sugar forest

A light snow fell while we were sleeping. It frosted the ice covered trees with a coating the turned the landscape into a sugar forest. The fresh snowfall creates a blank palette for the animals to create new patterns.

My neighbor up on the hill swears that a family of deer pass through my property each day. I can't deny her claim because their trail is left in the snow but my timing is not good because I rarely catch a glimpse of them.

One Christmas however they gave a fantastic showing during our family gathering. We were all sitting in the family room in front of the large window. The large blue spruce at the back of our property were artistically draped with fresh snow. The younger children were opening their gifts when 6 deer, including a 10 point buck, strolled into the yard and stopped, perfectly centered in the view. They posed, looking all the world like the regal animals that they are. The buck raised his head and surveyed the landscape. The children gasped and let out a squeal. All at once they screamed, "Santa's reindeer!!! Santa's reindeer are in the yard."

At this point my nephew turned to me and asked, "What did you have to pay the deer to do that?"

NOTE: If you check out the right hand column you'll see a link to my newest blog, "At Home With the Farmer's Wife". I know, I know, there are a couple of other efforts of mine that are languishing, unattended. I promise to make a better effort on "At Home". After almost three years of tramping around the countryside recording the decay of the farms and the advance of civilization I thought it might be fun to also come inside and see what goes on in the farmer's house. Thanks as always for reading and supporting my creative efforts. It's greatly appreciated.

MEME Fact #6 - I have the rarest blood type - AB Negative. My husband has the second rarest - AB positive. He claims that when he was in the army they were constanting waking him up in the middle of the night to donate blood.