Late Christmas Greetings!

A cold junco huddling in the Nativity scene on the deck.

Winter Wonderland

Autumn Gold

Last Flowers of the Season

Mums and rose!

Summer Rolling On By

I've been terribly lax in posting new pictures from the wilderness, so here are a few choice ones from the last few months.

May Flowers...

...are in abundance!

Blooming Plum

The plum tree is covered in flowers now.

Bloodroot

The red "root juice" (hence the somewhat scary-sounding name) of this North American wildflower was used by American Indians as an insect repellent. And it is just a pretty little flower that is blooming all over the place in our little wilderness!

Hello Hyacinth

Some lovely hyacinth are blooming now. (As are some more daffodils)

More Early Spring Flowers....and the first Honeybee!

Some more crocus, some new scillia and daffodils.
And here is a picture of the first honeybee! (or the first one I caught with my camera, anyway)

Hellebore and More

Here is some hellebore starting to open up. The grass has turned pretty green, and the trees will certainly soon follow!

Hocus Crocus

It is amazing what some sun and warmth can do! The crocus are blooming, as are some more snowdrops. It actually got up into the 60s today!

It's Snowing! (Yet Again)

Just don't tell that to the plants! This is a daffodil coming up through the new snow.

Thaw and Snowdrops

As you can see from these pictures, we've had quite a thaw over the last two weeks. It has been going gradually, the temperatures only getting up to the high 30s/low 40s at the warmest during the day, and the high 20s at night.

And spring is definitely in the air on this, the first official day of spring. I heard a red-winged blackbird singing (a song that always reminds me of summer trail rides), and my mom says she has seen some robins (which I haven't seen yet). And, a sure sign that no more major freezing spells are on the way as far as I'm concerned, the snowdrops are blooming!

Tracks

One of the nice things about snow is the evidence it shows. You always have a feeling that there are many creatures that wander through your yard, but rarely have proof other than some nibbled plants, trees scraped of bark, or empty bird feeders. With snow, you get a clearer picture of who is inhabiting your own personal wilderness. In this picture are tracks from a rabbit, a squirrel, some birds, several deer and even a fox!

Warmer Climes

This past weekend we went down to Texas for a wedding. Here is a prettyish wilderness picture from one of the courtyards at the Alamo. This is a fantastic live oak that is around 200 years old.

Big Storm

Last weekend, we had another large snowstorm with quite a bit of ice. Here are some pictures of the beautiful aftermath in our little wilderness.