Remembering 2013

For this last post in 2013 I decided to go back and pick some of my favourite pictures from each month of the year.

For January I chose a sunset picture,taken on a cold winter day.Snow was drifting across the fields,but the image was still very pleasing.

February is an early morning scene on my yard.Looking out and seeing the morning sun painting the snow a wonderful shade of gold is a good way to start the day.

March,and a Hairy Woodpecker is enjoying the food at the window feeder.

April is the time for Raptor migration at the Pembina Valley.The highlight was the day I got this picture of a Peregrine Falcon.

May brought another bird highlight for me when I was able to capture this image of a Common Loon,just west of Morden.

June brings out the flowers and the apple blossoms are always a thrill to capture.

July showers leave the pine needles decorated with tiny jewels.

In August I was able to photograph the old railroad trestle once again.

September evenings are pleasant and a great time to capture the full moon.

July had another highlight which I will feature on it's own.

By the time October rolls around the leaves are turning into beautiful shades of gold.

November means winter has come and seeing an American Goldfinch is a special treat.

December and Christmas come together and this year my neighbours sent me this beautiful Christmas arrangement.

Now for the highlight of my year.

A Fehr-Way Tour to Red Deer,Alberta to attend Canada's Gospel Music Celebration.

This had been a dream for a long time.I knew I would enjoy the music,but I was not prepared for the out-pouring of God's blessing during that week.

The bus ride and the care of the tour people was amazing.

The atmosphere at the venue was electric,but meeting some of my favourite groups was the best.

The quartet in the lower right corner are called Tribute.They are a fairly young group but will go far,I'm sure.

The centre picture was no doubt the best moment,as I could get my picture taken with my favourite guys,Legacy Five.

Did I mention that I am already planning on taking the same tour in July?

I can hardly wait.

Happy New Year to all my friends in Blogland.

Merry Christmas

It is my prayer that each one will be celebrating the real meaning of Christmas.

Without Christ we have no reason to celebrate.

May you be surrounded by family and friends and may the day and indeed the whole year be filled with love,joy and peace.

From my house to yours,Merry Christmas.

Joy To The World

I have few more pictures to share before Christmas.

My Amaryllis has been putting on such a beautiful display.By the time this bulb will be done,it will have produced 12 flowers.The last stalk is now beginning to open.I do have another one,this one should be a bright red.

I have also been enjoying the arrangement I got from my neighbours.I have taken a variety of pictures of it and here I am featuring the red berries.

A close-up of the pine cone nestled in the greenery.

Finally here is a close-up of one of the flowers in this arrangement. This gift has given me many hours of enjoyment. Each time I look at it I am reminded of blessed I am to have such great friends.

We had a good snowfall the other day and of course I had to take a few pictures. This particular evergreen always looks so lovely with freshly fallen snow on it.

Last but certainly not least,I must share this ornament again. Two of my favourite people.One who I get to hug and love on often and one who I miss more than words can express.

 Joy to the world,the Lord has come!

That is what Christmas is all about.

Christmas Greeting

I know that we still have a few days until Christmas,but I also know that some of you,my friends will be too busy to spend much time at the computer,so I wanted to get my greeting in early.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your friendship.You are all very dear to me,even though I have not met most of you yet.My life is richer because of the friendships I have made on the Blog and on Facebook.

Merry Christmas to all.

Frost and Flowers

Frost and flowers do not belong together,but for this post they do.I hope you are not getting tired of seeing the frost on my windows.I think it is beautiful and quite frankly,there is not much else to take pictures of right now.

This is a frost covered window and no,it is not in my house.This is one of the side windows on the school bus.I had the bus at home a couple of days and the frost on the windows really caught my attention.It seemed that each window had a slightly different pattern on it.

Just so you get an idea of what I was seeing,here is a picture taken with my iPhone,while standing beside the dining room table.This is one reason I don't want the bus at my house to often.I really prefer to see something other than just the bus. The picture above was taken before little hands had left their marks all over the windows.

I must also show a couple of pictures of the frost on my house windows.The delicate swirls are just too pretty to ignore.

