While looking at recent photos I came across this one........ My son had lifted the inside window and put a smiley face on the outer window.......
I like it! Enjoy!
a selection of my thoughts, observations and creative pursuits...
I know recently I've obsessed over artistic frost work on our old cold windows............ but here is onE more........ While looking at recent photos I came across this one........ My son had lifted the inside window and put a smiley face on the outer window....... I like it! Enjoy! Have a good Night!
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I was startled by a bang on the window. Looking outside I saw nothing unusual, but the thump sounded like a bird flying into the glass. Robins were flitting about everywhere, along with chickadees, a blue jay and a couple of crows, some squirrels here and there.... The birds peck the withered crab apples from off the trees out back.... A January feast.... I've heard it said that the robins are "Canadian Robins" come down from "cold Canada" to "Sunny Maine" ........... I don't know that this is so....... 24 degrees and the birds act like its spring. LAST SUMMER WHEN POSSIBLE i WAS OUTDOORS. a LITTLE FIELD PROFUSE WITH WILD FLOWERS WAS ADDED TO MY LIST OF "FAVORITE SPOTS". i KEEP COMING BACK TO A PHOTO OF "pURPLE lOOSESTRIFE" ( a beautiful invasive) WHICH i HAD TAKEN LAST SUMMER. There IS A QUALITY TO IT WHICH i LIKE, THOUGH I'm NOT SATISFIED WITH THE PHOTO ITSELF. I have developed numerous variations of this photo since last summer........ This morning I spent "playing" with the photo again. Here are several different editing styles: The "close up" shows a very textured effect. Next is an editing process which makes the photo look a bit like a mosaic The "close up" shows the mosaic effect: Lastly, a textured "artsy" effect: and a "close Up" : Is there one you like best?
Have a great day today! Christmas.... Come and gone...... Our tree is still up........ I guess i'm sentimental....... I always hate to take it down. Cold....... it's back, after a "warm" reprieve around Christmas..... Of course "warm" is relative.... It is funny how 25-35 DEGREES IN October is way too cold, but in January it feels like spring. On Tuesday the temperature outdoors hovered around -18 below zero. Our house is an old farmhouse built in the 1800's. Our woodstove makes things cozy, but parts of the house remain chilly at times. Sometimes magic takes place and "Jack Frost" does wonderful artwork on some exterior windows. On Tuesday morning I had so much fun taking pictures of "Jack Frost's" frosty artwork. Here is a selection from the wonderful window display variety : I upload some of my artwork and photography to a P.O.D. site called Fine Art America. It actually has a number of domains through which different products are available. Recently they added pillows to the product list. I decided a few of the frost designs would be fun on pillows ! If you click on any of the frost images below the design will show up applied to pillows. Take a good look at your frosty windows! they can be beautiful! On cold mornings in Maine our old house sometimes has some intriguing frosty windows with a variety of patterns. Winter can provide such amazing beauty along with the cold. Photograph "A Flurry Of Frost Flowers", by Joy Nichols was taken on a morning when the outside temperatures hovered around -18 below zero. Seasonal changes bring the "countdown"............. For Christmas, Yes.......... But, the really "Big Deal" for me this year has been our daughter's return home after leaving in August (for the first time) to attend college down south. The bare branches, dusting and accumulation of snow, and bittersweet berries have all been signs of her soon arrival! So, We went on a road trip to Boston to pick her up at the train station. Christmas lights can be beautiful........ I drove and took no pictures, but I wish I had...... These are a few pictures that I'd taken beforehand..... At one point while traveling I mentioned that we were passing close by to a neighborhood I had lived in as a child. One son suggested that we go to my old house , knock on the door and introduce ourselves. I didn't want to do that............ but, we did drive around the town a bit and through my old neighborhood. It's funny what time can do. the houses seem so much more closely spaced and the yard I once had looked so very, very little compared to the memories in my mind. Christmas lights flickered here and there.......... it was lovely in it's own nostalgic way.......... We drove past an enticing remembered bakery.......... I must have peered through the windows as a child because my immediate thoughts were "They have wonderful cookies!" Sooo we found a place to park the car and went on a "cookie quest". The shop was filled with fabulous, tasty creations and we left with a happy selection of cookies to munch on as we traveled on our way. I think we had eaten over half of them before arriving at the train station to meet my daughter. The cookies were forgotten. That countdown has ended ......... She's back! Thankfully the temperature stayed in the 36-39 degree range. It drizzled continually. ice would have been horrible.We were home late. Luggage and cookies landed on the dining room table. I think we went to sleep about 2 in the morning. Morning chores were done,. Animals fed, wood for the fire brought in. Coming in through the kitchen, I heard a squawking noise............( like our dining room table being pushed to the side)............ A guilty dog................. She loves cookies............ What a culprit............
