White Christmas!

Yes, this year we REALLY had a white Christmas! It is absolutely beautiful out there! Ice and snow...great contrast with all the tree branches...and little pops of color, especially red...my favorite! I've been taking LOTS of pictures...so I'll post just a "few" of my favorites.

This is from a walk through our neighborhood, in our woods and down the street. The metal "people" are some artwork created by our 90-year old neighbor, Cliff, in his blacksmith shop (the red building).

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! May the new year ahead be a blessed one for you!

New Header Photo Today

My poor photo blog is sooooooo neglected! I really thought I'd take more pictures and post more...but life is busy! I DO take a lot of pictures with both my phone and my camera but often forget to download them to my computer. I took several pictures of my woods which are completely yellow now but, sadly, both cameras do not pick up the yellow color very well...the photos always look much greener than real life. Why is that?

I am changing the my main photo for my blog today...just need something different than an early spring photo! This plant sits in my living room in front of a huge window. It must love the lighting and/or the temperatures there because it has flourished beautifully over the past 9 years and has grown amazingly. When I bought it, it was about 8"x 8"....its now about 2'x 3'. It even blooms from time to time. I think it is some variety of a prayer plant. Correct me if I'm wrong (Please!).

The Ludington St Park Beach at Sunset

Summer Pictures

Solid beautiful blooms...

...close up

And one of my very favorite plants: hostas

Lake Michigan shoreline near Muskegon

The only bloom on my New Guinea Impatience

Coleus...taking over the pot!

Flowers and matching quilt in Amish country...Northern Indiana

Hubby's favorite toy... his Oliver 88

Busy, Beautiful Summer

Well, every summer is busy around here...but this one seems just a bit more so! And because we had plenty of rain this spring and many hot, sunny days since, the plants are VERY happy in my yard! However, we still live in a woods, and with the extra moisture there seems to be an abundance of leaves on the trees this year...allowing even less sunlight than usual to filter through! SO...my flowering plants refuse to bloom! Lots of lovely greenery...not so many flowers. But at my sister's in Wisconsin there is just the right amount of BOTH rain and sunshine. All the way around the house she has things blooming! Here are a few photos of her hydrangeas on the north side of the house...the front. Beautiful!

I love the variety of the shades of greens and whites! And the water droplets on the leaves was an added bonus, left over from the morning shower we had.

Springtime in My Front Yard

Once we were sure it wouldn't freeze again we filled the birdbath...and saw birds using it later that day.

Two matching flower pots in front of the garage hold huge pink geraniums. I'm hoping they will keep blooming even though they won't get much sunshine.

This petunia beauty was a Mother's Day gift from one of my daughters.

My color theme this year is mainly pinks & purples.

My Dogwood Beauty

Finally catching up with a few photos from my front yard! This is my dogwood tree which is blooming profusely this year, maybe because of all the rain we've had. I got this lovely tree as a Mother's Day present the first year we moved to this house, almost 10 years ago. 

The morning sun makes the blossoms look a bit transluscent and so bright! 

Gulf Shores 2013

Beautiful sunset, traveling down I-65

Windy day made for big waves!

Long walks on the quiet beach

Beach birds....Sandpipers??

The Fingers of God

"The Fingers of God"

Have you ever heard it called that before... when there are rays of light that stream down through small windows in the clouds? It definitely is a God thing! So beautiful and unusual! And what this small picture can't show is that where the light hit the water way out there, there are wisps of steam rising that are illuminated in a spectacular way. I tried to zoom in on that but lost the light rays then.

This was taken at Ludington State Park overlooking Lake Michigan on February 1, 2013, about mid-afternoon. Temperature was 12* F.

Winter Wonderland

The Crystal River

which runs through the Homestead property and empties into Lake Michigan

(just a few steps away from our condo)

 Note: the center of the picture looks a little blurry...that is steam rising from the river and snow falling!

Barely visible because of the snow-covered giant pines

is the building we stayed in at the Homestead

Visit to the Leelanau Peninsula

Stayed at the Homestead near Glen Arbor, MI for a few days this week. Lots of snow! Absolutely beautiful scenery everywhere I looked! Even up close!

The fluffy snow stuck to every surface and just kept piling up!

Ah...Summertime!

Remember summertime...when it is so hot all you want to do is slowly paddle around the lake? When its cold and snowy I like to get out a few old pictures from summers gone by. Makes me appreciate each season just a little more.

A Sunny Winter Day

Sunshine on new-fallen snow...its even more beautiful in "real life" because I can watch the shadows and lighting change moment by moment. (Looking SW)

This one was taken earlier in the morning, when there was a slight pink glow on the horizon all around...even to the west. Unusual for the morning, I thought.

(Looking NW)

My Christmas Tree...Now that it is all put away!

My Christmas tree is pretty much the same every year. I have lots and lots of ornaments that I have collected over the last 35 years...yet I seem to add a few new ones each year and leave a few of my least favorite in the boxes. And I only use white twinkle lights...colored lights would ruin my red, white, & gold theme. 

But I do put a 2nd tree up in my husband's office that has all blue lights and blue & silver ornaments. So we each get our favorites!

I usually put up our tree between Thanksgiving and the 1st week of  December, but this year I didn't get at it until the 2nd week of Dec. so it didn't come down right after New Year's...I waited an extra week.

When I took these pictures I thought they were "close-ups" but I can see I need to concentrate on just a few ornaments at a time and get even closer. Next year!