Homesick

"I come home to my solitary woodland walk as the homesick go home.
I thus dispose of the superfluous and see things as they are,
grand and beautiful."

- Henry David Thoreau

Split rail fence

There's something about a split rail fence that I think makes a house in the woods more homey.

Woodpile

"Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read."

-Athenaeus

Merry Christmas to my blogger friends!

Merry Christmas!

Privacy in 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

Red, white and blue house

I drive by this red, white and blue house on Otsego Lake all the time. It's a simple and small house, but it just appeals to me with its brightly painted exterior.

*I'm am up at the log cabin with sporadic internet access. I will catch up with all of your blogs on Monday. Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you are all staying warm my friends!

Big Bradford Lake

"Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake."

-Wallace Stevens

"A Winter Ride"

"So with the stretch of the white road before me,
Shining snow crystals rainbowed by the sun,
Fields that are white, stained with long, cool, blue shadows,
Strong with the strength of my horse as we run.
Joy in the touch of the wind and the sunlight!
Joy! With the vigorous earth I am one."

- Amy Lowell, A Winter Ride

House in a snow storm

"Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hill and woods, the river, and the heaven,.."

From "The Snow Storm"
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Red Squirrel in thought

Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.

~Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

Watery Wednesday!

This is my first meme I'm participating in and it should be fun! This is my Watery Wednesday post and to visit other participants, please click here.

This is a small lake called Fawn Lake in Gaylord, Michigan. I thought the water looked almost "ocean blue" against the white snow.

Images from Otsego Lake State Park

They are beautiful in their peace, they are wise in their silence. They will stand after we are dust. They teach us, and we tend them.

-- Galeain ip - Altiem MacDunelmor

Otsego Lake State Park

"Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking."

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I visited Otsego Lake State Park this past snowy weekend. I wish I had brought my snowshoes. I had wanted to walk to this bench to sit and look at the snowy lake - but there was a snow bank and deep snow preventing a walk without wet pants afterwards. Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

A bird's home

Where we love is home,
Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Homesick in Heaven

I realized that if I had to choose...

"I realized that If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes."

-Charles Lindbergh, Interview shortly before his death, 1974
US aviator (1902 - 1974)







Female Hairy Woodpecker

Reflections

The trees reflected in the river -- they are unconscious
of a spiritual world so near to them. So are we.

- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Snowy Lake

The lake at our log cabin already has a thin layer of ice and is lightly dusted with snow. I am looking forward to seeing the wildlife that the white background and the bare trees will reveal. Last winter I saw a coyote walk across this lake in search of food. I am hoping he makes a return visit.

The snow fairy was here

The snow fairy has visited northern Michigan. She is mixing her snow magic on the lakes right now as they get ready to freeze and quiet up for the winter.

Where's the road?

The snow continues to fall in Gaylord. When I walked out to the car this morning, the snow reached my calves! It does look so beautiful coming down. This photo is of our street, can't tell where the road begins or ends.

Eastern Gray Squirrel

I was interested to find out that the Eastern Gray Squirrel will interbreed with the Black Squirrel and that they will have litters that contain both color types. I will need to examine my Black Squirrels and Gray Squirrels more closely up at the log cabin! The Gray squirrel lives most of his life in and around one tree and is the least social of all the tree squirrels. Now that I think about it, the Black Squirrels do not hesitate to eat at the bird feeder with me standing right there and a couple have even run up to my feet to beg for food - but never the Gray Squirrel. I guess he will remain my shy one.

Enjoying Winter

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.

~William Blake

Trees

The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.

~Author Unknown

Keeping up

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Appointment with the trees

Here are a few more photos of the woods surrounding my in-laws cabin in Grayling. Sometimes it is so quiet that you can hear a chickadee break the silence from over a mile away it seems.

'I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines.'
~Henry David Thoreau

Winter Road

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show."

-Andrew Wyeth

Blue Jay in a snow storm

It is 28 degrees at the log cabin and big fluffy snow flakes are coming down. I watched this Blue Jay flit from each of my bird feeders until he came to rest in this tree - perhaps to take shelter and enjoy the snowfall as well.

White-breasted Nuthatch

I am posting this White-breasted Nuthatch for my hubby today as this is one of his favorites birds. They are always such busy little things and I like how they climb down the tree headfirst looking for food. But on this day in October, he was enjoying my peanut feeder.

Keep warm little one

"To be admitted to Nature's hearth costs nothing. None is excluded, but excludes himself. You have only to push aside the curtain. "

-Henry David Thoreau

Powdered Sugar Trees

I loved how the trees looked after our first snowfall - almost like powdered sugar had dusted them. We are headed back up to our log cabin this weekend and snow is in the forecast!

I've been searching the local calendars for holiday events and think small towns always do it best! This Saturday, our family is headed to Grayling's Christmas Walk and Parade. If you would like more information on this event - please contact the Grayling Visitor's Burea at 800-937-8837.

Winter Wonderland

We woke up yesterday morning to see our snow covered world at our log cabin. Little Bradford Lake was so calm and peaceful. There were numerous birds - woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and more enjoying all the bird feeders we had put out. It felt like a winter wonderland!

Boardman River

We took an excursion to Traverse City yesterday for some shopping and eating. After we parked our car, I shot this photo of the Boardman River. This river snakes through downtown Traverse City and flows into the Grand Traverse Bay. It seems to move pretty fast - and it was fun to watch the mallard ducks swept along so easily. I don't think they had to put much effort into paddling. The Boardman River is considered one of the top ten trout streams in Michigan. My hubby was sad he hadn't thought to bring along his fly rod - maybe next time.

Hartwick Pines State Park - Grayling, MI

I really need to start visiting other Michigan State Parks! Hartwick Pines is convenient to where our log cabin is located and plus I never tire of it. Here are some recent images taken this past week.

Jensen's Nature Trail - Part II

Here are some more photos from our leisurely hike at Jensen's Nature Trail located off Old 27 in Gaylord. I loved how some of the trees were marked so you could verify the identity of them. They have a nice winding path and you can take either the 1 mile or 3/4 mile hike. There is a large mossy bog, beech trees, soft maple, white pine, remnants of blackberry bushes and much more. I think this would make a lovely place to go snow shoeing in the winter.

Jensen's Nature Trail

Here are a few photos I took along Jensen's Nature Trail in Gaylord. I have some more to post this week. This was a nice 1 mile hike, especially this time of year w/ the fallen leaves and the smell of pine in the air.

Weekend Events in Gaylord & Grayling, MI

Greg and I are headed up to the log cabin tomorrow to stay a week in northern Michigan. I am so excited and hope to get a lot of great photos as well as provide more information on great things to do up here!

If you're going to be in the Gaylord & Grayling area, this weekend - the Holiday events are starting a little early:

• Nov. 1 - Holiday Haus Craft Show at First United Methodist Church in Gaylord. Please call 989-732-5380 for more information.
• Nov. 1 - Bake Sale & Craft Show at the Eagles Club in Grayling. Please call 989-344-0035 for more information.
• Nov. 6 - Taste of Gaylord event - please call 989-732-6333.

Have a great weekend!