DEER HORDE

ever wonder what's happening in your garden while you're slaving away at work? our investigative reporter, aka my daughter home from school with mono, photographed the shameful evidence:

please note the deer on the steps, ensuring that yew can be decimated top to bottom...

i remember this doe last summer, with her twin fawns skipping down the road like school kids, now look how they've grown!  my how big you are... the better to munch your garden!

HARBINGERS OF SPRING

today is raw and rainy, but the snow drops are up...and yesterday the witch hazel was blazing...

H. DIANE EXPLODES

hammamelis 'diane' could not resist the warm sun this weekend; its buds exploded into tiny red streamers.

ROUGHED POTAGER

with the swing set dismantled, hubs and i laid out the potager in old wood today:

this was taken from our 2nd story deck.  i hope we have it finished in time to plant lettuces in march.  meanwhile, in the house, the dombeya continues its display...

and, on the deck, my favorite marauder...

GF TURNS 3!

yes, garden fool has been entertaining gardeners all over the world for 3 years now! of course, there's not much to wow you with at the moment! here are two pictures of nearby sugar pond covered in ice...

what's new for gf in blogger year 4?  i'm getting rid of the old swing set (giving it away to a family...)

and using the 24' x 24' leveled area to finally build that potager that i wanted to build a year ago, but could not afford! i'm so excited! let me know your opinion of these two plans: plan 1

 and plan 2 (there will be an obelisk trellis in the center of each plan.)

and, finally, another anniversary! snoopy has been with us for a year now! here's snoopy showing his loverly pattern against our (not so clean) kitchen rug...

OMG, MORE SNOW!

what a snowy winter! it is snowing now,but i took these a few days ago... above is the dog wood, below is the harry lauder walking stick.

ubiquitous house sparrows - oh and one junko

cozy looking bird house

TIPSY ON RAT BREW

maria is the calm rat, tansy the playful one.  maria was kind enough to pose in a beer glass for us, as dau and i were bored on this bitterly cold day.  here she is perched like a ballerina and her tail elegantly curled... until she realizes how easy it is to escape!

here she revisits the glass to get a treat...

isn't she the cutest li'l dumbo rat?

WINTER GARDEN WALK

yesterday we had snow and ice. let's take a walk through the garden to explore.  first we see the harry lauder walking stick with the surviving glass ornaments... the mirror has gone from the inside of this one making it translucent...

the remaining blue ornaments echo the sky.

jasminium nudiflorum has just begun to bloom, but i found this little icicle more interesting than the flowers.

the grass garden...

a hydrangea snow ball...

luna looking sharp, but feeling blue, in her coat.

lespedeza with curling ice fronds.

broom in front of a sparkly background...

won't someone come sledding with me?

the north garden, which looks much better in winter than any other season!

HEAVENLY

happy new year from gf! we spent the holidays skiing in heavenly nevada and california. here is a view of lake tahoe from heavenly...

here is a view of the lake, from the house we borrowed, with a snowstorm just blowing in from the northwest...

on the way home, hubs photographed the moss on the pines...

a snowman near heavenly built by some young people (but not the ones in the photo, who give an idea of the scale of the snowman... skis for arms and beer bottles for a mouth!)

here's a view of nevada from the mountain...

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.