What was left of the "childhood memory cookies" became "the guilty one's " snack.......... Go figure................................ Enjoy your Christmas Countdown! This morning at 5:20 the stars were shining, by 9 o'clock the sky was overcast......... the day's warmth turned chill...... Snow was forecast.... I tend to have a "wait and see" attitude I had to run one of our sons on an errand around noon.... and was distracted to see the view off a local snowmobile bridge along the way... ........... A pretty little falls on wilson stream.......... .................Reflections on Wilson Stream................. As I drove along the sky grew ever heavier........ Soon the sky was spitting the occasional flake......... the hills were obscured in white.............. And the snow came down...................... And came down........... And down............ and down............. Best Wishes To All Of You for a happy thanksgiving tomorrow !
It was a Saturday morning......... a good time for a leisurely breakfast............ As I cooked the eggs I looked at the difference. One is a basic store bought egg, the other two came from our chickens! I love fresh eggs........ they can be sooo orange and firm......... they just look better. When we first started keeping chickens I didn't expect to become an "egg snob", but I guess I have........... As a child we had 3 chickens and 3 ducks...... but, I had forgotten how good the fresh eggs were. (Duck eggs are so big they are amazing.............) Our daughter has turned into an "egg snob". She is now in college and picky about them, she only wants organic ones.......... This is a habit of mine....... especially if it's cold enough outside to freeze eggs. I set them on a windowsill, balanced here and there, until I'm sure they are properly unthawed. It just isn't good to put semi-frozen eggs in the fridge. In early September we lost our remaining elderly chickens to ( I suspect ) "Mr. Fox". The younger ones escaped and skedaddled to the railing outside my kitchen door. Afraid that "Mr.Fox" would somehow get them at the chicken house, I allowed them to roost there nightly for too long. One night we had quite the thunderstorm......... It was a funny sight to see the chickens clinging to the railing ,just barely shielded from the pouring rain. Eventually, ( hoping that "Mr. Fox" was long gone ) we sequestered them away to their yard and chicken house. For awhile one chicken (Rosie) escaped regularly and hung out with the horse. Lately, she seems to have resigned herself with staying with her "sisters". One fall we had an early snowfall while many leaves were still on the trees. In the morning the combination of snowfall and foliage was gorgeous. The horse eating his hay that morning was the inspiration for my watercolor painting "First Snow" This links to my gallery image of "First Snow"
Gray skies blanketed the snow dusted trees as drizzle descended to melt it away........... Gray, Gray, gray..... a time for hibernation............ or errands....... This morning, distracted by the day, I did errands with our son. When I stopped to take a few shots i found that my camera's sd card was at home. Disappointed, I saved some shots to my cameras memory and continued home........ To hibernate....... To cluster around the wood stove away from the gray day.... This is a good time of year to do artwork or edit pictures......... In the summer it might be too beautiful to be indoors. I played around with texture and border in editing two of this mornings photos. Beauty can be present whatever the weather..... tHE oLD hOUSE The old house and apple trees seem to be in hibernation now......... nOVEMBER aPPLE tREES IT'S NICE TO SIT AROUND THE FIRE AND ENJOY THE WARMTH INSIDE.
Our small flock of chickens were just chicks this past May. I think they were not so thrilled with yesterday mornings snow.................... It was mostly gone by afternoon. The sun's heat brought the night's snowfall tumbling down from the branches above. Magical morning melted into everyday Maine November afternoon.......... It was beautiful while it lasted........ there will be more......much more to come...........
And so it begins.......... Snow.. beautiful, magical , winter wonderland ..... the mornings slippery gift and the afternoon's evaporating treasure. November can be fickle, incredibly messy, cold and mean one day and rather lovely the next. I had to drive out and about this morning in the magic world left by last night's snowfall. So I have some photos to share.......... "Filigree Against The Sky" and "Blue House On Elm Street" "United Methodist Church Steeple" "Pentecostal Church In Livermore Falls" & "The Red Victorian" I hope you have enjoyed some of this morning's scenery!
We have a few chickens....... This is Rosie........... She is wondering about the camera.......... This is Blondie................. Anyhow.. Since we have a few chickens , they have a barrel in the chicken house that has some cracked corn in it. The lid has a hole in it............. I'm going to have to do something about that........... I found these little guys this morning. I don't want them there, but I do find them cute........ Well, we need a lid with no hole......... I don't want to set a trap. Maybe Pixie the cat will do her job ...........she seems sleepy........ Welcome to my random Maine musings! :)
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outdoor enthusiast, artist, photographer, believer in our Almighty Creator and his Son Jesus, lover of family, wife, mother, lover of dogs and horses, woods and lakes
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