Carolina Chickadee in Snowy Holly

In addition to spending time with family and friends, the traditions that bring joy and inspiration to my winter days include making home-made suet for my feathered friends and painting birds in watercolor!

The Carolina Chickadee has a distinctive "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" call as it visits the suet and sunflower seed feeders with mixed flocks of titmice and Downy Woodpeckers.  They are year-round residents wherever they occur.  Tough little birds that survive through the harshest days of winter, they fluff their feathers with thousands of tiny muscles to trap air between feathers and provide insulation from the cold.  Some chickadee species also sleep in sheltered natural cavities and use regulated hypothermia to lower their body temperature and conserve energy.

Visit my blog post on Carolina Chickadee in Snowy Holly at Vickie's Sketchbook.
Click this link to learn more about the spritely Carolina Chickadee  from Cornell.

Our Vacation Journal- Desiree

Hi everyone, Desiree here! We had a wonderful vacation recently, traveling down the coast and visiting several National Parks. We were able to stay in Crater Lake, OR, The Redwood National Forest and Yosemite. Here are some of my journal pages from this amazing adventure!!

At Crater Lake we were caught in a blizzard and stayed warm in the lodge. I painted this looking out the window at dinner.

Next to The Redwood National Forest where Elk passed by our cabin

We then made our way south and to Yosemite which was so amazing! The weather was perfect and we enjoyed several days there hiking and sight seeing!

Pencil sketch in Yosemite

Just a few pages from our trip, loved every minute until I turned my ankle. Traveling and caregiving can be a challenge but this year we added the dog too! Jennifer, my daughter who is in a wheelchair is amazing and she trained Chloe, her Boston Terrier as a service dog this last year. Her goal was to not leave her behind again so she is now certified and can travel with her. So caring for her, the dog and now with my gimp ankle made our vacation even more memorable! Let me also mention taking the dog out to go to the bathroom in a blizzard made for some funny photos too, she never has seen snow. I was so thankful to finally make it home so I could rest!

Unusual Winter in South Africa - Maree

The wintry west extends his blast,
And hail and rain does blaw;
Or the stormy north sends driving forth
The blinding sleet and snaw:
While, tumbling brown, the burn comes down,
And roars frae bank to brae;
And bird and beast in covert rest,
And pass the heartless day.
- Extract from 'Winter - A Dirge' by Robert Burns (18781)

A couple of years ago, in August 2006, South Africa was struck by an unusual phenomena, snow! It is something we rarely experience and it therefore always creates great excitement as well as hard-ship. Especially in the farming community, as livestock is always at risk because of the vast sizes of our farms and the large numbers of livestock we farm with - no barns really big enough to house all of them. No protection against the freezing temperatures and also a great problem with feed supplies. Luckily, people like us on smallholdings (8.5ha, which is 10 morgen or 21 acres), have fewer animals, making winter much more manageable, but still not worry-free.

After having a LOVELY warm week filled with sunshine, Wagtails starting to prepare their new nest and plenty of signs that Spring is on the way, it started snowing all over the country, sending temperatures plummeting to -2°C! Roads are closed in the Free State and KwaZulu Natal and TV and radio reports are telling people to hold off on travelling for a while. So while Lin Frye is suffering in 'UNRELENTING' heat, we've been pushed right back to the middle of winter! Isn't Nature just amazing...?

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - 12 x 8"

Snow Treasures

Feb. 2011: Little Skiing Vacation - 3 a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

There is not a lot of treasures on groomed runs in a ski resort - I had more luck tracking the meadow during my last visit but my little companion insisted on sleighing so these are all I found :)

Fox Squirrels and Gray Squirrels

March 1st has always been a day I look forward to -- my unofficial first day of spring when I feel confident that I can put the worst of the winter weather behind me and anticipate the spring flowers pushing through last year's layer of damp leaves. Alas, this year's March 1st was still covered in snow and the temperatures were far from being springlike. But the birds sang on and the squirrels foraged under our bird feeders, blissfully unaware of my unfulfilled expectations.

Stories in the Snow

It's easy to read the stories in the snow...tracks and signs stand out as if written on a white page.

I know that a raccoon visited my back deck, and dug his way to a warm den under the porch.

I know that the bread crumbs we put out were very popular...quilted stitching in the snow tells of dozens of small birds that celebrated our offering when we weren't looking.

I took the time to sketch this page a few weeks and four snows ago...

A walk in the snow

I hope all of you in northern climates are keeping warm! We had several days of terribly cold weather, twenty below zero F with the wind chill, but it finally warmed up enough so I could wander around outside a bit. I used a crowquill and my new bottle of FW transparent sepia ink for this sketch, and added white Winsor & Newton gouache for the snow.

