Up to this point the wildlife has been a source of enjoyment, that may change but for now watching is interesting and often makes us smile
Squirrels are around and commonplace. This morning it was the squirrel, his nut and the light that caught my eye. A beautiful sunny morning.
But as we know November is typically a grey month. I like the greyness of November, the muted and linear landscape.
I love the mistiness, the neutrals, not a spot of colour.
We had visitors towards the end of November. Pat's brother and his daughter visited from California.
Brave souls to come from California to Saskatchewan in November.
There was tobogganing, skating on the pond, dancing and puzzling. It is really too bad we don't have a photo of Erika skating on the pond, it is a rare event for SK natives never mind a California girl.
I was given dance lessons.
(No photos of me, consequences of such a photo were discussed)
Pat is a fan of puzzles and so is Erika. We had a half a dozen or so children's puzzles ranging from 80 to 300 pieces. All were completed, Erika has impressive pattern and shape recognition for a six year old.
In case you are curious the sign reads "Uncle Pat and Erika's puzzles".
We had friends from Saskatoon come for the December full moon.
Friday the fifth we were out for an hour and a half snowshoeing in the moonlight.
Absolutely no clouds, around -10˚ and bright enough for shadows. It was magical.
The other magical phenomenon we experienced were the fairy lights in the trees. Because it was so bright the frost was twinkling. When looking through the trees at the sky it was hard to tell the difference between the stars and the twinkling frost. I wish I had a picture to share.
Saturday evening we had friends from the community out for more snowshoeing and a potluck dinner. The moon was completely full that evening, no clouds and cooperative temperatures but no frost in the trees so no fairy lights.
Pat had a project or two lined up for Don while Lynne and I sewed. We had been wanting to clear the creek in the ravine out a bit and burn the deadwood. Pat and Don did the clearing and on Sunday we had a big bonfire with tea and chocolate.
Greetings from the ravine!
We had a wonderful weekend, Pat had told Don to come prepared to spend the weekend outside and they did. Lynne and I had a mix of inside and out.
Another wildlife spotting. We have spotted a family? of racoons three or four times.
The first time scratching around under some oak trees, we couldn't figure out what they were doing. We checked and found the shells of cracked acorns littered under the trees.
The next time they were back they were close enough to get pictures.
We watched them move off one day thinking they were headed to the compost pile, nope they cruised right by, either they haven't found it yet or they are not interested.
I really hope I am not cursing them in a future post.
In the project queue, the basement bathroom beckons. That will start in the new year.
We have been fine tuning the cold room and have a little work to do in what we call the mechanical room. Less pressure this year, we are finding more time to enjoy where we are. Spending time snowshoeing, watching stars, fires, squirrels and racoons.
Sunrise
Sunset
We have cut some brush to manage blowing snow, just pretend the snow fence is part of the sunset.
