Tulips and sunlight

This is what our Christmas was like:

The tree

Our plan was to get our tree from the Christmas tree farm across the street. Of course. But when we pulled into the driveway, we saw the “Sold Out” sign. The other tree farm, a few miles away, was closed, too. And it just wouldn’t be right to get a tree at Home Depot, shipped from Canada, when we live in the woods. So, back home we went, grabbed a couple of saws and a sled, and tromped into our woods.

A tree that grows in the woods will never be perfectly shaped and full like the ones you can buy. Those are planted in straight rows, in the open, with lots of room, and they’re pruned into shape as they grow.

We brought back the trimmings, too.

It looks good in our new home.

It’s so tall I couldn’t reach the top to put the lights on.

Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice, Good Yule, Hauskaa Joulua!

Entranced

Tags

chickens, dogs, joy, magic, snow

Are you tired of these pictures yet? I’m not. I’m entranced by this place, every day.
I love Saturdays because I get to take the dogs out after sunrise. So, we took a little walk around the yard instead of just standing around in the “dog pen,” the fenced area on the slope in front of the house.

This is the dog-walking maneuver I like to call the Troika.

Isn’t it magical? Can you stand it? I can’t.

The chickens would like to move out of the FEMA coop into their chicken palace. And they would like the snow to melt. That is all.

Blue light

How can I express the heart-clutching beauty of the blue dawn light on the snow here on our mountain?

We are so surrounded by it, here in this house.

I think I must have been longing for this place my whole life, if you go by how utterly at home and at peace I find myself here.