Mother Earth's Georgeous Bounty.....

I'm in love with Mother Nature. There is nothing on this planet without Her. She IS the planet and everything that exists here! Over the span of my life I have taken pictures of what I consider "beauty;" scenery that has 'stopped my heart' in mid-beat because of what I have seen.
It nourishes me everytime I look at these natural works of art created by the "Master Artist Herself" and I thought others might want to look at them too; so I have placed them into a slideshow for you to enjoy, and I've put some soothing music on the music player at the bottom of this page. Sit back and take some time off from the world to relax.

I have personally taken all of the photos in the slideshow except one: workers in a tea leaf farm picking tea leaves. This is going to take a few minutes to view, and if possible, I would suggest viewing in a darkened room when all is quiet in the world around you.

Let your Soul enjoy and refresh itself.......

It's Been A While.... A Walk In The Woods

It's been a while since I have posted to this Blog. The last time was in March of this year. Here it is now late-August and to my dismay we are heading into Fall. Where did the seasons go?? In my area of Maine we started getting green leaves back on the trees in April; now some of the leaves are starting to turn already. It's not fair!! We had so much rain during Spring and Summer! Well over 22 inches, raining almost every single day! Crops that are water-sensitive did not do well (such as tomatoes). Farmers had a time trying to 'hay' for the winter season.
You can't cut grass when it is wet.

We had about a week of hot, humid temperatures, and the rest was quite temperate. As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago I had to put the heat on to take the chill off of my rooms. Our temperatures have been very decent (in the 70's and very low 80's during the day) but just about all of them have been very humid with high dew points. Mother Nature is really 'cleaning house' everywhere this year. We even had a tornado warning which is just about unheard of in these parts. New Hampshire was actually hit by one and at least one person died; many homes were damaged.

Anyway; this past Sunday John went to a Sporting Clays Shoot in Richmond, Maine and I love the land this Course is set on. The owner has his home at the entrance and his acreage is highly wooded which provides a wonderful canopy of trees to shade you from direct sunlight. It's a nice walk in the forest and I always have my camera with me to take pictures.

I love taking pictures of Mother Nature's Beauty and I want to share them with you. So many people don't get a chance to take a walk in the woods. It is so very peaceful.... It calms the body and mind.

I also have four photos of a young buck who suddenly appeared in my back yard a week ago. My kitchen window over the sink looks out onto the backyard, and it is always a surprise whenever I see creatures just walking about.

From that window I have seen a mother turkey and her young, a doe and her babies, groundhogs (I can do without those), and a mother pheasant with her young.
It's such a delight when they visit!

Here is the slide show of my walk in the woods.........




And here are the pictures of the deer. I took them through the kitchen blinds so please forgive the 'lines' you might see.

I Have Nerve to Complain About Snow!!

I have a nerve to complain about snow...... Today I ran across an article taken from a Blog that said a town near Watertown, New York received 146 inches of snow within two weeks' time and had pictures for us to see. I was shocked! Yes; my area of Maine had that and more, but it was spread out over a few months, not two weeks! I think I would have moved out of town, or arranged to visit a relative in another state until that mess was over!

The article had pictures and I am including them below as a slideshow for your amazement... It is a reminder for us all to "count your blessings" no matter how invisible they might seem at the time!!
Enjoy......

Snow?? Bah Humbug!!!

This has been one rough, very active winter this year in the Western portion of Maine! It started snowing in the month of December and hasn't stopped! During most weeks we see some form of precipitation twice a week. I have had to get my roof shoveled 4 times already. The norm is once; maybe twice during the winter.
We have had about 5 ice-storms so far. The 'norm' is usually two. Shelling monies out of your somewhat tightened budget to have your driveway plowed, your walkway and cars cleaned off, and the sanding of everything adds up pretty fast when you have had this much activity. I would venture to guess that we have had about 150 inches of snow so far this winter. We are tired of it and don't want to see another flake! Everyone is 'snowed out."

There is no place to put the stuff anymore! My driveway has narrowed down to a toboggan opening. Intersections have to be eased into and out of because there are piles of snow blocking your view.

Melting season (which we call "Mud Season" up here) is going to be very interesting and extremely messy. Those who do not have a paved driveway are going to be need rubber boots for walking; it's going to be that deep and mucky! Luckily I could afford to get my driveway paved when we first moved here.

There is talk of flooding once the melting begins. The one thing that is a pain is the snaky length and height of my driveway: it affords me a beautiful view, but in the winter it takes special skill to plow. However; in case of a flood, if water ever reaches my home, everyone else's home around me will be totally under water!

Here are a few more photos taken about two weeks ago. It has snowed 3 times since then.......


This photo was taken 2, maybe 3 snow events back.....

The top of one of my shovels...

Our plow man at the end of my driveway.....

A close-up of my Plowman trying his best to push that white stuff out of the way.

For Those Who Have Been Wondering.......

I have received inquiries as to how much snow we have gotten in Maine this winter. The month of December 2007 was just terrible! Every week it snowed and sometimes twice a week. I believe we captured about 48 inches of the white powdery stuff during that time. In January, we caught an early "January Thaw." Maine gets a "January Thaw" every year, and usually it is well needed to help evaporate or melt snow banks sitting on the ground from October, November and December.

This year's January Thaw lasted almost two weeks. The usual is about 7 days. We are getting smaller amounts of snow now, and I do think and feel that we will have an early Spring in Maine this year. Even though the calendar says "Spring," Maine usually lags behind by at least 6 weeks.

I haven't kept accurate track of the snow amount this winter as I have in previous years (it is too depressing to do so), but I would venture to estimate that we have had about 5-plus feet of snow fall so far. The average snowfall in the foothills this year has been about 6 inches each snow event.

But we honestly cannot complain. We have had much less snowfall than other parts of the country; and it is time for us to have less! Honestly: If we could create a "force field" around Maine, we would not have any snow at all. ALL of our weather streams from other places: either it comes from the west, mid-west, Canada, or the South. Maine, in and of itself, does not generate snow.

Here are a few pictures.

Here is a 'comparison' picture of what the back of my house looks like without snow. Keep your eye on the metal barrel in the yard which stands about 36 inches high.

Here is that same barrel again in the midst of a snowfall.

Again, after one of the snow events...

Snowbank with the barrel in the background.

Snow bank by my car......

Snowbank against the house....

View of my driveway from my livingroom window.....

Neighbor's home next door from my driveway.

Another view of my driveway from my livingroom window. The snowbank is about 3 feet high.

Some Creature walked into the woods while the house was asleep one night....

I don't know what Creature it was. The one cool thing about snowfall is it allows you to see that something did walk across your property when you weren't looking.

Here is a close-up of the tracks which were a bit exaggerated due to the evaporation of snow by the sun.