Well, it took until January 5/6, but we finally got some snow! Now it looks more like winter, and I'm very much enjoying it. First, I have three pictures from January 4th, before it snowed. Four from the 5th. The first three I took in the morning while the sun was coming up, and then the last one I took in the afternoon when the sun was shining directly on that pine tree. And then on the 7th, a picture of the snow we finally got! On the 8th, we had a female Pileated woodpecker on the bird feeder. Snow-covered spruce trees on the 10th: Sunset on the 11th: Sunrise on the 13th, and then in the evening, the sun shining on the snow-capped fence railings. Sunrise on the 14th. A crazy little woodpecker . . . she should have stayed home that day (We had quite a cold snap last week; temperatures in the -30s, and there were two or three days where for a time, we were down to -42 and -43°C). And that night, the crescent moon. And finally, the sunrise from this morning, beautiful as always!
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...I've got fourteen pictures. First three: Sunrise and sunset on Christmas day! Sunrise on the 30th: Rex being lazy on the 31st: Sunset on January 1st, 2024: Sunset on the 2nd: And the hoarfrost this morning! It seemed to be snowing a slight bit this morning, but it was very fine, very wet stuff, so it might have just been hoarfrost blowing off of the trees.
Instead of posting a "photo of the month" for December, I went through my photos and came up with some of the best (or more interesting) ones from each month - some that I haven't necessarily posted on here, so you'll see some new ones. I've captioned each one with the date they were taken; the caption are at the bottom of each photo.
And though this is a couple of days late, happy new year! Okay! Basically no snow on December 15th: On the 16th, I made this pull-apart cake for a church potluck. I would never have thought to do something like this on my own, so thank you to whoever first came up with this candy-cane pull-apart cake idea! Then also on the 16th, a couple of sunset pictures. And some clouds to the south of us that looked like waves. On the 18th, some clouds looking like they were rolling over us like waves. Sunset on the 19th, with three jet contrails going through it. The sun looked neat peeking out from between the clouds on the morning of the 20th. Later that day, I got a picture of a woodpecker on the bird feeder, and then later another batch of sugar cookies that I made. This time I decorated them right off. Sunrise on the morning of the 21st, and then later I grouped three cookies with my favourite designs together. Sunrise yesterday morning... and one shot of an ornament hanging in the foreground with the sunrise in the background. Also yesterday, I shut off the light in my small office space and lit a candle instead. First I held it up by one of my hanging Christmas decorations, and then I set it down on my desk so it was lighting up my journal. There's something about the sight of an empty page waiting to be filled, with a pencil lying on top, and the area bathed in candlelight that I really like. And finally, just this afternoon, the backyard. Still no snow... and it's been above zero almost every day this past week or two, so it's felt like it's either October or April - anything but December. It feels weird to think that it's the middle of December right now, and yet it still looks like we should be doing farm work outside. Well, this was my last post before Christmas, so merry Christmas to everyone!
My favourite Christmas carol is Silent Night. Often when I pull out a Christmas CD to listen to (especially if it's a new CD I haven't heard before), I'll scan the list of songs to see if Silent Night is included. I love listening to all the different arrangements. The lyrics of the song were written by Joseph Mohr in 1816 Austria, and the music was composed two years later by Franz Xaver Gruber. By the 1840s, the song had been heard and performed over quite a distance, its first performance in the United States being in 1839. I find this following story amazing. It's said that on Christmas Eve 1914, five months after World War 1 began, a German soldier began singing Silent Night, first in German and then again in English. Being also familiar with this song, the Allied soldiers sang back. And then both sides put down their guns and met in the middle of No Man's Land, singing carol after carol and exchanging stories and gifts with each other. Although the war would continue to rage for another four years, for now the artillery was silent as a truce was called throughout the Christmas holidays. Silent Night is my favourite Christmas carol, but I also enjoy a number of other Christmas carols - listening to them, singing them, playing them on my cello and the piano. Some of the other ones I like are: Joy to the World; Angels We Have Heard on High; O Come All Ye Faithful; O Holy Night; Hark the Herald Angels Sing; What Child is This; O Sing a Song of Bethlehem; and I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. I think that part of the wonder of the season is all of beautiful songs written about the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Music is an amazingly powerful thing. What's your favourite Christmas carol? I think I decided to post today because... okay, I'm not sure why. Maybe because I thought I was going to forget or something. But anyway, it's been ten days since the last time I posted, so I figured it was about time to get some more pictures up. I guess it's not a surprise anymore, but the snow melted again. This morning it sounded like we might get snow this evening, but the whole system of snow floated by just south of us. You'd hardly know this was Alberta with how little snow we have. Anyway, here's some pictures I've taken over the last week and a half. On December 4th, I opened an egg carton (all the eggs were from our own hens) and thought it looked neat with all the different-coloured eggs. On the 5th, I looked out the front window, happened to glance down at the stones lining the perimeter of my mom's flowerbed, and thought it looked kind of funny how the cats had walked carefully down the center of the perimeter. The snow melted again on the 6th. Then it snowed on the 7th. Left to right: Snowy backyard; Christmas ornaments hanging in front of the window, framing the snow-covered mountain ash tree; chickadee having lunch; snow piling up on the tree branches. Asparagus fields on the 8th: Sunset on the 13th: Snow-less backyard today: And I just finished making sugar cookies. My sister pulled a bag of Christmas sprinkles out of the pantry, so I used those in some of the cookies. Even though it doesn't look like it, we are only eleven days away from Christmas! Have a good weekend!
