A Place to Drink Coffee and Watch The Birds...

Very difficult to imagine it right now... sitting, with my cup of coffee, at our little table in the yard!  (Sitting comfortably anyway!!)

 

I keep looking out my kitchen window at our little table and chairs in our yard and I keep wondering when I will be able to sit out there again... I love to sit out there in the mornings on sunny spring and summer days, enjoying my cup of coffee... Relaxing a bit and soaking in the beauty around me before beginning my day.  It's very peaceful listening to the birds chirp, watching the squirrels romp around.  Last year we had a black squirrel who kept visiting, he had a white ring around his tail... (No, it wasn't a skunk! LOL!)  I wonder if we'll see him again this year.  We get all kinds of different birds visiting us too.  I especially love the Cardinals, they are beautiful!  There's always a lot of activity in the yard.  (Of course that was before Izzie became part of our family... she may chase away all that 'activity'!!  Then it'll just be Izzie, me and my cup of coffee...  Actually, Izzie alone creates a lot of activity, that's for sure!!)  The great thing is ~ we will be outside, and I'm looking forward to the little buds beginning to appear on the trees, the colorful flowers sprouting up, the pretty green grass... Sigh... I think I am ready for SPRING!  I said that the other day to one of the attorney's I work for, and he said; "Yes, but winter closely follows spring."  That wasn't a fun conversation!

So, at the moment I can only dream of sitting at our little table in the yard...  For now all I see is snow when looking out my window, lots and lots of snow... Snow and a lonely little table and chair set!  Too cold for the birds and too cold for me.  Although it is supposed to warm up this week and I am really looking forward to that.  In the meantime, I did get some great winter photographs, which is always fun!  Here are a few ~ all taken in our yard.

*♥* Thanks for visiting!! Have a happy Day! :)

~Trina

 

Snowfest!

We bundled up very warm and went to the Snowfest in Frankenmuth last night, and it was a lot of fun!  Frankenmuth is Michigan's Little Bavaria, and the architecture of the shops and buildings reflect the Bavarian charm.  The trees that line the main street were strung with white twinkly lights, giving it such a magical feel. We arrived just in time to see the very end of the fireworks show, which lit up the winter sky beautifully.  This year they are celebrating the 20th Anniversary for the Zehnder's Snowfest.  I read that twenty years ago they would have been happy to have had 10,000 visitors come to see the snow carving competition... that first year they had about 80,000 visitors ~ a success from the very start!  The annual event brings world-class snow and ice carvers to Little Bavaria, and they all did an amazing job this year... by the end of the weekend they will attract about 150,000 visitors to view their incredible work!  As we walked up and down the main street, sipping hot chocolate to keep warm, we enjoyed all the snow and ice sculptures ~ and I took lots of pictures, here are a few...  Enjoy!

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ My personal favorite is the Band Snow Sculpture!   Great detail work... the drummer, guitar player, singer... even the speakers!  Which one is your favorite?
Have a wonderful day! ~Trina

Capturing Winter...

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ One of my favorite hobbies is photography and I am lucky to live in a place that provides a lot of beautiful photo opportunities!  Michigan scenery is gorgeous and the winter snow is magical... a picturesque combination!  Yes, it's cold here in the winter and the snow is definitely a lot of work, but I have captured some wonderful winter wonderland shots and thought I'd share a few of them with you.

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ This little chapel photograph that I took, makes me feel like I've gone back to another time and place when I look at it.

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ From my snowy little corner of the world to you, many wishes for a beautiful day today and a warm and safe winter!

~Trina

A Blustery Day at the Christmas Tree Farm!

Our son, picking out the tree!

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ Our plan was to go to the Christmas Tree Farm and pick out our tree today.  Our son was going to drive us there in his new truck, and we were going to pick up his grandma on the way, so she could pick out her tree too.  We woke up to quite a bit of snow and 35 to 45 mile per hour winds... Very low visibility, practically a white out ~ in fact, it may have been a white-out.  But we all went to the tree farm anyway!  Crazy, yes... but there were a lot of other people there, picking out and cutting down their trees too.  So, I guess we're not the only crazy ones.  Haha!  I was surprised... there were more people out and about than I thought there would be.

We had fun ~ in spite of the COLD, windy, snowy weather!  I had never been to the tree farm before.  My son and his dad went a couple of years ago and it was cold and snowy then too, but nothing like it was today.  It's a pretty big tree farm, real nice.  There was a beautiful, and very warm bonfire going, and they had benches set up around it, so that people could sit by the fire and warm up.  There was a cute little place to buy hot chocolate and snacks. Once we picked out our tree, we walked over to the warm fire for a while... to thaw out!! 

The tree is home now, and all set up in front of the window.  It is still frozen in spots!  We have plastic under the tree and we can hear it dripping...  Once it's all thawed out, we will decorate it.  Sure smells great in here, there's nothing like the fresh spruce fragrance of a real tree.

Warmed by the fire!

All ready to take our tree home!

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ Posting  pictures of some of the little trees at the Tree Farm, and some of the bigger ones as well... You can really see the low visibility in these pictures... can't see much else beyond the Christmas trees.

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(¸.•´ (¸.•` ♥ Wishing you many, many wonderful moments as you prepare for the holidays!!  :)
~Trina

First Snowfall of the Season!

We woke up to the first snowfall of the season here in Michigan yesterday!  It was so pretty with the big snowflakes gently falling and a beautiful white blanket of snow on the ground.  Of course it didn't last ~ in fact, by the time I was driving to work in the late morning, quite a bit had already melted.  It's still very cold and more snow is expected in the next few days.  I only have the one picture to share so far.  This old barn is between the creek and our house and I have such visions of what that barn could be!!  I am dreaming of a day when I could set the barn up to be a workshop for Trina's Clay Creations.  I picture utilizing the loft and the main area... I could present clay workshops there, host childrens birthday parties (teaching basic techniques and having the kids create fun pieces of their own)... the ideas are endless!  But for right now, most see this barn as just an old barn, but I see it as full of character and potential!  Oh, the dreams of "someday"!!!

I have some beautiful pictures that I took last year, and I thought you'd enjoy seeing them.  I didn't have my blog up and running last year, so I never got to share these.  The first one is of the sunrise reflected on the snow, and that's the creek at the back of our property.  The middle two are shots of our back yard and front yard.  The 4th picture is one I took on my way to work, I always thought that was a pretty scene ~ no matter the season.  I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures.  Thank you for stopping by, and wishing you a great day!

The sunrise reflected in the snow

Our back yard

Our front yard

A pretty scene in the snow