Winter, where art thou?????

December 19, 2023

Well, this is a little more like it!

It snowed last night, and the accompanying heavy wind gusts moaned loudly around the edge of the open window. This morning, there are BIG blue patches in the sky.

We have been enduring very mild, dreary weather, with temperatures fluctuating around the freezing mark, and few sunny days. There have been many small skiffs of snow, and then, on December 4, we had a lovely 8 inch dump of snow that required blowing and ploughing. 

It was up to the boot tops, and we did get out the snowshoes and broke a few trails.

Since then, the warm weather has melted all of that snow, leaving just small ridges where the snow was ploughed to, and on north-facing areas in the bush. What little frost was in the ground has begun to come out, making the surface of the drive and road a little squishy. 

Some mornings, there were strange, spikey hoar frost creations on all the twigs and branches.

All in all, it has been a loonngg stretch of dreary, sunless weather, so un-Christmas-like. 

Despite that, the house is spiffed up, decorations have been put up, and the tree is in and decorated.

Over the last couple of summers, I've been pruning some little spruce and balsam fir trees around the acreage, and this year, we harvested the first one. It is a beautiful, bushy little tree, so unlike the 'Charlie Brown' trees we've had in the past, beautiful in their own way, but hard to find enough branches to hang the ornaments! No snipping was required on this one, except removing the bottom branches to put it in the stand. There are plenty of branches to hold all of the ornaments we've collected over the years, with room for more. Every ornament has a reason, or a memory attached, from the ceramic cow, to the birds, angels and glass icicles.

Gingerbread men have been baked, Christmas dinner planned, the cranberry sauce made, dressing for the turkey made and in the freezer. This year, instead of pudding, I am trying my hand at a Christmas trifle. Extensive list making has (hopefully!) ensured that I have all the ingredients needed for everything, as we are not going to town again until well after Christmas day. Family and friends are coming, so we are looking forward to a lovely day. 

In the back of one's mind, is the horror that is going on in the world, and a feeling of guilt(?) that we are so very fortunate with our peace, full larder and warm, comfortable home. 

The snowfall of the 4th, had the deer moving toward the yard a bit. Their migration trails were showing lots of tracks, and a trail camera caught this trio moving in daylight hours.

Meanwhile, the twin fawns hanging around the house and gardens were pawing at the snow to reach the grass below,

and had even started nibbling on the cedars right at the front of the house. They were appearing in the yard like clockwork, just as dusk started falling. We have never had summer/garden deer issues, and sure hope next year will not be the exception! 

So, things are on track, and hopefully Mother Nature will stop fooling around and get down to Real winter.

Sending warm wishes to all for a peaceful Christmas, and a healthy new year.