Christmas bird counts

This lovely fellow from Hawk Creek Wildlife Inc. in East Aurora, NY was in the Walden Galleria on December 30th for an education session with volunteers from the centre. It also happened to be Geoff's birthday so this was icing on the cake after a count of 28 Red-Tailed Hawks on our drive from Woodstock, ON to Niagara Falls, ON. Funnily enough, we never spot any hawks on the drive from Niagara Falls, NY to Buffalo, not sure why.

This morning when we were driving across North French Road (just outside of Buffalo) we saw six deer in a snowy field - it was a lovely sight. However traffic flow wouldn't allow for a photo op. From Niagara Falls, ON to Woodstock we counted 29 R-T Hawks today - a new record for us. Our favorite sighting was of a pair, a branch apart in a tree just outside of Hamilton, ON.

Wonders of December

The magic of horses in a field, clean snow and the moon up at 3:30 p.m.
Lights and greenery to greet our guests.
An "Ontario cottage" style home in our neighbourhood decked out for the season.
The night sky, December 23, 2007.

Each year there is a Christmas Door Decorating Contest at Woodstock General Hospital. Our office entered for the first time this year and Jayne's son Aaron (with able assistance from his mom) painted these panels for our entry. It was ranked in the top 6 of 28 entries by the judges.
An amaryllis on my desk.
A good day to be wearing a fur coat. As seen on Oxford County Road 13 south of Woodstock, Dec. 21 on my way home from visiting Lorraine in Springford.
A Mennonite homestead with laundry on the line and nary a power line in sight, the large pole on the left is strictly to support the clothes line. Talk about being prepared to do heavy-duty laundry~
The three musketeers.

Red Hat Anniversary

As a tribute to fellow Red Hatters Marilyn, Inge and Deborah, I've added this photo of a beautiful male Cardinal which was feeding in our backyard during a snow storm today. Happy Anniversary for the 17th girls.

We've been having a good old-fashioned winter storm and the birds have been at our two feeders constantly for the past two days. Gray is loving the free enterainment.
It may take awhile to get our car out......
The seed squad
Each Christmas, I create a seasonal arrangement in our ivy container. Right now it's looking a little more seasonal than usual!

Snow in Woodstock

This is for the benefit of our friends Trish and Jeff who are having an unplanned, extended trip to Japan. Get well friend and we'll see you both soon. Just double click on the arrow at the bottom left of the pic.