It started snowing last night and by this morning it had stopped, but not before it laid a decent amount of snow on the ground. I didn't actually go out and measure it, but I'd say we got an inch or so?
Although it sounds like it might all melt again . . . it was above zero today and I'm told it's supposed to be above zero tomorrow too, so we might lose it all. This is a very interesting experience - I don't think I can remember a single year in the past where we were into December and still having fall weather. It's crazy! Anyway, here are a couple shots I took of the snow this morning. It should be Photos of the Month... I have three again :D
The first one is a sunrise on November 10th. The second one is the trees and the grass surrounded by the remainder of an old fence, waiting for snow to fall (November 17th). The third one was the sunset last night, with an old jet contrail stretching across the upwards-pointing ray of sunlight. So the calendar and I are currently not agreeing right now. According to the calendar it's November 30th... according to what I'm still seeing outside, it's either September 30 or March 30. This is Alberta Canada, almost December, and we still have zero snow... which is weird. But hopefully it will snow soon! Having said that, I promise that all these pictures were taken this month, even though it sure doesn't look like it. :D Enjoy! Four from the 24th. First is his royal highness, Rex. I don't know why he keeps sitting up on that railing except to just be able to see in the window... but I personally think that looks kind of uncomfortable, and that metal must be cold on his paws. But that's been one of his favourite places to sit these last few days. The frost looked neat on the frozen tilled ridges in the garden. We did some Christmas decorating that evening, and when the setting sun shone through the window, it hit the snowflakes on some of the ornaments we'd hung, and was making them glitter. It was very pretty. Then I went to the patio window and took a picture of the sunset. Three pictures of the sky on the 25th: We did the rest of the decorating on the 27th: And I took a picture of a neat-looking sheet of clouds; then, after it was dark outside, one of the lights up on the house, which have been there for a few weeks now. Sunset on the 28th: Clouds on the 29th that looked like they should have dropped some snow and didn't: Then this morning, I was walking past the front window to turn on the light so I could play the piano, and I saw this: And a short while after that, I went outside to open the chicken coop. On my way back to the house, I saw the moon still hanging high in the western sky, so I came in and took a picture of it. Tomorrow is Photo of the Month day, so I'll have to find one of the highlights of November!
I haven't posted anything for a while, but surprisingly I only have fourteen pictures. It's been quite the interesting November, weather-wise. Normally it's snowed at least a few inches by now, and we've settled in for winter. But the first snowfall we got in October melted, and we've had nothing but nice weather ever since. All the outdoor Christmas lights were turned on last night, though... which makes it kind of funny that it finally started snowing again this morning. It didn't snow long - just enough to dust everything - but I'm hoping it will dump some more later. :) Okay, here are my pictures from the last couple weeks! Sunrise on the morning of the 11th: On the 14th, I looked out the window to see Rex sitting on that post, watching us through the window... and looking extremely fat, which I thought was pretty funny. Two from the morning of the 16th. If you look close in the first one, you can see what I think is Venus in the top right corner. The next few are all from the 17th. It was so warm that afternoon, I went outside and went for a walk through the field. First, the clouds (well, that one was taken from the house three hours before I went for a walk): Then the sun reflecting off of about an inch-thick layer of ice on the pond: It was dry enough this year that the water level of that pond went down quite a bit, so all the way around the perimeter, there's a dry strip of the springy plants that are usually underwater. And on top of that are a number of snail shells: I kept walking and figured that this was about the only snow we had on the whole property (okay, not really, but it sure seemed that way). Went a little farther and found some coyote tracks over top of another layer of snow on the north side of a stand of trees. Then I took a picture of the fort my siblings and I built last fall. Something about that shot seemed really autumn-like to me. I got back to the yard and took a shot of the snow-less grass. (Sometime last week I half-jokingly told my parents that if it didn't snow soon, I was going to have to mow again.) Sunset from last night: And then these last two are both from this morning, when the snow started falling. Just enough to turn the driveway white.
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AuthorHi, I'm Leah! I'm a college student, and I'm the Shop Supervisor here at Cornerstone Acres. I love to read, write, and spend time out in God's creation. I'm looking forward to sharing our farm experiences with you through this blog! "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him." ~Colossians 1:16, KJV
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