MERRY CHRISTMAS!

merry christmas to all!  i am going on vacation until january 3rd, but should have some great photos when i get back! my christmas tree photos did not come out well, but these are a few of my fav ornaments (many are from crate and barrel.)

this one reminds me of kerry's farm of colors of the garden, and marie at heimdal...

i bought this one in the airport in amsterdam, so it makes me think of ye at bliss...

you know i like birds, so here's to my feathered friends... of course, the bird watch site i like most is shirl's gardenwatch...

this is my dau's favorite, the puzzle ball. this photo just does not do it justice.

oh, and have a happy new year!

HOLIDAY SNOW

just in time for the holidays, we have about 7 inches of snow. my feeding the birds has increased the cardinal population. this year i see at least 3 pairs living in my yard over last year's one pair. this female is brave and has let me within 2 feet of her (with sliding glass door between us.) the color would be better, but the light was low.

despite her new sweater, luna clearly wants to go back in the house.

the harry lauder walking stick still has ornaments, but fewer. the blue stands out a bit more with the snow.

hubs and i went cross country skiing with joe joe; this is a view across the hudson river from the old croton aqueduct trail.

here i am struggling to keep up with my "ears-a-flying" poodle.

COLUMN OF FIRE

sunday night we had a spectacular sunset that looked like a column of fire! here it is between the norway maple, on the left, and the tulip tree on the right, at peak.here is the maple with the column of fire between it's limbs, a few minutes earlier in the sunset...
same sunset, but after the column disappeared, taken through the wavy old glass of our windows... 

TOY HOUSE

one of our neighbors has taken to adding more christmas decorations each year.  i don't think the decorations themselves are anything special, but the entire effect, when viewed from our house, is really cute. the whole thing reminds me of a tableau you would find in a miniature at the hallmark store:

i need to play with the settings on my camera to get a better picture of it...

ICE ORNAMENTS

a photo of my harry lauder walking stick decorated with 1.5" blue ornaments is in the previous post.  here is a close up of one ball with a reflected landscape:

we had quite a bit of rain, and some of the balls filled with water.  then it froze hard, causing some of the ornaments to crack and the glass to fall away, leaving ice ornaments:

here is a self portrait in cracked glass...

FLUFFY POST

winter provides a fluffy dog with which to cuddle...
a fluffy grey squirrel...
a fluffy tree decorated with 100 turquoise ornaments...

and a fluffy black squirrel...

10 POINT BUCK

while gf was at pilates working off the turkey, hubs was snapping away at a 10 point white-tailed buck in our garden...posing by the swing set...
and cavorting in the neighbor's yard...  see what i'm up against!?! and i know they are thinking about making bambis! 

NEW YORK CITY PRE-HOLIDAY

last weekend my brother-in-law visited and we drove into the city for a quick tour. rather than photograph times square and other well-known spots, i tried to capture a few perhaps less well known sites. here is a pretty building in soho. my favorite spot for a cup of hot chocolate on a chilly day in soho is marie bell.the brooklyn bridge, heading into manhattan from brooklyn...
we went to battery park at the southern tip of manhattan; i don't remember ever being there before. you can see the statue of liberty in the distance.
i was impressed by the landscaping in battery park. i found it a perfect, modern frame for the city views...  looking north...a view of ellis island, which is just north of the statue of liberty...and more of the garden at the waterfront... i'll have to come back in spring and see what's blooming!we then drove north on the west side highway and passed the new iac hq, the first building in nyc designed by frank gehry.  this is not the best view of it, but it is spectacular from any side. at night, the building glows were the windows are not sprayed white.crossing town towards rockefeller center, we passed the nbc store with its lighted globe...rockefeller center was at its worst, with prometheus hiding underneath scaffolding while the christmas tree is being decorated above him.for you "gossip girl" fans (and i know you are out there) here is the entrance to the plaza hotel looking inviting. i've lunched there, but never spent the night.
nearby is 9 w 57th street, a beautiful building with sloping windows reflecting the facades across the street. out front is picasso's mythical bull statue, contrasting the tacky candy cane decoration. also pictured is an unknown tourist, who must really love him some picasso. well, he gives you an idea of the scale of the sculpture.
it was getting darker and colder by then, but before we retreated to the warm car i couldn't resist shooting these colorful marushka dolls at a street vendor's stall...

WINTER BIRDS RETURN

my little friends are back to enjoy the bird seed i put out every morning. the female cardinal is much braver this year, or perhaps it is a different individual...

a junko...

one of the jays, whom i liken to clowns. welcome back, my friends!

GLOWING IN THE GLOAM

this afternoon was cold and dark as dusk, only glowing leaves lit the way...

dwarf japanese maple...

sweet autumn clematis seed heads...

oak leaves

scarlet japanese maple...

THE BIG FALL POST

today i shot a bit of my garden, and mom visited with vasco, so i took pictures in the woods. though we are "past peak" here, the colors were astounding:

this maple leaf is for all my canadian friends and relatives...

sugar pond, where the dogs like to swim...

my mothers pwd, vasco, looking majestic

and fetching...

luna and vasco, ears a flying!

joe joe and vasco playing under a flaming maple...

home again, at gf's garden, joe joe settles down in the crepe myrtle leaves...

witch hazel 'diane' puts on a show, and will bloom in february.

close-up of a witch hazel leaf...

the bald cypress is warming up in color, it will lose it's leaves when it gets really cold.

finally, the view from our second floor across the hudson to the new jersey palisades. the big bare tree is a tulip tree, of which there are many.