December 2008 – Skelton Sketches

We’ve had a cold snap here, unusually cold for us. Snow has come and stayed for days. Most unusual. The routine of getting out for walks has been interrupted by sundry wonderful other opportunities that come with Christmas time… But the sweet thing is that Nature has come inside to us in the form a dainty spruce tree. It is somewhat reminiscent of the classic "Charlie Brown tree" only ours is beautiful and we love it ( :

So let me take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas, but something more than that. I wish you a peaceful beautiful Christmas. May there be moments when you just sit and gaze in wonder at some bit of beauty God has brought into your world…

Oh, and I did in fact get out the door for a walk too and found it therapeutic in unwinding from all the busy-ness attendant with ‘getting ready’ for Christmas. It took a bit to begin to see the silence but here are some clips that caught my eye…

God bless you and yours with His peace this Christmas and into the New Year…

–Linda

It’s easy to overlook one’s own backyard when there are so many other options around. But we do have nearly an acre and a half and Jim has done a ‘skookum’ job putting drainage ditches and trails in and lots of little fir trees he hopes will be Christmas trees one day… So I went back for a stroll the other afternoon…
I know, that’s not me, but I was holding the camera…
Exhibit A……. what I think is called “Orange Peel Fungus”, for obvious reasons!
and for a closer look:

So, when you think of Fungus, don’t just think yeast infections and athlete’s foot! There are some pretty nifty fungi out there.
Here’s another, a frilly sort:

A tour of our back yard would not be complete without a shot of a little fir tree. There are 98 of these little fellows out here, and they’re not so little now as they were when Jim rescued them by hand from being mowed down at the roadside! Each one’s been hand-plucked, hand-planted, and hovered over by Jim’s watchful eye ( :

Need a rest yet?
Along the way you’ll find rustic benches crafted by Jim…

This one makes a fine get-away on a sunny afternoon. It’s at the far back of our acre in an area cleared for the planting of… what else, little firs, and pines too.
And now we come to the ‘burn’ pile. A willow tree is a beautiful thing but ours is old and in a great windstorm the year we moved here a giant branch came down generating a lot of wood. This is some of the remains that never qualified for the woodstove. It will make a great bonfire one day!