Dec 06, 2020
It was a glorious Saturday
We woke up to frost yesterday Actually day three of frost. We are not getting any sun on the front of our house as it faces north and because it is so tall and the sun is lower in the sky, the frost does not melt. Between the shale and the Jeep on the driveway, as well as all that white out front onto the road we now have a large icy patch.
Surprise visitor yesterday noonish. A Northern Flicker visited and sampled a few berries. It is difficult to a make out his red facial markings as they blended in with the berries but I did see them. He did not want to have his photo taken.
I assume that it was his spouse who flew over to the suet hanging on our large tree. She had a good feed before flying off.
It was the fourth day in a row of walking for me ( finally I am back on track ). It takes a bit of time to suit up for the weather. My thumb is holding socks that I fit over my long johns and above that I am showing my next layer, fleece pants. Then comes a scarf, my ear muffs and warm gloves. I’m on my third pair trying to find the warmest. Most days my thinsulate ones work fine. Soon I may have to wear a pair of mittens on top of them. Last thing was to zip up my jacket and we were off.
While I was layering on my going outside outfit, Colin simply put a leather coat over his shorts and off he went. Yes he is still wearing shorts and he gets all kind of comments about it. Here he is sprinkling some of that special sidewalk salt to create a safe path for us out to the far side of the road where it is dryer. We are being ever so careful and I hang onto his arm. It is icy where the sun does not shine. Not sure that I would feel comfortable walking without him. We had no idea that this happened to our driveway and front of the house along the road, another first.
Some neighbours have been putting out holiday decorations. We have not yet been outside after dark to take it all in. However some are pretty enough to share even with the lights off.
Most unique. We will be sure to check this out one night. The red letters on the deer spell BELIEVE.
The flamingo lives in front of this home year round. The mask was added several months ago. Now they have added antlers, a scarf and a colourful gift and lights. For sure we will be checking this display out once the sun sets.
There I am in full walking gear. The hedge is along the side of this home and is decorated all the way around to the front where they have quite a few decorations going on, maybe just a bit too much but I bet it looks great in the dark.
They have four or five of these lovely looking lanterns hanging among other decorations.
I so enjoyed seeing all the decorations even without the lights. We saw one older gentleman, new to the park, putting up a string of lights. I told him that it was going to look so pretty. He preened, we told him that we would be back to check it out at night. Big smile. I have to say that there are many who have not decorated at all which surprises me but then they have their reasons, perhaps too much effort. It is obvious that some have flown south to a warmer climate but there are many still here. Each one of these have a large shovel sitting next to the front door. Another first for us to see the park at this time of year. I so wish that I had dozens of extra strings of lights and like a good fairy I would go about putting them up for the older people in the park. However then I would need extension cords and of course there is the matter that perhaps not everyone can afford to pay the extra electricity of those Christmas lights.
Many here have been collecting food and toys and even turkeys for the local food bank. Sadly that has just been stopped because of our new two week Covid lock down. They are suggesting a financial donation instead. I think it has something to do with those who are collecting and those who are delivering to the food bank and those who are there to receive the donations, too much person to person contact. Hopefully what has been collected will be kept until it can be delivered.
My reflective sunset to the east, last evening.
Toady was our fifth walk, also the last day I have to wear a compression stocking 😀 However today was also the last day of sunshine. The forecast ahead is for clouds for the next week. There is a possibly of snow which is exciting – well at least for those us, who get to stay home and not have to drive anywhere. Who knows when we will see another sunset 🙁
This is a brilliant idea. We can all do this now and if your food bank is not open, keep your items until it is.
In case you missed it, be sure to check out the first picture on my last post. A very special sunrise, not to be missed.
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Last year for Advent I did the Reverse Advent December Calendar Box and donated it to the local food pantry where I volunteer once a month. I liked the discipline of putting something in the box every day. It was a fun thing to do. Nice pictures of all the Christmas decorations you saw on your walk. Thanks for sharing.
Good for you Sandy. I’m not sure that they are even allowing volunteers here at the moment. Glad you enjoyed the decorations. At some point we will show them at night. It just has to be warm enough for me to venture out and not slippery.
Always fun to see how people decorate for Christmas. Also looks very festive. Daorcey and Natalie have been doing the reverse advent calendar for a few years. Roslin quite enjoys it too
The reverse advent calendar was new to me. Good to know that others are doing it. You will have to share some photos of your place all decorated.
All the decorations look great! We have quite a few flickers here in South Dakota, they sure love the suet!
Yes the decorations look great. We will be sure to share photos once we get out at night. I love those birds, so colourful.
Decorations for this time of year are a great way of lifting spirits.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It’s about time.
Yes they do and they don’t even have to be lit. So glad that we can still enjoy decorations. I image that some might leave theirs on well into January.
At least you have some new adventures to look forward to this winter, even if one of them is shoveling snow and dealing with ice 🙂 It will be fun to walk around your park at night and see all the decorations lit up.
One way to look at it, adventures of some sort. All we can do is make the best of it and enjoy the wine.
Our local food shelf is doing curbside drop off and pick up while wearing masks. They ask you to stay in your car and pop the trunk for them to load/unload.
Our apartment complex does a food drive using our mail room. In November they got 3x the donations they got this time last year. That feels good.
So glad that you are able to figure out how to still make the donations. We were doing so well here as well nd we have 500 homes here. Sadly it has come to a full stop. Just not fair. We also just found out this afternoon that our lockdown will remain until midnight January 8th.
If those ear muffs don’t keep you warm, I don’t know what would!! They’d better work! Meanwhile, if they don’t, maybe you can take them apart and put a muff on each of Colin’s knees. Though I am sure he says he is fine, and probably is…..Takes all kinds.
Thanks for all your posts.