January

 As we have just had our Snow Moon, the internet tell me that it signifies : patience, renewal, deep rest and clarity. Well that's one way of saying that winter is continuing and conserve your energy!

These are some of the sights of white variation that we get

Snow carver has had lots of snow to work with this year!

I love the snow tunnel under the pine

So this would be 'snow stops play'

You become drawn to any form of colour

Nighttime with snow becomes magical

Some rather puffed out raccoons visit briefly

Then a slight reprieve

Off to far flung places and pictures from the train in sunny England

Dramatic skies

and far away seas

Misty landscapes

Then back for more!

Curtain of icicles

Swirly snow

giving almost white out

Moments later the wind stops and sun appears!

We escape again and get morning sunshine, 

making buildings glow in the first light

Mountains and snow in the distance

and sunsets

To the biggest canyon! 

A dear friend asked me if I looked over the side! Nope!

We continued to climb and get to 7000 feet

Found stillness and calm in mid winter

Back down to desert

and cacti

So many types

Soooo spikey

Special ones that grow arms aged 50-75 yr! mark

and back to our Moon and the mark of mid winter

Such a month of contrast and moving about and seeing everything. 

Hope we all have a wonderful 2026!

December Magic

 So it is that another year has gone and it never ceases to amaze me how much we look forward to this time with both anticipation and sometimes in trepidation! Lucky for us it was a good December. But there was a lot of snow!

This would be a false sense of security! Blue sky. Probably the last one we saw all month!

All very dramatic. There is a Christmas Train waiting to go across! Pretty exciting

Really these are an actual pair of trousers I saw...this is someone's dream present!

Out into the country and fast shots of the fields either side. That's the old corn still in the field

Love a barn!

They are quite interesting in a featureless landscape

At least when you look you can see some forms of colour and the snow isn't complete yet! The sky was wonderful

As was this morning show. It lasted a brief moment and went back to milky grey

Ice on houses for another winter. So far not quite as icy as last winter. But at this point it has been over a month of winter, a whole month early!

Slushy trudge home

with bright points

So much light from streetlights. Making it very glowy

Snow storm at night

The white light inside the house is rather lovely though

After the snow and ice. We have everything coated white 

There is something really special about a pine/fir. They are designed for snow holding

They keep growing

The streets day after day looked like this

Ice at the lake. This after another month will stretch for a far as the eye can to the horizon. Frozen!

For now there is still some water for the sun to break through the clouds and shine on the water

Meanwhile, snowy streets of home

Then pouff the is a blessed melt

Spoke too soon. This is what an almost white out looks like. We did have a white Christmas though. So there is that.

Wishing you the absolute best for the New Year