I took note of this one small patch of frost,away from the others,yet so lovely. It is simply amazing how the frost forms into these tiny designs.

I did mention that I had flowers as well. Here is another picture of the arrangement sent to me by my neighbours.I am so richly blessed to have wonderful neighbours on either ride of me.

My Facebook friends have already seen the Amaryllis flowers I have,but I wanted to share them here as well.I have two different bulbs.This one has three flower spikes and the two which have opened,each have four large flowers.One of the flowers measured 6 ½ " across. I am now waiting for the other bulb to show it's flowers.

From the intricate designs of the frost to the beauty of the flowers,our God designs them all.

Winter Wonderland

I see so much beauty in winter. We may not have the colourful flowers of summer but that in no way means that there is no beauty.

When the sun shines through the trees and paints the snow a pleasing shade of gold,that is true beauty.

 No flowers to be found in our winter gardens,but instead,I find them blooming in the frost on my windows. No,the Hummingbirds will not be visiting this flower,but I can enjoy it from the warm comfort of my house.

I realize that I may have a strange sense of beauty.I do hope that you can see at least something of what I see in a picture like this.Condensation forms on my windows and on it's own it is not much to look at,but get really close and suddenly it becomes a beautiful textured print.

Of course there is still some action outside.When I put out the peanuts,it doesn't take long for my friends the Blue Jays to come for a visit. I have added some cedar boughs to the feeder in hopes of making the pictures look a little better.This is taken through the window.

Last,but certainly not of least importance.I have a very small Nativity set and I wanted to share with you all how Kai set it up.At first I was tempted to change it,but the more I look at it the more I think she has it right. All of the people are facing the Baby Jesus in worship.Isn't that what we should be doing? The figures will stay just as she placed them and each time I look at this I am reminded to give my full attention to Jesus.who was born,died and was raised again so I and all who believe can have eternal life.

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON.

The Snow Has Arrived

There is no doubt,but that winter has arrived.The temperatures have dropped and the snow has blanketed everything. All the pictures today are taken with my iPhone.

This is what I see when I look out on my back yard.This picture was taken on Tuesday,December 3rd.Not very much snow had fallen yet,but it is a start.

This morning,December 5th,we have a good blanket of snow. This is my backyard.No need to mow lawn or pull weeds now.

Just so you can get a feel for how much snow has come down in the last couple of days,here is a close-up of the railing on my deck.I have not measured but would guess about 4 inches.

I know I should probably take the snow of the railing,but I like how this looks.

In this shot I have zoomed back some,still showing the amount of snow,but also another part of my yard.

 I like to take some fun pictures and this is one of them.Since I had been in and out of the house a few times the window in the door had become frosted up.As the sun was coming a little higher,I thought it looked pretty through the frosted glass.

With all this snow,I am getting my exercise by keeping the deck,car and part of the driveway cleared.I do have someone to come with a front-end loader to clear most of the driveway,as needed.

I do like how fresh and clean everything looks with a new blanket of snow.

December 2013

Where did 2013 go? It seems like it was just January 1 and now we are in the last month of the year.

Christmas is right around the corner.

In my part of the country when we think Christmas not only do we celebrate the birth of the Saviour,but we also think snow.This year we have not had very much snow yet,so I went back into the archives and dug up some snow pictures.

As I said these are all from last winter,but they are still as pretty today as then.

When a heavy layer of hoarfrost covers the trees with a backdrop of blue sky,I smile and grab my cameras.I love scenes like this.

While driving down the country roads I am always on the lookout for beautiful snow sculptures.

Just look at the details in this small patch of wind blown snow.One can almost imagine high mountains in this scene,even though the highest point was likely not much more than a few inches tall.

Of course,as I have said before,I don't even need to leave my house to see beauty.This is one of the many frost designs on some of my windows.Overnight,God has been busy designing these pretties for me to enjoy.

Pardon the dirty window,it is winter,after all.I can't clean windows in winter.That's my story and I'm sticking to it.LOL

Stepping outside,I see the ring of frost around the heated birdbath.Yes,it is supposed to be for the birds,but I also benefit from the added beauty of the frost.

