Sunday, February 4, 2018 - Snow (Again)

It's no use. I have tried to "adopt" (buy) several puppies over the past three or four months - unsuccessfully.The most recent was the reverse-pied tricolor female from Switzerland; then there was the tricolor chocolate-brown and tan with very little white female from Germany; and then a nice male from Iceland. Am I paranoid; are people refusing to sell me pups; or is it that once I've expressed interest, the puppy I would like suddenly seems more valuable to the breeders and they decide to keep it. Most likely I'm just imagining things. Winter seems long and perhaps that feeds my incipient paranoia.

"Where are the goldfinches? (With apologies to "Where's Waldo?) How many goldfinches can you find camouflaged among the snow-capped berries of this species (wild) viburnum? Clicking on photos enlarges them.

My Icelandic Sheepdogs seem unaware of my imaginings and are scattered around the house in two piles with one singleton. Korpur thinks he's special; maybe the cover photo on my new book has gone to his head so he doesn't want to associate with dogs who were mere page turners. Peace, perfect peace. The deer, apparently hunkered down under the protection of low lying evergreen branches, have disappeared from view perhaps in reaction to changing barometric pressure. Smart? Or great instincts?

Bear, Kata, Pila

Korpur

Totty, Kria, Kit

Several years ago I bought a smallish orchid, perhaps one of the hybrids between a Cattleya, a  Laelia, and a Brassavola or a Sophronitis. With limited space in my new home I now prefer smaller orchids BUT; life is short and flowers still must look nice and smell nice and be easy in culture. I have divided it several times and now have six plants which all reliably produce twin flowers in the winter. I have enough flowers outside in summers; I need escape from the weather in the winter. (Phalaenopsis are nice but they don't smell.)

After my cardinal-killer-peregrine attack, I thought I would be red-bird-less for the rest of the winter. Then this afternoon I spied a cardinal female at the feeder and soon after a justifiably shy male appeared lingering in the protection of three cedars in my north forest.

I recently discovered Armand Gamache, the Louise Penny Quebec Surete detective from her series of books. Perfect reading for Michigan winters. Years ago I vacationed in Montreal and loved that great Francophone city. Perhaps it's time to escape the politics here and visit again. The scenes in the mythic city of Three Pines are so evocatively French that I've been missing my trips and summer graduate studies at universities in France. Those were the days - - - - - - . The food. The people. The museums. The wine. The cafes. The food. The history. The coffee. The culture. The food. The restaurants. The pastries. The conversations. The wine. The buildings. The food.