last bud for awhile

I promise to move on ...

unnoticed friends

Can you see them in this photo? (there are three, all looking right at me)

Meanwhile, budding is coming along despite the winter weather.

yet one more snow

We keep saying that that's the last of the snow, and then we get more.  What is it about Mondays?  Last Monday was the ice day and this morning we woke up to about 6 inches of snow on the ground!

 Jubilee took one look out and turned around to go back to the cave.

 Here comes the sidewalk plow.

At least the spring flowers are blooming inside!
I think we will stay home today.

budding and a robin

The sun came out for awhile today - what a treat.  Budding continues and robins are everywhere.

simple joys

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking/dreaming about the little creek that runs through the woods.  The water is clear, running over rocks.  I wake up remembering the water and breathe it into myself, as if such a thing could be done.  I think it can.

in between days

We're still in between winter and spring -- seems like a lot more winter than spring.  Still very cold.

icy day

My car was encapsulated in ice so hard that the de-icer thing didn't work.  I had to wait for the car to warm up enough to melt it!  Not a good sign.  Fortunately, John was able to take off work to drive me into Pittsburgh for my doctor's appointment.  His car is heavier and was much more reliable in the freezing rain.

The views of Pittsburgh from the parking garage were gloomy ...

 The roof rack on John's car was nothing but icicles.

 This was from one of the rooms at Mercy Hospital.  All of the rooms in the hospital have a simple little cross over the doors.  This is interesting because Mercy, formerly a Catholic owned hospital, is now owned by UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center), a huge conglomerate of hospitals and clinics blanketing this area.  I asked someone about the crosses at Mercy and they said that they must've written it into the contract during the buyout.  Crosses have to stay (or something like that).  It's interesting, because I seldom see anything like this anymore, other than in specifically religious settings.

Anyway, back to the ice ... as we were driving home we were both awed by the white, icy trees.  There is no snow, yet everything - trees, branches, fences - is encapsulated in a layer of ice.

 This is coming into Westinghouse's parking lot ...

  

 

red, blue, green

Don't ask me. 

Meanwhile, the budding is happening, but it still looks (and feels) more like winter ...

more snow, and then it's gone

Everyday now, it snows some.  I look out the window and it looks like a blizzard.  Then a couple of hours later, the snow is gone.  Sometimes the sun comes out (but not often).  I don't know how it melts so quickly when it feels so cold outside.  I know it is not above freezing.  It's hard to believe it's March!

 Big snow flakes in this photo that don't show up.

 We found a new swamp cabbage (?) growing by the other canal.  The only other one that we've seen, though, and we've been looking.  I'm not sure why it is red, though, which makes me think that maybe it isn't the real swamp cabbage.

 Something very glorious about our walk this morning.  Cold.  Jubilee and I both stopped at this point to look around and wonder at the miracle of it all and our place right in the middle of it.

our stick forest, pot pies and other news

After the weekend tease of springtime weather, we are back to dark, grey and cold with a forecast for snow tomorrow.  Despite our intense lookout for budding, the little forest appears more like an abandoned lot of scattered sticks and branches.  But for the solitude and silence that we find there, it looks a bit depressing.

The budding around here is frozen in place ... no progress, they look the same as they did last week ...

Meanwhile, though I don't claim to be a cook, I did make my own version of a chicken pot pie last week.  They were ok.   Next week I plan to improve it to vegetarian black bean salsa dish with cornmeal topping.

However, the swamp cabbages down by the creek look a little more vibrant that they have ...