We had a Fire and Ice party for our PALZ team - the lake is frozen and safe to walk on, so we got together for a fun afternoon, using the fire pit that was welded for an art exhibit. We wanted to see how it behaved in ice.
These gorgeous, home-made ice luminaries added to our enjoyment of the event, making it very special.
Ta-dah!
Yesterday's photo was of the removable metal handle (and its shadow), that fits onto the bottom of this set of glasses, like so:
Any ideas about what this strange object might be?
I've recently learned a new word that I thought might explain how I sometimes feel - eremitical. It can be the "The act of gradually fading from the lives of others, not out of malice but of a desire for solitude and renewal," or more strictly a hermit, especially a religious recluse Merriam-webster.
For me, it's when I choose to enjoy restorative alone time. It's not that I choose to be permanently reclusive, but it's a necessary (and temporary) time to decompress. Or maybe I'm interpreting and using the word incorrectly ... I do not live in seclusion, nor shun the world, but I value my alone time, something I have learned about myself since COVID. Perhaps it's plain and simply introversion! Still, I liked learning a new word.
This was the reason I ventured down to Brown Brook to get some photos - the trees had dropped blobs of stark white snow onto a dark ice cover.
I thought it looked quite special, and different from most wintry scenes, and then the bonus sunset happened!
Leaf scars (from where the petioles - leafstalks - were attached) of American Beech - Fagus grandifolia - creates an uneven edge to its twigs.
It can make them look as if they have a zig-zag form, and yes, that's probably because the leaves are attached and arranged alternately along the stem.
It makes the twig look like a finger with many knuckles - a little detail so easily missed.
I recently attempted something very different with crochet, to spice things up a bit after the monotony of a woolly blanket. This is my very first outcome following a pattern that was described as a feather.
This close up photo of a lichen looks like a salad with quite a variety of ingredients and textures.
I enjoyed looking down over our snowy pergola through the ice covered windows
Lichens! Such unique life forms, created by a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and algae. They aren't harmful to the tree or other substrate they're found on.
I found old man winter slumped on his Adirondack chair after a snowstorm. It's bitterly cold (21°F, so -6°C), with gusty 11mph winds - I don't see him getting up from this any time soon.
Evil Tendencies Cancel by Robert Frost (1936)
Frost recognized the cyclical nature of things; for me, I can only hope there is something different (better) in store for us after the 4 years following Jan 20, 2025 ... that will "end the blight."
On this, MLK's remembrance day, I shall focus on his hopeful words: "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope" 
I'm told that this dessert was not only delectable, but also bloggable, so here is a photo of the scrumptious dessert that had both of our mouths watering, and assessing whether there was any dish that could beat this.
Bare trees reveal otherwise hidden enclaves. Look at how obvious this squirrel drey is in the harshness of winter, a shelter I can see from my bedroom window each morning.
It's a round nest of leaves, moss and twigs that squirrels usually build in the forks of trees, but the mass is usually hidden by the canopy. Bird nests would typically be built at the outer edges of the branches. This one is pretty high, as you can see from the ground level photo below:
We celebrated this number this week, a team effort
This musing is a double entendre in my mind - is it about my thoughts being disposable? Or is it thoughts about disposables? Or is it both?
What does the word disposable mean to you? Something to throw away, right? Defined as "an article designed to be thrown away after use." Something easily tossed, and forgotten, often after a single use ...
Disposables save us the hassle of having to wash things before using them again. They're easily discarded because we have no connection to them, and therefore we use way more of them than we would if we were washing and reusing them, be it rags, gloves, cups, etc.
But where do disposables go when they're thrown away, out of sight? They transfer from being OUR minor hassle to the planet's insurmountable problem. When they're out of sight, we don't think about them any longer, but all this so-called 'disposable' waste is accumulating in our landfills. Disposable only means we toss it, not that it goes away or vaporizes.
Everything's got to BE somewhere, it consists of matter, of materials, so when we dispose of it, it doesn't disappear.
Disposable - what a conveniently deceptive word for things of convenience ...
