The Christmas trees and the Northern Flicker

The vision of the great mountains outlining the horizon—those very same ones I see every day from those windows in the upper floors, has changed.  Snow covered mountains lay within my vision now.  Covered white and gleaming in the distance.  When should we expect the first flake to fall down here?  I wonder.   

Finally, on Friday, Nov 24 we got our brand-new fridge… smooth, and shiny and double doors, with a bottom freezer.  Then, on that Sunday, Nov 26 we finally finished working on the garage.  The Fisherman installed some remarkable shelves there… large and wide and adjacent to the ceilings where we’re now storing all those larger extra-pieces.  And all the while, I worked on unpacking most all the mirrors and artwork that were still in boxes.

I had misplaced my Mona Lisa and hadn’t seen her since the day the packers put her away at our little white cottage.  I wanted to dig her out of whatever box she was hiding, and bring her in, but I wasn’t able to find her for weeks… finally the other day, I went back to the garage and started a new search.  The moment I found her, I knew exactly where in the house she belonged. 

I like her here better than that large mirror I originally had…

 And though it is hard to photograph glass, she still looks lovely...

...and I have bought a few more houseplants…  

Now that I don’t get to go to the garden everyday as I used to, and no leaf no green I have to satisfy my need for nature, houseplants have become my new obsession.  Because it is winter, they are few in stores and they don’t come cheap, but I’m glad I've decided to buy when I see them.  They bring so much joy to my life.

The chair has gotten a new look too!

I am not fully decorating our home for Christmas this year.  The move had been too recent, there were too many boxes to open, too many things to unpack, so unpacking the ‘Christmas’ boxes was something I was not looking forward to do… but at least the two little Christmas trees are out and up.  One is sitting by the window in the living room, and one outside.  They’re tiny and looking too pathetic under such tall ceilings, but that’s what I have, and their happy twinkling vision makes me happy.

Yesterday I finally bought some bird food and today I filled the one birdfeeder I now have.  Only the small Dark-eyed Junco have come by, and the garden feels emptied and unloved without birds... 

...and then again, I may not have all that amount of birds-the-cardinals-and-blue jays I had in our woodsy gardens at our little white cottage, but one special visitors has been coming by daily...

One or two or three Northern Flicker.  They come to feed on the grapes and it is a most magical of vision seeing them fly… the deep orange of underwing as they fly, the swoosh sounds the extraordinary beauty…

...and then, for just a moment in time the hushed voices of silence are lifted up, and the garden opens up again to bird songs and imagination and dreams and innocent joys. I can almost hear Elinor’s song being sung by the Northern Flicker on the grapevines:  “Let us walk in the white snow, in a soundless space; with footsteps quiet and slow, at a tranquil pace, under veils of white lace.” 

LINKING TO:

MAKE IT PRETTY MONDAY