Christmas has come and gone and we had a lovely

time. We had wonderful meals, went to a beautiful light show,

spent time with family and played with dogs. We visited the farm and

dropped by the cabin we built this summer to check

on things. We also received some lovely gifts and I will be

mentioning one in a later post.

I have a mental list of birds I would love to see it included

wild Turkey's, Bobolinks, Prairie Chicken and Snow Buntings.

I have glimpsed flocks of Snow Buntings while travelling

across the prairies in the winter but they never landed. So you

can imagine my delight when I looked out the kitchen

window of the farm and saw a flock of small white

birds in the stubble field in front of the house.

While the photos are not great I am posting them anyway.

Yippeee!!!!

" i)  I watched them from the road

At first

they didn't move

and when they didn't move

you couldn't see them

They were earth and snow

The birds were in a fallow field

and it was earth

and snow

and so you couldn't see them

...,

vi) They drift across the barren  days

like grain in birch

in bird's-eye maple...seeds

like feathered seeds they drift along

blown by the wind

blown by the wind above the grass and stone

viii)

You must lie down in the dark

in the naked fields

You must think of the birds

and make them as you will"

                       Snow Bunting

                           D. J. Jones

"With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound. "

Twas the Night before Christmas

published anonymously

 

"Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air

What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away"
 

                            Jingle Bell Rocks                        

                                  Bobby Helms

"O Christmas tree,
O Christmas tree
Much pleasure you do give me
O Christmas tree,
O Christmas tree
Much pleasure you do give me

How often has the Christmas tree
Given me the greatest glee
O Christmas tree,
O Christmas tree
Much pleasure you do give me

From top to bottom
You’re so bright
There’s only splendor for the sight
O Christmas tree,
O Christmas tree
Your lights are shining brightly"

                        O Christmas Tree

I have not mentioned much about my science fiction

collection on my blog. Part of the collection is a small

group of the whimsical covers Galaxy Science Fiction

issued every December and I have decided to highlight

them this holiday season.

Happy Holidays Everybody!!

"We Wish You A Merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a happy New Year
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin.
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Now bring us some figgy pudding,
Now bring us some figgy pudding,
Now bring us some figgy pudding,
And bring some out here.
Good tidings ...

For we all like figgy pudding,
For we all like figgy pudding,
For we all like figgy pudding,
So bring some out here.
Good tidings ..."

                           WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS
                                                     Hank Thompson

                                 

Soul-melting scenery was about me…

- George Catlin

The other day I opened my email and found this beautiful photo. It was in a

Christmas email from our friends Tim and Laraine. These are their dogs

Yogi and Andi roaming their property in Southern Alberta. While I have known 

a number of their pets over the years we have not visited recently and while we

have seen pictures we have not meet these beautiful dogs, but hopefully we can

remedy that soon.

I could not remember what breed they were so Tim

kindly supplied the following information

"The dogs are Akbash-Maremma crosses. Yogi is 3/4 Akbash and
looks much like any Akbash. The Maremma is much stronger in
Andi. They are usually working dogs and kept with sheep or cattle to
deter predators. Their job here is to keep coyotes and deer out of the
yard. They are also companion dogs here which works as they get a
long walk every day and there is plenty of room for them.
Andi prefers to be outside except in severe weather, whereas Yogi
has aspirations of becoming a house dog.  I'd suggest that they are
not suitable as urban dogs or even good for acreages where there
are neighbours around.They bark a great deal before they actually
chase anything. I understand that that is their breeding."

Thanks for that Tim

" Cocked in that land tactile as leaves

wild things wait crouched in those valleys

west of your city outside your lives

in the ultimate wind, the whole land's wave.

Come west and see, touch these leaves."

                                        Midwest

                                              Willam Stafford

 

If we cannot see the beauty in them

can we find it in ourselves?

Well today we had another round of snow falling gently and steadily

through the day. I took my camera along on a trip to the library with

my overdue book. Because I seemed to be engulfed in a grey blanket

the world became more enclosed, held to a smaller compass, more

charged with detail. As always in this situation I remembered the

experience of mole and rat in the Wild Wood.

