Fog, Frogs, Hawks and Winter

We've been given a reprieve here in middle Tennessee. After enduring several straight weeks of freezing winter, we had a little peek of spring before the weather turned yucky again. The clouds were absolutely amazing; huge feathery and puffy barges that drifted across the blue sky.

For a while, though, it seemed that the weather could not make up its mind - for a few days we had the thickest fog ever, which rendered our acreage with an otherworldly look, like the spooky Moors in England. I loved it! We need our  next  Halloween party to have this weather. 

I half-expected to hear the cries of a werewolf out there in the grey mists. Perhaps I shall set up a motion-activated sound system for those who come visit me and ask to see our forest....

Then... the sun came out and shone brightly, bringing the birds and squirrels out to romp and search for food. And, joyously, the temperatures stayed in the 50 to 60 degree range. A heat wave in January, whew! As I walked outside in the sun to absorb a little vitamin D, and passed the frog pond, I saw a small frog jump off a rock into the water. Wow! A froggie in the winter time! He must be a hardy little soul who was woken up from his winter slumber by the temporary warm days. Don't get too comfie with it, little fella, it won't last long.

During these few nice sunny days, I got more photography in. I love disparate imagery in the winter, especially with the abundance of dead leaves everywhere against the few bits of green, like how this old stump in our Stump Henge area looks, all mossy against the brown leaves.

 

On a hike in our woods, we found the stag skull and various bones half-buried in the autumn leaves on the forest floor. I would never, ever kill a deer (or any other animal for that matter), but since the skull was already there, we brought it back to our home and put it in a place to honor the magnificent, fallen creature. 


A few days ago, I stood in my best vantage point (being the upstairs bedroom which overlooks the entire back yardage) with my camera at the ready, and was soon rewarded: a young red-tailed hawk had been staking out the yard for prey. It sat motionless and camouflaged in a tangle of low tree branches for a while, then flew across the yard to another tree near the pasture, before flying back to the opposite side where it blended in with the speckles of shadows and bark. I got a few photos of it, but nothing spectacular - rather blurry. Note to Self: Must get a good tripod.

 Left: Can you see the hawk in the trees? 
Right: A somewhat blurry closeup

But, alas, the sun and warmth was not to stay for long. Now it's grey and chilly once again. Sigh. Not to fret, that means one thing for certain: time to stay inside and do some more creative projects. I did get some of my bird and winter photos published on two different sites. One was our local channel 4 news, WSMV, and the other, a magazine I subscribe to called Birds and Blooms. Well, hurray for me!

I recently joined a very cool artist's collective, called "Creative Souls." Now, I'm really *not* a club-joiner, per se, but I genuinely love theirs. It's a very low-key yet highly imaginative and interactive site. Once I figure out how to maneuver it a little better, I'll link this blog to it. The artists there are simply amazing, as is the diversity. I posted several paintings I'd done over the years, all different genres from about 1985 up through 1996 or so. Having joined them motivates me to get more stuff done, as I'd put my creativity on temporary hold for months while Mark and I did various ongoing repairs and decor to the house. But  now I'm itchin' to get painting and sculpting again, and have some fun new ideas to share here in the weeks to come.

You can check out Creative Souls by clicking on the colorful little badge here on the right side.