This is the kind of scene I just never get tired of seeing.Evergreen boughs laden with snow.I am so thankful to have evergreens along both sides of my yard.

Dear God,You promised that You would forgive our sins and wash us as clean as the new-fallen snow.(Isaiah 1:18) Wash me now,Lord! Restore me!

Winter Water Lilies

Confession time. I have not been taking many pictures recently,ok,maybe I have taken almost none with my camera.So in order to share some pictures I had to get creative. I used Pizap to edit some summer pictures.

I enjoy seeing Waterlilies in summer and thought they might be just as pretty in winter.

So without further interruptions by me,I present to you Winter Water Lilies.

For my American friends,I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday. Enjoy time with family and friends.

To all who read this may you feel a touch of God's love today.

Give Thanks

I am a Canadian and so our official Thanksgiving day is past,but that is no reason to stop giving thanks.I have been reminded today by a few other posts about being thankful for little things.

I find myself wondering if indeed the so-called little things are really all that little.I want to share a few images which cause me to be thankful.

I love birds and this Mourning Dove seemed to be thankful for some warm sunshine.He/she looks comfy and at rest here.I was thankful for the opportunity to capture this image.

I absolutely love the Black-capped Chickadee.These little bundles of energy always seem cheerful and I can learn from them.If I,like the Chickadee,sang more and complained less my world would be a brighter place.I thank God for creating the Chickadee. This one is taking a drink from a bird bath on my deck railing.

Early in fall as I was sitting and enjoying the sunshine on the deck,I noticed the top leaves of the Amur tinged in a beautiful shade of red.It may not be much colour but I am thankful for even small patches of beauty.

The lake just west of my hometown is not large by most standards,but I can usually find beauty there.

The day I took this the water was sparkling,thanks to the sunshine.I still feel warm and happy when I look at this picture.Thank-you for the sunshine and the sparkles on the water.

As I was trying to capture the sparkles,my lens was not perfectly focus and I saw the patterns this gave. I suppose this is called Bokeh. Usually we want our pictures to be perfectly focused,but I liked how this looked,out of focus but in my eyes,pretty.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and today I see beauty in the birds,the leaves and even in an out of focus image.

Hummer and Flowers

At the start of the winter season it always seems to feel so much colder,even though the thermometer doesn't show that cold.

We need some time to  acclimatize. Well,since I am no different than anyone else,I feel the need for some 'warm' pictures. I do like winter,after I have gotten used to the colder air.

Early in fall the Hummingbirds are preparing for their southward migration.

Allow me to share a series of pictures of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird at a Butterfly bush.

I had once again headed to Winnipeg and The English Gardens,so that is where these pictures were taken.

In this first shot we have the shy Hummer,turning his back on us.

Still rather shy,covering his eyes with his wings.I like this picture,even though the eyes are covered.

Finally a peek at the face.

I saved,what I consider the best picture for the last. I enjoy watching these little birds and when I get a series of decent pictures,that is even better.

 I hope you enjoyed spending a little time in the garden with me and the Hummer.

Because God gives us everything,we owe Him all our praise.

Sky and Trees

The following pictures have all been taken with my iPhone in the last short while.

When we watch the sky there is never a lack of beauty.

I apologize if some of these are repeats.

I know that if done correctly,I should be showing the sunset picture last,but who says that I have be so correct. This is from a few weeks ago,at sunset.

This tree stands directly in front of my bus. We have a compound where the buses are parked and my spot is the best one,because I get to see this little tree during each season and all the different sky backgrounds.

In the middle of my yard stands a Silver Maple tree.I enjoy this tree in all seasons and here I like to see the bare branches against the beautiful blue Manitoba sky.

On my way to the first school,I often need to pull over for a few minutes,so that my timing is right.Often I see very pretty skies to the east,from this spot.I have to be a little creative,so that I don't get undesired buildings in the picture

I can't tell you how often I reach for my phone when I step out of the house to go to work.

This is one of those mornings,just the other day.The pretty colours in the eastern sky just needed to be photographed,even if only with my phone.

The heavens declare the glory of God;the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Psalm 19:1