Cherish is my favorite word, and I cherish the ability of turning the routine into a beautiful moment.
Nature creates in me, a spiritual and meditative time to bring peace, harmony and balance, into an otherwise ordinary day~
Mary Howell Cromer







Thursday, December 26, 2013

Happy New Year~



Happy New Year

When I say those words, I always become more than a wee bit nostalgic. 
It takes me days to get used to changing the dates on checks and other paperwork...
I think it is something in me, holding me back...in that which has become comfortable...and the desire to stay that way...
Life is but a journey, hour to day, to week, to month and to the years...and we should all be forever grateful that we have made it this far, when so many others have not. 
So to that...
I must say once again...
Happy New Year!
There that's better ;)

It was not even Winter yet, when we had our first icing of the season. 
Many of the Honeysuckle berries and Rose hips were still glowing red and ripe~


Remember to double click on the image, to view a larger slide show of the images shared
   
I will be linking up with Sylvia and friends at:

"SkyWatch Friday"
I invite you to check out more 'Skywatch Friday' posts from around the world at:
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 I will also be linking up with Mary at:

"Mosaic Monday"


at:
 
 and
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As well as I am linking up with Stewart at:
   Wild Bird Wednesday
(http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/)




Can you see the tiny bud formations, already awaiting the coming of Spring in 3 months~ 


We have company...the Winter visitors are here...  The Dark-eyed Juncos are present! 


The neighbors had gone to New York and I was watching their place. 
Walking back up my driveway, as the sun came up, I saw the gems sparkling on the fronds of our Pampas Grass and had to take some with me~

 


I guess there was reason to be happy about having to drive to the pharmacy to pick up a script. 
I never hardly see the sunset, but this particular evening...
Whoosh, magical.
We have tried to think of what that special glow down the center of each of these images might be called...it was such a wide sky of colour, there was no way to get it all in~




The Eastern Towhees are not just Winter visitors to our acreage, for they are around most of the year, hiding deeply in brush and bushes, only to hear their voices, when not in view.  During these colder months, they come in closer. 
Below is a handsome male~


This bush is in my side garden and I am the one who planted it, but I have yet to recall the name. 
It has these wee tiny berries on it and they became iced in from the glazing recently~
 
 
 


Above are the berries of our Fire Bushes and below is another Winter visitor, now present and accounted for...
the White-throated Sparrow~
 
 
 


We had been outside with the dogs and I heard something chirping and making quite a fuss...
They flit so quickly,  I was sure that I would miss it. 
Grabbed up the camera and got a couple of images of the little one...
the Golden-crowned Kinglet~
 


In the 33 years of living here, I must say...I have only seen and photographed a Fox Sparrow, maybe less than half dozen times. 
I had peeked out into the garden, through glass and saw 2. 
This one had just hit the window and was stunned, but it was fine. 
I watched it a while, before it flew up into a bush to join the other one~
 
 




The very last of the leaves, holding on for their last days...as when the thaw came, they finally floated to the ground.
This is my lane, my driveway leads off to the left. 
Many times a day, we walk our dogs down this lane. 
Come Spring, I will walk a million miles, in pursuit of the
Red-Shouldered Hawks of Tingsgrove and Beyond.
It will be a New Year, a new season for the birds as well as for us human kind.
New hope, new life, it is all good, all very good indeed~





Sometimes I do it on purpose, other times, I accidentally
 do it...this it was an accident, but I liked it. 
 

The upper right hand image below was inverted...
fun~


28 comments:

  1. Good Morning, Mary! I hope your Christmas day was happy! I love your beautiful sunset sky and the pretty birds. Gorgeous photos. I have enjoyed my visits to you blog and look forward to seeing more in the New Year! Wishing you all the best in 2014, Happy New Year!

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  2. Your words and images are beautiful. Hello my Louisville friend. Carol

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  3. you got a lot of ice! i LOVE the pampas grass shots. really gorgeous arc and light.

    happy new year to you, mary.