"The Mole would not have known that it was the same wood. However,

they set out bravely, and took the line that seemed most promising,

holding on to each other and pretending with invincible cheerfulness

that they recognized an old friend in every fresh tree that grimly and

silently greeted them, or saw openings, gaps, or paths with a familiar

turn in them, in the monotony of white space and black tree-trunks

that refused to vary."

                                                     The Wind in the Willows

                                                          Kenneth Grahame

Mid way through this particular journey of

my life I saw an ominous sign.

And sure enough when I got home I found that

Jadis, the White Witch had been by..

"The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow,

and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk

ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds

of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the

very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more

delicious. He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.

                                                                  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
                                                                                    C.S. Lewis

"The ghosts of dead leaves

haunt no one."

                        October Funeral

                                Linda Pastan

"Where is nirvana?

Nirvana is here, nine times out of ten."

                                Spring-Watching Pavilion

                                  Ho Xuan Huong

"Doors were left open in heaven again:
drafts wheeze, clouds wrap their ripped pages
around roofs and trees. Like wet flags, shutters
flap and fold. Even light is blown out of town,
its last angles caught in sopped
newspaper wings and billowing plastic -
all this in one American street."
 

                                     The Worlds in this World                                               

                                                  Laure-Anne Bosselaar

                                                 

Last Sunday we had a massive windstorm, the winds

reached 149km/hr and toppled trees, blew out the windows

in the office towers downtown and generally caused millions

in damage. We came through fairly well although you can

see the remains of our gazebo, it toppled over into our pond.

Last night and today we got a fairly steady snow. Nothing

to get excited about and a good excuse for pictures but

compared to last Sunday a very nice day. I also saw Juncos

in the yard for the first time this winter but I could not get a

good photo. So here are some shots of the gang in the

backyard and a few more from a stroll through the

neighbourhood alleys.

"A year indoors is a journey along a paper calendar;

a year in outer nature is the accomplishment

of a tremendous ritual."

The Outermost House

                Henry Beston

A few more shots of the flicker who has been coming

to my suet feeder. When it was finished with the suet

it began eating snow I assume for the moisture this

despite the fact there was a heated birdbath next to the

feeders. Then it rooted through the leaf litter, I suspect

it was looking for bugs.The number of magpies increased

and the flicker left. I did not get a good photo but I noticed

one magpie having found some shelled peanuts did not

gulp them down like a jay but held them against the ground

with it's feet and broke them like a small bird with sunflower

seeds.

"The trees, along their bare limbs,

contemplate green.

A flicker, rising, flashes rust and white

before vanishing into stillness,

and raked leaves crumble imperceptibly

to dirt."

                   Winter into Spring

                            Lynn Ungar

  

"The birds are in their trees,
the toast is in the toaster,
and the poets are at their windows.

They are at their windows
in every section of the tangerine of earth-
the Chinese poets looking up at the moon,
the American poets gazing out
at the pink and blue ribbons of sunrise."

                                         Monday

                                            Billy Collins

A fellow blogger and poetry lover

from the lovely blog

"Beyond the Fields We Know" .

( see my favorite blogs for a link)

Suggested after my last post that the

Norwegian poet Olav H. Hauge should

be more widely read. I have to agree.

Conch

You build a house for your soul,
and wander proudly
in starlight
with the house on your back,
like a snail.

When danger in near,

you crawl inside

and are safe

behind your hard

shell.

And when you are no more,

the house will

live on,

a testament

to your soul's beauty.

And the sea of your loneliness

will sing deep

inside.

Olav H. Hauge

"Now I build in the nearest pine

and each morning when I wake

it threads its needles with gold."

                            And I Was Sorrow

                                   Olav H. Hauge

Saturday it was fairly cold but I trundled down to the

library to pick up some books by A. R. Ammons.

First I passed  the front door rabbit who often sits bum

against the spruce at the foot of our front stairs.

Then I looked to see how my neigbours gardens

had fared in the new snow. It was one of those

days when I had a long to do list and no ambition. 

I still have a long to do list.

" The burdens of the world
on my back
lighten the world
not a whit while
removing them greatly
decreases my specific
gravity"

                        Correction

                         A.R. Ammons