Trees in the Snow - Carolyn A. Pappas

Perhaps one day I will get the proper gear and fortitude to do real outdoor nature sketching in the winter. Until then, I'm still looking out the window. Earlier today I took the opportunity to quickly paint some the trees and brush outside. It snowed about five inches or so, and has now switched over to the dreaded "winter mix."

Safe and Warm - Carolyn A. Pappas

This is the closest I'm coming to Nature today. I think She would try to kill me if I were to go outside right now! The snow is coming down about 2-3 inches per hour and the wind is about 35 mph. Luckily I don't have to worry about commuting anywhere.

In this sketch I was experimenting with some grayscale markers that I don't use too often. I thought it the perfect opportunity because it is so gray outside right now. Even the pine trees outside look like a weird dark gray, although it is pretty to see the snow swirling around in the wind.

A Merry White Christmas to everyone! - Maree

"Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days;
that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth;
that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away,
back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!"
- Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1836



One of my rare sketches of snow - I have to find pics of snow scenes to sketch, or use my imagination - what a wonder to be able to walk in this scene and a White Christmas here in South Africa would be wonderful!

A Merry White Christmas to all my overseas friends and I wish you lots of JOY and INSPIRATION in the years to come!

Out My Window

Sandy (Myfiddlestix)

Blue Sentinels - Lin Frye

Blue Sentinels
Originally uploaded by linfrye

9" x 12"
Arches 140#CP

Oh yes, I am enjoying the snow --! And with the cold we're having, I'm enjoying the ice too (but less so!). The college is closed today as are most of the schools in the area. There just was not sufficient ice melt yesterday to render the roads safe.

We had a 'warmish' afternoon yesterday - enough to make our way to the garage and unearth the snow shovel and scrape the porches and steps. Our neighbor came by with his huge tractor and plow and graciously cleared our driveway (it's a mighty long one! LOL) and then went down the road to clear enough of it so that a car could get to the secondary road. We live 15 miles from a major roadway, so being able to get anywhere really does require the help of our friends.

We walked about the property taking more photos. This was the first 'siginficant' snow in a few years (other than an inch or so) - so it really was a major event for us.

I was having a hard time painting yesterday - distracted probably - or too busy gazing out of the windows! LOL But these cluster of trees caught in the early morning snowfall the other day really helped me focus. I painted these same trees several years ago during a snowfall (http://www.flickr.com/photos/linfrye/3324833079/) only that view was from the daytime. I tried in vain to capture the moonlight through the trees last evening - but my 'snap and go' camera just couldn't 'see' such subtlety.

It's supposed to rain today and if it does, the snow will certainly be gone so I'm going to enjoy it while it's around. However, there's another 'chance' of the white stuff next weekend ... Woooo WHooo ...

Stay safe!

Lin Frye

North Carolina

Oxford Snow - View from my Window - Lin Frye

Oxford Snow - View from my Window
Originally uploaded by linfrye

9" x 12"
Arches 140#CP

BRRRRRRRRRRRR! The snow finished falling yesterday, and the extremely cold temperatures have frozen the mounds in place. We have yet to make it to the garage - 10 feet from the house -- to reach the snow shovel. The steps are a solid mass of 8" ice ... and from the looks of things on the front porch, the cats didn't make it much further than below the steps. The sun never made it out yestersday, but as I'm typing, the first rays of yellow are making their way above the treeline. But it's mighty cold.

We're grateful to still have power - and so we've been snuggly warm and using the housebound time to acquaint ourselves with the new computer, cook, rest, and basically use the day as a 'found object' to truly do very little. I managed to paint this from a photo I took through the upstairs window early yesterday morning.

We've yet to see a car go by on the road, and since we live on a private street, there is no plowing of it unless we do it. I suppose today will be the day we attempt to shovel ourselves out. From the news last night, most everything is shut down - stores, many churches, airport, buses. Major roads have been plowed and salted, but since we live 15 miles from a major road, it's a 'do-it'yourself' with the neighbors kind of thing for us.

The storm kept us once more from our scheduled trip to visit my daughter for my granddaughter's first birthday -- and an exchange of Christmas gifts (that trip rescheduled due to a death in the family).... at the rate we're going, we'll have Christmas in July to be sure! LOL

Stay warm and safe whever you are!

Lin Frye
North Carolina

January Juncos--Maria Hodkins

The New Year's treat this morning is really an old one, but one I never tire of watching. Those sweet little Juncos are my winter morning companions, always "cheerful", perky, and industrious, never skittish, and their dark hoods make them seem like little monks of the forest, out foraging in even the bitterest cold. After 6 more inches of snow the last few days, it is a winter wonderland here in Western Colorado, but the snow is clean and fresh and gives the landscape purity and peace. It's Winter's Peace, a gift of the New Year.