Image #201 – Cold Cattle egret.
Image #199 – A Wintery Sky
What an incredible winter this has been. On the news tonight I learned that Chicago is likely to break the record that has been in place since 1885 for the longest period of below zero days. The joke in Chicago is -20 is the new 40. How awful.
As I mentioned in my last blog, I have decided to leave it all behind and visit Florida for a few weeks. I have gotten out of Dodge just in time. The heavy snow has already started in the mountains. I’m half way to my Florida destination, spending the night in Valdosta, Georgia. The most amazing part of today’s drive was the endless convoys of electric company repair trucks heading north. Easily a couple of hundred trucks and some of them sported other vehicles “hitching” a ride. These looked like National Guard vehicles. Looks like a rough time ahead.
This picture was shot last night from my back porch. There is some adage about a ring around the moon being a bad omen. It seems that might be the case. ❧
Image #195 – Groundhog Day
Another Groundhog’s Day has come and gone. This is a special time of year for me. The dates–February 1 and 2–have special significance. It was forty years (!) ago yesterday (Feb. 1) that Robert and I began living together. In 1974 we had already known one another for eight years. We became good friends long before we became “a couple.” That friendship was the dearest thing of my life. When we became lovers it was a natural extension of the bond between us, a bond that grew and grew. He was the love of my life.
Groundhog’s Day? Well, anyone who knew us in the 80s and 90s is aware that Groundhog’s Day was Robert’s favorite holiday. Each year he would memorialize the event by mailing Groundhog’s greetings to all our friends. Long before there was email there was snail mail. Robert would write the card–a rather esoteric report on the world at large– and I would edit it. Then it was off to the copy shop. One year we sent out close to 200 “Groundhog” cards. We would fold, stuff, lick and stamp the envelopes. I suppose we were able to produce a mailing list somehow. I think back to those days of eight inch floppy discs that actually flopped and could hold next to nothing in terms of data but they were “State-of-the-art” to us and we somehow made them work.
Today, Groundhog’s Day, I heard from several old friends who remembered those oddly charming cards. They are missed, just as Robert is missed.
So, in honor of all that, I present a picture of Franklin Fred. He showed himself back in November and I can’t recall if there was a shadow or not, just an anxious dog who wanted to chase that groundhog in the worst way. Groundhog’s Day was Robert’s favorite holiday because in February 1978 we were visited by two young folks from Arkansas, pot farmers visiting the nation’s capital. It was a bleak period in our lives. After fifteen months of legal access to federal marijuana the feds had managed to lure away Robert’s doctor and close down the program that provided him marijuana. The young couple had read about Robert’s dilemma and arrived in Washington with a substantial amount of prime Arkansas marijuana. In exchange for a place to stay Robert received a gift of medical marijuana that would carry him through the next couple of months–until his lawyers were able to re-instate Robert’s prescriptive access.
Those were incredible days. We were blessed with the gift that keeps on giving, the love of good friends. And that is what Groundhog’s Day means to me. Thank you all. ❧
Image #192 – Practical or Greedy?
I think practical. The bird seems young and it is probably her first snow fall so why not take as many seeds as the beak will hold? ❧
Image #182 – Getting Re-acquainted With Winter
It may sound odd but after nineteen years in Florida but I am enjoying the process of getting re-acquainted with winter in North Carolina. Don’t get me wrong, I am not about to move to Minnesota. It has been plenty cold for me with temperatures dropping into the teens at night and sometimes barely breaking 40 degrees during the day. But there is treasure everywhere and there is certainly treasure in winter. It is an integral part of the automatic earth, a time of slumber and re-alignment. It is also a time of crisp, rich blue skies with low-slung cirrus clouds that seem to materialize before your eyes and quickly join forces to make a bright day gray.
Armed only with the iPhone camera I enjoyed a walk down Potts Branch Rd. today and climbed a pasture hill to enjoy the view and snap this photo. Tango, of course, was at my side and he too enjoyed the smells and sights. Every day is a gift. ❧
Image #181 – Recovering from the swirl of holidays
Back home in North Carolina after three weeks in Florida. It was a whirlwind of activity and people. I loved it all but it is good to return to the quiet of the mountains. To all whom I saw – I love you all and enjoyed every minute. To those whom I missed – forgive me. I swear someone is stealing minutes, nay, hours from my day. So I have chosen this image because it reminds me of my life: aging with deep lines and swirls but lots of color and plenty of life. Happy New Year everyone. ❧
Image #176 – What child is this?
It is the eve of Christmas, a time when Christians celebrate the birth of a child. Perhaps the child was like this one…sweetly smiling with an aura of love. Merry Christmas everyone. ❧
Image #175 – Hearty Mushrooms
Mushrooms are generally thought of as delicate and fleshy, two traits that do not seem to suggest a wintery existence. But these two little fellows have poked their heads up through the stones near the koi pond in my neighbor’s yard. The taller of the two is about the same length as my house key, or about two inches. We have had cold weather here, with temperatures in the teens for consecutive nights. But these troopers seem to relish it. Similarly the lichen and many of the mosses have pushed forth with tremendous growth during these early weeks of winter.
Sorry I can’t provide an identification at this time. Perhaps a reader can contribute that information. ❧
Image #156 – What Tango Found
Tango and I went for a walk at the West Macon Track yesterday. He was off leash and a few feet ahead of me, sniffing everything in true dog manner. Suddenly he jumped back and I knew from past experiences that he had found something more interesting than an odor. I quickly gave the command for him to “Get in” which he reluctantly obeyed. Snapping on the leash we went forward to see Tango’s discovery which I thought was probably a turtle since we frequently find them at WMT. Imagine my surprise when I saw a groundhog!
I have never seen a groundhog before except for the legendary Punxsutawney Phil, that poor groundhog in Pennsylvania that gets paraded out every year on Groundhog Day and gets televised for providing a pseudo weather forecast. Groundhogs hibernate and Phil, in my opinion, always has that look of someone who has been dragged out of a nice warm bed. I know they have to fill air-time but has anyone from the SPCA ever looked into just how Phil is treated?
Well, I digress. An honest-to-God groundhog no more than 20 feet in front of me was a new experience and, from the groundhog’s reaction, the same may have been true for him/her. We spent some time eyeing each other. Tango was straining to get at it which seemed like a really bad idea given those front incisors that could clearly take a bite out of an Australian Shepherd. Once I managed to get Tango controlled I grabbed my iPhone and took some pictures. It obligingly posed although, in retrospect, perhaps it was just reluctant to take any action with that dog in sight.
Groundhogs are also known as whistle-pigs, a really charming moniker. Their burrows can be up to 46 feet in length and have several entrances. I think this one had an entrance on that hillside because once we moved on just a few steps I looked back and it had quickly disappeared.
Long-time friends are aware that the groundhog has a special niche in my life. My late husband, Robert, was a devotee of Groundhog Day and each year he sent Groundhog greetings to our many friends. They became almost legendary and I still hear from friends on Groundhog Day who remember Robert and miss his always interesting missives of February 2nd. He would have been as enthralled with this discovery as I was. Groundhogs rock!
So, good luck to you whistle-pig. Live long and prosper. ❧
Alice's WanderLand 