Merry Christmas!......

Luke 2: 10-12 "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Luke 2:30-32 "For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace good will to men!"
Merry Christmas to all of you!

Recipe.....my favorite cookies

Simple and old-fashioned, but still my favorite cookie!

Dunked in milk or tea....yum!
REFRIGERATOR COOKIES:
1 c. shortening .............. 1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar .................. 1 tsp. salt
2 eggs ........................ 3 c. sifted flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda .................. 1 c. chopped pecans
Blend shortening, sugars, salt and eggs. Add dry ingredients. Blend and shape into two rolls. Roll in wax paper and chill for several hours (or days). Slice and bake on cookie sheets 10-11 minutes at 375 degrees. I usually double the recipe and roll up 4 rolls to be sliced and baked as needed over the holidays.

" Do I get one.....they've got nuts in them ?????"

(Sorry.....these are "people food". Keep your paws off of my cookies!)

Suet eaters dropping by.....

I can always count on the Downy and Red-Bellied woodpeckers to be out there on the suet, but yesterday a couple others posed for some shots..... The Northern Mockingbird stopped by, looking very nervous and jumping back and forth from one side to the other of this suet feeder that had very little in it.
Since I don't see him, too often at the feeder, I took as many shots as I could. They always look a bit "grumpy" to me with that glaring eye and curved beak.
He/she....who can tell?.....seemed to know that I was taking photos, even though I was in the house. I'm sure he was seeing the focusing light. I like the tail straight up here.

At least he gave me some variety of poses.

I imagine he will return off and on over the winter.

My other suet eater for the day, was the Carolina Wren....who is out there every day.
But he doesn't always hold still for photos. I have an awful lot of wren photos with blurred heads or of tail feathers as they hop out of my view at the last minute. This time he was very nice.

He posed over, next to, and all around the suet for me.

He seemed nervous, too, but this feeder is really close to the house.

The perky tail is always flipping up and down......sort of like the Mockingbird on a smaller scale, actually :-) I just realized that with their glinting stare, curved beaks and tail bobbing up and down they have a lot in common!

It is Christmas eve and I imagine many of you will be very busy the next few days with family and celebrations. I will probably get behind with my blogging and commenting, but never fear...I'll catch up eventually!

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Looking for shots at the wetlands and playing with them on the computer....

(I don't know what the problem is, but Blogger won't let me move these two photos. I added them late and it refuses to allow me to drag them lower down in the post....frustrating! It shows me a circle with a line diagonally across it when I try to move them. Anyone else have this sort of problem???)
I actually got out of the house to take some photos today......we made a stop at the wetlands to see if anything was there to see.Not much in the way of living creatures around, but this Great Blue Heron was posing when we arrived. Look at all the damaged trees around it.
Everywhere we looked there was damage from beavers. We also saw a lot of recent vandalism, which upset me.....a shopping cart in the water, several wooden railings removed and thrown in the water, the usual collection of bottles and cans....sigh.

There was a nice looking hornet's nest hanging low over the water. Some kid probably tried to get it down.


At least it provided a subject for me to take photos of :-)



It was a great day for reflections and I took a lot of them and then had fun playing with them on the computer, as seen below.

No playing here...just the clouds reflecting on the water.

This big tree that lies in the water provided a lot of wavy branches.

Grass works for nice reflections, too!

I like the background of leaves below the surface.

A red leaf caught in a trunk

More grassy plants

There were several Canada Geese around.

This Mockingbird was flitting back and forth between two bushes along the edge of the water, and we couldn't decide what he was doing.....getting some sort of berries maybe? However, he wouldn't sit where Mike could get a good photo. Whenever a photo is in an awkward place for my short height, I hand the camera over the my taller spouse :-)

Since I took these so late, I will just make them my post for both Tuesday and Wednesday unless something exciting shows up tomorrow!

A Bluebird Christmas......

Not a bird that I usually see in December! I was surprised to have 2 Bluebirds stop by my feeding tree and try a bit of everything. Such a pretty bird that doesn't usually come to my feeders at any time of year.
He sat there long enough for a few photos.....

I hope he comes back!

I'm not sure any of my offerings were what he was hoping for.

The suet was probably the best choice for him.

At least he got some of something for his efforts.

I need to ask Santa for a Bluebird nest box so I can be ready for next year!