Winter Poem..........

Robert Louis Stevenson (from A Child’s Garden of Verses, 1885)

Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.

Before the stars have left the skies,
At morning in the dark I rise;
And shivering in my nakedness,
By the cold candle, bathe and dress.

Close by the jolly fire I sit
To warm my frozen bones a bit;
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore
The colder countries round the door.

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows
Its frosty pepper up my nose.

Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake,
Are frosted like a wedding-cake.

Winter in the garden...............

Today is Winter solstice. The first day of Winter.

My garden is sleeping under a blanket of snow. It's already deep. It will be a long winter I think.
The pine trees are beautiful and where they lay on the ground they provide a warm place for the bunnies out of the wind.

The sky is so blue on this day.

Beautiful sky and white white snow.

My street has a lot of snow, and everything is covered and clean for today.

My garden is asleep.

My porch is in winter mode now

Tristen is enjoying shoveling snow, and making pathways out the back. His play house is covered in snow now. Its been so cold he does not stay out long. He takes his trucks out and comes back with them full of snow, yup, my floors are full of snow and I keep a mop by the back door for now.

Yes it is beautiful, but I look forwards to Spring. This is just the beginning.


Happy Winter Solstice...........

The snow is so beautiful.................

I love the look of snow. No so much the reality of it. When I worked I really didn't like it at all. The roads around here can be treacherous, it is after all Michigan. We live in the great white north.

Well there is Canada further north but they don't get much more snow than we do, it lasts a little longer maybe but we have our share. I remember when we first came here, some winters were 6 months long to me. I mean, when it snows in October and lasts till April thats pretty long. I am counting flurries and not deep snow but back then I could not get over it..............I would call mum,"hey we are in the Upper Peninsula in September and I saw snow in the rain." ......we would get Indian Summer but still we knew what was coming.

It took a long time for me to get used to it. When I turned 40 I got a horse. Well, that was great in summer (another story) but once that snow started to come down and I had a 20+ mile drive it was a bit dodgy. I do remember one evening when my friend Mary (was driving) we got almost to the barn and there was a tree across the road. There we were in a blizzard trying to move the dang thing. Well some guy stopped in a big truck and pushed it away far enough so we could get by and the barn was just down the road from there. We went thankfully into he barn, gave our horses carrots and apples, made sure they were snug and comfy and headed home. By then the guy had that tree all cut up and stacked by the road. It was a small tree.

At first I loved the snow I had fun blasting through drifts, wooooo hooooo and was not afraid at all. Then one day coming down a hill I lost control. That did it. From then on I really did not care to drive in the snow. Its all about the what if's....well sometimes "What if" can keep you safe. So I was more cautious after that. There were many times over the years when Mary and I would take a quick trip out to the barn, bring in all the horses because no one was there and set them all inside in the warm. Then leave and start home again. We got in some pickles out there, that much I can say. We rode out in the snow back in those days. The horses loved it. Then one day coming back Lady and I got out onto a sheet of ice. She froze, I was scared witless. I was afraid she would fall and break a leg (to say nothing of me) so I let go of the reins, let her figure it out and stayed as still as I could as she picked her way over the ice. My heart thumping. The other two, Mary and her son, they found a way around it after we made if over. She was a good old girl that horse.

It was that same ride that earlier Mary fell off. Mark and I were out ahead chatting. Mary was riding our shared horse named Spyder. Well Spyder was a slow poke and they were hanging back. Mark and I were side by side and rounded a corner in the woods. All of a sudden Spyder with Mary clinging to his side came bounding around the corner. We stopped and watched as in what seemed like slow motion Mary ever so gracefully got lower and lower on his side until she plopped off into the snow bank. Spyder stopped and munched on a branch. Now I would have thought that Mark would have stopped and helped his mum but nope, he just carried on as she dusted herself off and clambered back onto good old Spyder. Not a word was said.

Well winter holds its wonders, it is not all bad and it is certainly beautiful. It's just so dang long

It's cold it's cold............

Today in the garden. It has been very cold, the temperatures have been in the single digits with wind chills in the -12 regions. I have been feeding the birds non stop. The squirrels have been coming in herds it seems. Is there such a thing as a herd of squirrels or a pack? Well there have been 8 at least, 7 black and one grey.
The birds keep coming but have to wait while they eat. All except the Chickadees who are not intimidated by anyone.
I went out in the snow and took a few pictures '

It was so snowy and so cold it was hard to distinguish things one from another. I did find just a few pretty things though.
These seed pods below look like soldiers in their bearskin hats.



The bamboo looks pretty........it does not loose its leaves.



The snow is wet and heavy. It looks lovely on the pines across the road from us.



Down the street, the wind is blowing and it's below zero in the wind. My ears are freezing by now but....... so much beauty out there.






A watery sun trying to break through, if the sun comes out it will be spectacular

The Mourning Dove is dozing in the tree, she is waiting for the Starlings to finish. Then she will take her turn........some days the doves dont care, they mingle in among the others. I put out so much food none of the local birds can possibly be starving so she can afford to wait.



I think I refill at least a couple of times a day and throw out popcorn and bread, so no one goes hungry in this neighbourhood.

