They're heeeeere..... (again!!!)

The snowflakes have arrived. They say everything comes in threes. This is the third weekend in a row that we've had a snowstorm.

  It's also the third time in just about a month that our poor 11-year old van with almost 150,000 miles on it has broken down
 (First the alternator, two days later the starter, and now God only knows what)...

But let's get back to the beauty of the snowfall...
This is the view outside my studio window a couple of minutes ago.

It's also the view that Baby has when she lays in front of the TV in my studio. She was hanging out with me, watching the storm outside, while I did some work.

So happy I had my camera handy because I got some great photos of her looking "not quite so beautiful" as she normally does while in the midst of a 'licking her lips' episode! haha

So if you're not as sick of snow as I am at this point, you can check out the following short videos of our THIRD snowstorm in so many weeks... And of course Baby followed me around from window to window, so you'll see more of her Highness as well!

The start of the storm....

Baby joins me....

The snow starting to come down heavily - and Baby joins me at this window as well!

You also get to see the mossy green on the north side of the shed - boy, am I going to have to scrub that down this spring!!!

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone!

Donna

Snowstorm Deja Vu x 2

 Baby's look pretty much sums up how I'm feeling right about now....

 "What the what??????"

These photos were taken over the weekend during yet ANOTHER snowstorm.

We're both looking toward the heavens, praying "No more snow, please!!!!"

Enough is enough!

No matter which way we look ...

Through snow covered dining room windows...

... or out living room windows...

...or my studio/office window...

There is nothing but white, white, and more white!

Even the birds agree with me as they're also growing weary of this cold, harsh winter...

(taking turns at the suet feeder)

We're so looking forward to the scent of blooming lilacs drifting about, carried on warm spring breezes.. and the bountiful harvest of insects that spring brings. 

(I'm the one into lilacs, they're the ones into insects, in case that wasn't clear.)

But until then, Baby is on the lookout for the first sign of spring. 

She assures me she will let me know as soon as she sees it on the horizon.

But since they're predicting yet ANOTHER 8-12" of snow for us this weekend, 

I think she's in for a mighty long wait....

Stay warm, everyone!!!

Donna

I'm seeing red....

The cardinals have been visiting often since our last snowstorm. 

There's no missing them, especially against the minimalism of winter's landscapes.

I spotted this guy in an instant from inside the house, so I ran to get my camera. 

Thankfully he was still there when I got back.

These photos were taken the day our major snowstorm arrived.

(altered with picMonkey)

A while later Mr. Cardinal ventured closer, perching on top of the plant hanger attached to the deck. From there, it was a hop, skip, and a jump to the sunflower seed in the screen feeder!

I think of my mom whenever I see cardinals as they were her favorite birds. 

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of red. It seemed fitting to share it today!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm linking up to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home this week.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Donna

The beauty of a blizzard...

School cancellations, trips to the supermarket for last minute non-perishables in case of power outages, batteries for flashlights, and the list goes on. If you are one of those who escaped any of the possible downsides of this storm (flooding along the coast, downed trees, loss of electricity, etc.), it's much easier to appreciate the beauty of these storms.

(courtesy of picMonkey.com)

This was the view from our dining room window yesterday, showing the ivy that climbs our brick chimney and the new gate and fence hubby installed over the summer. I love the snow piled atop the arbor.

This is our dining room window this morning. I had to take the arbor photo from the upper panes on the right side of the window where there was no snow piled up.

Through the top of the left panes, the deck is visible. A brave Sammy Squirrel and Mr. Bluejay are waiting for me to toss out some peanuts...

...while a little junco waits patiently for me to brush the snow from the screen feeder 

so he can get at the seed.

This was the view from the family room slider. 

The snow was piled up to the first grid on the door section. 

The drifting snow was practically up to the patio table, and the chairs are barely visible at all.

It's going to be a while before we're eating out here, I'm afraid.

A bit later I tossed out peanuts for my friends, with most landing on the table.

The "gnome home" is also filled with snow, its window also covered with snow.

Oh, good. Sammy found one of the peanuts I tossed out for him. 

Now we'll take a peek out front and see how the snowy landscape has changed our view.

Here's a view looking down the street. I insisted that hubby, in his sixties, agree to having someone plow the end of the driveway for this 2+ feet of snow. He agreed, so we arranged to have that done. This photo was taken pre-plowing.

A while later, you can see that the end of the driveway has been cleared. They did a great job. But now we need to shovel a path from the house to the driveway and then unearth the vehicles. It's hard to see from this angle, but the snow is almost covering up our mailboxes.

Okay, this is better. From the front door you can see the mailboxes, barely visible above the snow. There's usually at least a 2' clearance between the bottom of our flag and the ground. But now, when not being blown by the high winds, the snowman flag rests on top of the snow.

And there it goes again, blowing in the wind...

This was our mini snowstorm of January 16th, just a few weeks ago. Even though there was snow on the ground, the mailboxes were still well above the snow and the flag had plenty of space below it.

I hope those of you who don't live in New England or snowy regions enjoyed these photos.

I hope those of you who do live here, but winter in Florida, are smiling, as you're reminded of 

why you made that choice.

I hope those of you who love to ski, snowboard, and snowmobile have a blast.

I hope those of you who don't (me included) have an early spring!

Donna

The view that cats in New England...

... woke up to this morning.

Our daughter's cat, FiFi, wondering what happened to her beautiful view.

Our Baby, totally perplexed. Where are her Sammy's? And what is this wall of white?

" Maybe if I stand up I'll see them."

Nope. "Maybe I'll go out to the dining room to watch the screen feeder."

Poor Baby. She struck out again.

 She cannot understand what happened to her "bird" and "Sammy Squirrel" viewing windows.

The south side of our house really got hit with the drifting snow, practically covering the windows.

All in all, we feel we were blessed with this snowstorm because even though we got a LOT of snow:

 1) we did not lose power (i.e., heat, ability to cook, etc.), and 

2) we didn't lose any trees or have any house damage

(like we did after our freak October snowstorm of 2011)

Right after taking these I opened the window and cleaned the snow off of the screen feeder so the birds could get to the seed. That made Baby very happy. I have pictures to prove it. Will share them later.

Stay safe and warm, everyone!

Donna

Just hanging around...

...waiting for the blizzard to start.

Schools have already been cancelled in anticipation of the possible 2-1/2 feet of snow we're expecting.

I'm more concerned about the high winds than the snow as 60 mph gusts are also expected. I'm praying that the power stays on and the trees stay upright (and off the house, unlike the freak October snowstorm we had a couple of years ago).

Our driveway and front yard back in 1982, shortly after moving into our little 'Enchanted Cottage,' (a.k.a. Split Entry). SCARY! We certainly don't want a repeat of this!

Those of you in the path of this snowstorm / Nor'Easter / blizzard, stay safe!

I also wanted to thank photographer/blogger Mollys Muses (her fabulous vintage Etsy shop is MollyFinds); she and I are members of ETSY's vintage Vestiesteam and she did a wonderful post today promoting the SWEET15 sale (15% off everything) that 60+ ETSY Vestiesteam members' shops are offering through February 15th.  Thank you, Molly, for including us in your fantastic blog post!

(click HERE to read Mollys Muses blog post about the Vestiesteam SWEET15)

Stay warm, everyone!!

Donna (who cannot WAIT to be sitting out in the yard watching hummingbirds... sigh....)