PARADISE!!

Last year, the prediction was for cold and lots of snow, but it turned out to be warm with hardly any snow at all. I don't know what the prediction is for this year, but it has been cold and we've had lots of snow. I just noticed that my last two blogs were about snow. Well, that will be a part of this one too! It is just too beautiful to not take notice.

VIDEO OF A SHORT WALK FROM THE BACK DOOR DOWN OUR DRIVEWAY

Karol is off in Pasadena for the Rose Bowl activities. She traveled out with the Wisconsin Badger football team as the "caregiver" for Ross and Miriam's four children. They left on Christmas Day and will be returning on January 2. The quiet days have given me time to read, make more bowls, catch up on paper work, and make a whole lot of "thank you" phone calls.

The road down to the shed and our pond.

To the left is the beginning of my supply for next winter. The empty space is where I have taken wood for this winter's heat. I still have the wood to the right to use (and there is more in the shed).

This is the view from the entry to our property. Ten years ago, I don't recall any evergreens standing in this spot. We planted some (especially spruce) but most of these are volunteers.

This is one of the two feeders right at the kitchen window. If the glass weren't there, you could catch the little pine siskins in your hand. Other birds that come to our window are: redpoll, goldfinch, cardinal, chickadee, mourning dove, nuthatches (red bellied and white breasted), and sometimes a bluejay (also the ever-present English sparrows). Each of those birds have to compete with both the gray and the black squirrels.

I've got the wood all stacked by the library door so that Karol does not have to carry it very far. I will be gone to Guatemala and later to Hong Kong for mission trips.

While Luke may look like an orphan, he was just one of the many grandchildren who used this sliding hill that Nathan had carefully groomed. It was a good run!

 MY FAVORITE HOME AWAY FROM HOME (EVEN THOUGH IT'S AT HOME)

I don't get to see my sister, Ruth, very often. She lives in Oshkosh, and, while that is not far away as the miles go, it seems to be off my beaten path. Rob and Penny had a Christmas Day meal and I was able to join them after leading Christmas Day worship in Westfield, WI.