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  4. I am in awe of your photography - such beautiful scenes, photos and collages! You're very adept at the collages and what looks nice in one. Thank you for sharing!

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  5. Love icy photos and all your nature photography is exquisite ~ from SWF ~ thanks, carol, xxx

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  6. Such gorgeous photos Mary. Love the sunset and the icy branches and berries. I can't believe we're almost at the end of 2013. We are blessed, as you said, to be here. I wish you many blessings for the new year. Pamela

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  7. Lovely shots, and yes, that was one magnificent sunset!

    Best wishes for the new year!

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  8. Oh Mary, your photos are absolutely gorgeous. I love the way you've arranged them on the page as well. These would be wonderful to share with I Heart Macro Saturday evening as well. Wishing you a wonder-filled New Year:-)

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  9. Again Mary, what a wealth of wonderful images! It warms my soul to know you are looking forward to a great New Year, I wish you the very Best of Everything for what is to come.
    I think that effect of the sun shooting upward may be a sun dog, almost a double one directional sun dog. They happen most frequently with a low sun and tiny ice particles in the clouds. The light is refracted from the ice crystals. I have seen them, and Peter photographed them, above and on both sides of the sun floating on the sea.
    Hope you had as good a Christmas with your family as I did with mine, it doesn't get any better!
    Love and hugs . . . Arija

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  10. Wonderful photos! The ice is gorgeous om the grasses and branches. Happy New Year, Mary!

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  11. I really enjoyed your captures and the mosaics. A very Happy New Year to you!!

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  12. Great photos, I loved them all. Happy New Year!

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  13. ALL of these a gorgeous photos! Happy New Year to you too!

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  14. ALL these are gorgeous photos! Happy New Year to you too!

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  15. I enjoyed your icy photos. Makes for many wonderful photography moments. Valerie

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  16. Hello dear Mary
    you wow me with your photos every time I visit!
    Each image is a masterpiece but this time I'm most enchanted by the little sparrow - he does look stunned - I'm so glad to hear he made it back to his mate!
    Thank you for a year of wonderful inspiration!
    Wishing you health, happiness and JOY in 2014!
    HUGS
    Shane

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  17. Beautiful mosaic photos .. I'm visiting from Mosaic Monday

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  18. A beautifully peaceful collection of photos to ease us out of the old into the new. I am always reminded of the importance of appreciating life and nature when I visit you. Your sun piller is gorgeous. I have seen many, but am usually on the road so it is hard to capture a picture. They are caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere and can also be seen in moonlight if you are ever so lucky. I will look forward to another year of beauty as shared by you each week. I wish you the comfort and joy that comes with being close to nature ... Happy New Year, Mary ...

    Andrea @From The Sol

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  19. A virtual winter wonderland!!! And your bird sightings...fabulous. But the icy branches and berries make me shiver...I'm such a wuss!!!

    Happy New Year Mary.

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  20. even though it's so COLD, I have to say, the photographs with white backgrounds always impresses. The berries, the starkness of the branches in those settings...your driveway, looks fabulous Mary. Best wishes....

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  21. Beautiful series. Happy New Year.

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  22. HI Mary What a wonderful series pf images. I love all the iccicles and raindops shots as well as the birds. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU.

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  23. Brilliant, stunning set of images

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  24. Splendid serie!
    Happy New Year to you!

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  25. always gorgeous gorgeous images - your blog is such a joy to visit - oh to walk these snowy paths with you - what a pitty I live on the other side of the ocean!
    love love love your images and the beautiful heartfelt sentiments behind them.
    Wishing you a wonderful 2014 and everything you dream for. Looking forward to another year of dipping into your world through your blog.

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  26. Some incredibly beautiful shots! The little towhee is so cute and colourful and I love the photos of the grass and shrubs glazed in ice.

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  27. Your mosaics are absolutely elegant. You are one of the very very few who make me long to spend time where it is real winter. (And then I remember how I hate having cold feet and achy bones). The birds are wonderful, but my very favorites this time are the beautiful sculptures the ice makes on your plants and trees. Wonderful post.

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