And Then It Snowed and Snowed

This morning we woke to a blanket of snow and it kept snowing. In fact, it still is. The first snowstorm of the year.

Despite the weather, well actually because of it, Meeko and I went for a walk in the forest in the early afternoon. We had the whole place to ourselves.

The scenery in the forest was absolutely enchanting. Snow covered every single tree trunk and branch. 

When Meeko runs in the snow, I have this song in my head. 

Look at the snowballs that accumulated on Meeko's legs. It was wet, sticky snow.

We are thawing inside now. It took over a half hour for the snow to melt that had accumulated on Meeko's legs but I think he would agree that it was worth it. We had so much fun!

Today, I was thinking of Emma's friends in her McGill University residence who will be experiencing their first snowstorm. I hope they are able to take a break from studying for their exams to build a snowman together! 

The winds have picked up and it is quite blustery at the moment. I'll be glad once Chloé's schoolbus arrives at the corner.

The beauty and challenges of snow.

❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅

A Love Note to December

December has arrived. Our snow came and went and is, as of today, back again. Yes!

Last week looked oddly like springtime. It felt so strange to lose the snow so quickly. I didn't take photos then.

Here are some of the wintry photos I've taken in the past week or so when we did have snow. The forest walk that Meeko and I take once a day and occasionally twice is restorative for me. About 35 to 40 minutes surrounded by nature is a joy. Meeko bounds and leaps and then waits for his less rapid companion who is usually off taking a photo somewhere. We both revel in the sights and sounds of the forest, each other's company as well as occasional encounters with fellow nature lovers, both two-footed and four-footed.

Airborne! 'Superdog' in his head and in my heart. :)

If you look at all of the frozen water, you get a sense of why we can't walk here for three seasons.

Wrap yourself up. It's getting cold.

Autumn and winter. Soul mates.

Love in the forest.

Gorgeous spiky frost on the marsh. It reminded me of a feather boa.

Touchdown after leaping over the log!

Frost-tipped echinacea in my garden. (The only photo not from the forest.)

My beautiful heart tree. When I was trying to find it again, I actually said
'Where is my heart' out loud and then 'There it is'.  My heart.

More leaf love.

Is there such a thing as too much leaf love. I don't think so.

We have lived in our house here for over fourteen years. I didn't know about this beautiful path, even though it is just at the foot of our street, until we had Meeko.  I owe thanks to my furry friend for so many things.

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

When Anyone Talks About Trees

I haven't posted for quite a few days. Chloé had her March break last week. Emma has hers this week. The normal routine of my days has been interrupted not rudely but sweetly by the presence of my daughters in the house.  But it means I haven't painted as much or visited blogs as much or looked after my Etsy shop as much or any number of things as much. It's an adjustment but it's not a bad thing. Maybe it's a reminder to pay attention to the important things.

• I haven't been idle though.
• I've painted a little.
• I worked on a big print of my Lilacs image that a customer is potentially interested in.
• I've walked daily with Meeko (of course).
• I've watched the snow melt the past two days and heard the birds sing and know that spring is on its way.
• I spent a lot of time in the backyard today poo-gathering (one of the "joys" of the spring thaw for dog owners) and got to visit all corners of my garden. There are signs of life despite the fact that everything was covered by snow and ice two days ago. I am always amazed.
• I shopped downtown with Chloé last week, walked daily with her and Meeko, and enjoyed several days of one-on-one time.
• Emma went away for five days to visit friends (the longest she's ever been away) and I was happy for her yet also happy to see her again.
• I did some housecleaning (grumpily) to prepare for the visit of my sister Nancy and her family (not grumpy about that!). They won't be here long but we always love their company.
• I treated myself and bought some gouache paints for a painting I would like to do of a lovely tree with a heart shape on it. It's not the one in the photo above. That is another heart-marked tree I discovered on the same path I take with Meeko every day in the winter. I thought of posting the other photo but it's too special to me so I want to keep it hidden for now and let my painting be the reveal. Now the pressure is on for me to do it. 
• I am reading "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barberry. I have 50 books (not an exaggeration) beside my night table waiting to be read. I was an English major in university and love books so much. With my slow reading pace these days, that 50-book stack might be a little unreasonable, more like impossible (but I remain optimistic). It took me a long time to get into "The Elegance of the Hedgehog"--maybe even one-third of the book. I am a stubborn reader and am glad for that as I am now loving the book. This passage jumped out at me the other evening and I reread it more than once for the sheer pleasure of it. I love when that happens. And now you know why I chose the photo at the top.

