Our prompts from Eden Hills this week are Starts with Y, Week's Favourite, and Festive.
Starts with Y
I was going to do "yarn" for Y, but today I took some pictures outside, and I had another opportunity for this letter. I took pictures of our yew shrubs in front of the house. They are large shrubs that are weighed down by considerable snow at the moment, and because it was a cloudy morning, you can't really see the deep green in this view.
Yews are evergreens and they produce little red berries, although not very many of them. We have 3 of these shrubs, but I only found berries on 2 of them. I think the yew berries also look quite festive, in a natural way, so I am using this picture for both Y and festive!
Week's Favourite
My week's favourite is this picture of Lucky Nickel. We have had 2 brutally cold days and nights, with wind chills down to -36 Celsius (-33 Fahrenheit) and I was really worried about both Lucky Nickel and the two sheep, since my barn didn't get built this fall. The winds were gusting to over 70 kph (over 45 mph). However, they have all been really well and haven't seemed to suffer any ill effects. They have the hoop house made from an arched cattle panel with tarps over it, so at least that protected them from the wind. Still, I am glad that the temperature is headed back to "normal" levels of cold today.
Festive
I really haven't had time to do anything festive in the house this year. I've been very busy with work projects and other things, so I haven't put up a tree at home, especially since I helped with my parents' tree, so that was my festive effort! However, as I mentioned above, I went outside and thought that it would be nice to take some natural festive pictures, since so much of what is considered "festive" is so commercialized these days. The yew berry above was a lovely festive shot, I though. Here are a few more shots that had a festive air to them.
This bird feeder has a snow hat, which looks quite festive, and the sun coming through the branches in the background (it made a very brief appearance) gave a bit of a festive glow.
This was a view through the woods while the sun was trying to come out. Again, the woods with the snow and the glow seem festive to me.
Looking back at our house through the woods seemed to be a festive scene as well. The smoke from the wood stove chimney gives a cozy feeling, and the snow blanket on the roof is a bit like something from a children's story book or a Christmas card. I'm glad I have a warm and cozy house, even if it isn't very festive on the inside!
