Birds are passing through, the fox is pregnant, the eagles are nesting and the chickadees are singing the fee beee songs. Spring you say. Woodpeckers, I think the downy or maybe the hairy, are busy making their shrill calls and extremely interesting drumming sound. Today the pileated woodpecker was trying to out drum the hairy or downy woodpecker. Can't be done

The male pine grosbeak in my flowering crab apple tree. They are so beautiful. Their song, like google states, a sequence of very clear, flute like notes.

Yes, yet another picture of a chickadee

The willows, on the trail, are becoming a brighter yellow, and the dog weed, pictured here, are becoming a deeper red.

Not sure if this is a female pine grosbeak

Some times, just some times, while walking on the trail, you get something extra. Some personal moment that won't be shared with anyone, even if they were standing next to you. Something extra happened to me yesterday and it involved the trumpeter swan. They flew right over my head, about 7 of them. It became a whoa moment for me. I'm glad I found this one swan today.

I had to take this picture and the next for my heart skipped a beat when I saw what I thought were buds--do I dare be that hopeful?

The American Basswood buds. I'll try and get a closer picture

Now, are these the winter version of the Forget Me Not?

I just love taking pictures of weeds, whether it be in the summer, spring, fall or winter.

Playing with the manual part of the camera. It scares me, so I guess I better practice.

Yes, there is hope in the air. Do you feel it?

Winter:
There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself. ~Ruth Stout

Nobody on the trail, I'm alone to think. I can pack a lot of thoughts into the 4 miles. Some times I can figure "it all" out. Most of the time I leave myself with more questions.

Today is the second day of the beautiful hoarfrost. I am a bit disappointed that I couldn't take my walk on the first day of the frost for it was very spiky and I would have loved to get some pictues

It was falling off --so I'm glad I saw what I did

"I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in."

There is something of the marvelous in all things of nature. Aristotle

I think I take more pictures of this spot, on the trail, than any other. The European Larch along with the pines, make this my favorite place to be.

"A snowflake is a winter's butterfly"

the winter version of the wild cucumber vine

If you read my last blog you might remember me saying that songs come to me when I'm walking. Today my song was "Build A Bigger House". This is a song that my friend recorded. You can google it but you must also add the name Pete Putnam. This song is so beautiful. Their voices blend perfectly. Do yourself a favor, google it.

The following are a few pictures of the hoarfrost

My friend Judy knows when I have been on the trail by my boot print. kinda stands out, wouldn't want to wear this boot if I'm trying to hide.

"The white-breasted nuthatch is a droll, earnest little bird,

rather sedate and unemotional. He is no great musician and seems to lack a sense of humor. He has none of the irrepressible fidgetiness of the house wren, none of the charming happiness of the song sparrow; he appears to take life on a matter-of-fact level. He is short-necked, broad-shouldered, sturdy, quick and sure in his motions, suggesting an athlete, and as we study him on his daily round, as he hops up and down over the bark, we see that he is an athlete with marked skill as an acrobat, like the tumbling kind, as much at home upside down as right side up.

It is a characteristic pose of the nuthatch, perhaps unique among birds, to stand head downward on the trunk of a tree with the neck extended backward, the bill pointing straight

outward from the bark."

In the protection of the trail is where I find the peace and introspection of life