the owl in the woods

I hear him when I wake at 3 a.m.

I wake often at 3 a.m. - I'm not sure why. Someone once told me it was the hour of evil spirits and ever since then, I turn to prayer as soon as I'm aware enough to realize I'm awake. Inevitably, I fall asleep again almost immediately.

I love to hear the mournful cry of the owl, though, before I fall off.

This morning I was up at dawn to bake a promised loaf of bread. Just outside the back window, our owl sat on his branch. He moves his head like a cat, looking and diving his neck and - yes - turning it almost all the way around to look completely behind him. He's full of motion for all that he is also completely motionless. In the picture, certainly.

Voles, beware! Actually, I'm hoping they will take no notice of him, and that the owl in the woods will take up residence in our clearing, and clear out the voles.

missing inaction. . . .

I've been an abominable correspondent. No excuses. I have nothing to point to that has kept me so busy I couldn't write. In short: it's not that I can't write - or couldn't write - the fact of the matter is simply that I haven't written. sigh. Here's were inertia sets in, and months of not writing can weigh you down to another half year of silence, which inevitably leads to a year and more of silence, and then. . . .

Well. Better dust myself off and get going, then!

The summer has come and gone. Yes, I know that the "Current Season" stayed at "the height of the summer" on this page until just today - November 26 - two full days after Thanksgiving. I have firmly resisted the urge to skip straight to winter just in case I don't get back for while. No, I've changed the "Current Season" picture to the one above, for fall: "Greenwood blackbirds". This time of year, they gather together and flock in our woods by the thousands. What a whoosh they make when the take off in concert and wheel about!

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, thoughts of what to make for Christmas occupy my mind. Here's one project I came across that I hope to make for the Greenwood tree inside: Edgar, the Raven, by Stacey Mead, who blogs over at The Goode Wife of Washington County. I LOVE her whimisical designs!

I can just see several of these fellows in our tree this Christmas. . . .

You can order her patterns at this link: Raven's Haven Patterns.

Tell her Queenie from the Greenwood sent you. I think she's incredibly cool.

Meanwhile, it's not quite dawn yet - so time for some more coffee before the day begins. For today, it's back to the herbs for me, and putting together this year's herbes du bois vert. I also have several elephant ear bulbs to dig out of the ground and winterize. . . .

More inaction to keep me from writing! Here's hoping to overcome inertia.

snowmania, snowmaggedon, snowpocalypse!

Twenty nine hours of straight snow. . . . punctuated by late night thunder and lightening (which I apparently slept through), resulted in almost 3 feet of the white stuff here at the greenwood. Day three dawned bright and clear, with a cornflower blue sky. Did I mention cold? I should have. It was crisp!

The dig-out from the blizzard of 2010 had been commenced the day before at the height of the storm. I now realize the wisdom of this approach from the last storm (just before Christmas) and was a much more willing participant this time around. Before I gave out, I helped clear a path to the right side of the house (generator and heat pump) and then on down the hill to a toilet spot for Luther. The snow is so deep, he can't squat to do his 'business'! (and for a long-legged dog like Luther, that's deep.)

The king, meanwhile, went around front to the other side of the house (the other heat pump) and started a trench out to the Jeep which he had positioned at the end of the driveway up by the road. He's amazing. My hero!That's the Jeep at the top of the photo - still covered over. Talk about a good idea! Ludwig (my car) should have fallen in behind il Trukko. As it is, I don't know when I'll see Ludwig again.

The good news: we didn't lose power. Almost 50,000 in Maryland did - and even more in Washington D.C. We also have plenty of food and it's just gorgeous here.

Here's Luther in the trenches. The bench is recognizable only from the back. Who knew 10 feet from the road could be so far?!!! Next time, even a bit closer, I'm thinking. . . .

Did I say next time?!

Yes.

Alas.

There are reports of more snow starting tomorrow.

But back to this snow. It's heavy. And dense. One works up a sweat pretty darn quickly! By the way, to date, the greenwood receives no compensation for posting product photos. . . . although we would have accepted a case of this stuff. Time for a break. Not that any one could have delivered it to us today. . .

Here is the one exception to the rule "Don't eat yellow snow":
the beer slushy! Luther loves them. That's why his face is buried in the snow in this shot, he's going for the beer (he's partial to scotch-dipped fingers and ice cubes as well, especially if it's a single malt, peaty sort!). And no, we don't give him enough to piss off the pet activists - so stow that thought (and lecture) right now. We're talking about a dog that, left to his own devices, will eat dirt, sticks, rocks and entrails, so don't be giving us as hard time about a thimble-full of scotch. Or beer, as the case may be!