Linking up with Outdoor Wednesday.....at A Southern Dreamer
Also linking with PJH Designs

Winter Geraniums ...........

How to save geraniums over the winter in pots



(not sure the name of the painter here)





When saving geraniums for the winter in pots, dig up your geraniums and place them in a pot that can comfortable fit their rootball. Prune the geranium back by 1/3. Water the pot thoroughly and place in a cool but well lit part of your house.

If the cool area you have in mind does not have enough light, place a lamp or light with a fluorescent bulb very close to the plant. Keep this light on 24 hours. This will provide enough light for getting geraniums to last over winter indoors, though the plant may get a little leggy.




(looks like this could be the same artist as above. I love it)

How to winter geraniums by making them go dormant
The nice thing about geraniums is that they will go into dormancy easily, meaning you can store them in a similar fashion to storing tender bulbs. Saving geraniums for the winter using this method means that you will dig the plant up in the fall and gently remove the soil from the roots. The roots should not be clean, but rather free from clods of dirt.

Hang the plants upside down in either your basement or garage, someplace where the temperature stays around 50F. Once a month, soak the roots of the geranium plant in water for an hour, then re-hang the plant. The geranium will lose all of its leaves, but the stems will remain alive. In the spring, replant the dormant geraniums in the ground and they will spring back to life.



(Waterpainting done by me JKS2011)


I found this information at Gardening Know How

I am not sure what I want to do at this point. If you read this and have ideas please email me and give me some hints I would appreciate other peoples experiences.

Winter Celebrations................

Winter Celebration.

Here comes the snow in a Wintery blast,
Here we go.......it's Winter at last.
Cold cold days December brings,
Very soon the silent sleigh bell rings.
Horses breath hangs in the air,
Under foot is ice......beware.
Children skate on a frozen pond,
While adults roast chestnuts on fires beyond.
The bandstand waits to hold the band,
People gather in a wonderland.
The band strikes up a joyful refrain
It's time to celebrate winter again.
JKS 2012


(picture found on the web)

The Last Days of Autumn.............

Its over, the leaves are gone. This wind that is the tail end of Hurricane Sandy will finish them off. My neighbours have been busy raking and putting leaves to the side of the road for pick up. Yes well that was a waste of time folks because it will all be back tomorrow.

The fields are almost bare of pumpkins already but the few left look pretty.

The squash and pumpkins always look pretty.

Make the most of these next few weeks, the snow will soon be here, at least here in Michigan.
Here is Tristen playing with the leaves in my garden.....probably the last day without a coat for now.


The last of the garden flowers........The Mum's are blooming well











Make the most of these pretties, there wont be many more I am afraid. Not from my garden anyway. The pansies are still happy.



I collected some leaves and they were quite a variety, so pretty. Bud's Japanese Maple is now bare but I got this picture just before it was stripped.



I am not at all sure what is coming next, the wind is howling. I feel bad for those in the direct path of this hurricane, Sandy. If it's windy way over here in Northern Michigan, I can only imagine those in a direct path. I pray for them, for the animals and pets. Stay safe everyone and take care of those who can not help themselves.

I am linking this post with Pink Saturday over at How Sweet The Sound




I will be linking with Mellow Yellow Monday thanking my hostess

Mid February......

Its time to at least begin to think of Spring. We have had some lovely sunny days with blue skys.



Today winter came back though and its cold and blustery. Snow is covering the garden again where yesterday it was almost gone.


The squirrels are looking frosty today but it does not stop them from filling their fat little bellies. Yesterday I hardly saw any birds at the feeder but today they are coming in again, all fluffed up and cute.
Its time to take stock of your garden tools. Get them all cleaned up and handy. Time to sort the garden shed too

At least that's what I was thinking yesterday. Today my daughter came in and said the roads are terrible and its back to winter for several days ahead. So I will wait. I opened the door to let her leave and about got blown over, its freezing out there. Roll on Spring

Waiting for winter...................

The garden's a mess, all soggy and wet
Those sunny hot days we are soon to forget
The weather is changing the leaves almost gone
The flowers all hiding as though the sun never shone
Soon old man winter will blow in the snow
Cold fingers of ice when the north wind doth blow
Turn up the heat and gather inside
while the birds and the beasts find somewhere to hide.
JKS October 2011


Can I come in for the winter?

The honey bee.............

The honey bee is in danger. We must really try to do all we can to save them. In England they have set aside land as a bee sanctuary. It is full of wild flowers and left to nature so that the bee population can thrive. We can do our part by making sure that our gardens are safe from pesticides and things that may harm them. The last several years we have had bees nests around the house. We had a bumble family in the blocks of the basement. They kept getting into the house, they must have thrived quite well because we put most of them back outside and eventually got it fixed so they could not get in. Then we had honey bees under the siding and a hornets nest over the front porch. Now I know most people would have knocked out the hornets but as we didn't even see them until the Fall and no one had been bothered by them, we left them alone as well. Why destroy things just because they might do something? I try to leave things alone if at all possible.
This is a happy little bee at my neighbour Phil's house getting the last of the goodness from the flowers. Not a lot left and I am sure they will soon be off settling in for the winter somewhere warm.




Asters or Michaelmas Daisies, now open for business