company I now work for was looking specifically for a home care nurse to cover the area between my corner of the county I live in and the the medium size town about 25 miles away. When we moved out to the country two and a half years ago, I had resigned myself to the idea that I would be driving a good distance to any workplace and as long as I am in home care, I would be driving hundreds of miles a week. That is the price of living far out in the country and since I love doing home care, I just put a smile on my face and gas in the car. Then I soaked in the beauty of long drives on country roads and enjoyed spending time getting to know patients who often lived far out in the country in crumbling old farm houses. It was not unusual for me to drive over 1,000 miles a week in my previous job.

With this new job, I am hopeful that I can still enjoy the beauty of country roads and visiting with elderly farmers and country folks---but it sounds like I will be able to do it in a smaller driving radius, which means less driving, more time to finish charting on the job, and maybe getting home earlier and spending less time finishing charting in the evening. One can always hope and once again try to be more organized and efficient!

The next several months will tell. In the meantime I am spending this week in a hotel about 85 miles from my home in a classroom setting, learning the ins and outs of the new company. Next week I will be back in my own part of the country seeing patients. While this was not a change that I was looking for or desired, it certainly does appear to be a change for the good. I am looking forward to seeing what the future brings!

(Snow covered teasels--photo taken this morning at the edge of my hotel parking lot.)

A Bittersweet Sunrise

....a frosty curlicue from a bittersweet vine sparkles in the sunrise...

To see more bittersweet sunrise photos, check out Dandelion Haven's facebook page.

Linked to Macro Monday.

A Snowy Day in Silver and Blue

 The day before yesterday we woke to a glorious white mantle covering the world.

The sun rose bringing with it blue shadows and thousands of glittering ice diamonds in the tree branches.

Later in the day as the silver sun began to set in the West, the silver and blue of the snow and shadows deepened.

Linked to Sky watch Friday.

Gray Dogwood Baskets

This basket is woven from hand spun wool and gray dogwood twigs and has a wild grapevine handle. I boiled the twigs to make them pliable enough for weaving.  Grey dogwood is an invasive shrub that we are working on eliminating from our property.

I made these tiny baskets from the leftover twigs. I'm thinking they might make it on to my nature themed Christmas tree later this month...

Linked to Farm Girl Friday.