Sorry. I'm still recovering from the news about PETA's latest target: replacing Punxsatawney Phil with a robot.

I hope they don't ever take aim on Luther and force him to live "naturally", outside, in the snow, without his fake fur dog bed and rakish red collar! After a long day playing in the snow - his bed is all he's interested in. He tells me he will take exception to anyone with different plans for him. I'm hoping that he won't take exception to the peanut-butter-wheaten-oat-crunch-bones that are in the oven for him!*

I don't care if PETA approves or not.

*post forthcoming. . . .

buried treasure

It doesn't look like much now, but we planted hundreds of tulips in this little bed. So far, they have escaped detection by the squirrels, who are overwhelmed with a bumper beechnut crop. Hopefully, the first they know of the tulips will be when they bloom next spring! Then, I'll dig them out, and store the bulbs till fall again, by which time the veggie garden can be cleared away, the squirrels will have forgotten all about tasty tulip bulbs, and I'll bury the treasure for another overwinter and spring surprise.

That's the plan, anyway. I'll let you know how it goes.

Elsewhere, we buried daffodils like bodies in the woods. . . .

and B'u covered them over and raked away all trace. The surreptitious nature of our enterprise was belied by the sheer number of people who turned out for the event! And yes, they all helped too, although Luther worked more in the unburying and leaf distribution mode.

Happy Birthday, David. I'm thinking that's the first birthday/bulb-planting party you've ever been to!

not yet. . . .

OK. We're several days into spring, but it hasn't officially sprung here at the greenwood.
See?

Yes, I know it's foggy. But look closer: no daffodils.

Not really. Not yet.

Here's one that may pop in the next day or so.
Wait! What's that? Off in the distance?
Is that yellow? Daffodils?!
Sheesh. . . . just across the street - and everywhere else I look - the daffodils are out. Just not here. Just not yet.

Meanwhile, here's a picture of what's gotta be my favorite place in the whole world.We're here. We're waiting. . . .

[note to self: 200 daffodil bulbs don't go nearly as far as one would think. . . .]

snow day!

An essay [mainly] in pictures*:

The lutyens bench is upholstered in snow.
Must. Go. Outside.

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep. . . ."
Running fool.
Our ferocious hound!
Time?
I think so. Inside, a fire blazes.
*********************************
*and captions. . . .

plugging along

Yesterday, we met Tom-builder at the site to map out the driveway, courtyard entrance, and front driveway entrance onto the street so that the final grade and hardscape [ok - "gravel-scape"] bits can be completed as soon as the painters and stucco guys are finished swarming all over the house.

I have high hopes for beginning the garden move soon after.

We have water on-site, now!

And I'm thinking that the workers will probably be going in and out of the doors from now on, rather than pulling up just anywhere in their trucks and trampling everything in sight.

Speaking of doors, here's the front door, finally visible.

Here, having stained the windows, the painter has finally cleared off much of the protective wrapping and you can begin to see the lookout from the living room into the greenwood. It looks "quiet, dark and deep" - even now in the summer - for those who recognize Frost when they hear him. . . .

flora, revisited

You remember lone laurel.Well, maybe you don't. I think I only thought I had mentioned it a lot. It's a single laurel in small tree form, that grows in the woods behind our house. We stumbled upon it in one of the first walks through the property, long before we had any idea even where the house would go, let alone what it would look like.

I had no idea what this thing would look like in bloom. Truth told: I thought it would be a little scrawny. It's a native woodland shrub, how spectacular could it be?

Pretty spectacular.
Just look at those blossoms. Amazing.
Look closer. Each flower has little parasol-like ribs! I think it's incredible. Who could come up with this stuff?!Elsewhere, the flowers on the raspberry vines hint that it will be a very good year for raspberries. I gathered a pint in minutes last year. They are delicious.
And again, I am overcome with amazement and gratitude. The greenwood just "came like that" - with amazing flowering shrubs, flowers, and berries. They grow wild.

Our job? Not to mess it up.

the hand. . . .

after the snow day

comes the mud.But you can see the trees in the mud puddle!







In the woods, some of the snow remains. Pretty, huh?






But the sun was out in force. I love these fuzzy red raspberry arms. . .Meanwhile, the moon is in prison - behind branch bars - for another few hours.