After I'd had a chance to think about it for a while I began to understand why I felt this sudden joy when Kakuro was talking about the birch trees. I get the same feeling when anyone talks about trees, any trees: the linden tree in the farmyard, the oak behind the old barn, the stately elms that have all disappeared now, the pine trees along wind-swept coasts, etc. There's so much humanity in a love of trees, so much nostalgia for our first sense of wonder, so much power in just feeling our own insignificance when we are surrounded by nature...yes, that's it: just thinking about trees and their indifferent majesty and our love for them teaches us how ridiculous we are--vile parasites squirming on the surface of the earth--and at the same time how deserving of life we can be, when we can honor this beauty that owes us nothing.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Muriel Barberry

I'm lichen it

It's bad when you carry a pun around in your head for over a week. And you'd think that would be time enough to change your mind about using it. But no. I have called this post 'I'm lichen it'.

These are photos I have taken during the past couple of weeks on my walks with Meeko. It's amazing the treasures you can find, even in a relatively barren winter forest.

I like how interactions on the internet can subtly change us or alter our perspective. I'm grateful for the international band of creative people I follow whether on their blogs, Facebook, Etsy or Twitter. Lisa Solomon is a California-based visual artist and professor who seems to have a million creative projects on the go. I know her mostly on Twitter which seems kind of weird to say. :) One of her projects that struck me with its simplicity and beauty is her 'look up and down' series of daily photos she posts on her Tumblr account. If you start thinking and looking that way, for instance while walking your dog or doing one of the other routines in your day, you start to see things that you might have missed.

And I can't look at lichen or fungi without thinking of Margie, which I mean as an absolute compliment and I think she will understand that. (Some don't feel that way. Emma asked me why I take photos of those 'things'.)

So here are some of my 'ups and downs' from recent forest walks.

A gorgeous wasp nest that was so high up in the trees, I had never noticed it. It looks like some sort of exotic hat.

Meeko accidentally disturbed a flock of mourning doves so they flew up into the trees giving me a photo opportunity. They spend most of their time on the ground. They are such beautiful birds yet are so goofy in terms of their behaviour. I love them.

A very ordinary cement block that seemed very beautiful with its cracks, texture and snow cover.

And here's who I see most often when I look down:

We had more snow overnight. Heavy, thick snow. Meeko doesn't tire of it. I am less enchanted by it these days. Spring on my mind. In between winter walks with my faithful companion, I've been working on paintings and will do a more art-related post soon.

Don't forget to look 'up and down' this week!

A Little Winter Beauty

Here is a selection of scenes from our stay over the holidays in Muskoka, the cottage region in Ontario where my parents live. They didn't have as much snow as some years, but it was just enough to be pretty. We walked a lot when we were there.

Do you see Woody Woodpecker in the above photo? It's a pileated woodpecker. They are so big and noisy (both their knocking and squawking)! Wish I'd had my long-range lens when I saw it.

Emma was looking at some older paintings I did in my studio just before Christmas and was saying that I should do landscapes again. I used to paint a lot of landscapes, especially when I worked in oils many, many years ago but also when I started working in watercolour many years ago. Maybe I'll paint one of these beautiful Muskoka scenes in the weeks ahead.

I'm not really fond of photos taken of me and I don't tend to be very cooperative. My sneaky daughter Chloé managed to snap this one between the trees.