Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Ocean Effect


Had some fresh flurries to keep things tidy looking this morning. Again, the view out our back window.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Our Snowy Wood


After a night of howling wind, we woke this morning to the oft-discussed "winter wonderland." The name isn't applied idly; it's just amazing what a little snow does to dress up a landscape...as evidenced by the view below, which greeted us out the back window.







Monday, January 22, 2007

Snow Bunny


We were greeted this morning with a nice white covering over everything, as the result of a little snow that came our way last night from the predicted storm.

That storm wasn't supposed to do much for us as it passed over, but it's been pretty intense this evening.

Already we've collected at least three inches of the stuff.

This evening we startled a bunny who was sheltering under George's rabbit cage. In this picture, you can kind of see him--in motion--in the center of the photo. I hadn't realized he was dashing through the frame until I looked at the shot later.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Flurries


A light round of ocean effect snow flurries this morning has made our frozen pond more visible through the woods. This is the view from the house. It's been a week or so since we've seen the ducks, who we assume have left for unfrozen waters elsewhere.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Frozen Harbor


This poor little primrose was just coming into bloom when January finally started giving us some more seasonal temperatures a few days back.


Here's a look out toward Cape Cod Bay, from across a frozen Rock Harbor in Orleans.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Winter Sunset


Sunset over Cape Cod Bay and Blackfish Creek, Wellfleet, MA.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Holiday Remnants


Now undecorated, our Christmas tree has retired to a far edge of the garden, where it joins the remains of last year's tree in offering a sheltering border for homeless birds and other critters, now that the winter seems poised to take a turn toward the cold.

On the way to work today, I found myself behind vehicles from the nearby Community of Jesus, who were packing their large nativity scene away for the year. I never expect to see camels on the roads of Cape Cod.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Twelfth Night


An unusually warm looking winter sunset, as we celebrate the last night of the holiday season.


Friday, January 05, 2007

Our Wondering Eyes...


On this Eleventh Day of Christmas there were, mercifully, no eleven pipers piping, ten lords leaping, ladies dancing, etc. But as the temperatures rose in the mid-fifties, we were treating to equally wondrous sites, as spring seemed to arrive on Cape Cod!


A blue primrose near the back of the house has begun to bloom, with white ones threatening to join in over the weekend. The Montauk daisies have begun to squeeze out fresh foliage along their bare stems.


At the Eastham Post Office, windowboxes full of pansies bloomed happily (tho, to be honest, they've been doing that through the whole Christmas season...).



It was high tide at Boat Creek as I passed by on my way to work this morning, so I hopped out for a picture or two.






Even the cherry trees on the Cape have fallen for the confusion of this out-of-season spring and burst into bloom, like this one just off Rock Harbor Road.



Back at home, we did have nearly ten frogs a leaping, which is as close, I guess, as we'll get to those original lyrics.


I'm pretty sure I even heard a few peeper frogs singing down by the water's edge after dark tonight.



I played around with a "snowflake filter" to take this picture. The filter is actually a pair of novelty sunglasses I came into possession of during the Christmas party season. They're made for looking at Christmas lights, and when you do, the glasses filter the brightest part of the light so it looks like a snowflake...and as you can see (especially if you open the photo in a new window), the effect wasn't totally lost on my camera.

I suppose that's the closest we'll see to snow for a while. Meanwhile, our prayers and best wishes go out to those folks in the Colorado region, who tonight are looking down the barrel of their third winter storm on as many Fridays. But there's still no such thing as global warming, right?

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Sunset Over Eastham


A great day here on the Cape, with temper
atures getting up into the 50s. Sure, there's been an occasionally gusty wind to keep things feeling almost wintery, but there's no getting away from what a mild winter this has been for us so far.

And since we're not shuttered inside away from the cold, it's already obvious that the days are lengthening again. Here's a look at this evening's sunset, around 5:00 p.m., as seen from the parking lot at the Salt Pond Visitors Center in Eastham.


Meanwhile, to the east, a full moon rose over the Atlantic.


From the Coast Guard Station, looking across Nauset Marsh, another angle on the sunset.


The full "Wolf" moon, as seen from our backyard, around 8:00 this evening. Which reminds me, we haven't seen or heard a coyote around here in some time. Not sure what to make of that.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Rainy New Year


The new year brought us another windy and rainy Cape Cod day to get things underway. After the late night, it was nice to be able to listen to it all from inside the house, in between rounds of "Railroad Tycoon 3" and TV coverage of this year's Tournament of Roses Parade. Eventually, though, I heard something that drew me outside.

And that's when I discovered our New Year's Day visitors, a pair of Canadian geese who were swimming around with all our ducks, apparently loving the rain. Technically, I think today was supposed to be Seven Swans a Swimming...but you take what you get!

Scenes From A Party







Happy New Year!!