Thursday, December 14, 2017

From the December garden. . . . . . . . .



. . . . . a few pretty things caught my eye outside yesterday.
Prior to more leaf raking - never ending until into the New Year - I spent 
time cutting evergreens for the mantel and, as always, taking photos of the 
visiting birds and squirrels. The greenery consists of Southern Magnolia,
 red-berried Nandina, Camellia and English Ivy. All have been rinsed clean and
 are soaking in water before being bought into the cottage.

~ Beautiful female Eastern Bluebird - her mate was close by ~

~ Gentle rummaging Mourning Doves ~

~ Handsome male Northern Flicker in the now leafless fig tree ~

~ Burying acorns - a grey squirrel's busy time of year ~


. . . . . . and I found these dried seed pods which I brought inside to use in the
 dining room Christmas decor - I love a touch of Nature such as this.

I'm never finished with the holiday decor, always adding, tweaking or
 moving something to a new spot - do you do that?


12 comments:

  1. Nice...what beautiful shots. I love sitting on the deck in the spring and watching them all flying around and stopping to have their pic made. Great job.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your bird shots are wonderful, Mary! I get to see little coal tits on my window sill, sometimes a blackbird or a magpie, and very rarely a red squirrel (no grey ones here). But of course I never have the camera ready when they come visiting!
    I am amazed your leaves are still falling - there are hardly any left on the trees here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do move things for the first week or two, then it stays. I think I am done now. Love your seed pods and touch of nature in your house. Oh my, but you have a wonderful variety of birds. How I love them all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The photos are lovely! :) For decor, I bring out everything we have and decorate the same exact way every Christmas! Once in a while I'll add something new but rarely because we have so many pets, things get knocked over, played with and sometimes eaten lol!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love seeing the wildlife in your garden. We finally have a feeder up and are seeing tufted tit mice and chickadees. No blue birds or cardinals yet. We also have a few squirrels finding seeds under the feeder. Yes, I am always tweaking through the Christmas season.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beautiful captures; beautiful edits...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Such beautiful photos, Mary! I am getting behind with everyone. I'm sure everyone is feeling the pinch getting ready for Christmas. Enjoyed your post!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautiful wildlife photos. I haven't tweaked my Christmas decor at all lately. I'm DONE! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh Mary ... what wonderful photographs ..... your garden is bursting with life. Your home must be looking fantastic, all dressed for Christmas. Can we see more photographs ? XXXX

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh my goodness Mary, what beautiful shots you captured of the birdies.
    I love that natural touch you added to your holiday décor.
    I'm with you on the tweaking. It goes on here right up until Christmas day.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Mary, All of your little critters are so special and you have captured them beautifully.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Bringing in those seed pods adds a wonderful touch of nature indoors and that lovely splash of natural colour. Love it! how do you "wash" you clippings btw?

    how lovely to have English Ivy there! Do you happen to have any hedgehogs scurrying around the undergrowth or perhaps, weirdly enough, they don't live anywhere in North America?

    ReplyDelete

I would enjoy reading your comment - thanks so much for stopping by.