Last Days of December 2022

 It has been wonderful to hear from the families where "my" dogs live. The short daylight days are over; from now on the days will get longer for which I am grateful. That, in my opinion, is most likely why our distant ancestors celebrated the winter solstice to comfort them during the long winters ahead with the future arrival of better days.

Here are some recent photos. My lone Christmas tree, some special outdoor Christmas trees after three days of gale force winds and blowing snow that are decorated by nature. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

For the first time a Pine Siskin arrived at my feeders. Normally they remain sequestered inside pine forests. I hope it's OK and will survive the winter in the exposed yard. I have always known that prey birds like hawks have fed on the smaller birds that come to my feeders. The circle of life. The other day I say a swiftly flying bird, artfully navigating the twists and turns of my yard trying to get a smaller bird. I did not see the result - until later. The dogs brought back the remains of a mourning (morning?) dove - just its skeleton and wings. I rescued the remains from my dogs - I know when they actually manage successfully to devour the remains of other birds because in the middle of the night they throw up the feathers and some bones - on my bed. That used to upset me. Now I wait until morning to clean things up. Easier to do when things have dried out a bit. Yucky, maybe, but truthful.

The different shades of blue in the waters of Lake Huron after the recent storm - 

I have tons of flowers outside in my yards in the spring, summer, and fall, even the late fall. To compensate for the lack of the same in the winter I try to find orchids that flower in the winter, are small enough to sit in front of the windows, and smell lovely. It often takes them a couple of years to fit into my home and feel comfortable enough to flower. I've lost the name tag for the first one below (the first three photos). Regardless, it's still very nice. The second one (the last photo) is very old, has been divided many times and some of the new ones have been shared with friends (and they have flowered for them too). It's supposed to flower in the winter but here it flowers all year. What luck!!

The orchids come from Logee's Greenhouses.