Brown Creeper

My first sighting of a Brown Creeper from March 2010. 

Here is a LINK to what they sound like: Typical voice of Brown Creeper

Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. 
~Lao Tzu

Using His Tail

I see woodpeckers using their tail this way - but this is the first time I've seen a Blue Jay use it like this.

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. ~Michael Jordon

So Happy TWO-Gether

I think we have a Male and a Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail here.

Happiness flutters in the air whilst we rest among the breaths of nature.
~Kelly Scheaffer

Snow Queen with Snow Beak

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life. ~John Burroughs

And With the Snow Came ......

........a snow bird! A Dark-eyed Junco. I only see these guys in late fall/winter and see them much more when there is snow falling. Here is a link for more info and to hear their typical voice: Dark-eyed Junco from All About Birds

My favorite weather is bird-chirping weather. ~Terri Guillemets

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you Peace and Joy and Love and Kindness ~ today ~ and all of the days to come.

Merry Christmas!

Let Christmas Not Become a Thing

The Jolly Old Elf himself will be visiting many households soon!  Remember that it is NOT what is in his sack that counts, but what is in our hearts. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not this is certainly a season of kindness and love and I think we can all relate to that.

Merry Christmas! Season's Greetings! Happy Holidays!

Let Christmas not become a thing
Merely of merchant's trafficking,
Of tinsel, bell and holly wreath
And surface pleasure, but beneath
The childish glamour, let us find
Nourishment for soul and mind.
Let us follow kinder ways
Through our teeming human maze,
And help the age of peace to come
From a Dreamer's martyrdom.~Madeline Morse

Holiday Bokeh

Something a bit different in honor of the Christmas season ~ A Christmas Ornament from our tree. I used the Macro lens, it was dark, and the lights were bouncing off of the ornament which made for some pretty neat bokeh.
Light gives of itself freely, filling all available space. It does not seek anything in return; it asks not whether you are friend or foe. It gives of itself and is not thereby diminished. 
~Michael Strassfeld

Winter Blues

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home. 
~ Edith Sitwell

Black Beauty

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
~Chinese Proverb

Ho Ho Ho!

Visit Lisa HERE for more Macro Monday images!
Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at

Christmas-time.

~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Those Sweet Smells

~ Take time to smell the roses ~
 Proverb

I bet you thought I had a picture of food, didn't you? Well, it is food - sort of - food for the squirrel. I don't think he was actually smelling it - just bringing it up to his mouth to take a bite. This was taken last March at one of my favorite spots ~ Bisset Park in Radford, Virginia.  

Happiness comes .....

Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed. 
~Storm Jameson

Red, White and Black

Simply give others a bit of yourself; a thoughtful act, a helpful idea, a word of appreciation, a lift over a rough spot, a sense of understanding, a timely suggestion. You take something out of your mind, garnished in kindness out of your heart, and put it into the other fellow's mind and heart.
- Charles H. Burr

Carolina Wren close-up

A Carolina Wren hanging out on the bird feeder wreath. They love to dig around and find the little treats I've sprinkled in it. Go HERE to find out how I made the wreath.

Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery: He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, and he has saved not only his soul but his life. ~G.K. Chesterton

Have a Wonderful Day!!

Golden Delight

(Goldfinch on a snowy branch)

Let us savour the swift delights of the most beautiful of our days!-Alphonse de Lamartine

Wishing you all a day full of DELIGHT!

Looking for Warmth

May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart.

- Eskimo proverb

Keep On Looking

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The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking.
- Brooks Atkinson

Be Aware of Wonder

taken a few years go during one of our ice/snow events
How many of us go through our days unaware of the wonder around us? Every moment we have on this Earth is a unique gift, and we should cherish those moments and use them wisely ~ And be aware of the wonder around us.

Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

~Robert Fulghum

Snowflakes on Feathers

A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together! ~Unknown

Watching the Snow

Carolina Wren watching the snow fall.

The million little things that drop into our hands, the small opportunities each day brings, He leaves us free to use or abuse and goes unchanging along His silent way. 
~Helen Keller

Nature's Connection

In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it.

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Portrait of a Lady

I Love how this lady posed for me!

And she gave me a good shot at the detail in her wings too.

Wishing you all a Wonderful Day!

If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give. ~George MacDonald

Fallen but not Forgotten

There is no such thing as death, In nature, nothing dies: From each sad moment of decay some forms of life arise. - Charles Mackay

Diamond Droplets

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“May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow. May the soft winds freshen your spirit. May the sunshine brighten your heart. May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you, and may God enfold you in the mantle of His love.” ~Irish Blessing

Goldie in the Snow

During our first snowfall of  Winter 2010 the birds were out in full force.
This goldfinch sheltered in the pine trees while waiting for a turn at the feeders.

Wishing you a Happy Sunday!

Beautiful In Blue

(January 2010) ~
Resting on the Branch
Beautiful in Blue
The Snow Came
~ 

Tufted Titmouse Puffed Up

 Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring. 
~ Oscar Wilde

Obsessed with Leaves

I am a bit obsessed with leaves at this time of year. I was going through some archived pics (which is one of my fave things to do) and I found this one (from 2008).

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction. ~Rachel Carson

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Summertime Bokeh

Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits, Take care of your garden And keep out the weeds, Fill it with sunshine Kind words and kind deeds.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow